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economics

The pain of useless work (17 June 2026) (2013). Doing useless work is a violence.
source: Graeber, David. (2025). Bullshit Jobs. Eris Gems. Originally published as “The phenomenon of bullshit jobs: a work rant,” Strike! Magazine, issue 3, August 2013.
via: browsing Selected Stories in southeast Portland, with a vague memory of seeing the title on Hacker News (it has been posted quite a bit).
17 June 2026 labor economics markets market-failure
The criminal breaks the monotony (5 July 2026) (1862). The thing outside the settled order forces the settled order to move.
source: Marx, Karl. (2025). The Usefulness of Crime. Eris Gems. Originally written as part of the Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, in the digression “On Productive Labour.”
via: returning to Selected Stories in southeast Portland on another trip.
5 July 2026 counterculture culture economics comedy cybersecurity
A market for lemons (13 June 2026) (1970). Information asymmetry drives out quality products and distorts markets.
source: Akerlof, G. A. (1970). “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488-500.
13 June 2026 economics markets market-failure information-asymmetry trust academic-bangers
Rest isn't idleness (11 June 2026) (2026). Rest serves work. Idleness serves nothing, and is beautiful because of it.
source: Umilio, L. (2026). “On the Difference Between Rest and Idleness.” The Idle Gazette (idle.news), 30 May 2026.
via: kottke.org (2026-06-10).
11 June 2026 labor economics