The convergence trend of the early euro years turned out short lived. The absence of euro area growth in 2010-17 resulted in greater rather than smaller divergences in economic and social outcomes. The euro crisis followed by Brexit have shattered the EU to the core. [This short article was originally published in The Progressive Post #7, Winter 2018, pp.70-71; available also here.]

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Interest rates are close to zero. It is excessively easy to get credit for consumption or speculation. Corporations are using their profits to buy their own shares rather than to invest. Stock markets are soaring and asset prices are at an all-time high. [This blog was originally published as part of State of Nature “One Question: Economic Crash” forum on 15 January 2018].

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Globalisation has ravaged the economies and societies in the industrialised world. Uneven growth and deindustrialisation are causing political turmoil. The left, trapped in a limited territorial state, is likely to fail even if it wins national elections, unless it succeeds in globalising democratic politics. Patomäki calls also for breaking “the gap between routine production and established privileges, on the one hand, and emerging areas and forms of the economy, on the other. This should the true goal of structural reforms; not free markets but emancipated and self-determining humans.” In the end he, like so many others, comes to the conclusion that wealth has to be justly taxed, but things seem to be going in the other direction. [This text was first published at the Brave New Europe site on 12 October 2017.]

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What can science tell us about the immense mystery that surrounds us? In this second part, I discuss Alexander Wendt’s quantum mind thesis and whether it can provide a new foundation for social sciences. Are we really just walking wave functions? (For part I, click here) Continue reading