Michael Hudson argues that the Iran war has exposed the fragility of the U.S.-led order, with oil, dollar reserves, food, finance and military security all turned into weapons.
Why This Is Not the 1970s Again
Michael Hudson explains why rising interest rates, oil shocks and war spending are pushing the U.S. economy towards a debt crisis. He argues that today’s inflation is not wage-driven, but rooted in energy disruption, financialisation and a debt-leveraged economy that can no longer borrow its way out of trouble.
America Wanted Submission, China Offered Parity
Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai argue that Trump’s Beijing trip exposed the limits of US power, with China refusing to rescue Washington from its Iran war, dollar sanctions and weakening global position.
The Crisis Finance Capitalism Can’t Escape
The 2026 World Financial Crisis Trump is threatening to escalate his war against Iran, and Iran is prepared to destroy the oil production and transport capacity of Arab OPEC countries that do not act to stop the U.S. attack. The result will be to deepen the world depression that already is underway. Yet the stock market has continued to rise, as have interest rates. The latter cannot stay up without crashing the real estate and stock markets. Yet the media and many investors view interest rates as rising so as to compensate investors for the risk of inflation. The reality is that higher interest rates will increase the economy’s inability to cope with the breakdown that already is in progress. How did the myth of interest rates rising in response to price inflation ...
Did Xi Really Trade Iran for Taiwan?
https://www.youtube.com/live/sQ-woSVXoBo Professor Michael Hudson – in conversation with Ali Alizadeh, Jedaal TV, Iran AA – The American readout of the Trump–Xi meeting claims that Xi explicitly agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open, that there must be no tolls, that China opposes the militarisation of the Strait, that China will buy more American oil to reduce its dependence on Hormuz, and that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. The Chinese readout said almost none of this. It said only that the two leaders exchanged views on the Middle East. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping spent his political capital on Taiwan. So Iranians watching this tonight are asking: did Xi Jinping just trade Iran for Taiwan? Did our most important strategic partner sell us out at the Great Hall of the People while ...
Swap Lines, Gulf Debt and the Unravelling of Dollar Primacy
Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai argue that US swap lines with Gulf allies reveal a dangerous reversal in the dollar system: former petrodollar suppliers may now need bailouts. As war risks, debt leverage and politicised Treasury lending collide, the discussion exposes how dollar primacy depends less on market confidence than on geopolitical pressure and emergency credit.
Wars Are Won by Economics, Not Armies
Michael Hudson and Ian Proud discuss why modern wars are increasingly fought through economics rather than military force, and why sanctions against Iran may rebound on the US, Europe and the wider financial system. Hudson argues that oil shocks, debt fragility and military Keynesianism expose the weakness of US strategy, while pushing sanctioned nations towards self-sufficiency and accelerating the search for alternatives to dollar dominance.
The Return of Guns and Butter as War Spending Surges
Counterpunch May 1 2026 Guns and Butter Sixty years ago opposition to America’s war in Vietnam focused on the costs of diverting U.S. resources away from social spending to the military – what was called Guns and Butter. I was the junior member of the Columbia University triumvirate headed by Seymour Melman and Terence McCarthy. We lectured widely, wrote in magazines such as Ramparts and newspapers. The New York Tribune still existed as an alternative to The New York Times, and regularly published our critiques in its interviews and on its editorial pages. Those mid-1960s were the days! The antiwar movement had enough momentum to bring down Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson in 1968! Alas, that epoch seems long gone. There seems little hope that changing the party in power will change much. Neither ...
How Iran Turned Oil Into the Empire’s Weak Point
Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff explain how the Iran war has exposed the economic limits of U.S. power, with oil prices, gold flows, Gulf alliances and the Strait of Hormuz turning against Washington.
