Entries by Ed Walker

Thomas Piketty On the Democratic Primary

In an article in The Guardian, Thomas Piketty says that Bernie Sanders represents a real hope for the adoption of the tax policies Piketty lays out in Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty calls for higher and steeply progressive income taxes and a high estate tax, which he thinks will lead to a reduction in […]

Pfizer’s Vision of R&D

Recently I saw Ian Read, the CEO of Pfizer, on CNBC explaining that the Pfizer/Allergan merger would enable the combined companies to spend more on research and development of new drugs. He also confirmed that Pfizer raised prices on at least 105 drugs for no apparent reason. You can watch a small part of the […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 5: Artistic and Intellectual Elites and the Rise of Fascism

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 3: Superfluous Capital and Superfluous People The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on The Commons Capitalism Versus The Social Commons (published at Naked […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on Right-Wing Authoritarianism

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 3: Superfluous Capital and Superfluous People The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on The Commons Capitalism Versus The Social Commons (published at Naked […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 4: Humanity under Totalitarianism

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 3: Superfluous Capital and Superfluous People The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on The Commons Capitalism Versus The Social Commons ======== Please note: […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on The Commons

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 3: Superfluous Capital and Superfluous People In Part 3, I discussed two problems created by unrestrained capitalism, superfluous wealth and superfluous people. […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 3: Superfluous Capital and Superfluous People

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party In Part 2 of The Origins of Totalitarianism Arendt discusses the history of European Imperialism, primarily focused on England, France and Germany. “Expansion is everything,” said Cecil […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism: Interlude on the Tea Party

As I noted in this post, Arendt says that the great frauds and swindles of the 1870s led to the rise of Antisemitic political parties in Germany, Austria and France. The Grimdungsschwindel in Germany and Austria involved public offerings of investments in what we would call start-ups corporations in railroads, mining, steamships, docks, and so […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 2: Antisemitism

Previous posts in this series: The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction. In section 1 of The Origins of Totalitarianism, titled Antisemitism, Arendt describes the history of the Jews in Europe. Beginning with the rise of the nation-state in the late 18th and early 19th centuries most, Jews who were long-term residents of nation-states were […]

The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 1: Introduction

The Origins of Totalitarianism is Hannah Arendt’s analysis of the rise of totalitarian governments, the Nazis under Hitler in Germany and the Communists under Stalin in Russia. It was published in 1951, though it was largely completed in 1945. In its original form it focused primarily on Nazism, and as more detail emerged about Stalinist […]

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