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The Origin of Downturnaround

If you want to go pointing fingers over the economic downturn, there are the usual suspects—the quants at JP Morgan, the lenders at Countrywide, AIG… Take your pick. But Bard College’s Hannah Arendt Center for Ethical and Political Thinking wants to consider it more broadly. In a (free, mostly) conference next week at its campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, the issue will be viewed as a “Burden of Our Times.”

Topics to be explored include the role that fundamental human greed, and not just the modern kind, played in leading us to the brink of a second Depression. Experts in consumer culture, risk and chance will discuss. Also on the agenda is a look at imperialism – the underpinnings of the movement and its outcomes, and whether it set the stage for an inevitable crisis. Capitalism and globalization are of course also to be discussed, by experts including Hunter Lewis, a critic of John Maynard Keynes; economist Sanjay Reddy from The New School; Antonia Grunenberg, who has explored the philosophical origins of globalization; Jack Blum from the Tax Justice Network, a group working to dismantle tax havens; and many other figures in politics, economics and philosophy.

The setting for the event to be held on Oct. 16 and 17 is the Hannah Arendt Center, which aims to uncover the intellectual origins of our times. Most events are free. Go to Bard’s site for more information: Burden of Our Times.

Tags: conferences, downturnaround, free events, recession