Political Economy

The Secret Life of Ordinary Objects ← Series Home Cities, those immense, crowded artifacts of human civilization, are often hailed as triumphs of permanence and order. Yet, viewed across the sweep of history, they are profoundly fragile constructs, perpetually vulnerable to the chaos of nature and, more often, to the failures of human governance. The most immediate and brutal threat to any urban center, short of warfare, is fire. A city that burns repeatedly does so not primarily for technical reasons, but for political and economic ones. Fire policy, in its enforcement and its neglect, serves as a ruthless barometer, revealing precisely which lives, which properties, and which segments of the population matter—and which can be sacrificed to the flames. ...

The Secret Life of Ordinary Objects ← Series Home The Material Mandate: How the Clothes We Wear Codify Class, Power, and Purity The imperative to clothe oneself, like the need to eat or seek shelter, is fundamental to human existence. Yet, what began as a simple utilitarian response to climate and modesty has evolved into one of the most complex and revealing social systems we possess: the wardrobe. ...

The Secret Life of Ordinary Objects ← Series Home The Cycle of Revelation and Resistance: Why Societies Consistently Squander the Window for Reform The catastrophic failure of a city or an industry—be it through flood, fire, or earthquake—serves as a powerful, agonizing moment of collective revelation. It strips away the comforting illusions of equity and competence, exposing the deep-seated political and economic choices that predetermine who lives, who dies, and who ultimately benefits from the disaster’s aftermath. ...

Hunger is Man-Made: The Political Economy of Food Scarcity 1 Hunger is Man-Made - Part 1: How Inequality Fabricates Scarcity 2 Hunger is Man-Made - Part 2: Engineered Vulnerability: When Famine Becomes an Act of History 3 Hunger is Man-Made - Part 3: The Green Trap: How Modernization Concentrated Land and Poverty 4 Hunger is Man-Made - Part 4: The Global Supermarket: Corporate Control, Debt, and the Toxic Gift of Aid ← Series Home Key Takeaways 500+ million people face hunger despite global abundance: This crisis unfolds not from food scarcity, but from concentrated control over production resources. Scarcity is an illusion created by inequality: Sharp disparities in controlling food resources obstruct development and distort utilization. Whoever controls bread controls the mind: Control of essential resources determines who eats and who starves, enabling the exploitation of populations. Hunger stems from human systems, not nature: Malthus was wrong—the problem is dependency and underdevelopment, not limits to growth. Demystifying hunger is the first step to change: Understanding the structures that manufacture scarcity is essential for implementing genuine solutions. Post 1: Hunger is Man-Made - Part 1: How Inequality Fabricates Scarcity The book, The Hunger Industry, challenges readers to rethink deeply held assumptions about food and subsistence. Readers will confront ideas previously accepted as settled facts. This work compels mental alertness, anxiety, and a departure from intellectual routine. It deals with the most crucial human issue: securing daily bread. The authors emphasize that “without bread, man does not live” and whoever controls the bread controls the mind. ...