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This week a friend and colleague sent this written dialogue to me:
Dr. Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir
We face not one but three simultaneous inter-connected crises: the COVID-19 Emergency, the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, and the Crisis of Capitalism. We urgently need connected constructive responses.
Guy Dauncey
Everyone knows that the three, multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bills passed by Congress fall way short. For most local businesses—the lifeblood of our economy—these bills offer too little relief, too late. I’m hopeful though that the states (and maybe, in some places...
Michael Shuman
We propose ten immediate measures to tackle the health emergency, address the immediate needs of working-class families, and provide, in the face of an inevitable economic fallout, basic income security and living conditions to the vast majority of the population.
Left Voice
While U.S. advocates and local politicians struggle to get their first public banks chartered, Mexico’s new president has begun construction on 2,700 branches of a government-owned bank to be completed in 2021, when it will be the largest bank in the country. At a press...
Ellen Brown
2 min
A rare look inside one hidden American town, where the company rules and the government’s negligence pushes them to stand up and fight for justice.
Democracy is fragile. If just one foundation is missing, the ropes of democracy can stretch, weaken, and break.
UBI.Earth
If worker pay had kept pace with productivity gains since 1968, a full-time minimum wage worker would be earning $48,000 a year today.
Dean Baker
State Unemployment agencies have been charged with the grave task of salvaging an economy on the brink of collapse, theoretically through the emergency distribution of living wages and stipends.
Pumping new money into the economy without altering power relations will only exacerbate existing inequalities.
Laurie Macfarlane
“The last global crisis didn’t change the world. But this one could” - William Davies
It was always going to come to this. Whether it was a pandemic triggering a shutdown, a climate emergency bursting the carbon bubble, a populist backlash against inequality, wars over...
Paul Gilding
When freedoms clash, some must take priority over others. In the economy, the mechanism that determines which freedoms are prioritised is the property rights system. Property rights bestow the freedom to control and profit from what is owned. They determine who has...
Raoul Martinez
This past weekend, a bright Georgetown undergraduate asked me how I squared my passion for localization with the theory of comparative advantage. For economics newbies, he was referring to David Ricardo’s argument that every community should find one product to specialize in...
Michael Shuman
54 min
Have efforts to solve the plastic pollution problem made it worse? Go inside the battle over plastics, recycling and what’s at stake.
87 min
27 min
This particular moment in American and world history demands that we all take an honest look at the trajectory of the United States of America. The current system is untenable and the Coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how truly ill-prepared the country is to protect its...
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a simple fact: it’s low-wage workers that make our society run — not bankers, landlords, or CEOs.
Mindy Isser
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, millionaires and billionaires, who have been key to oppressing the working class, are trying to position themselves as everyday Americans. We need to understand them for what they are: beneficiaries and key supporters of the capitalist...
61 min
Opening with a powerful ‘deep time’ perspective, from the beginning of the Earth to our present moment, BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's new film recognises the fundamental unsustainability of today’s society and dares to ask the big question: What will follow?
A promising commons-based approach for the digital age.
Stacco Troncoso and Ann Marie Utratel
Our consumer culture is collective insanity and it's driving us to destruction, says clinical psychologist John F Schumaker.
John Schumaker
11 min
Many talk about climate change, but rare are those who dare to speak about its systemic, deeply-ingrained root cause.
3 min
Centered around an extensive interview with Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the former President of Uruguay who gained notoriety on the world stage as a rare politician: one that lives according to the ideas and principles he preaches, Delicate Balance is a contemplative essay on the...
An NYC physician on the war against the coronavirus and the ongoing war against for-profit health care, Trump and capitalism itself. The coronavirus pandemic is magnifying capitalism’s complete inability to foster overall health and well being. We don’t just need a new...
In 2008, they told us not to “politicize” the crash. We ended up with a decade of austerity. The coronavirus crisis will reshape the economy in profound ways — now is the time to make socialist arguments about how to respond.
Grace Blakeley
19 min
In this video the economist and co-founder of DiEM25 Yanis Varoufakis, examines the socio-economic implications of the Coronavirus. This video was originally produced by DiEM25 and republished by acTVism Munich in order to create awareness on this issue.
