Paul Jorion's Blog

Category: Essential questions

  • The State of Play, By Blake McInerney

    The State of Play

    Dogma, theory, law instruct us all
    There’s them that’s got and them that’s not
    That, without the readies or the wherewithal,
    People are nothing but fodder, fit just for the pot.

    So strip Creation, Nature, down to the bone,
    privatise life ‘til all expire, unbeknown
    to all ( save God, whose trappings we now own ! )
    become, everlastingly so, free :
    free to sanctify inequality,
    free to worship Money and Self alone
    free to crown the human ape-baboon
    future Queens and Kings of Mars or Moon.

    Free to oppress and dispossess the poor,
    Making Abrahamic … Read the rest

  • Statesmanship is back! China and Saudi Arabia

    Comments can be made here.

    José d’Acosta, a Jesuit, was a missionary in Peru and Mexico in the second half of the 16th century. His contact with the Aztec culture was the cause of his profound disarray. “What is the meaning of the abominable cruelty taking place every day in front of me?”, he wondered. One day, his enlightenment took place:”God, he said to himself, staged such a theater so that we could imagine what a world without him would be”.

    Similarly, Mr. Donald Trump was given to us to prove the horror of a nation leader lacking all … Read the rest

  • Paul Jorion at San Patrignano, April 10, 2015

    The great challenges of our time, San Patrignano 2015

    … Read the rest

  • THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET IS PROGRAMMED

    Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.

    In our capitalist system, the « advances » which are consented to by some, the holders of capital or « capitalists », in order to render a production process possible or to allow a consumer to consume are remunerated by interest payments. In my book Le prix (2010), I showed, using examples of “separate systems” in Africa or in Europe, how this system of interest must have appeared: interest being originally conceived as part of a newly created wealth, attributed to one of the partners who had contributed to its creation. The enduring … Read the rest

  • QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (VI) PREDICAMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

    An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of the post  “QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (VI) DILEMMES DE LA PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE”.

    Private property, as we saw previously, allows you or I to selfishly take advantage of our planet’s generosity towards us and claim ownership of what she bears within her or what she produces spontaneously thanks to the sun, the wind, the rain, and derive a rent from it.

    The impact of such an institution is quite obviously unfair. The French Revolution, nonetheless, stopped at its edge. The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen even affirms: “Property … Read the rest

  • QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (I) ARE ALL EARNINGS TRULY DESERVED?

    An English translation of my post QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (I) TOUS CEUX QUI SONT RÉMUNÉRÉS LE MÉRITENT-ILS VRAIMENT?

    There is a question that neeeds to be answered at all costs; 19th century thinkers have devoted much thought towards its solution. Here it is: when we consider rent obtained by a landowner or by the owner of mineral ore extracted from the ground, interest obtained by the owner of capital also known as capitalist, the profit gained by an industrialist or entrepreneur, and the wages paid to a worker, is one of these incomes unjustified and thereby undeserved?

    The only point … Read the rest

  • “No Matter What We Do, It Will Still Be The Same”

    An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of my « QUOI QU’ON FASSE, CE SERA LA MÊME CHOSE ! » of March 11.

     

    77% of you, my dear blog readers, not all of you, but a “comfortable majority” of you, happens to be French. Your country is now in full “election showbiz” mode, and the mainstream media, in the press, on the radio, on television, are full of it, news on why the moment is “crucial” and “how to vote”, are front and centre.

    Still, you are perfectly conscious of the fact that whatever which way you vote, either for … Read the rest

  • IT IS TIME TO RESTRUCTURE CAPITALISM

    An English translation which can be read here of my post “Refonder le capitalisme”: Le moment est venu by Frankly.

    It Is Time to Restructure Capitalism

    Is there anything more depressing than the spectacle of the short-term remedies that are being applied at present with a view to saving the capitalist system, in the absence of determination to do what would actually be necessary to achieve that objective?

    Look at what is happening in Greece, where the Troika (the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) is endeavouring to impose on the Greek Government measures … Read the rest

  • MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: About “The network of global corporate control”, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston

    A passionate discussion has started on my French blog about the article The network of global corporate control, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston.

    I’m hoping that a parallel discussion in English starts here.

    Here an excerpt of the paper to whet your appetite:

    … nearly 4/10 of the control over the economic value of transnational corporations in the world is held, via a complicated web of ownership relations, by a group of 147 transnational corporations in the core, which has almost full control over itself. The top holders within the core can thus be thought of

    … Read the rest

  • The fall of the Roman Empire, live on the Internet!

    Frankly Francophone has just translated one of my recent French posts into English. Thanks Franky! The original post is here.

    They wanted to extend market logic to absolutely everything. In attempting to do so they disregarded the domain of ethics which had governed human affairs up to that point. The trader – the quintessential victim of gold fever according to Aristotle – has ceased to be considered to be a victim if he succumbs to the disease, having been elevated to the status of prototype of the rational human being! The employee in turn has ceased to be regarded … Read the rest

  • The Madoff Affair : Crime and Punishment

    Original French version at rue89.com.

    Does the name “Donald Crowhurst” ring a bell? He was one of the contenders in the Golden Globe Race a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race held in 1968–1969. While he was ahead and therefore a potential victor, his radio signals stopped abruptly. His craft was later located but it was empty. His log-book was found, revealing that at no point had Crowhurst attempted to leave Southern Atlantic waters : he had all along communicated the fictitious positions of his alleged progress while actually waiting for the other contenders to complete their circumnavigation. He apparently … Read the rest

  • LA, 1999

    At Latitude 33 in Laguna Beach, CA 92651, I saw this book called Exile or Exiles with writings about Los Angeles by famous people. I read the preface waiting for Brenda at the end of her shift at the bookstore. It said that intellectuals don’t choose LA: those who lived there had no such intent when they first landed there: like me, they were heading elsewhere, meant to leave soon. Then they got stranded for some reason or other, like a woman who didn’t want them back to some distant planet. It explained also that once they had seen “this” … Read the rest

  • Galactic Report XYZ 00098887

    Sir,

    I need to report to you what might be a case of acute poisoning while on mission on planet Terra.

    Yesterday, in the course of my duty, I happened to hold very tight for a couple of minutes a human female (from now on HF). Today, as a consequence of this I developed disturbing symptoms. Repeatedly during the day, and for no apparent reason, my train of thought was brought back to holding the HF tight. Each time the memory occurred my body was overwhelmed by a powerful feeling reminiscent of the influence of a toxic substance. The feeling … Read the rest

  • Gold fish

    I just had an odd vision. It happens on Judgment Day and I am shocked at the questions being asked from me: “How many gold fish in your care died of neglect? How many babies did you leave crying in the dark? Who were they? How many daisies did you trample?” I say “I feel very unprepared for such questions, I had concentrated on – you know – the broader issues, like honesty or being courageous…” And the official presses on “How many daisies? Come on! give me a figure! Two thousands? Five thousands?”… Read the rest

  • Optimistic and pessimistic views on immortality

    Religions are most often associated with a representation of the after-life where immortality, which is clearly unattainable in the nether-world, is ultimately achieved.
    Other widely held belief systems don’t share that view, in particular Taoism, the “atheistic religion” or “philosophy” of the Chinese people over the ages. Indeed, some disparagingly called “superstitious” versions of Taoism put the stress on attaining immortality in our everyday world, recounting numerous tales of princes going to great length to secure lifesavers of various kinds. In the West, alchemy shared that same concern, being not only focused on the transmutation of antimony into gold but … Read the rest