Q & A transcript from our 4th Patreon event.  Please join Michael's Patreon group as a Patreon Plus member, so that you too can join us and ask Michael any question at our next session in March.  https://youtu.be/fujl6lC2tWg Karl Fitzgerald (KF): To start off with our typical end-of-year topic: How have you seen this year's economic trends play out? Has there been anything outstanding or worthy of note for you to bring to our attention? Michael Hudson (MH): Nothing's really changed from last time. There's more and more awareness that when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates (ostensibly to fight inflation) it isn't really to fight inflation at all. It's that they worry that with the prices going up, wages may go up, and they want to cut American wages by about 10% because ...

Platypus interview on The Destiny of Civilization The destiny of civilization: An interview with Michael Hudson On July 15, 2022, Platypus Affiliated Society member D. L. Jacobs interviewed Michael Hudson to discuss his new book, The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism (2022). An edited transcript follows. D. L. Jacobs: Can tell us about your background regarding Marxism and how you came to political economy? Michael Hudson: Well, I grew up in a Marxist household. My father was a political prisoner, one of the Minneapolis 17. Carlos Hudson. See Michael Hudson, “Dad’s Many Proverbs” (June 17, 2017), available online at <https://michael-hudson.com/2017/06/dads-many-proverbs/>;. Minneapolis was the only city in the world that was a Trotskyist city, and my parents worked with Trotsky in Mexico. So, I grew up not having any intention of going into ...

Questions from Al-akhbar Newspaper, Lebanon. Mohammad Itmaizeh 1 - In light of the conditions that Europe is experiencing, in terms of high energy prices and the repercussions on the industrial sector, like the closure of factories and the high cost of production. In your opinion do European countries have the capacity and resources to prevent industrial investments from "escaping"? Especially since the US plans in general to restore industry to its lands, thus, it may represent an opportunity to lure European industries to move to there and take advantage of cheap energy prices. This shift will have wide repercussions on Europe's productive capacities and competitiveness, as well as on its trade balance. So, what happens to the position of Europe in the global economic system? Will it remain part of the ...

Cross posted from La Tribune Diplomatic International. French version Mohsen Abdelmoumen: Your analysis of Mesopotamian times and the wise rule of Emperors embodied by the practice of the Jubilee (compared to the predation of oligarchies) resonate with the Islamic economic theory which forbids riba (meaning usury) and imposes that banks and creditors share the risk of investment or debt. It also seems something deeply rooted in our Arabic and North African traditions of equality and justice where it is socially unacceptable to leave part of the community in dire poverty. As an anthropologist, have you related the success or failure of modern finance to anthropological factors like the structures of the rural families, theories developed by some like Emmanuel Todd? Michael Hudson: I have written a long article on Ibn Khaldun, ...

The Real Progressives Live with Michael Hudson on The Destiny of Civilization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD_UcRtljDU Luke Parcher: All right. For those who might not know me, I'm Luke Parcher, I'm a student and activist. I volunteer with Real Progressives. I'm on our leadership team and I also do a show on Sundays covering politics and current events, and I do some interviews throughout the week and things which you guys can find on Real Progress in Action. I want to quickly talk about Real Progressives. If you're interested in learning more about us, you can go to realprogressives.org. We have articles, content, podcasts, all sorts of things. And if you're interested in helping us out, we are a nonprofit. You can go to realprogressives.org/donate. I also want to plug our founder and ...