Links

Jonah Birch – The Many Lives of François Mitterrand

Link to an article by Jonah Birch:

“The Many Lives of François Mitterrand”

Quote:

“the political power of the capitalist class flows not just from what capital can do, but from what it can choose not to do — invest. It is its control over the investment function, not its collective organizations, that is the key source of capitalists’ power in the political sphere: since, in a capitalist economy, investment is the prerequisite for growth, employment, and tax revenue, policymakers will always have an incentive to prioritize the demands of business confidence over all other considerations.”

Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld – Inside Amazon

Link to an article by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld:

“Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace”

Bonus link: “Amazon’s Brutal Workplace Is an Indicator of an Inhumane Economy” and “Undercover at Amazon: Exhausted Humans Are Inefficient So Robots Are Taking Over” and “Amazon Must Be Stopped” (this stops well short of suggesting [inter-]nationalization, which seems quite appropriate) and “Giving Amazon’s Side of the Story”

Bouree Lam – Why “Do What You Love” Is Pernicious Advice

Link to an interview with Miya Tokumitsu, author of Do What You Love: And Other Lies About Success and Happiness (2015), by Bouree Lam:

“Why ‘Do What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice”

Bonus links: “Forced to Love the Grind” and “Žižek!” and The End of Dissatisfaction?: Jacques Lacan and the Emerging Society of Enjoyment

Christos Tsiolkas – Greek Tragedy

Link to an article by Christos Tsiolkas:

“Greek Tragedy: Former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Greece’s Economic Crisis”

Bonus links: “The Defeat of Europe” (“Whatever one thinks of our government, this episode will go down in European history as the moment when official Europe, using institutions and methods that no treaty legitimised (the Eurogroup, the Euro Summit, the threat of eviction from the eurozone), dealt a major blow to the ideal of an ever-closer democratic union. Greece capitulated, but it is Europe that was defeated.”) and “Europe’s Big Banks are Fueling the Continent’s Far-Right Fascists”