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The Arc of Time: Pro-Creditor History

By Thursday, May 25, 2023 Articles, Interviews , Permalink

“Origins of debt: Michael Hudson reveals how financial oligarchies in Greece & Rome shaped our world,” Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report, May 25, 2023.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqe3IQQo_t4 BEN NORTON: Hi, everyone. I'm Ben Norton of Geopolitical Economy Report, and today I have the great pleasure of speaking with a friend of the show, the economist Michael Hudson, and I'm very excited to be discussing his newest book, The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization's Oligarchic Turning Point. This book is an absolute tour de force. It's an incredible work, not only of economic history, but simply, I would say, anthropology and economic archaeology. I think it really shows that many people know Michael Hudson for his work on economics and finance, but I would say that a book like this shows that he's ...

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Pepe Escobar’s review of The Collapse of Antiquity

By Monday, May 15, 2023 Articles Permalink

Pepe Escobar: “US Empire of Debt Headed for Collapse,” Sputnik International, May 15, 2023. Prof. Michael Hudson’s new book, "The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization’s Oligarchic Turning Point” is a seminal event in this Year of Living Dangerously when, to paraphrase Gramsci, the old geopolitical and geoeconomic order is dying and the new one is being born at breakneck speed.  Prof. Hudson’s main thesis is absolutely devastating: he sets out to prove that economic/financial practices in Ancient Greece and Rome – the pillars of Western Civilization – set the stage for what is happening today right in front of our eyes: an empire reduced to a rentier economy, collapsing from within. And that brings us to the common denominator in every single Western financial system: it’s all about debt, inevitably ...

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The Hard Iron Financial Fist

By Friday, May 5, 2023 Articles Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImjdVxd09fo&t=1s BEN NORTON: Hi, everyone. I'm Ben Norton, and this is the Geopolitical Economy Report. Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by Michael Hudson, the brilliant economist and author of many books. Michael is also the co-host of a program here, Geopolitical Economy Hour, that he does every two weeks with friend of the show Radhika Desai. I will link to that show in the description below. I had Michael on in March to discuss the collapse of three U.S. banks in just one week. That was Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank. And yet the crisis has continued since then. And I knew I needed to bring back Michael to talk about the latest developments. In just two months, four banks in the United States have collapsed. And we now ...

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The Treasury Privatized?

By Thursday, March 30, 2023 Articles, Interviews Permalink

Geopolitical Economy Hour #6 https://youtu.be/y1je89h1eIg Posted to youtube 2023.03.25 RADHIKA DESAI: Hello everyone, and welcome to the sixth Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show on the political and geopolitical economy of our time. I'm Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I'm Michael Hudson. RADHIKA DESAI: As you know, the last time when we closed we were scheduled to do our fourth and final show on the subject of dedollarization. However, as you know, the best laid plans can be thrown awry by, as Harold MacMillan said, "Events, my dear boy, events." Since we published the fifth show we've had what looks like the biggest financial crisis since 2008 and 2020 on our hands, with the usual flurries of bailouts and emergency actions, which in other words amounts simply to a socialism for the rich. So of course Michael ...

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Introducing China’s Leading Economist

By Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Articles Permalink

Through my work at the Global University for Sustainability, I have come to know Professor Wen Tiejun. He provides a key analysis of the ten crises China has endured. I highly recommend his book to you (PDF), kindly donated to the reform community as an open access book.  There are 10 lectures that accompany the book (below). Professor Tiejun and I also participated in a joint discussion you may enjoy.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeS72tf6aw https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/series-no-5-chinas-real-experiences-professor-wen-tiejun-on-ten-cyclical-economic-crises-in-china-1949-2016/  

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Dollar Diplomacy Down

By Thursday, March 16, 2023 Articles Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRlOfxWR-qE RADHIKA DESAI: Hi everyone. Welcome to the fifth Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show about the political and geopolitical economy of our times. I'm Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I'm Michael Hudson. RADHIKA DESAI: So this is our third and final show on the theme of de-dollarization, based on our work, particularly on Geopolitical Economy that I wrote in 2013 and Super Imperialism that Michael wrote some decades ago and has recently reissued. Based on my Geopolitical Economy and Michael's Super Imperialism and also of course our article which we co-wrote called "Beyond the Dollar Creditocracy". As many of you know we have structured our discussion around some ten questions. So as you see in this slide they are all here. In the first show we answered the first five questions. In the second ...

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The Mechanics of a Bond Market and its Impact on the Banking Crisis

By Wednesday, March 15, 2023 Articles, Financial Permalink

Why the Bank Crisis is Not Over The crashes of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and the related bank insolvencies are much more serious than the 2008-09 crash. The problem at that time was crooked banks making bad mortgage loans. Debtors were unable to pay and were defaulting, and it turned out that the real estate that they had pledged as collateral was fraudulently overvalued, “mark-to-fantasy” junk mortgages made by false valuations of the property’s actual market price and the borrower’s income. Banks sold these loans to institutional buyers such as pension funds, German savings banks and other gullible buyers who had drunk Alan Greenspan's neoliberal Kool Aid, believing that banks would not cheat them. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) investments had no such default risk. The Treasury always can pay, simply ...

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Why the Banking System is Breaking Up

By Sunday, March 12, 2023 Articles Permalink

Support my work via Patreon The collapses of Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank are like icebergs calving off from the Antarctic glacier. The financial analogy to the global warming causing this collapse is the rising temperature of interest rates, which spiked last Thursday and Friday to close at 4.60 percent for the U.S. Treasury’s two-year bonds. Bank depositors meanwhile were still being paid only 0.2 percent on their deposits. That has led to a steady withdrawal of funds from banks – and a corresponding decline in commercial bank balances with the Federal Reserve. Most media reports reflect a prayer that the bank runs will be localized, as if there is no context or environmental cause. There is general embarrassment to explain how the breakup of banks that is now gaining momentum is ...

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An Hour with Michael

By Monday, February 27, 2023 Articles No tags Permalink

Come spend an hour with Michael! Thurs March 2nd 5.30pm EST Register via zoom.  If you are a Patron Plus supporter on Patreon, you will be able to register. We have 247 Patreon supporters, can you get us to 250? The day before the Q&A you'll receive an email with the link to join. Anyone upgrading to Patron Plus at least 24 hours prior to the event is invited.  We've had some excellent conversations of recent, we hope you can join us.   

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Since Money is Political

By Monday, February 13, 2023 Articles Permalink

“Understanding money and the dollar system,” Geopolitical Hour Episode 3, February 9, 2023, with economists Radhika Desai & Michael Hudson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew21FOlftkU podcast:  https://soundcloud.com/geopoliticaleconomy/money-dollar-dominance-radhika-desai-michael-hudson Radhika Hello and welcome to this third Geopolitical Economy Hour. I'm Radhika Desai. Michael And I'm Michael Hudson. Radhika As many of you know, in this collaboration with Ben Norton's Geopolitical Economy Report, Michael and I will present every fortnight a discussion of the major trends and developments that are so radically shaping our world. This includes issues that involve not just politics and economics, but, as Michael and I and Ben like to put it, political economy and geopolitical economy. Thanks also to all our viewers for your interest and engagement. We would like to say that we do read all the comments with great interest, so please keep them coming, including your suggestions for future shows. So, ...

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