Michael Hudson (Part I) - A Philosophy for a Fair Society

Welcome to the Shepheard Walwyn podcast and a two part interview with Michael Hudson, perhaps to the world’s most influential (but rarely acknowledged) economist. Michael has had a remarkable career starting off as a practical or reality-based economist working for a variety of institutions looking and how banks really behave. He looked at the balance of payments economics for David Rockefeller at Chase Manhattan Bank; worked for Herman Kahn at the Hudson Institute, and advised the US State Department on how they could fund the Vietnam War when the gold was running out. He now advises the Chinese Government on how to maintain an industrial economy and avoid the traps the US Finance economy has fallen into.

 

Michael’s most famous work is Super Imperialism, the Economic Strategy of American Empire but has also written extensively on ancient economies in the Near East. He is one of our longest running writers having co-written the soon to be re-released eBook, A Philosophy for a Fair Society with Kris Feder and the late GJ Miller and. Incidentally, this book is a great introduction to his whole body of work so do check it out!

 

In this first episode we looked at how economics got corrupted from industrial economics where people made money by making things, to a finance economy where a small elite group makes money by manipulating financial instruments.  There’s some meaty topics but I promise it’s worth your time.  Time stamps are as follows.

 

00.0 Welcome and introduction.

02.30   How did he get into economics?

10.00  The effect of real estate and credit on the economy in today’s finance economy system.

17.00  Why did the classical economists fight so hard to get rid of the rentier class?

21.00  Why was almost everyone a socialist at the start of the 20^th century? And why was the public sector seen as the 4th factor of production?

31.30  The fight against classical economics and its concept of rent as unearned income

36.00  What Henry George got wrong.46.00  How the fight to maintain an industrial economy is being fought in Russia and China.

53.00  How GDP calculations distort the value creation process today.

58.00  How the University of Chicago and its graduates enjoy their free lunch.

1.09    The New Road to Serfdom and the legacy of the new feudalism.

 

Get A Philosophy for a Fair Society eBook (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3srolCt

Now available in a bundle, get it with a deducted price here: https://bit.ly/swclassics

 

www.shepheardwalwyn.com