This is Richard’s twelfth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s eighth appearance on the show. In this episode, Robinson, Richard, and Michael discuss colonialism and the death of modern nations. More particularly, they discuss the evolution of capitalism toward socialism, whether colonialism has officially ended, Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Trump, Putin, and the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024). Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024).
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I keep thinking about China these days, and also the Marxist idea that all capitalist corporations, even the largest monopolies, will eventually be brought down by ever worsening "crises of over production." I must say that despite all those Monthly Review articles forever attempting to show that this ineluctable proclivity toward overproduction and then collapse, still operates decisively in the US economy even now, the primary economic facts on the ground don't seem to support that thesis, i.e. the real threat of collapse comes more from enormous unbridled deficit spending on military and IC institutions, and the ever recurring endless wars costing us at least $I trillion a pop, and sometimes, as in the case of Afghanistan, as much as $3 trillion, so that we'd be much better off not having ANY such institutions at all which, pace John Quincey Adam's oft repeated advice, do nothing BUT "go searching for monsters to destroy," even if they never manage to accomplish that dubious end. While crises of overproduction don't seem to be the primary or immediate malady behind America's current rush to destroy its economy and society and large parts of the rest of the world through preposterous, hyper-expensive actions like the recent attack on Iran made largely impulsively and in private by a single crazy man, a man long known to suffer from megalomania, malignant narcissism, and psychopathy as well, my own concerns are focused on China these days. When I see podcasts showing thousands of BYD vehicles parked neatly in vast lots beside the factory, or of electronical devices of all sorts being produced and stockpiled while the company to tries to find some way to make a profit for its 100,000 vendors, mostly on the initial sales volume alone, I have to wonder whether crises of overproduction might not well be baked into China's hybrid capitalist/socialist system, at least as much as our own! Unfortunately I still don't have the intellectual and theoretical tools requisite to mounting any serious inquiry into the matter, so I am hoping that one of you goodly readers might possibly be better informed about the situation in China and suggest to me a few good works with which to begin my inquiry, Thanks for reading! -- Dr, WDF
What happens when the world refuses the dollar?
Wasn't this always coming? With a digital net that catches every trade in milliseconds—every penny recorded and sent straight to the banks.
There is no place left to hide, is there?
It's probably time to nationalise the banks and make laws to protect public privacy.
We can also have national online democracy, were the citizen votes on everything within a certain time frame, then we can have true democracy.