The Post-Partisan Emporium

 The first article can be found here ... The Secret of the Sages John Michael Greer Two weeks ago we talked about the way that life throughout the modern industrial world has fallen into the grip of lenocracy—that is, a system in which pimping of one kind or another is the most common feature of economic life, or in less idiosyncratic language, a system in which every economic exchange is exploited by interests that contribute nothing to the transaction but must be paid off before the transaction can take place.  Lenocracy is a feature of all complex human societies, for much the same reason that every animal species has parasites:  whenever freeloading on someone else’s labor and resources instead of doing the work yourself is an option, someone or something will be found to fill that niche. A handful of bloodsucking leeches. I’ll let you figure out why I’ve included this picture. Yet societies vary in the amount of lenocracy they tolerate. In particular, when markets are relatively f

 Go to the source to watch the videos... Yellen Dispatched to Beg China for Face-Saving Slowdown SIMPLICIUS The U.S.’ growing urgency in ‘containing’ China’s development was thrown in sharp relief this week as Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing for what turned out to be an execrable beggar’s tour. Just days prior to her arrival, she had buzzed the punditry with her historically memorable exclamation that China was now operating at  “overcapacity” (!!). What is overcapacity, you ask? It’s a new word for me, too—so let’s consult the dictionary together: overcapacity noun o·​ver·​ca·​pac·​i·​ty: ō′vər-kə-ˈpa-sə-tē  1:  When an insolent upstart nation’s surging economic activity totally humiliates the reigning hegemon’s own faltering economy, causing the many expensive dentures and porcelain veneers of the ruling class gerontocracy to rattle and grate with moral outrage and jealousy. 1b:  An undesirable situation causing Janet Yellen and Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio to droop like a pair of