Great Books From Graduate School Vol. 2: Making Intellectual Sense of the Current State of Political Economy

We live in an epoch of uncertainty. The internet created Facebook and social relationships have been forever altered. The Soviet Union no longer exists, Castro is almost dead, North Korea has a 20 something leader, nations have gone bankrupt, China leads the world economy, the US has a President with a non-traditional last name, the Tea Party has changed conservative politics and the Occupy Wall Street movement has forced a widening of economic discourse. Further, previously demonized pop culture figures have become model citizens: Ice T, Ozzy Osbourne, Beats by Dre, Eminem, Rev Run, Dee Snyder, Alice Cooper, Diddy, Kid Rock, Chuck D, and FLAVAAAA FLAAAV! 

As if that isn't enough, the most reputable news comes from two sarcastic dudes, Luke Walton is still on the Lakers, Hillary is smarter than Bill, Uncle Luke coaches high school football, Magic is still alive and still has AIDS, reality stars have become real celebrities, Fox New is still on the air, Michael Moore has released another book, Lil Romeo plays ball for UCLA, Steve Jobs is cool, blacks have become the best quarterbacks, Rick Perry has been exposed but still feels confident enough to put out a homophobic television add, we still pollute, we still debate whether or not inequality exists, and many Americans still think a woman is biologically incapable of being president. 


NWA now stands for Nice Well behaved Attitude, Ice Cube directs children's films as does Fred Durst, students riot over the firing of a coach who covered up pedophilia and Americans criticize the youth of America for taking a political stance on corporate corruption. The governor of Wisconsin, a state with one of the top rated school systems in the nation, wants to reward his teachers by dismantling their union - and many American's want him to run for president because of it. 


Facebook posts read God Bless George Bush while Amnesty International urges the international community to arrest him for war crimes. Midwestern cities have been demoralized by capitalism but its residents continue to support tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. 

Leader of Hip Hop's New School | Fashawn - Higher Learning Vol. 2 Mixtape

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Way Back WhatUpWally? in Los Angeles | LMNO - Overtime

I remember when the Los Angeles smog first became a reality. It was 2003 and we had just decided to move the WhatUpWally? office to the Armenian capital of America - Glendale, California. Armed with a small arsenal of DJ equipment, a new 10" Apple Power Book, and a couple copies of Reason and Pro Tools software, we were ready to blow up in the Hip Hop Industry. 

At that time, the WUW? crew consisted of myself, Jiggy Josh, Kevin The Punching Bag Patterson, and the Bundizzle fa Shizzle. Our office, which also doubled as a kitchen (we considered the beach to be our real office), was piled high with turntables, a DIGI002, a few mics, some records, guitars, a Djembe, Jiggy's Metallica sound producing amp, and a poster of Avril Lavigne.

We didn't have much, but we had our studio. We spent many hours scouring the hip hop underground, watching authentic hip hop collectives like LA Symphony, Freestyle Fellowship, and the Living Legends. My favorites Los Angeles based hip hop collective was the The Visionaries - made up of Dannu, KeyKool, 2Mex, Lord Zen, DJ Rhettmatic, and (the point of this blog) LMNO. The collective has released a number of albums together as well as an assortment of collaborations and solo projects. For a good overview, check out our Visionaries Spotify Playlist complete with group and solo projects.

This whole story is more than a walk down memory lane. It is intended to introduce you to one of the dopest lyricists in hip hop. So listen and download (it is free) this new LMNO album:

Inside Source Productions never died - it just became a blog,

WhatUpWally? 

Formerly known as DJ Kriteek

Cincinnati Punk Rock | Vacation Free LP

Sarah Jane Elizabeth, the WUW? Cincinnati correspondent, heard these Nasti Nati punk rockers at a filthy bar in CinCity last weekend.












Get on with it now,
WhatUpWally?

Dance MuthaFrumpa | MY.NAME.IS.SKRILLEX

Before you even make a snotty comment... we realize that dubstep is sooooooo 4 years ago and Skrillex is like the Limp Bizkit of the whole scene. Disregarding our late entry into every high school prep's favorite dance genre - The Skrillex show at ACL made two of the WUW? staff members dehydrate, 1 faint, and the founder of the great WUW? blog sweat out 10 gallons of water. So we like this dude and you should as well.


