The Fantasy of Balanced-Budget Conservatism
This short essay was written as a reading response for a class to chapter 3 of Plotkin and Scheuerman’s book Private Interest, Public Spending (1994). Reading that chapter is not necessary for understanding this but encouraged. In their chapter on Balanced-Budget Conservatism, Plotkin and Scheuerman outline 3 major principles that define the concept. The first of these is that the government must spend within its means, balance the budget, and reduce if not completely eliminate...
Free Markets vs. Freedom - Some Notes
The paragraphs below were written for a class in response to the second chapter of The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (2007). In Chapter 2 of The Shock Doctrine, Noami Klein describes the influence of Milton Friedman and the Economics department at the University of Chicago in the proliferation of neoliberal ideology throughout the world, and the various military coup d’états that spearheaded its establishment in the developing world for the purpose of promoting U.S....
Some Thoughts on Sabotage, Past and Current
This was written for a class in response to chapter 2 of David M. Kotz’s 2014 book The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism, and while reading that is not necessary to understand the discussion below, that is the context for which it was written. Something I couldn’t get out of my head during this reading was the concept of “sabotage”, that in order for business to remain profitable some degree of sabotage of the...
Nitrogen
The pacing of this one is what I call "crunchy," as the research process for it was what I call "torment." Maybe I really should get a library card.
Naruto
At a certain point, we all have to wonder if, perhaps, allowing me access to maps was a mistake. This one's about Naruto, the city and the manga.
Oxia
You ever stare at a map of Mars for a couple hours then suddenly make the foolish mistake of wondering why the names are like that?
Kinokuni
Japanese names are pretty interesting, so I decided to maybe actually figure out what's going on with them, y'know?
