I haven’t written anything for this blog in the past month. Or rather, I’ve written quite a bit, but nothing I’ve felt comfortable posting. No surprise why.
On the one hand, I have — like everyone — opinions about the election, and the coming Trump presidency and broader Republican ascendancy. But none of those opinions seem especially insightful or original or coherent, and most of them I don’t hold with great confidence. I’m also not sure that this space is the right one for discussions of political strategy: Readers of this blog don’t constitute the kind of community for which the question “what should we do?” makes sense.
But on the other hand, it doesn’t feel right — it doesn’t feel possible — to just go on posting about the same economic questions as before, as if nothing has changed. Even if, in important ways, nothing has. And it still seems too soon to know where the terrains of struggle will be under the new administration, or to guess how the economic debates will reorient themselves along the new political field lines.
I’ve felt stuck. I know I’m not the only one who feels like they have nothing useful to say.
But you still have to get up in the morning, you still have to go to your job, you have to teach your classes, you have to write blog posts. So, back to work.
Your last five posts were all really terrific (including the manifesto in Jacobin). There are plenty of people writing about Trump but hardly anybody writing about what you write about.
By the way, I finally got around to reading “The Making of Global Capitalism” at your recommendation. It’s fantastic. Thanks.
Thanks Chris. Really appreciate it.