Dancin our little hearts out,
WhatUpWally?

Diamond District | Yu - The Earn

Listening Party | Exile & Blu - Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them

Christmas Miracle | The Weeknd - Echoes of Silence Mixtape

I guess all that can be been said about The Weeknd has already been said, but the fact that he hit us up with a new mixtape already is like have Santa leave the cookies and not break a lamp! WUW?'s longest contributor Big Time Scotty Ross sent me an annoying text message at 8am eastern standard time - which was 5am where he was in Portland - Why the F*&^ Big Time was up that early is a mystery to me... but at least he actually had something important to say this time!

Well.... Merry National Week of Vacation to you and y'alls - - Here is part three of the House of Balloons Trilogy (:

Part 1: House of Balloons

Part 2: Thursday

Part Three: Echoes of Silence

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Getin In Where We Fittin In,
WhatUpWally?

Download Now | The Sleepwalkers - Edward Norton Free LP

Houston, Texas | Swishahouse - The Final Chapter 2K11 Mixtape

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Live From Facebook | Jesus Casts His Vote For the Heisman

After eight years of God's messenger Georgie Jr. and the disastrous failure of God's second favorite politician Slick Rick Perry, Texas Christians have been left without a man of god to rally around... until now!

Baylor Bear 4 JC

‎"To Baylor nation, I say this is a forever kind of moment, and may we be blessed to have many more like it in the future. God has a plan, and it's our job to fulfill it, and in this moment we have." RG3

Unbelievably believable!!

 5 hours ago near Dallas, TX · 

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  22 people like this.
• • awww was thinking about you yesterday! So cool! RG3 is adorbz!
    

    5 hours ago ·
  • So fun watching it with you!!!
    

    3 hours ago · 

Today at church and all over the Christian blogosphere (somebody should start christianblogspot.com it might look something like this) good little Baptists all over the state are singing the Lord's praises, as their creator of the world decided to cast his vote for this year's Heisman award. Now Texas football fans no longer need to declare how much they love Tim Tebow because they have their very own Christian athlete. And we all know that nothing legitimizes a religion like a winner on the football field. 

Now don't get us wrong, Robert Griffin the Third is a big time baller but let's be real for one minute... if there is a god, does it really give a *&^% about college football? I know it is more sacrilegious to defame footballs name than it is to defame god's... I apologize for my irreverence.

But seriously, these people are still praising God for George Bush, still think Rick Perry is a man of God, are Tebowing every chance they can get, but don't seem to understand why the rest of us in the world thinks this is strange. 


**Bonus side note** Tim Tebow is still God's chosen one

Matt Newman

The kid just has it together. He's a winner on the field as well as off. He exemplifies a winning, persevering, undying, selfless spirit that fuels his team to do the same. He believes when others doubt and his faith is unstoppable; it goes beyond just the field yet people hate him? Tebow - kids just the real deal. Expect Wheaties and Milk ads soon. And stop hating, your mother should slap you.

 ·  · 12 · about an hour ago via mobile · 

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  Stephanie likes this.
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    Emily Luderitz Noblin I love Tim Tebow! His book was great.
    

    46 minutes ago · 
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    Bethany Ann Gardner Love it Matt! He is such a great witness!
    

    24 minutes ago ·  ·  1

So this god that provides you with the foundation of your morality has ordained a president that tortures, a governor that lies and hates homosexuals but the same god despises a president that wants to provide health insurance for the poor and is a Christian but not enough of a Christian because you don't believe in his birth certificate. Not too mention that the son of god also enjoys  rewarding greedy businessman that sacrifice their ethics Monday through Saturday but teach bible stories on Sunday?


Maybe it is just those of us in the WhatUpWally? office that think this is slightly odd.


God bless football, capitalism, torture, cheating, football, money, and whatever else we decide is good,
WhatUpWally?

