On finance, real estate and the powers of neoliberalism
Europe has traded self-sufficiency for dependence, submitting to what Michael Hudson calls a fascist protection racket. Allies are transformed into tribute states, forced to pay tariffs or surrender industry. While BRICS nations insulate themselves through self-reliance, Europe accepts deindustrialisation and insecurity under NATO—sacrificing its long-term prosperity for short-term obedience to Washington’s demands.
China’s shift from U.S. soybeans to Brazil marks a permanent rupture in American agriculture. Trump’s tariffs and trade wars have bankrupted farmers, raised costs for manufacturing, and fueled inflation. With soybean exports collapsing, farm foreclosures looming, and industrial giants like John Deere cutting jobs, Trump’s economic policies are eroding U.S. prosperity while cementing China’s alliances with Brazil and BRICS.
Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson trace a U.S. turn to scapegoating and tariffs as stopgaps for a weakening, polarized economy. From ICE raids and drone strikes to secret investment “deals” pressuring Japan and tariff threats on Europe and India, they argue Washington is converting allies into tributaries while BRICS builds a mixed-economy alternative. The result: a collapsing left/right map, rising class politics, and a world split between finance capitalism and productive development.
China’s SCO summit marked a decisive turn: BRICS countries are consolidating trade, payments, and energy ties to insulate themselves from Western financialization and militarization. With Power of Siberia 2 redirecting Russian gas to Asia and India jolted toward BRICS by U.S. tariffs, a dual-system world is hardening. Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff unpack dedollarization, gold’s surge, and why the fight isn’t “capitalism vs socialism” so much as socialism vs finance capitalism.
Fresh from the September 2–3 SCO meetings in China, Eurasia is codifying a multipolar order: dedollarized trade, alternative payment rails, secure transport corridors, and mutual investment shielded from US tariffs and sanctions. With Power of Siberia 2 locking Russia’s pivot to China and BRICS coordination deepening under India, the Global Majority is prioritizing rising living standards over Western financialization—quietly replacing the post-1945 “rules-based” model with the UN Charter’s long-deferred multipolar ideals.
Trump’s latest economic offensive targets U.S. allies in Europe, Korea, and Japan with tariff hikes, investment shakedowns, and protection-money demands. Germany’s machinery exports face an “existential crisis,” Hyundai’s U.S. plant saw mass deportations, and Japan was forced into a $550 billion payout under threat of commercial chaos. As SCO and BRICS expand alternatives, America’s coercion of its own allies risks sparking nationalist backlash, de-dollarization, and a realignment away from Washington’s control.
Fresh from the September 2–3 SCO meetings in China, Eurasia is codifying a multipolar order: dedollarized trade, alternative payment rails, secure transport corridors, and mutual investment shielded from US tariffs and sanctions. With Power of Siberia 2 locking Russia’s pivot to China and BRICS coordination deepening under India, the Global Majority is prioritizing rising living standards over Western financialization—quietly replacing the post-1945 “rules-based” model with the UN Charter’s long-deferred multipolar ideals.
Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson unpack Donald Trump’s “rentier” foreign policy: Europe bankrolls the Ukraine war while U.S. arms makers cash in, echoing interwar debts and IMF-style servitude. Hudson maps the landlord logic onto geopolitics—public assets, mineral rights, and profits sliced for Washington—while Wolff dissects Europe’s political bind and rising social backlash. With tariffs on India and pressure to shun Russian oil, the episode tracks a rapid realignment toward BRICS, techno-sovereignty, and a multipolar alternative to U.S. neomercantilism.
Economist Michael Hudson joins KPFA’s Letters & Politics with Mitch Jeserich to discuss his book The Collapse of Antiquity. From Bronze Age debt cancellations to Solon’s reforms, Caesar’s assassination, and the fall of Rome, Hudson shows how creditor power shaped the ancient world and paved the way for oligarchy. He draws direct parallels to today’s U.S. political economy, arguing that debt remains the fault line between democracy and collapse.
