logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2024
1h 11m

Debt is political: Why wealth flows from...

Ben Norton
About this episode
How does the structure of the international financial system cause a drain of wealth from the poor to the rich? Political economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson discuss the politics of debt. VIDEO (with the charts): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bu9dHGRpmE Read the transcript (with the charts) here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/debt-politics-wea ... Show More
Up next
Jun 4
Before the AI bubble pops, billionaires want to loot your retirement funds
The AI bubble has caused the most concentrated and overvalued stock market in US history. The billionaire CEOs of Big Tech corporations fear it may pop soon, so they changed the rules on Wall Street so that, mere days after their IPOs, SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic will be given ... Show More
27m 6s
May 31
Bombshell report: World sees USA as biggest threat, instead prefers China
A comprehensive global survey found that people in most countries see the United States as the biggest threat to the world, and they prefer China over the US. Ben Norton analyzes the results of the Democracy Perception Index. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UhHqPGFGos Top ... Show More
21m 27s
May 27
To fight China, USA literally plans to colonize its ally
The US government is desperate to create a new supply chain that cuts out China, through its Pax Silica initiative. To do so, the Trump administration plans to colonize the territory of the Philippines, a supposed "ally" run by corrupt leader Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, with a 9 ... Show More
28m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2016
Faiza Shaheen: Inequality
The world's richest 62 people now own as much wealth as the poorest 50%, according to a new report released by Oxfam. But what are we measuring when we talk about wealth and inequality? Why does it matter? And what can we do about it? Kirsty chats to Dr Faiza Shaheen. Weekly Econ ... Show More
15m 32s
Aug 2025
Trump’s Sweeping Tariffs
Today on the show, President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs go into effect this week. Fareed speaks with Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor-in-chief of The Economist, and Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of the conservative think-tank American Compass, about what this trade war ... Show More
41m 52s
Dec 2024
A Nobel prize for explaining why there's global inequality
Why do some nations fail and others succeed?In the late 1990s and early 2000s, three economists formed a partnership that would revolutionize how economists think about global inequality. Their work centered on a powerful — and almost radically obvious — idea: that the economic f ... Show More
28m 29s
Jul 2020
Episode 85 - Banks sway the narrative
Discussion of economic and political news starts at 05:57, analysis on the banks winning the narrative begins at 27:10. After managing to record the podcast between power cuts, Ben and Nizar analyze the political and economic news of the past week, including Alain Bifani's resign ... Show More
48m 36s
Aug 2025
What's Really Happening with the US Economy?
While the White House claims the US economy is booming, recent data indicates otherwise, with one report in particular fueling concerns about a weak job market. In response, President Trump fired the person responsible for producing the numbers he claims were "rigged." So what's ... Show More
56m 13s
Nov 2025
Why Economists Should Care About Inequality, with Branko Milanovic
<p>Recently, Bethany and Luigi joined economist and wealth inequality expert Branko Milanovic in front of a live audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival to explore how capitalism, democracy, and income inequality interact. Together, the three discussed the pervasiveness of income in ... Show More
46m 41s
Sep 2024
How to cut government debt, with Robin Wigglesworth
<p>Jamaica’s economy struggled for decades, and at one point it had amassed debts worth more than 140 per cent of GDP. Even the IMF wouldn’t return its calls. But somehow, in the 2010s, it managed to halve its government debt – over just seven years. Today on the show, we ask how ... Show More
28m 24s
Aug 2024
The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes: What’s wrong with economics?
<p>This week, we’re bringing you something from our fellow FT podcast, The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Sir Angus Deaton won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2015. So when he says he is rethinking many of his assumptions about the field, it matters. Today on ... Show More
34m 42s
Mar 2025
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
<p>As President Trump has rolled out his economic agenda, the assumption has been that he would quickly scale back his most aggressive policies once they began to scare consumers and the financial markets. But that assumption turned out to be wrong.</p><p>Ben Casselman, who cover ... Show More
30m 15s
Jul 2024
Veep show: America meets J.D. Vance
<p>J.D. Vance was largely unknown in American politics until <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/07/16/jd-vance-is-now-the-heir-apparent-to-the-maga-movement?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.a ... Show More
25m 45s