Managing selfishness
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 12th, 2008
The police inspector has a problem. Although he knows his two prisoners are guilty, he doesn’t have sufficient evidence to convict either one.
His only hope is to get them to confess, but they refuse to talk. So he separates the prisoners and makes each the following offer: If you and your partner both refuse […]
Bad Marx for capitalism?
Written by Steven Schwartz on October 23rd, 2008
Karl Marx is back in fashion. Sales of Das Kapital are booming as the “world realizes” it was in this book that Marx predicted capitalism would destroy itself.
According to German publisher Jörn Schütrumpf these new readers are “those of a young academic generation, who have come to recognise that the neoliberal promises of happiness have […]
Australia at war: now that was tough
Written by Steven Schwartz on October 14th, 2008
The stock market’s tanking, the world is slipping into recession and banks are falling over like dominoes. Jobs and credit are getting scarce and pensioners are finding their retirement much less comfortable than they had planned.
The media have turned the volume up to screaming point - talking about “meltdown” and the “unravelling” of our […]
Tough times, resilient people
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 30th, 2008
“Cognitive dissonance” is a phrase used by psychologists to describe the discomfort you feel when new information challenges long held beliefs. The American historian Gertrude Himmelfarb has a slightly different take, describing it as “the discrepancy between reality and ideology that only truly learned and clever people can achieve”. (‘A dark and bloody crossroads’, The […]
Nightmare on Wall Street: opportunity to innovate?
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 17th, 2008
The ‘Nightmare on Wall Street’ headline has been getting a good workout over the past few days as share markets take a hammering in the wake of the US financial crisis.
Among other developments US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch has been forced to accept a Bank of America takeover, and there […]