Not Great, Not Horrible | 50 Cent - The Big Ten Mixtape | Free Download

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The Christian's Confusion | Rick Perry's Not Ashamed but You Should Be

Most of the things many of the candidates running for the Republican nomination say, though surprising, strike me more as idiotic than scary. However, the recent campaign video from the governor of Texas, strikes me as more than dangerous. Check it out for yourself:



It seems as if the online world dislikes this message... Do you?
WhatUpWally?

Video | Fashawn - Skating Down the Block

If you like the track, make sure you check out Fashawn's Exile produced, Boy Meets World Album.

Occupy YouTube | Black Sheep, Tribe Called Quest, and the #OWS Anthem

This is the best OWS anthem we have heard... although Lupe's new mixtape provides great commentary on the current state of political affairs.



NWA said it first and said it best,
WhatUpWally?

Occupy Economics | 300 Economists Who Stand With #OccupyWallStreet

We are excited about the widening of economic discourse in America. If nothing else comes about from the OWS movement, those who have stood up for Americans can be proud that they have forced a fresh conversation into the public sphere.

Make sure you read econ4.org mission following the video.


Spotted at MoveOn | Source Econ4




ECON4 Mission Statement
The economic crisis we face today is not only a crisis of the economy. It is also a crisis of economics. The free-market fundamentalism that attained ideological dominance in the final decades of the 20th century has been discredited by financial collapse, global imbalances, mass unemployment, and environmental degradation. To confront these challenges, we need an economics for the 21st century.

We need an economics for open minds that breaks free of the closed-minded economic dogmas of the past. We need an economics that aims to secure long-run human well-being, not an economics preoccupied with maximizing short-run output and profits. We need an economics that recognizes that we need to safeguard the Earth for our children and generations to come. We need an economics for people, the planet, and the future.

The Challenge

Economics for our times and for our shared future requires profound departures from the orthodox economics of the past. To secure long-run human well-being, an economy must meet four necessary conditions:

• A level playing field: Every child ought to have equivalent opportunities for economic advancement. A child’s life chances should not depend upon accidents of birth such as race, gender, or parental income. Access to food, health care, education, and a clean and safe environment are basic human rights. These are not commodities that ought to be allocated on the basis of purchasing power, nor privileges to be bestowed on the basis of political power. A level playing field requires fairness in the distribution of these elements of private and social wealth.

• Resilience: A healthy economy is a resilient economy able to withstand unanticipated shocks. To borrow a metaphor from the physical sciences, resilience is the ability to bounce without breaking. We can build resilience into our economy and its infrastructure by following the design principles of diversity and dispersion. The aim is not to maximize “efficiency” at a single point in time, but rather to minimize economic vulnerability over time.

• True-cost pricing: The prices that guide economic decisions in markets and government policies must be based on a full accounting of costs and benefits. When costs such as pollution – or benefits such as care for children and the elderly – are hidden from view, the result is implicit subsidies and taxes that deflect incentives away from the goal of long-run well-being. Costs that are hidden from view can grow over time, as in the case of global warming pollution; and benefits that are hidden from view can erode over time, as in the provision of unpaid labor for care of dependents. A full accounting of costs and benefits does not mean that non-monetary aspects of well-being such as liberty, community, and life expectancy must be translated into dollars and cents. It means that non-market values should not be ignored and thereby effectively valued at zero.

• Real democracy: An effective economy requires transparency, accountability, and democratic governance. Institutions in the private, non-profit and public sectors alike will serve long-run well-being only if safeguarded from capture by powerful players pursuing their own myopic self-interest. This can be secured only by a democratic distribution of power. A central goal of education, including economics education, must be to equip students for a life of active citizenship.

These are the central pillars of Econ4: economics for people, for the planet, and for the future. The following table lists some of the key differences between a healthy economy organized on Econ4 principles and our currently ailing economy that has been guided by the economic orthodoxy of the past:

Here's to the possibility of a better world,

WhatUpWally?

Occupy Facebook | When Gays, Teachers, and NPR Crashed the Stock Market

Spotted at: MoveOn

Acknowledging we are sideline political actors but still showing support,
WhatUpWally?