Economics for Everyone - Outside the box

 

Have you read this?

I'm reading it at the mo, for college - I'm doing Social Science - we're on the economics module which i thought was gonna be proper hard, and it is, but a welcome surprise was the fact my tutor (who by the way  is ab fab dahhling) is into modern economics, he's an activist and although pushes us to think for ourselves and try to link the economic factors in our own lives to get a better understanding of it all. Basically we're learning that economics is everything, it's in everything and even when it's not so obvious just look a little harder and you'll find the connection. Plus we should question  everything and everyone - not in the obnoxious and annoying way like "why? why? why?" (- even on a toddler it's only cute for the first couple of "why's?" -  am i right?? !!) ....anyway, so we should question things, because ...and here's the part that might shock you, so i thought i should warn u....the professionals aren't always right. GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! he! he! hee!

so anyway, this book is basically an emphasis of the above, but done with more finesse. Jim Stanford's tone is easy to follow and lively. It's def on my list of 'good stuff' and (ooh just had a thought, might make a list of 'good stuff' for whoever ever might chance upon these ere words of mine. you might want to know whats on my list of 'good stuff' so i shall do that, soon, something to look forward to eh) - right back to trying to big up this book. actually that's it about the book it's up to you now.

this is about Economics for Everyone from Heteredox Newsletter - 

'The book itself reads like a well-written story, complete with illustrations by political 

cartoonist Tony Biddle—including the progressive building of an economic “road map”  that 

details  the circular flow of production and income, finance and trade, and people and their 

environment. While the format may put off more academically oriented teachers, this deceptively 

simple book represents popular education at its best. By communicating the basic principles of 

heterodox economics in a manner that is not only clear and accessible, but also relevant to the Heterodox Economic Newsletter concerns of ordinary people, Stanford  prepares the way for more advanced study as well as provides the means for enlightened citizenship.' http://heterodoxnews.com/htnf/htn81/Stanford-Dodd.pdf

When I started this module of my social science course, I thought I wouldn't get anything to do with economics coz I thought it was all about money and numbers and markets and big words i wouldnt understand! Turns out my tutor is wicked and is all about getting us to understand the subject from a different angle, a more modern one which represents the world we live in and our own lives. Less of the complicated graphs and tables and more of the different way of interpreting economics. Of course to fully understand economics, I think if the classical way appeals to you then go for it, just keep an open mind and try to look outside of the box. I also think the classical way is important and should be used but just taught differently. I'm into the heteredox way - still learning though...

Heterodox economics refers to economic theories and communities of economists that are in various ways an alternative to mainstream economics. It is a multi-level term that refers to a body of economic theories developed by economists who hold an irreverent position vis-à-vis mainstream economics and are typically rejected out of hand by the latter; to a community of heterodox economists whom identify themselves as such and embrace a pluralistic attitude towards heterodox theories without rejecting contestability and incommensurability among heterodox theories; and to the development of a coherent economic theory that draws upon various theoretical contributions by heterodox approaches which stand in contrast to mainstream theory. (Frederic S. Lee, 2008. in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics) 

If you fancy a look see at the newsletter this is its home page - http://www.heterodoxnews.com/HEN/home.html




This is an interesting blog, you can follow on twitter too http://unlearningeconomics.wordpress.com/

Social Class

Of course class exists in society, if it didn't we wouldn't be questioning it now would we.


Personally, I think we need social class, I see it as a kind of guide for social structure.

However I don't believe you can jump from one class to another, I don't think you can change your class, you can change your life and lifestyle, but you cant change who you are, even if you change your name by dipole, underneath it all your still you in the original sense, even if you change your gender just because you've cut off or sewn on something doesn't change the fact you were a certain sex before you went under the knife. Just as someone could move from a council estate to a castle but it's still you who lives in it, it's still your home wherever you move to.

For example, imagine a Mr. Bloggs, who in the historical sense is lower class (i.e has no or low income, poor housing, poor lifestyle etc) but in modern society would most likely be classed as working class, even if they don't actually work - anyway - imagine that person living on a council estate - now this isn't to say that everyone who lives on a council estate is lower or working class, but neither does it mean they are of a higher class. I am just trying to give an example that people can relate to in the sense that a council housing estate usually houses most working class because there is usually more affordable housing or council housing. 

Right so we have Mr. Bloggs living on a council estate maybe working on minimum wage or maybe on benefits, lets say he wins the lottery and is now a millionaire. If we agree that having a lot of money equals status and power and if we assume that the elite and higher classes have power and status and money then shall we assume that Mr. Bloggs is now a member of the upper crust? I don't think so. It's just Mr. Bloggs with a lot of money.

Class has been and continues to be defined by certain properties, probably the most common being education and money. There's a lot I could go into there.


In 1515 the first free grammar school was founded in Mnachester but it wasn;'t until 1840 when the Grammar School Act was passed to enforce the needs and then much later in 1870 the Forsters Education Act made elementary education available for all, then 1876 Elementary Education Act put duty on parents to ensure 3R's then there was the 1880 Elementary Act (Mundella Act) made elementary education compulsory and blah blah blaaaaaahhhhhhhh


I cant be bothered to go on about bloody dates, to be honest I don't think it matters so much when unless it's a very significant time like the fall of the Berlin Wall or when slavery was abolished, that sort of thing. Anyway once again I am babbling so lets get to the point, just because something happened doesn't mean that when it happened is significant. (I know I know this is open to A LOT of criticism but I'm just flowing at the moment ok so bear with me...) In this case I think the end result is what matters really. That sounds like what happened in between the dates is insignificant, that is not what i mean, I am just saying the results of these Acts are the most relevant because of where they have taken us to today. Of course all this bloody business with government cuts and education budgets and all that bollox Cameron and his buddies are enforcing has opened up a can of worms we keep getting force fed with. 