The COVID-19 public health crisis is rapidly devolving into a vast, multi-faceted crisis of social reproduction with no end in sight. How can we seize this moment to build dual power?
Woodbine
Today, new forms of solidarity, mutual aid, and common struggle are emerging in the pandemic. How will they shape tomorrow’s struggles for a post-capitalist world?
Max Haiven
Even before the novel coronavirus appeared, many American families were falling behind on student loans, auto loans, credit cards and other payments. America’s debt overhead was pricing its labor and industry out of world markets. A debt crisis was inevitable eventually, but...
Michael Hudson
6 min
“Coronavirus casts a light on every single part of our society. We will see the best of humanity and the worst of Capitalism” - Kevin Ovenden
9 min
Governments around the world are busily exploiting the coronavirus crisis to push for no-strings-attached corporate bailouts and regulatory rollbacks.
The fascists and plutocrats are not just coming... they are already here.
Peter Bloom
The concentration of corporate power is driving us toward catastrophe. We need new organizational models that serve the common good.
David Korten
The following text is a translation of Marian Díez‘s impassioned closing speech at the recent convergence meeting of the World Social Forum for Transformative Economies.
Marian Díez and Guerrilla Translation
114 min
An inside look at how Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos built one of the largest and most influential economic forces in the world — and the cost of Amazon’s convenience.
18 min
Why is chronic poverty tolerated in America? Is our economic system flawed? Through personal stories and insights, University of Alabama professor J. Palmer (Jim) Brown explores the problem of poverty and advocates a solution in worker ownership and cooperation.
Nonty Charity Sabic is cofounder of the international Rise Ubuntu Network, based on “ubuntu”, an indigenous South African philosophy that aims to teach and collectively remember the connection shared between humans and nature. Based in Barcelona, Sabic is involved in...
MarÍa Sanz DomÍnguez and Timothy McKeon
It’s time to make the profit-maximising, shareholder-controlled corporation obsolete.
Marjorie Kelly
Ignore the usual fairytale. Democracy, unions, healthcare and education: these are the forces that matter
Jason Hickel
If you get into debt buying your child branded trainers, if you fear redundancy, if you suffer anxiety about the future of the planet and you blame yourself for all of these things then you are showing symptoms of drowning in the “insidious” and “sinister” ideology...
Brendan Montague
Some people are starting to talk about regenerative cultures as possible pathways towards a thriving future of people unfolding their unique potential within the context of the communities and regions they help to regenerate — cultures that are healthy, resilient and...
Daniel Christian Wahl
Sanders would use both markets and government to reverse the upward redistribution of income to the already rich
Mark Weisbrot
Both Republicans and Democrats have blocked all attempts to build a rational, universal health care policy for the U.S. This is because capitalism prioritizes profit over the health and well-being of the working class. Creating a truly just health care system will require...
Mike Pappas
5 min
In this powerful new RSA Minimate, TIME’s Editor-at-Large Anand Giridharadas argues that while the winners of our age might be well meaning in their desire to give back, too many stop short at the kinds of real change that would see power more radically distributed.
16 min
Katherine is the Policy and Knowledge Lead for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. She has over eight years’ experience in various roles with Oxfam GB - as a Senior Researcher for the Global Research Team, UK Policy Manager, and Research and Policy Advisor for Oxfam Scotland.
43 min
Writer Anand Giridharadas describes in his book " Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World " why the rich do not pay taxes, but with their philanthropy determine the course of the world (and thereby undermine our democracy).
4 min
“They’ve never met a poor person. They’ve never lived in deprived areas.” Ha-Joon Chang explains why economics is too important to be left to economists.
385 min
“It is extremely important for our democracy to function that ordinary citizens understand the key issues and basic theories of economics.” – Ha-Joon Chang
The concept of Wellbeing Economies (WE) does not attempt to explain the world through a central foundational economic model, nor does it recommend a particular path for achieving its goals. Rather, it is essentially a very pragmatic approach that begins not with a “system”...
