We Have Always Lived in the Casino
John Maynard Keynes warned that when real investment becomes the by-product of speculation, the result is often disaster. But it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
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Speculation
“In every stock-jobbing swindle everyone knows that some time or other the crash must come, but everyone hopes that it may fall on the head of his neighbor, after he himself has caught the shower of gold and placed it in safety.”
“Along with a lot of worthless nonsense, the bubbles of the 1920s gave us some durable housing, highways, and a radio broadcasting infrastructure.”
Features
Money for Nothing
Why the modern financial sector is better at extracting rents than funding the future.
The House Always Wins
The gaming industry is turning every smartphone into a casino — and it’s destroying more lives than ever.
The Crypto State
The Trump White House has helped install the ticking time bomb that is cryptocurrency directly into our economy. When it blows up, the damage will be catastrophic.
“Your sense of stuckness isn’t an illusion. It reflects something real: the economy is stagnating.”
Front Matters
The Soapbox
Letters + The Internet Speaks
Firm Believers
Party Lines
Speculation in the Age of No Growth
Dossier
Struggle Session
The Rise and Fall of the Bob Ross NFT King
Director Alex Gibney on Dark Money
“In its ecstatic distortion and defiant energy, one hears a generation caught between utopia and uncertainty.”
Cultural Capital
Reading Materiel
In Carbon We Trust
Making Plagues Investable
Five Books on Speculation
Bass & Superstructure
Heavy Metals Music
DJ D-Sol’s Double Life
Red Channels
Minecraft Scorsese
Wannabe Gordon Gekkos
Ways of Seeing
High Rise, Hard Times
State of the Art
“For many Canadians, the Conservative promises are appealing — especially in the absence of a compelling left-wing alternative.”
The International
Americas
Where Will Canada’s Workers Go After the Election?
Europe
An Island of Little Landlords
Gambling on the Green Transition
Mena
Holy Profits
Selling Settlement
Africa
Rwanda’s Raiders
Asia
Japanese Pop’s Secret Utopians
A Sweatshop in Your Pocket
“American politicians can’t accuse Leo XIV of not knowing America or being anti-American.”
The Tumbrel
Girondins
When the State Runs the Numbers Game
Blue Devils
On Standstills, Social Media, and Soaring Toward the Strongest Democratic Party Possible
Thermidor
Will Pope Leo XIV Confront MAGA?
Elon’s Slash-and-Burn Operation
On Cupcakes, ICE, and Matchmaking Incels With Immigrants
Versailles
The US Economy Runs on Billionaire Pocket Change
Well-Endowed
Billionaire Backtracking
A Friend at Court?
“By 2023, organized labor held an unprecedented $35 billion in net assets, even as it approached record lows in membership numbers.”
