UG#572 - Monopoly and Money (Contradictions of Capitalism)
Robin Upton | 21.10.2011 14:42 | Globalisation | Policing | Social Struggles | Sheffield | World
If competition is such a good thing, why is it not tolerated in areas of government or law? Or in the money system, which functions as a highly profitable private business? And what about cartel agreements which align the interests of multi-national corporations firmly against the interests of consumers? Are corporations really competing to bring better products to market more cheaply, or are they competing for control of government to grant them privileges?
We start the show this week with a few words from Milton Friedman! His opinion that every society 'runs on self-interest' (which he equates with greed) provides the backdrop to this week's show, which examines the inherent contradictions of capitalism, focussing particularly on monopolies.
We start the show with Howie Hawkins presentation on "Ecological Socialism versus Capitalist Exterminism" given to the NY Greenfest in August 2011. He gives 10 contradictions of capitalism and notes the importance of regulations in defining what is a free market, and the terms on which competition takes place.
Next we hear Edward Griffin on "The Meaning and Mythology of Monopoly Capitalism". This presentation from 1975(?) highlights some of the ways in which transnational corporations fail to compete with each other -- how they are cartellised, formaing supra-national structures which are beyond the power of individual nations to control.
We conclude the show with a 2010 interview of Ellen Brown by Ken McDermott Roe on the history of money. She explains how privately owned central banks works, and how different US administrations have used different money systems until the 1913 institution of the private Federal Reserve monopoly.
Thanks to Essential Dissent for the recording of Howie Hawkins and to History Counts for the Ellen Brown interview.
To find out more on money creation, you are recommended to try the "Wizards of Money" series.
We start the show with Howie Hawkins presentation on "Ecological Socialism versus Capitalist Exterminism" given to the NY Greenfest in August 2011. He gives 10 contradictions of capitalism and notes the importance of regulations in defining what is a free market, and the terms on which competition takes place.
Next we hear Edward Griffin on "The Meaning and Mythology of Monopoly Capitalism". This presentation from 1975(?) highlights some of the ways in which transnational corporations fail to compete with each other -- how they are cartellised, formaing supra-national structures which are beyond the power of individual nations to control.
We conclude the show with a 2010 interview of Ellen Brown by Ken McDermott Roe on the history of money. She explains how privately owned central banks works, and how different US administrations have used different money systems until the 1913 institution of the private Federal Reserve monopoly.
Thanks to Essential Dissent for the recording of Howie Hawkins and to History Counts for the Ellen Brown interview.
To find out more on money creation, you are recommended to try the "Wizards of Money" series.
Robin Upton
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