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Giants: Who Really Rules The World? 23 min
Abby Martin sits down with Peter Phillips, former director of Project Censored and professor of Political Sociology at Sonoma State University. His new book “Giants: The Global Power Elite” details the 17 transnational investment firms which control over $50 trillion in...
On Wednesday, the day it was announced that the U.S. birthrate fell for the fourth straight year, signaling the lowest number of births in 32 years, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the most draconian anti-abortion law in the country. That the two developments came at the
Why The US Has No High-Speed Rail 17 min
China has the world’s fastest and largest high-speed rail network — more than 19,000 miles, the vast majority of which was built in the past decade. Japan’s bullet trains can reach nearly 200 miles per hour and date to the 1960s. They have moved more than 9 billion people...
Robots And AI: The Future Is Automated And Every Job Is At Risk 16 min
Robots are already changing jobs as an endless array of robots enter our everyday lives. From trucking to service work to high-end jobs like doctors and lawyers, this documentary explores how robotics and artificial intelligence are changing the workplace.
Richard Wolff: Beyond Universal Basic Income 30 min
Prof. Richard Wolff presents an in-depth analysis of UBI, showing its advantages over most welfare, safety net systems. An even better alternative would avoid capitalism's unnecessary production of unemployment because it utilizes technical progress (rising productivity) for...
The economic system is incompatible with the survival of life on Earth. It is time to design a new one.
Peter Joseph - Critique of Jordan B. Peterson (vs Slavoj Zizek: "Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism") 54 min
Peter Joseph addresses the opening arguments put forward by Jordan B. Peterson, from Peterson's debate with Slavoj Zizek called "Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism" - April 19th 2019 (Sorry for the typos. Mostly min. 46-48)
Not Capitalism, Not Communism: George Monbiot on Why We Need the Commons 21 min
Cat Hobbs interviews activist and author George Monbiot on the potential of the commons, the idea of public luxury and more.
Green New Deal advocates in the United States should look to the Nordic countries for inspiration on how to overcome the 1 percent and address climate change.
Why Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Matters 7 min
Maslow's Hierarchy, (or Pyramid), of Needs is one of the central ideas in modern economics and sociology. The work of a once little-known American psychologist, it has grown into an indispensable guide to understanding the modern world. This film explains who Maslow was, what...
In the face of climate breakdown and ecological overshoot, alluring promises of “green growth” are no more than magical thinking. We need to restructure the fundamentals of our global cultural/economic system to cultivate an “ecological civilization”: one that prioritizes the...
Andrew Yang: The Entire Socialism-Capitalism Dichotomy Is Out of Date 6 min
Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang says we need a U.S. economy with qualities of both capitalism and socialism.
Robert Reich: What's the Real American Story? 17 min
Robert Reich examines Trump's dark vision for America, and how to create a progressive message for the future.
Robert Reich: The Monopolization of America 12 min
Robert Reich looks at antitrust laws and corporate giants.
Robert Reich: Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Rest 5 min
Robert Reich explains how government policies protect the wealthy and corporations, but leave ordinary Americans at risk.
Insane Trade! 3 min
The way trade works in the global economy can be insane – it wastes resources, worsens climate change, and undermines the livelihoods of millions of small-scale producers worldwide. Yet it is an almost unavoidable consequence of de-regulatory ‘free trade’ agreements and the...
We have many problems – poverty, unemployment, environmental destruction, climate change, financial instability, etc. – but only one solution for everything, namely economic growth. We believe that growth is the costless, win-win solution to all problems, or at least the...
Most everyone who’s interested in global inequality has come across the famous elephant graph, originally developed by Branko Milanovic and Christoph Lakner using World Bank data (see below). The graph charts the change in income that the world’s population have experienced...
18 concrete ways to make the urgently needed climate mobilization a reality
The Handmaid’s Tale is less a dystopian nightmare about Trump’s America than a comforting fiction we tell ourselves.
“Anthropocene” is a widely proposed name for the geological epoch that covers human impact on our planet. But it is not synonymous with “climate change,” nor can it covered by “environmental problems.” Bigger and more shocking, the Anthropocene encapsulates the evidence that...
Training for the jobs of the future keeps workers trapped as long as workers can't shape how technology is used and who profits from it
The Business Class Wants You to Hate the Government Because It Has a Defect | Noam Chomsky 5 min
"Business leaders and elite intellectuals recognized that the public had won enough rights so that they can't be controlled by force, so it would be necessary to turn to control of attitudes and opinions...
