Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents

Bill Black: The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One (Part 1/9)

Bill Black traces the history of modern American financial fraud starting in this episode with the S&L Banking scandal.

Revealed: Big Pharma’s Plot to Derail US Covid-19 Vaccine Waiver

Confidential documents expose the pharmaceutical lobby’s attempts to recruit lawmakers for anti-TRIPS vaccine waiver effort.

Book Review: A Ground-Level Look at America’s Health Care System

In “The Hospital,” Brian Alexander chronicles the struggle to provide adequate health care in small-town America during Covid.

Why Biden’s Carbon Pricing and Electric Vehicle Plans Won’t Avert Climate Crisis

Unfortunately, central Biden Administration climate change policies, like carbon taxes/pricing, fall well short of the level of action needed

Sputtering About Crypto and the US Pipeline Ransomware Attack

You can hear the silence about the role of crypto in the Colonial Pipeline and a growing spate of ransom demands.

Michael Hudson on American as Absentee Landlord on The Greyzone: Biden Administration, New Cold War, Super Imperialism, Dollar Weaponization

Michael Hudson discusses geopolitics including currency power plays, global institutions like the IMF, the new Cold War, and Bill Gates

How Upskilling America Will Rebuild the Middle Class

A sanity check on how far “let them eat training” will go in restoring the fallen American middle class.

Pay a Living Wage or ‘Flip Your Own Damn Burgers’: Progressives Blast Right-Wing Narrative on Jobs

Hiring has become difficult because some McJobs workers won’t risk their health for a crap wage. So the right wants to beat them down.

‘Cry No Tears for These Death Profiteers’: Pharma Stocks Plunge as Biden Backs Vaccine Patent Waiver

Biden is suddenly backing a patent waiver for foreign manufacture of Covid vaccines. But do the mechanics make this a headfake?

Jared Holst: Getting Kinky for the Sake of Data

Apple is now promising to give users more control over who gets their data. But will they make it more seductive to give it away?

When Big Green Meets Big Money: The Nature Conservancy Caught Greenwashing Corporate Pollution

Green organizations are not created equal. Naming some of the leading greenwashers, starting with the Nature Conservancy.

Michael Hudson Q&A in Webinar on 4000 Years of Money and Debt

The Q&A from a Michael Hudson talk on money, debt, and economic orthodoxy.

Webinar with Michael Hudson: A 4000-Year Perspective on Economy, Money and Debt

Michael Hudson gives a long historical account of the role of debt and money as a tool for promoting prosperity and political dominance.