10 Comments

1. 

   zip on January 23, 2023 at 12:45 pm

   Good morning panopticon…. when I think of your ‘ name’ I always immediately think of the period when my work involved me a lot with prisoners. Sometimes they would stay in those few architectural panopticon that the Netherlands still has, all devised by the ‘utilitarian’ Jeremy Bentham.
   Bardi recently wrote a rather ‘jumpy free-association’ blog about utilitarianism.

   Your chosen interesting article on Egypt brought me to the following question.

   You will agree with me that the economic implications of the war between Russia and Ukraine are huge for numerous countries, such as, in the case of Egypt, rising grain prices The economic implications for the EU and the former East European Soviet satellite states (colonies) are also huge.

   However, I rarely read in your economic selections articles devoted to the let me call it the ‘ economy of destruction’ (referring to Tooze’s truly brilliant study) for both Russia and the EU.
   Certainly you hear little about Russia, nor about the ‘ aid packages’ to Ukraine from, say, the IMF.
   Are there few articles about that or do you have another reason for ‘reporting’ little about that.

   • 

     Panopticon on January 23, 2023 at 1:21 pm

     Good morning, Zip. I chose the name Panopticon on a whim, not knowing a huge amount about them. My intent was to convey a sense of being all-seeing and I hadn’t fully appreciated that their primary function is penal. I subsequently did a bit of research and was intrigued to discover that the largest one ever constructed is located off the south coast of Cuba and can still be seen in its dilapidated form:

     https://johnryle.com/?article=a-visit-to-the-panopticon

     Re Russia and Ukraine, you are astute in your observation. I have shied away somewhat from reporting on at least some of the economic ramifications of the war. This is for two reasons: firstly, I am acutely aware that the conflict has had a polarising effect on those on the outside, looking in, as it were. It seems to be part and parcel of these times that the big issues of the day become viciously divisive (see Trump, Brexit, Covid vaccines etc.) and I haven’t wanted to add fuel to the fire or appear partisan; secondly, and of course not unrelatedly, because war begets propaganda, the articles I read leave me constantly second-guessing the motives and objectivity of the author.

     Do any other readers have strong views about this? If the general feeling is that I should be going down this rabbit hole, too, then I will do so. Albeit gingerly. 😆

2. 

   Robert lowrey on January 23, 2023 at 4:19 pm

   Your reservations are well-founded, so perhaps you could side-step them. It is my firm belief that that environment, economics and energy are inextricably intertwined like a triple helix, so since you have a day for environment (climate), and economic, perhaps on one day, (Saturday, perhaps?) you could do one on energy, which is what the conflict in Ukraine is basically all about (all 3 of the Petro states of Russia, the USA, and bone-Sawdi Arabia are currently engaged in Wars … no coincidence there, I would suggest), so having a day for energy would automatically cover the war without making it the sole subject of that category, n-est-pas? In any case, great work, you really fill a huge hole the MSM prefers to leave gaping. For that I thank you.

   • 

     Panopticon on January 23, 2023 at 4:32 pm

     Robert, thank you for the very kind words. There is so much interplay, as you say, between our various converging crises. Let me ponder… Energy is often already at the forefront of my mind as I put together these economic threads… I could perhaps look more closely at trade wars, armed conflicts and geopolitical friction in general.

3. 

   Rain Lewis on January 24, 2023 at 3:08 am

   JP, one of the reasons I enjoy your daily blog is because I have never yet found myself confronted with a ‘peanut gallery’ commentariat, and the wide diversity of your reports in summary/headline format enables me to quickly dig deeper as I choose, instead of the single-focus format so popular elsewhere. Thirdly, I have to come over time, to trust your sources.

   However, I do not have strong views one way or another regarding you expanding to geopolitical affairs.
   If you do, I will certainly read them too! 🙂

   I am reminded of a year or more ago, when I became interested in economics, (something lacking in my own education and life experience to that date), and having to wade through an enormous amount of toxic waste before finding you, and your helpful links to other sites and commentaries eg ourfiniteworld
   when my personal research and reading on the energy basis started to piece together into a more coherent big picture – and yes, the view from the Panopticon 🙂
   I didn’t realise the panopticon structure was mostly penal either!