Martin Oetting
19 min
John Perkins describes the methods he used to bribe and threaten the heads of state of countries on four continents in order to create a global empire and he reveals how the leaders who did not “play the game" were assassinated or overthrown.
6 min
“Infinite growth on a finite planet is a recipe for catastrophe”
16 min
Watch the film before watching this. It's a spoiler-heavy review and breakdown of the ending to ‘Parasite,’ the Korean thriller that everyone’s talking about.
Theodore W. Allen
The Invention of the White Race
Volume One: Racial Oppression and Social Control
Volume Two: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America
(London and New York: Verso, 1994 and 1997).
THERE ARE FOUR main theses advanced by Theodore Allen in his...
Jonathan Scott
Theodore W. Allen’s The Invention of the White Race, with its focus on racial oppression and social control, is one of the twentieth-century’s major contributions to historical understanding. This two-volume classic, first published in 1994 and 1997, presents a full-scale...
Jeffrey B. Perry
6 min
The spirit of MLK on Bernie Sanders & Donald Trump. #Bernie2020 #PoliticalRevolution #FeelTheBern Welcome to the Political Revolution. Matt Orfalea ▶https://twitter.com/0rf ▶https://medium.com/@0rf ▶https://www.youtube.com/orf ▶https://www.facebook.com/MattOrfVids Please help...
I made my way from the dark side to the light. And I hope it wasn’t too late.
Martin Oetting
18 min
In the face of economic, social, and ecological breakdown, the inevitable transition is comming. And what it requires from us is beyond the realms of 'activism'.
We can create the more beautiful world we want for ourselves and future generations with a simple and powerful idea: "sharing"
Shareable
We need to rein in the destructive power of corporations and billionaires before it’s too late. These five ideas would do that, while leaving global capitalism intact. Ultimately, only a complete transformation of our economic system will save our future, but these proposals...
Jeremy Lent
This essay originated as a kind of stump speech, an effort to spell out and update an argument about the uses of anti-racism and anti-discrimination that I’ve been making for some time to audiences that might or might not be familiar with it. The idea of publishing some...
Walter Benn Michaels
A coming wave of Baby Boomer retirements threatens the survival of many small businesses. This initiative is making employee-ownership a more viable option.
Isabella Garcia
30 min
Andrew Yang speaks to voters in a town hall at Ames, Iowa, with a powerpoint presentation to help him present his blueprint for a new way forward for America.
In such a world, a full-time minimum wage worker would be earning $48,000 a year in the United States.
Dean Baker
50 min
Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff wrote a monumental book about the new economic order that is alarming. "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," reveals how the biggest tech companies deal with our data.
39 min
What is wealth—not just spiritual wealth but material wealth—as we move past the world-story of domination, competition, and control? How can we practice it now?
"One of Sanders' campaign slogans is 'Not me. Us.' That thought literally needs to become reality if Sanders is to address the challenges that await him."
William Grover
20 min
Are Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos the new feudal elite? Anand Giridharadas talks to INET President Rob Johnson about how the titans of Silicon Valley use “philanthropy” to control more of our lives.
At this point in human history, the limits of capitalism and the limits of our species’ life on Earth have converged. We have never been here before, and we cannot go back.
Laurie Adkin
43 min
From coats to handbags, the demand for brand name fashion accessories is at an all-time high. Beyond the glamorous façade lies a culture that thrives on the exploitation and abuse of its migrant workers. The DW Documentary Luxury: Behind the Mirror infiltrates these...
43 min
Homelessness, hunger and shame: poverty is rampant in the richest country in the world. Over 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, twice as many as it was fifty years ago. It can happen very quickly. Many people in the United States fall through...
18 min
Rising inequality and growing political instability are the direct result of decades of bad economic theory, says entrepreneur Nick Hanauer. In a visionary talk, he dismantles the mantra that "greed is good" -- an idea he describes as not only morally corrosive, but also...
4 min
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains the forces driving the generational wealth gap between baby boomers and millennials.
10 min
“Dinner For Few” is an allegorical depiction of our society. During dinner, "the system" works like a well-oiled machine. It solely feeds the select few who eventually, foolishly consume all the resources while the rest survive on scraps from the table. Inevitably, when the...