If Martin Luther King Jr. still lived, he’d probably tell people to join unions.
And we wouldn’t even have to tax the rich to pay for it.
The Secret to Ending Poverty | Rutger Bregman 6 min
Historian Rutger Bregman found a way to end poverty. Obviously we had to ask him how!
Robert Reich: The Big Economic Switcheroo 3 min
Robert Reich explains why the growing federal debt enriches Wall St. bankers and wealthy Americans.
Ownership is often seen as a very simple concept. “Mine, not yours,” a two-year-old might tell us. The reality, however, is far more complex, as the rights of owners are far from fixed. Indeed, the concept of what ownership means is itself subject to change. For this reason...
A network of public banks could underwrite the new New Deal in the same way President Franklin Roosevelt financed the original.
When orthodox economists first encounter the idea of degrowth, they often jump to the conclusion that the objective is to reduce GDP.  And because they see GDP as equivalent to social wealth, this makes them very upset.
We Should Be ‘Screaming Mad’ About Amazon's ‘Corporate Welfare’ 4 min
You may have heard by now that Amazon’s new headquarters will soon call the New York and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas home. This decision has engendered much criticism. But the Atlantic staff writer Derek Thompson doesn’t think the vitriol is enough. “We should all...
Richard Wolff takes on Jordan B. Peterson 5 min
Prof. Wolff responds to Jordan Peterson's assertions about Marxism.
To address the dramatic increase in mental and emotional distress in the U.S., we must move beyond a focus on the individual and think of well-being as a social issue.
Obama Admits Bipartisan Capitalist 'Washington Consensus' Fueled Far-Right & Multiplied Inequality 8 min
Former US President Barack Obama admitted that the neoliberal capitalist policies he and his predecessors supported fostered the rise of the far-right and grossly exacerbated inequality.
Robert Reich: The Truth About Privatization 5 min
Robert Reich explains why using the private sector for government services can have negative consequences.
An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) enables full or partial ownership of a business by its employees through a pension plan or trust.
(Excerpts from the keynote speech given by Professor William Robinson at the Nov 18 L.A.
As the Brexit negotiations wrap up and Theresa May’s deal is lambasted by Remainers and Leavers alike, it’s still far from clear what the future holds for the United Kingdom. On March 29 2019, it is due to leave the European Union.
Our food system is linked to an economic system that is fundamentally biased against what’s good for people and the planet.
An emergency plan to meet the climate emergency
Yoga, Inc. 58 min
Yoga has transformed from an ancient spiritual practice into a competitive, commercialized, multi-million dollar industry. And for a practice rooted in renunciation, yoga is making some people very rich. YOGA INC. poses this question: Can yoga survive the war between the...
Physician burnout, depression, and suicide increasingly invade discussions within the medical field. Depression and suicide are more common among male and female physicians, with suicide rates 1.41 and 2.27 times greater than that of the general male and female populations...
The Journey of Compassion (2018) | Homelessness Short Film 7 min
Arthur McNeil is a formerly homeless long distance runner who raises money for shelters on cross-country runs. This film attempts to capture Arthur's story and warm character in a short documentary film. This documentary focuses on themes of homelessness, gentrification, and...
Neoliberalism transforms freedom for the many into freedom for the few. Its logical result is neofascism.
"Fascism must be seen as an episodically logical stage in the socio-economic development of capitalism in a state of crisis.” The rise of Donald Trump has brought talk of fascism to the forefront. While comparing US Presidents to Hitler is certainly nothing new -- both Obama...
Local Futures: Beyond the Monoculture 23 min
A sequel to Ancient Futures, giving examples of Local Futures' systemic approach to the problems of the global economy. The 23-minute film challenges the commonly-held belief that globalization is inevitable or "evolutionary" and argues that we need to reduce the distance...
Love And Revolution 85 min
July 2018. The European media claim that the austerity cure in Greece has been successful and that peace has returned. This film proves the opposite. A musical journey, from the north to the south of Greece, among those who dream of love and revolution. 5 years after "Let’s...
In my recent essay, I argued that power in our societies resides in structure, ideology and narratives – supporting what we might loosely term our current “neoliberal order” – rather than in individuals. Significantly, our political and media classes, who are of course deeply...
I rarely tell readers what to believe. Rather I try to indicate why it might be wise to distrust, at least without very good evidence, what those in power tell us we should believe.
The US government does not represent the interests of the majority of the country's citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has concluded. The report, entitled Testing Theories of American...
