Speeches | Michael Hudson

The End of Western Civilization

By Michael Wednesday, July 13, 2022 Speeches No tags Permalink

Why it lacks resilience, and What will take its place Paper presented on July 11, 2022 to The Ninth South-South Forum on Sustainability. THE COLLAPSE OF MODERN CIVILIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY. The greatest challenge facing societies has always been how to conduct trade and credit without letting merchants and creditors make money by exploiting their customers and debtors. All antiquity recognized that the drive to acquire money is addictive and indeed tends to be exploitative and hence socially injurious. The moral values of most societies opposed selfishness, above all in the form of avarice and wealth addiction, which the Greeks called philarguria – love of money, silver-mania. Individuals and families indulging in conspicuous consumption tended to be ostracized, because it was recognized that wealth often was obtained at the expense of ...

From Junk Economics to a False View of History: Where Western Civilization Took a Wrong Turn

By Michael Thursday, July 7, 2022 History of the Near East, Speeches No tags Permalink

A presentation to the Building bridges around David Graeber's legacy conference, Paris, Friday July 7, 2022 It may seem strange to invite an economist to give a keynote speech to a conference of the social sciences. Economists have been characterized as autistic and anti-social in the popular press for good reason. They are trained to think abstractly and use a priori deduction – based on how they think societies should develop. Today’s mainstream economists look at neoliberal privatization and free-market ideals as leading society’s income and wealth to settle at an optimum equilibrium without any need for government regulation – especially not of credit and debt. The only role acknowledged for government is to enforce the “sanctity of contracts” and “security of property.” By this they mean the enforcement of debt ...

WAPE 2021 Outline

By Michael Friday, January 7, 2022 Articles, Speeches No tags Permalink

For the 15th World Association for Political Economy conference. 50 years ago at the New School in New York City, I taught national income accounting, using as my textbook Marx’s Theories of Surplus Value. That actually was the first history of economic thought, tracing the evolution of classical value theory. The main aim of this doctrine was to isolate economic rent as unearned income. Rent was the excess of market price over cost-value: R = P – V. Volumes II and III of Marx’s Theories of Surplus Value – and also of Capital – deal with land rent owed to Europe’s landlord class as the most important unearned income, and with interest and usury charged by the banks for their privilege of creating credit. Rent was what “landlords collected in their sleep” without working, ...

Piketty vs Hudson

By Michael Friday, October 8, 2021 Debates, Speeches Patreon Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWT0uvBLDbo If you like the depth of this discussion, please support my new Patreon page! This debate between Michael Hudson and Thomas Piketty was held on September 23, 2021. The debate was monitored by Lynn Parramore, and introduced by David Graeber’s widow, Nika. This debate between Michael Hudson and Thomas Piketty on September 23, 2021, is available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWT0uvBLDbo The debate was monitored by Lynn Parramore, and introduced by David Graeber’s widow, Nika. Nika: Hi, I'm Nika. I'm David's wife. This is an event in the honor of the first anniversary of David Graeber's passing, and then the spirits of his rejection of academic arrogance, and our urgent need to get out of the crisis we are in. We set up the Art Project, so welcome to the first one of the series. Today, we ...

Global Financial Empire 3

By Michael Monday, August 30, 2021 Speeches No tags Permalink

The 3rd in a 10 part lecture series for the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong.

Global Financial Empire 2

By Michael Saturday, August 21, 2021 Globalism and its Institutions, Speeches wall st Permalink

The 2nd in a 3 part lecture series for the Global University for Sustainability, Hong Kong. Photo by Scott Gummerson on Unsplash

Macau Lectures on Super Imperialism

By Michael Thursday, April 22, 2021 Speeches No tags Permalink

The first lecture at the prestigious Southwest University, Chongqing, China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCh_xDHovxU Global U, youtube channel, posted on 21 April 2021, video, Wen Tiejun’s account of Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures Global U weixin channel, an account of Hudson’s Ten Lectures. Global U weixin channel, article, Hudson’s talk in Macau Michael Hudson’s Ten Lectures in 70 sections (First 6 sections are for free viewing. As of 22 April, 10pm Beijing time, 44,000 people have viewed the first video released on April 21, and 8,000 have viewed the second video released on April 22.)

At the Oxford Economics Society

By Michael Wednesday, February 3, 2021 Speeches No tags Permalink

22/01/2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtHX23Trvy4 Oscar Brisset: Welcome to the first event of the Oxford Economics Society for this academic year. I’m Oscar, the Co-President of our society, and I’m glad to welcome you back for another term of exciting discussions. Although we were hoping last term to be back in-person by January, due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the UK our events this term are going to remain online, so that everyone at home can still participate. A new year calls for new resolutions, and our society’s resolution for 2021 is to increase the diversity of economic topics discussed. To give you an idea, we’ll be hosting a presentation on Decolonising Economics and its role in Emerging Markets by Dr. Ingrid Kvangraven, the executive board member of Diversifying and Decolonising Economics. We’ll be hosting Prof. ...

U.S. Economic Warfare and Likely Foreign Defenses

By Michael Sunday, July 21, 2019 Globalism and its Institutions, Speeches superimperialism Permalink

Keynote Paper delivered at the 14th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy, July 21, 2019. Today’s world is at war on many fronts. The rules of international law and order put in place toward the end of World War II are being broken by U.S. foreign policy escalating its confrontation with countries that refrain from giving its companies control of their economic surpluses. Countries that do not give the United States control of their oil and financial sectors or privatize their key sectors are being isolated by a United States imposing trade sanctions and unilateral tariffs giving special advantages to U.S. producers in violation of free trade agreements with European, Asian and other countries. This global fracture has an increasingly military cast. U.S. officials justify tariffs and import quotas ...