71 min
You Can’t Evict An Idea reveals the strengths and weaknesses of leaderless activist groups and 100% consensus decision making. The challenges inherent in using disruptive protest to change the world are as relevant to the climate change protests today (such as Extinction...
59 min
This conversation with Zack Geist addresses the phenomenon of debt, both from a theoretical standpoint and in very practical terms (at least for US listeners). Zack operates a business that liberates people from student loans and other debt. We discuss the morality of debt...
6 min
These days, city living feels much more difficult than it used to be. It seems everyone has a ‘town planning’ issue or gripe. What’s yours? This animation explores why we need to break from a system of endless economic and population growth. Otherwise, our neighbourhoods will...
What we are witnessing is not a passive geological event but extermination by capitalism.
Justin Mcbrien
53 min
When it comes to helping people and planet, the way we grow our food is important. But building a healthy “food web” — healthy connections between producers, retailers and consumers — is also key.
This charter was originally published in Spanish as a rallying call for Social Solidarity Economy initiatives within the Spanish territory. We have translated it to share its principles with English speaking audiences and Social Solidarity initiatives worldwide. This article...
REAS
69 min
Which come first, people or oil? When money and morality collide, there's only one winner. The Yasuni Park in Ecuador is a haven of biodiversity and home to indigenous tribes. It also holds a third of the country's oil reserves. Ecuador had agreed to keep the oil in the...
2 min
Too often, when businesses are sold, workers pay the price. Our new policy proposal would guarantee workers a right of first refusal, giving them a chance to bring their workplaces under democratic ownership. Learn more at: https://thenextsystem.org/rto
Working less would massively reduce our carbon footprint, and bring many other benefits besides
André Spicer
Every day, private equity companies snatch up firms and strip them dry. But there’s an alternative: allow workers to buy their workplace and run it themselves.
Peter Gowan
Rich people have always had class consciousness because... they want to stay rich. This collective consciousness led the "founding fathers" of the United States to set up systems of governance that would, first and foremost, protect them (the wealthy, landowning minority)...
Colin Jenkins
45 min
Does your job make little to no sense? Does it seem like it wouldn't even matter if your job didn't exist? Would it even make the world better? Then you likely have a bullshit job. In this documentary, vpro and American anthropologist, David Graeber looks more closely at...
Giving everyone a job is the best way to democratize the economy and give workers leverage in the workplace.
Mark Paul, William Darity Jr and Darrick Hamilton
12 min
Australia's treasurer is doing the rounds celebrating 5% unemployment... as if that's something to be proud of? That's celebrating a system in which hundreds of thousands of single parents, old people, and young people are locked out of paid work. Where eight people are...
Imagine a world where food routinely gets shipped thousands of miles away to be processed, then shipped back to be sold right where it started. Imagine cows from Mexico being fed corn imported from the United States, then being exported to the United States for butchering...
“The collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.” – David Attenborough
Edward Fullbrook
McMindfulness is the new capitalist spirituality.
Ronald Purser
3 min
The Australien Government has made an ad about wages and the economy, and it's surprisingly honest and informative!
43 min
No company stores more data than Amazon, the former online bookseller. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the world. Every second Euro in online trading is spent at Amazon. Is the IT giant, with its unabated growth, about to turn our economic system upside...
45 min
In Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, we see that markets are inefficient and growth is not the holy grail. It's time for a new economic model: doughnut economics.
55 min
As the trade war between the U.S. and China escalates, FRONTLINE and NPR take a look at what led to the rising tensions and what’s at stake.
2 min
Problem: Privatisation. Solution: Public ownership.
27 min
White Widows portrays the tough and disadvantaged life of Indian cotton farmers in their village Dhanoli located in the region of Vidarbha, well known as the epicentre of farmer suicide.
3 min
Robert Reich explains why American democracy has become an oligarchy.
4 min
Robert Reich explains why we must tax wealthy estates in order to reduce inequality.
Tom Friedman and Steve Bannon are, as usual, wrong. Hardship in the United States can’t be blamed on China’s “economic war” on democracy. It’s the fault of American corporations and elites.
Nicole M. Aschoff