The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire 79 min
At the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of secret jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth is hidden in British jurisdictions and Britain and...
Caliban and the Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She...
The End of Kings | Caitlin Johnstone 7 min
When kings went out of style, that impulse didn’t leave with them; it simply found a different way of manifesting.
How a New Aristocracy's Segregation Puts Stress on Society 8 min
Growing class division is destabilizing our society, argues author and philosopher Matthew Stewart in a provocative Atlantic magazine cover story. He says there's a group in between the top 0.1 percent and bottom 90 percent that plays an important role in running the economy...
This Restaurant Takeout Service Swaps Styrofoam for Sustainable 5 min
After big cities like San Francisco banned businesses from using styrofoam containers, a woman from Durham, North Carolina, who was fed up with the plastic trash began her own crusade. When her efforts toward passing a local ban failed, she decided to focus on small-scale...
The Disturbing History of the Suburbs 7 min
Redlining: the racist housing policy from the Jim Crow era that still affects us today.
All the Financial Advice You’ll Ever Need Fits On a Single Index Card 8 min
At first glance, fiscal planning can seem more complex and time-consuming than it’s worth. But according to Professor Harold Pollack of the University of Chicago, you can fit all the financial advice you’ll ever really need on a single index card. Economics correspondent Paul...
Inequality - How Wealth Becomes Power 42 min
Germany is one of the world’s richest countries, but inequality is on the rise. The wealthy are pulling ahead, while the poor are falling behind. [Online until: 17 September 2018]
Soul is often defined as the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal.  This definition is not without its critics, as it arbitrarily stops at animals. What about plants and trees?  Do they have souls?  Indeed, it could be argued that plants and trees have some...
How Aristocracies Rule 4 min
The American fairytale is far from enchanted. Power and wealth are concentrated in an anxious aristocracy, comprised of 10% of the population, that reigns by dividing the lower classes and pitting them against each other so that the poor turn against the poor. It’s how most...
Africa is a Creditor to the World 14 min
Capital flight from Africa, especially the illicit kind, is a far larger drain on the countries of the continent than previously thought and exceeds foreign loans and investment flows. PERI’s Leonce Ndikumana discusses his research findings.
Re-thinking Progress: The Circular Economy 4 min
There's a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design the way we make stuff. 'Re-Thinking Progress' explores how through a change in perspective we can re-design the way our economy works - designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and powering the system with...
Green Growth Explained 4 min
Green Growth is the big plan to deal with environmental damage while still growing the global economy. Can we trust it? DIY Fact Check >> #PostGrowth
The growth-driven economic model we have adopted is killing our planet.
“People in a sense are disposable. We work somebody to the point of no return, and we get rid of them and get somebody else in. It’s not a culture where people are respected, are nourished. We have to ask ourselves if that’s the kind of economic culture we are comfortable...
In this world, women are marketed as toys and trophies. Are we surprised when some men take things literally?
We Have a Choice to Make. Growth or Life? 3 min
Every day, we are told that global economic growth will save us. But think about it: How is it possible to have infinite growth on a finite planet? #GrowthOrLife
Visit the average university campus and it is likely that the newest and most ostentatious building will be occupied by the business school. The business school has the best building because it makes the biggest profits (or, euphemistically, “contribution” or “surplus”) – as...
For those who care about peace, equality and the future of the planet, the global political swing to the right over the past few years is deeply worrying. It has us asking ourselves, how did this happen? How did populism turn into such a divisive and destructive force? How...
Let’s be honest, most people are already in favour of free movement – at least for themselves. Aisha Dodwell explains why we should extend it to everyone
The Mexican Town That Kicked Out Politicians And Started Over 6 min
Cherán is a town of some 20,000 inhabitants in the highlands of Michoacán, one of the Mexican states that’s suffered most in the drug wars of the last decade. Armed men and women — not police, but members of an autonomous militia — guard every entrance to the town, looking...
Jeremy Rifkin on the Fall of Capitalism and the Internet of Things 10 min
Economic theorist and author Jeremy Rifkin explains his concept of The Internet of Things. Rifkin's latest book is The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism (http://goo.gl/4estV2).
Capitalism 2.0 Will Include a Healthy Dose of Socialism - Eric Weinstein 12 min
Eric Weinstein: I get asked a lot about the state of capitalism and I think that for those members of society of a certain age we think of capitalism as being locked in an ideological battle with socialism perhaps or even communism.But we never really saw that capitalism...
