Introducing Class Wargames

So, it's about time to write up a little blurb to introduce my latest blog, I suppose.

First things first. Let's explain the name, Class Wargames. Obviously, a reference to "class war" and "class warfare," a much-maligned boogeyman of those in power, oddly enough, considering that they seem to be the ones "who started it," and who benefit most from it — funny how that works, isn't it? I thought to combine it with the term "wargames":

A wargame is a game that simulates or represents a military operation. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which are also called conflict simulations. The somewhat similar, professional study of war is generally known as a military exercise or "war game," with the words war and game kept separate. Although there are occasional disagreements as to what qualifies as a wargame, the general consensus is that they are not only games about organized violent conflict or warfare, but that they must explore and illuminate or simulate some feature or aspect of human behaviour directly bearing on the conduct of war.

So, this blog could be viewed as exercises and simulations in class warfare, if one were to take the title much too seriously. In reality, I'll just be covering whatever economics-related topic happens to catch my fancy, of course.

At the same time, the title does suggest some interesting plays on words. A few that have come to mind already:

• Although class struggle is a terrible burden on those at the lower end of the Pareto distribution, for those near the top, one would think it was all just fun and games, the way they play at it.
• Especially in light of the cliché, "he who dies with the most toys, wins." (Always a "he", it seems.)
• I'm not sure how prominently it will explicitly feature in my posts here, but I'm fairly fond of exercises in game theory.
• I'll also likely be discussing the roles and (mis-)identifications of zero-sum and positive-sum ("win-win") games.

Oh, and for the record, yes, I'm quite fond of Wikipedia as a source; why do you ask?

But, in slightly more seriousness, and title aside, the points in economics most interesting to me would be those concerning creation and distribution of wealth and income (and why the income side of that gets so much more attention); sustainability of something resembling our way of life in the (very) long term; and in general, anything that leans more towards the macro side of economics.

For the record, again, although some of my rhetoric might come across as such, I am not a Marxist or communist. My own thoughts on Karl Marx, I have in the past expressed as, "he asked a lot of the right questions, but didn't necessarily come up with all the right answers."

If you're looking for my more political, less economic opinions, those can be found at sibling blog Liberal Hyperbole.

That should about cover the basics here, for now. Now, make your move, and roll the dice.