This Machine Kills

We continue our analysis of all things green by looking deeper at the operations of a core mechanism directing cash flows into sustainable investments: ESG. What is ESG? How does it work? You think you know? You assume you understand it? Does the acronym stand for environmental and social governance? Or does it actually stand for environment, social, and governance? Would you believe that the placement of “and” makes all the difference? If there is confusion about the very acronym, then what other things are not what they seem with these ESG metrics, ratings, and indexes? You’ve confronted cynicism? Not like this you haven’t. Stuff we reference: ••• The ESG Mirage https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-what-is-esg-investing-msci-ratings-focus-on-corporate-bottom-line/ ••• The Wall Street Consensus at COP27 | Daniela Gabor https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-wall-street-consensus-at-cop27/ ••• Neoliberalizing Space | Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell http://overgaardtonnesen.dk/TEKSTERNE/03-Peck-Tickell-Neoliberalizing-Space.pdf ••• Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition | Brett Christophers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926957 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) recently happening, we dig into the political economy of green policy, green investing, green finance, green technology, green capitalism. What is driving the transition necessary to sustain the billions of lives – and trillions in profits – on Earth? Who are the vanguards of sustainability lighting our way into the future? Stuff we reference: ••• The Wall Street Consensus at COP27 | Daniela Gabor https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-wall-street-consensus-at-cop27/ ••• Money and the Climate Crisis https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/money-and-the-climate-crisis/ ••• The ESG Mirage https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-what-is-esg-investing-msci-ratings-focus-on-corporate-bottom-line/ ••• Neoliberalizing Space | Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell http://overgaardtonnesen.dk/TEKSTERNE/03-Peck-Tickell-Neoliberalizing-Space.pdf ••• Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition | Brett Christophers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926957 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

While Jathan is busy with his day job, Ed and Jereme are joined by Ed Zitron and Aaron Thorpe for a shitposters party. Topics include: dystopias, cat ownership as praxis, conspiracy theories about Covid and JFK, and how Las Vegas isn’t doing the crypto bullshit. Also: talking shit about all the usual suspects. Ed’s twitter: https://twitter.com/edzitron Ed’s substack: https://ez.substack.com/ Aaron’s twitter: https://twitter.com/borgposting Aaron’s podcast 1: https://twitter.com/thetrillbillies Aaron’s podcast 2: https://twitter.com/elcpod Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We are taking a break to catch up on stuff. Enjoy this classic (and infuriating) premium episode. Take beta blockers before this episode. In a companion piece for our episode on Health Communism, we dig into a concrete case that exemplifies everything we talked about with the production of surplus populations for the purpose of extractive abandonment. The ongoing story we discuss in this episode takes all those dynamics and pushes them to their most horrific logical conclusions. Some references: ••• How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/health/bon-secours-mercy-health-profit-poor-neighborhood.html ••• They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/business/nonprofit-hospitals-poor-patients.html ••• Deaths Linked to Neglect, Error Raise Concerns About Quality of Care at This Safety Net Hospital https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-roseland-community-hospital-covid-deaths Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We continue our deep dive into a provocative, radical blueprint for democratizing finance and taking control of the economy. We detail Omarova’s detailed proposal for turning the Federal Reserve into the People’s Ledger. On the liabilities side, we discuss the universalization of deposit services (aka FedAccounts) and the elimination of private deposit-taking by commercial banks. On the assets side, we discuss the creation of a National Investment Authority which would allocate capital to socially beneficial, large-scale projects. Together this reformed Fed would drastically reduce the complexity and volatility of the financial system, while democratizing access to financial services, while also distributing the flows of capital to worthwhile investments. ••• The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy | Saule T. Omarova https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol74/iss5/1/ ••• Socialist Investment, Dynamic Planning, and the Politics of Human Need | Aaron Benanav https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08935696.2022.2051375 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We dive deep into a provocative, radical blueprint for democratizing finance and taking control of the economy. A recent paper by law professor – and a favorite thinker of TMK – Saule Omarova offers a detailed plan for how to reengineer the Federal Reserve, totally restructuring its balance sheet, and “redefining the role of a central bank as the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a democratic economy—the People’s Ledger.” ••• The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy | Saule T. Omarova https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol74/iss5/1/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We’re pulling the ripcord on this book. After slogging through five chapters, we discuss why this book just isn’t working for our needs with the TMK Book Club and why we are abandoning it. Despite it being an influential book, which is squarely in our interests, its approach to describing the topic makes it difficult and, frankly, not very fun to talk about. So instead we talk about some other contenders for the next iteration of the TMK Book Club that show more promise and take us in some different directions. We also ask for your recommendations! Comment on this episode on Patreon or post them on Discord. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

As the tech economy faces a massive turn down, we dig deeper into a market segment that experienced meteoric overcapitalized growth, a huge pandemic boost, and an immediate collapse: instant delivery // dark stores // ghost kitchens. To help us analyze the consequences of this sector’s rise, demise, and aftermath we are joined by Aaron Shapiro – author of Design, Control, Predict: Logistical Governance in the Smart City. ••• Aaron’s twitter: https://twitter.com/BricolageYumYum ••• Aaron’s book: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/design-control-predict ••• Aaron’s article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14695405211069983 ••• The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-24/gopuff-layoffs-signal-instant-delivery-s-demise?leadSource=uverify+wall Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We riff on the artisanal race science of Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, the crypto hedge fund linked to FTX. Then we introduce you to the Harman Ready Care system, yet another of the wonderful innovations on the market contributing, in its own incremental way, to improving the world today. ••• Introducing HARMAN Ready Care: Detects Driver Behaviors and Assists via Context-Aware Interventions for Safer and Smarter Drives https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220914005609/en/Introducing-HARMAN-Ready-Care-Detects-Driver-Behaviors-and-Assists-via-Context-Aware-Interventions-for-Safer-and-Smarter-Drives ••• Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175300/data-driven Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

The discussion centers on the shocking collapse of FTX, highlighting its implications for the entire crypto economy. It critiques the misleading perceptions of stability and the deeper systemic flaws revealed by the scandal. FTX's dramatic rise and fall is linked to not only its controversial founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, but also to broader issues within the industry. The need for regulatory oversight in the wake of FTX's failure is emphasized, raising important questions about trust and accountability in the world of digital currencies.