Into The Open Economy - The Complete Video Series with Colin R. Turner 75 min
Colin R. Turner's informal walk-through on the topics discussed in his book Into The Open Economy. The complete four-part mini-series: I. The Problems; II. The Solution; III. The Practicalities; IV. The Transition; Please add comments and questions below.
The Political Economy of Marijuana | Interview with Prof. Richard D. Wolff 10 min
In this video we talk to Professor of Economics Emeritus (University of Massachusetts), Marxist economist and founder of Democracy at Work, Richard D. Wolff, about the history & political economy behind the legalisation of marijuana.
Trump is a big problem. But he's not the cause of our problems.
It is impossible for any doomed population to grasp how fragile the decayed financial, social and political system is on the eve of implosion.
Dollar General Is Putting Local Grocery Stores Out Of Business 7 min
Retailers around the country are shuttering stores — a list that ranges from Toys R Us, which just announced it’s closing or selling all its U.S. locations, to brands including Footlocker, J. Crew and Macy’s that are shrinking their brick-and-mortar operations. But one...
Why we will not stop climate change.  Capitalism's inability to decarbonize. 29 min
The steps needed to rapidly decarbonize our economy (the only way to prevent catastrophic climate change) will never be taken in a capitalist system.
We need a new economics for the 21st century. Here are five potential pillars.
We need to practice economic disobedience so that radical alternatives can flourish.
Announcing his presidency in 2016, Donald Trump promised the nation that he’d become “the greatest job president God ever created.” His plan to accomplish this rested on a retrograde economic vision that would “make America great again,” by restoring waning coal and...
Contrary to the assumptions of left-liberal commentators, neoliberalism is not merely a bad policy adopted by “greedy” elites. It is in fact a fundamental systemic rejection of the post-laissez-faire settlement put in place in just about all of the developed capitalist...
Do you know what literally repulses me these days? Hearing about the first so and so to get accepted into the exclusive club of the aristocracy. Frankly, I don’t give a damn about the latest first black president or first woman CEO. Who cares! I don’t know how we have arrived...
Depression is a Disease of Civilization: Stephen Ilardi at TEDxEmory 23 min
Dr. Stephen Ilardi is a professor of clinical psychology and the author of The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression Without Drugs.
"The Democrats talk about the middle class. The Republicans talk about the military. No one's talking about the poor."
The New Human Rights Movement - Peter Joseph 120 min
Peter Joseph speaks at The University of Santa Barbara, CA, Nov. 8th 2017, about the themes from his new book: The New Human Rights Movement.
This paper by David Schweickart, published alongside three others, is one of many proposals for a systemic alternative we have published or will be publishing here at the Next System Project. You can read it below, or download the PDF. We have commissioned these papers in...
MLK’s Anti-War & Economic Radicalism Got Him Killed 17 min
On the 50th Anniversary of his death, many of MLK’s economic and radical messages are written out of history.
Humans organize themselves in groups to reach common objectives
Fifty years after Martin Luther King's assassination, the Left struggles to speak with the kind of moral clarity King exemplified — but that shouldn't stop us from trying.
In China and beyond, liberalized markets aren't fostering democracy — they're undermining it.
Beware the architects of our neofeudalism calling on the government to pay a guaranteed basic income
(The following is an excerpt from King’s book “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community” — Part 5 of chapter 5 titled “Where Do We Go”) There is only one general proposal that I would like to examine here, because it deals with the abolition of poverty within this nation...
Careful analysis reveals a number of excellent arguments for the implementation of a Universal Basic Income
MLK was Planning Something Huge Just Weeks Before He was Assassinated 4 min
While most retrospectives focus on his "I have a dream" speech, everyone deserves to know what he was trying to accomplish when he was killed.
This topic has been around for a while, but lately it seems like there are actual attempts at dialogue happening, and so I want to contribute to that.
A Critique of Bernie Sanders "Inequality in America" Town Hall, by Peter Joseph 52 min
Peter Joseph gives a "structuralist" perspective on the nature of modern socioeconomic inequality, pointing out failures within the March 19th, 2018 Town Hall discussion held by Bernie Sanders, Michael Moore, Elizabeth Warren, Darrick Hamilton and other guests.
Nonrepresentative Democracy at the Dark Heart of Globalization
Pro-Capitalist School Explains the Value of Understanding Marxism 10 min
Karl Marx remains deeply important today not as the man who told us what to replace capitalism with, but as someone who brilliantly pointed out its problems. The School of Life, a pro-Capitalist institution, takes a look.
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