April, 2018 | Michael Hudson

Bronze Age Redux

By Michael Friday, April 27, 2018 Debt, History of the Near East Jubilee Permalink

A GATHERING OF THE TRIBES BRONZE AGE REDUX: On Debt, Clean Slates And What The Ancients Have To Teach Us The Michael Hudson Interview by Harold Crooks for A Gathering of The Tribes Magazine. One of the most compelling sequences in the Oscar-winning Inside Job, Charles Ferguson’s indictment of Wall Street’s role in the 2008 global financial meltdown, involved not the banker culprits but their supporting cast. These were the Ivy League accomplices. Ferguson mightily skewered these economists for the cover they gave the sub-prime Hamptons dwelling wise guys whose rescue turned out to be a pretext for one of the largest reverse-Robin Hood wealth transfers in history. Though for the foreseeable future they enjoy their tenured posts, control prestigious academic journals and continue to prey on the ...

Jesus: the economic activist

By Michael Friday, April 27, 2018 Debt, History of the Near East, Interviews Ancient Near East, Jubilee Permalink

Debt Jubilee, April 26, 2018 THE HUDSON REPORT: The history of debt cancellation and Jesus's economic justice activism Here is the direct download link. Left Out, a podcast produced by Paul Sliker, Michael Palmieri, and Dante Dallavalle, creates in-depth conversations with the most interesting political thinkers, heterodox economists, and organizers on the Left. The Hudson Report is a new weekly series produced by Left Out with the legendary economist Michael Hudson. Every episode we cover an economic or political issue that is either being ignored—or hotly debated—that week in the press. In this episode we discuss the ancient history of debt cancellation, the untold life of Jesus as an economic justice activist, and more largely Professor Hudson's forthcoming book, "...and forgive them their debts," out in summer 2018. Michael Palmieri: Professor Michael Hudson welcome back to another episode of ...

Ho Hum – More Trade Threats

By Michael Thursday, April 12, 2018 Interviews Trump Permalink

Does President Trump know anything about trade? Left Out, a podcast produced by Paul Sliker, Michael Palmieri, and Dante Dallavalle, creates in-depth conversations with the most interesting political thinkers, heterodox economists, and organizers on the Left. The Hudson Report is a new weekly series produced by Left Out with the legendary economist Michael Hudson. Every episode we cover an economic or political issue that is either being ignored—or hotly debated—that week in the press. In this week's episode we talk about the so-called "trade war" developing between the United States and China. Paul Sliker: Professor Hudson. Welcome back to The Hudson Report. Michael Hudson: It's good to be here. Paul Sliker: So the latest breaking news in economics... Washington vs. Beijing. Xi Jinping vs. Donald Trump. A trade confrontation between the two world's largest economies. China recently responded to President Trump's initial threat ...

Palatial Credit: Origins of Money and Interest

By Michael Friday, April 6, 2018 History of the Near East, Monetary money supply Permalink

Origins of Money and Interest: Palatial Credit, not Barter Neolithic and Bronze Age economies operated mainly on credit. Because of the time gap between planting and harvesting, few payments were made at the time of purchase. When Babylonians went to the local alehouse, they did not pay by carrying grain around in their pockets. They ran up a tab to be settled at harvest time on the threshing floor. The ale women who ran these “pubs” would then pay most of this grain to the palace for consignments advanced to them during the crop year. These payments were financial in character, not on-the-spot barter-type exchange. As a means of payment, the early use of monetized grain and silver was mainly to settle such debts. This monetization was not physical; it was administrative ...

High Cost Economy

By Michael Thursday, April 5, 2018 Interviews infrastructure, Trump Permalink

Monopoly capitalism and models of resistance. This week, author Michael Hudson on Donald Trump's fake economics. It's all coming up on the Laura Flanders Show, the place where the people who say it can't be done take a back seat to the people who are doing it. Welcome. Infrastructure, we're going to start spending on infrastructure big, said Donald Trump days before he unveiled his $1.5 trillion infrastructure budget proposed by his administration, but as economists have pointed out, Trump's proposed budget requests only $200 billion in federal funds and slashes billions in transportation funding, billions more from water, energy. The rest of the funds comes, supposedly, from the private sector and states. Well, last year I talked to economist Michael Hudson about this exact thing, infrastructure. That is our roads, ...

There’s an idea – deregulate the banks!

By Michael Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Interviews banks Permalink

The Hudson Report, March 28, 2018 Left Out, a podcast produced by Paul Sliker, Michael Palmieri, and Dante Dallavalle, creates in-depth conversations with the most interesting political thinkers, heterodox economists, and organizers on the Left. The Hudson Report is a new weekly series produced by Left Out with the legendary economist Michael Hudson. Every episode we cover an economic or political issue that is either being ignored—or hotly debated—that week in the press. The economic impact of the bipartisan bank deregulation bill Senate Republicans and Wall Street friendly Democrats recently voted in favor of rolling back banking industry regulations, including key parts of Dodd-Frank, under the guise of providing relief for struggling community banks. Professor Michael Hudson weighs in on the details of the bill and its potential economic impact. Dante Dallavalle: The Senate recently passed ...