How America Went From Mom-and-Pop Capitalism to Techno-Feudalism

The crisis of 2020 has created the greatest wealth gap in history. The middle class, capitalism and democracy are all under threat. What went wrong and what can be done?

In a matter of decades, the United States has gone from a largely benign form of capitalism to a neo-feudal form that has created an ever-widening gap in wealth and power. In his 2013 bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, French economist Thomas Piketty declared that “the level of inequality in the US is probably higher than in any other society at any time in the past anywhere in the world.” In a 2014 podcast about the book, Bill Moyers commented:

Here’s one of its extraordinary insights: We are now really all headed into a future dominated by inherited wealth, as capital is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, giving the very rich ever greater power over politics, government and society. Patrimonial capitalism is the name for it, and it has potentially terrifying consequences for democracy. 

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On “It’s Our Money”: Prof. John McMurtry Discusses “The Cancer Stage of Capitalism” and Why the Establishment Hates Trump

Ellen’s noted guest Dr. John McMurtry describes capitalism as being in a cancerous stage in which it’s being devoured from within by metastasizing greed and self-interest. He also talks about why the establishment hates Donald Trump. Matt Stannard looks at how the banking cancer has affected Jefferson County, AL, which declared bankruptcy after buying into toxic interest rates swaps from Wall Street salesmen. The antidote: public banks! Show archived here.

Dr. Richard Wolff on “It’s Our Money”

Capitalism is often touted as the most dynamic marketplace performer capable of lifting more boats faster than any other — but why then do we see its colossal failures as a stable and equitable driver of well-being for the vast majority of its practitioners? Ellen speaks with one of the most knowledgeable experts on economic systems, Dr. Richard Wolff, about how capitalism fails in part because of its anti-democratic underpinnings that rock many of those boats and swamp others while letting the captains of capital cruise on. We also talk about the emerging popularity of Quantitative Easing for the People and the importance of values-driven common cause for change.

Listen to the archive here.