But anyhoo...


 I was gonna get into how education can be a type of classification but I'm getting tired and I gotta get up in a few hours so I'll get into that another time.

Laters alligators!!!!!   


 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Another day

Another day. Didn't do any of the things I planned to do today. It didn't help only getting up about 3pm!! Lazy cow.  Hey, it's Sunday a day of rest! That's my excuse anyway.


I did my leg dressings today, I'm now in a lot of pain though. I'm in pain all the time but it's usually a bit worse after I've dressed them, suppose it's all the fussing and contact with them with cleaning them and all that shit. It's not the nicest of things I have to do that's for sure. I have chronic bi-lateral leg ulcers on both legs. It's actually just one huge mutha-fucker of an ulcer on each leg. I've had them for over 7 years now. It's shit. I've spent the last 7 years covered in bandages from my toes to my knees 24 fucking 7. There's about 6 layers of dressings. Safe to say I've not worn a skirt or a dress since I've had them! Not that I'm that bothered, it only gets to me when there's like some event or something where I would have worn something short and sexy once upon a time. So I live in jeans.


Not to sound too big headed but I'm not ugly, I'm not beautiful either but I'm not a minger so I'm lucky that people cant always tell I have a disability. I dont really go out unless I can move about alright or I have college, so people dont see me when I'm in tears and struggling. It's proper shit actually, some days I cant even get 15 feet from my bed to the bloody toilet without crying.


But then there are good days, and on those days it can seem like I dont have a problem at all. I like those days, but I probably dont take advantage of them as much as I should. It doesn't help being skint though!! I know there are loads of people without money but when I dont have any money I really dont have any money. I dont have a credit card I can use so when I'm out of milk I cant just pop down the shops and pick up a pint like the next person. 

I'm just proper shit with money, it wasn't always like this. I used to be well good with money, I'd save for things and I usually always had money and I was generous with it too. Now I'm always skint and I'm tighter than.... something that's really tight - couldn't think of anything good, sorry!


I reckon a lot of it's to do with being a drug addict. When I was smack bang in it, on the streets, making money every day, all day and only buying drugs, I didn't need money for anything else. i usually either stole stuff I needed or got it free from various organisations or good will people - it's surprising how many people will actually give you stuff when your on road. There are some really nice people out there, there are some right bastards too, same with every area of life I suppose, but when you are on the streets you want to trust people but experience usually makes it hard to do that.


Anyway, enough about all that for now.

I have college in the morning so I better get my head down. 


Time to fly off to fairy land, never never land..


Nighty Night x   x   x                                

OK

Everything will be okay in the end.

 If it's not ok, then it's not then end...

           

A Rock and a Hard Place

I'm in so much fucking pain right now. My legs hurt so much. I changed the dressings a couple hours ago and it feels raw. I'm always in pain but it's always worse after they've been dressed. But there aint much I can do about it, just gotta get on with it. The doctors wont give me better painkillers than paracetamol and diclofenic!!!! It's coz I'm on methedone. It's mental really. I got down to 50mls and I'd like to be off it completely but the docs reckon I should stay on it for my pain and maybe even go up, the whole point to this methedone shit is so I get off it completely. know what I mean? So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Hey

Hey there! So this is my first time blogging, but there's always gotta be a first time for everything, right? 


I'm not sure how this works so I'm just gonna type whatever comes into my head and hope for the best really...

I'm on these pain killers which basically knock you out about half and hour after taking them. I thought I'd taken them last night and settled down to watch a movie (on 10 star - wicked site) anyway usually I end up falling asleep half way through and then not remembering any of what I did see! Sounds pointless but I do a lot of that kind of shit. However last night I watched the whole film. (It was called Jon Hex) I'm chuffed I did see it all coz it was pretty good actually. Anyway my other half buggered off to bed and left me wondering why I wasn't sleepy at 4am. So I thought fuck it, I'll watch another movie and I'll probably feel sleepy through that one. I moved the laptop closer and guess what?? I found my pills, silly cow, hadn't even taken them. 

I'm actually a drug addict. What's my poison? Oh, the usual shit, heroin and crack. Yeah, I'm one of them. I'm on methedone and I'm down to 50mls, I used to be on over 100mls. I'm glad I'm only on 50 now, even if it did take going on a little holiday (courtesy of Her Majesty). I was only in for a few weeks and got out on appeal coz I'd not offended for a couple years but I had a wanker of a judge, the district judge - fucking bastard, anyway that was then...

I did do a proper sentence about 10 years ago, I'd been in and out over this and that and finally paid the price. It wasn't that bad once I'd done my cluck, once you get that over and done with jail aint so bad, it's not good trust me, but you just gotta get on with it and get over it otherwise you'll fall apart and that's when things will really get bad. When I was inside it was back before you had a tv in every cell! Jail nowadays is like being sent to your room at home when you've pissed off your mum and dad or something!!Still, that doesn't mean I want to go back any time soon! Plus it's easy to say it was alright now that I'm not actually there anymore.

Well, it's getting late and it's time to fall asleep watching a movie now, I hope "Let me in" is on there now, looks good, we like a good horror.


So, until the next time ducky! Ta ra! xxxx