Bungacast

/377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor

On Australia's lockdown.

 

We welcome back Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor to talk about their new book, The Locked-Up Country, to try to learn some lessons from Australia's response to Covid-19. We also talk about the country's recent Indigenous Voice referendum and ask whether it was Oz's "Brexit Moment".

 

In the episode we ask:

• Was the pandemic another success for the 'lucky country'?
• How was the Australian state transformed from the 1970s to the 2020s?
• Why was Australia's pandemic planning inadequate?
• What was up with the hotel-based quarantines?
• Why did the public largely support these measure?
• And what can the rest of the world learn from the experience?

Excerpt: /363/ Outsourcing the State

On the politics of consultancy

 

[Patreon Exclusive. Sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]

 

The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?

 

It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the right now does too. How do these positions differ? And how are these questions related to another critique – that of 'bullshit jobs'?

 

Readings & Links:

• In Clover, Laleh Khalili, LRB (attached)
• The Big Con — the case against consultancies (review of Mazzucatto & Collington), Diane Coyle, FT (attached)
• Letter: Groundless assertions about a trusted profession (response from a consultant), FT
• How PwC captured Australia, Shahar Hameiri, Unherd
• Consultancies Have Been the Handmaidens of Neoliberalism, Nathan Akehurst, Jacobin
• Radical Centrism: Uniting the Radical Left and the Radical Right, Ashwin Parameswaran, Macroresilience
• The limits of government outsourcing, Martin Bortz, Pursuit
• /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

/338/ The Energy Theory of Everything ft. Matt Huber

On who owns the power.

Matt Huber joins us to discuss his article, "Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid", and how organised labour is central to a politics of plenty. What is the grid and who owns it? What are the limitations of a "100% renewables" approach? 

On the politics of energy, the left is divided in a similar way to the ruling class. How do we move from a strategy of 'blocking' (preventing new infrastructure) to one of 'building'? And why does a movement to limit climate change need to focus on production, rather than consumption?

We conclude by discussing the conflict between struggles around "the end of the month" (living standards) and those around "the end of the world" (climate change).

Readings & Links:

• Socialist Politics & the Electricity Grid, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Catalyst
• Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet, Matt Huber, Verso
• On post-neoliberalism: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?, Bungacast
• On de-growth: /310/ Do You Want to De-Grow?, Bungacast
• On green activism: /91/ Exhaustion Revealing ft. Leigh Phillips, Bungacast
• Matt's Twitter thread on Kokei Saito's degrowth communism 

 

/331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian

On cracked-up capitalism.

Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras.

We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing?

For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

• Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian
• The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian
• /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
• As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator
• Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator

• Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter

/321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi

On The Covid Consensus.

 

We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action? 

 

And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion?

 

In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm.  

 

For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast 

 

Links:

• The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi
• /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze
• /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

Excerpt: /296/ Last-Gasp Neoliberalism (Trussonomics)

On Trussonomics.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

Having stumbled upon a successful recipe under Boris Johnson which would see greater state intervention, Britain's Tories then pivoted to a much more pro-market approach. But the markets haven't liked it – they've hated it.

 

What does this say about neoliberalism and what the new orthodoxy is? Why did markets react so badly against a budget that featured things they normally like, such as lower rates of corporate taxes? And does this mean the market's authority has been restored, but under a new guise?

Readings:

• Liz Truss’s Britain Is a Morbid Symptom of the World’s New Era, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
• The markets are wrong about ‘Trussonomics’ just like they were about Brexit, Julian Jessop, Telegraph
• What is Kwasi Kwarteng really up to? One answer: this is a reckless gamble to shrink the state, Adam Tooze, Guardian
• Britain's Tory Meltdown Is a Case of Socially Determined Stupidity, David Jamieson, Jacobin
• The economic consequences of Liz Truss, Martin Wolf, FT

/222/ Nukes 4 Kids ft. Emmet Penney, pt. 1

On the global energy crisis. 

 

Nuclear energy advocate Emmet Penney (@nukebarbarian) joins us to discuss the growing energy crunch in Europe, the US and beyond. Nuclear power is opposed by an unholy alliance of environmentalists and neoliberals - yet it seems the best solution for providing plentiful, reliable, and clean energy. As a demand, it seems an open goal for the left - so why are so many resistant?

 

Part 2 is available here for patreon subscribers. 

 

Links & Readings:

• Nuclear Barbarian - pro-nuclear podcast & newsletter
• ex.haust - Emmet's other, co-hosted pod
• Undeveloping America, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
• Political Life in the Lottery of Babylon, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
• How we happened to sell off our electricity, James Meek, LRB 
• A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, Robert Bryce, Public Affairs (book)

/213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze

On Covid and the end of the end of history.

Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book, Shutdown. In 2020 everything changed... so that everything might remain the same.

What were the reasons behind the global shutdown? Was it a result of over-protection, a policy of repression, or the result of structural tensions? Has China been the winner of the pandemic? How have central banks been victims of their own success? And does this represent the end of neoliberalism?  

The latter part of the interview continues over on patreon.com/bungacast

Excerpt: /212/ Three Articles: Middle-Class Anxieties

On net-zero, CCP nanny state, and optimised dating.

 

We start off discussing the HBO series "The White Lotus" before tackling three articles on middle-class anxieties: climate change and pressures on UK living standards; the Chinese state's crackdown on private tutoring; and women's attempt to avoid crappy men through 'Female Dating Strategy'.

 

The full episode is available to patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Articles:

• Boris Johnson’s push for net zero plunged into chaos, Edward Malnick & Emma Gatten, The Telegraph (attached in patreon)
• China’s nanny state: why Xi is cracking down on gaming and private tutors, Tom Mitchell & Thomas Hale, FT (attached in patreon)
• ‘Sales funnels’ and high-value men: the rise of strategic dating, Katie Cunningham, The Guardian 

 

/211/ Unlocking the Lockdown Left ft. @galexybrane

On lockdowns, education, and the left.

California middle-school teacher and social critic Alex Gutentag (@galexybrane) joins us to talk about the depredations of lockdown in California and the wider world.

How has lockdown affected different segments of society, and how damaging have school closures been on education? Why has the professional middle class been so in favour of widespread restrictions – and how did the left go from backing Medicare 4 All to cheering on lockdowns in the space of a few months?

Readings:

• The War on Reality, Alex Gutentag, The Tablet  
• The Great Covid Class War, Alex Gutentag, The Bellows

/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton Jäger

On cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK.

Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'. We examine Biden's massive trillion-dollar spending plans and ask if this means we're leaving neoliberalism. What are the limitations to the 'cashification of welfare'? Also comparisons with cash transfers or lack thereof in the UK, Brazil and Belgium.

Plus Anton talks us through recent Belgian history and why its immobilism and bureaucracy has actually prevented a full-on neoliberal assault. 

[Part 2 available at patreon.com/bungacast]

Readings:

• “Welfare without the welfare state”: the death of the postwar welfarist consensus, Anton Jäger & Daniel Zamora, New Statesman
• Joe Biden Is a Transformational President, David Brooks, NYT

/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones

On Covid state failure + responses to listeners. 

 

The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

 

We start off by discussing listener points and criticisms – e.g. is PMC a useful category? Is a counterculture a terrible idea? Were we wrong on Deleuze? More on the lockdown debate... – before featuring the second part of our discussion with Lee Jones on the coronavirus and state failure (from 45:30).

 

We look in depth at what went wrong in Western state responses to the pandemic, why they didn't follow their own plans, and compare this to South Korea's relative success.

 

Readings:

• How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
• COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state, Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy

/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones

On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure.

Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myanmar (and why the word “coup” can be misleading), and explains the nature of the forces opposing the military, in the context of the country’s recent transition to civilian rule.

Then, from 40mins, we discuss how the UK failed in dealing with the pandemic, and how this applies across the West. Lee's recent work looks at the neoliberal "regulatory state" and its incapacities, so we compare the UK's failure with Korea's relative success.

Readings:

• Preliminary thoughts on the Myanmar “coup”, Lee Jones, Medium
• Responding to the Myanmar coup, Crisis Group
• How the Civil Disobedience Movement can win, Aye Min Thant and Yan Aung, Frontier
• How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
• COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state (pdf), Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy 

Excerpt: /148/ Three Articles (September)

Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

 

On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.

 

Readings:

• Of moonshots and bus subsidies: How state aid became a Brexit deal-breaker, The Economist (attached in patreon)
• Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning, Wolfgang Münchau, FT (attached in patreon)
• Why are we racialising Beethoven, Ralph Leonard, Unherd

Additional referenced pieces:

• Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment, FT
• We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole, Katherine Yik & Martin Kulldorff, Jacobin

Excerpt: /124/ Three Articles: Money & Power

This is a subscriber-only episode. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

In this latests Three Articles we discuss power, money and the power of money - in a post-Covid world.

 

Readings:

• The Death of the Central Bank Myth, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
• Why the Neoliberals Won’t Let This Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski, Jacobin
• Plan A for the coronavirus, Curtis Yarvin, Medium