Rationist No. 9: That America’s authoritarian political trajectory arises from middle class insecurity
This is the ninth essay in a series of essays by Tim Ferguson, founder of the Anacyclosis Institute, arguing in favour of rationism, a middle-class-oriented political theory that advocates benchmarking the national economy against the national median household net worth. Izabella Kaminska has also described rationism as Vitruvian Capitalism, based on its promotion of the […]
Nigel Farage and the great anti-Brexit unbanking plot (POLITICO)
By Izabella Kaminska, Dan Bloom · Jul 5, 2023 LONDON — Like most banks these days, the Strand offices of Coutts, one of the U.K.’s most prestigious private banks known for banking British royalty, are open plan and mostly devoid of custom. Real-life engagement with its wealthy clientele, if it happens, is by appointment only. […]
In the Blind Spot (Dragnets — Ze Germanz — CBDCs)
Dear Subscribers, Welcome to the weekend, and hopefully — for the first time in a while — a relatively timely (but, no doubt, format-muddled) send-out. Sadly, until we find an alternative newsletter management system, we are stuck with the clunky and format-limited Mailchimp service, which seems to ensure that almost every week something looks awful. […]
Leaked Lunch with economist Guy Standing about the Blue Commons
Welcome to the third episode of Season Two of the Leaked Lunch podcast with economist and author Guy Standing. The recording, which you can listen to on RSS, Apple pods or Spotify, took place at the Italian restaurant Da Paolo just off Goodge Street in London over a spot of seafood spaghetti in March this […]
Shake on it: The utterly scientific Sintra guide to central bank governor toughness (POLITICO)
By Ben Munster · Jun 29, 2023 The ECB and other central banks famously communicate monetary policy almost entirely through covert signals and coded messaging. “More ground to cover” means rate hikes will probably continue after the summer. “Persistent” inflation means previous hikes have failed. “Data-driven approach” means the bank is just making it up […]
In the Blind Spot (Thinking like Surkov — The double budget constraint — The end of collateral)
Dear Subscribers, As noted yesterday, this weekend’s newsletter has been split in two to better cover breaking news elements this Sunday. One of those breaking news stories is what has been impolitely referred to all around the world as “What the f*** is going on in Russia?” A good place to start is this Washington […]
In the Blind Spot (48 hours at the Paris Air Show edition)
Dear Subscribers, We come into Saturday evening with an apparent would-be coup being unwound in Russia, but also in the grips of two other high intensity viral stories: news of a cage fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and the sad news that the passengers on the Titan submarine could not be saved. The […]
Processing Wagner developments
Note to readers: The send out of our weekly newsletter has been postponed so that we can update for recent events and upcoming news we know is coming on Sunday. For those who want insightful commentary on ongoing developments in Russia do head to our discord group.
EU’s trade ideals face ‘economic security’ reality check (POLITICO)
By Barbara Moens, Sarah Anne Aarup · Jun 19, 2023 The European Commission is preparing to ditch its long-held free-market ideals as geopolitics and U.S.-China competition elbow their way into the picture. On Tuesday, the EU’s executive will propose its economic security strategy, a new political paper which will be discussed by EU leaders at […]
Reader thoughts on a Substack migration for The Blind Spot?
I’ve wasted most of my precious Saturday messing about with the world’s worst content management system in an attempt to recover a failed newsletter send-out this weekend. The final insult is that the email still went out with ridiculous spacing errors, half-eaten or garbled text and suboptimal text distribution … If I have to wait […]