   Anyway, I found the following article on the war in Ukraine early in my research, and it made sense to me after going back and revisiting the initial invasion of the Donbas region and Crimea in 2014, when Ukraine’s previous President was pro-Russian. Also I did google for resource maps of Ukraine, and how they were starting to explore and drill the eastern regions when Russia started sabre-rattling, only to escalate after Zelensky became President.

   https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/28/ukraine-war-russia-resources-energy-oil-gas-commodities-agriculture/

   • 

     Panopticon on January 24, 2023 at 11:17 am

     Rain, thank you for the kind words. I had no formal training in economics either but, given how energy and systems-illiterate a lot of mainstream thinking is, there is an argument that you are better off approaching the problem without that baggage.

     The Foreign Policy article makes a lot of sense – scratch the surface of any conflict and resources are going to be a key part of the dynamic. However, as I read it, I am keenly aware that some readers will find its characterisation of Russia’s invasion as primarily a cynical resource-grab motivated by greed unfair. And here’s the kicker – I just don’t have the expertise to tease out who is more “right”.

     This is why I tend to pull the lens back and try to look at the totality of our predicament as a species rather than get too embroiled in the geopolitical details.

4. 

   Snufkin on January 24, 2023 at 9:22 am

   Hmm… As we start heading down those LtG curves I suppose everything the newspapers write about becomes relevant. War and the consequences of war is not part of the LtG model (or Gail Tverberg’s model or Tim Morgan’s model). But it’s very difficult to isolate war and the effects of war from everything else that’s happening to the economy. What a mess!

   Since you’re just one person you probably have to limit your scope somehow. A limited scope may also make the site more interesting than if all sorts of stuff get included. And it’s probably a good idea to avoid issues that are too divisive, as you say (although things like Covid or the war in Ukraine no doubt belong to the overall picture in a multitude of ways).

   I’m not sure what you should do. Perhaps you could take a week or two off from the roundups and try to rewrite the ‘About Economy’ section?

   • 

     Panopticon on January 24, 2023 at 11:21 am

     Snufkin, that’s it exactly – once you are viewing the news through the prism of limits to growth, it is hard not to see them at work everywhere, with only the degree of attribution uncertain.

     And you are right – I must re-write the “About” section. I had completely forgotten!

5. 

   zip on January 24, 2023 at 4:50 pm

   LTG models exist within complex social and economic processes and events and do not exist ‘ in isolation’ as if they were the ‘ ten commandments’ carved in stone and valid forever.

   This is also the limitation of Gail Tverberg and Tim Morgan’s ‘iteration exercises’. It will all be fine….

   People just keep dancing around the golden calf even though the Mozisses of our time see that grinding to stamp with their sticks and splitting rocks.

   Basically, working too tightly within frameworks regularly lead to a somewhat dogmatic, schematic and cramped way of reasoning, which does injustice to complex human and historical processes

   War is such a complex process… the annoying thing is that reporting on it regularly degenerates into yet other dogmatic ideological models.

   Still, I think that within the frameworks within which Panopticon researched and published there is little danger to fear….His stream of posts represents a pleasant versatility with an eye for details and larger issues, and in that sense is objectifying and danger-free because it is neither his own opinion nor his own texts.

   If you can post about a protester’s testicles in France, why not about the war in Ukraine? is, of course, the key question.

   • 

     Panopticon on January 24, 2023 at 6:18 pm

     “His stream of posts represents a pleasant versatility with an eye for details and larger issues, and in that sense is objectifying and danger-free because it is neither his own opinion nor his own texts.”

     Thank you for the vote of confidence, Zip. I am certainly happy to offer my opinions if asked for them, although with the caveat that I am a jack of all trades and master of none. My preference, as you say, is to just lay it all out there and let the Internet hive-mind speak for itself.

     As for that poor chap and his testicles, my intention is not to sensationalise but I am mindful that I do not want the threads to become too repetitive or monotonous, so I am ever watchful for headlines that are a little, shall we say, quirky.