NORMAN POLLACK – Economic Nationalism vs. Globalization: Janus-Faced Monopoly Capital

This week the conflict surfaced of the presumed difference between Trump’s economic nationalism and Clinton’s globalization, the former thought in the liberal media a betrayal of enlightened internationalism (similar to the condemnation of Britain’s exit from the EU) and, on the side of constructive economic statesmanship, a world order of free trade and peaceful harmony. The Great Obfuscation: Both are …

Chris Hedges – Reform or Revolution

Chris Hedges gave this talk on revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg on Friday at the Left Forum in New York City. On the night of Jan. 15, 1919, a group of the Freikorps—hastily formed militias made up mostly of right-wing veterans of World War I—escorted Rosa Luxemburg, a petite, 50-year-old with a slight limp, to the Eden Hotel in Berlin, the headquarters …

MICHAEL HUDSON -Parasites in the Body Economic: the Disasters of Neoliberalism

Eric Draitser: Today I have the privilege of introducing Michael Hudson to the program. Doctor Hudson is the author of the new bookKilling the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy, available in print on Amazon and an e-version on CounterPunch. Michael Hudson, welcome to CounterPunch Radio. Michael Hudson: It’s good to be here. ED: Thanks so much …

Paul Buchheit – The Evidence Keeps Pouring In: Capitalism Just Isn’t Working

To followers of Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan, and to all the business people who despise government, ‘community’ is a form of ‘communism.’ Even taking the train is too communal for them. Americans have been led to believe that only individuals matter, that every person should fend for him/herself, that “winner-take-all” is the ultimate goal, and that the winners have …

Darwin’s Casino – John Michael Greer

Our age has no shortage of curious features, but for me, at least, one of the oddest is the way that so many people these days don’t seem to be able to think through the consequences of their own beliefs. Pick an ideology, any ideology, straight across the spectrum from the most devoutly religious to the most stridently secular, and …

Our Ayn Randian Dystopia: The Five-Step Process to Privatize Everything – Paul Buchheit

Law enforcement, education, health care, water management, government itself — all have been or are being privatized. People with money get the best of each service. At the heart of privatization is a disdain for government and a distrust of society, and a mindless individualism that leaves little room for cooperation. Adherents of privatization demand ‘freedom’ unless they need the …

Capitalism in America: Giving Crazy a Bad Name While Subverting Democracy

Ever since Milton Friedman’s series of essays on Capitalism and Freedom, conservatives have tried to link democracy and capitalism into essential handmaidens.  But as the evidence shows, it’s a reality-busting bundle that only a psychotic could love.  Or believe.The fact is, capitalism as practiced in America – far from being democracy’s handmaiden — is anathema to freedom, and ultimately, impoverishing to …

Welcome to “Libertarian Island”: How these One Percenters are creating a dystopian nightmare in Silicon Valley

In the clever science fiction video game Bioshock, an Objectivist business magnate named Andrew Ryan (recognize those initials?) creates an underwater city, where the world’s elite members can flourish free from the controls of government. It is a utopian village that Ayn Rand and her hero John Galt would surely approve of, but unfortunately it ends up becoming a dystopian nightmare …

Procrastination Part I: Why You Do It

This is the first of a two-part post on procrastination: Part I addresses why we procrastinate; Part II will focus on strategies to decrease procrastination. Many people misunderstand procrastination as a problem of laziness or poor time management. But procrastination—especially problem procrastination—is often a strategy used to manage struggles with self-esteem. Everybody puts off some things some of the time. But some folks …