Episodes
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Argentina's President Javier Milei, a self-declared libertarian and "anarcho-capitalist", is promoting crypto scams and overseeing rapid deindustrialization. Manufacturing and construction are collapsing, while the financial sector, mining, and agriculture grow. Donald Trump and Elon Musk praise Milei, as the majority of Argentines live in poverty. The real economy is in crisis, but rich foreign investors rejoice as the stock market booms. Ben Norton explains how Argentina is being turned into a resource colony.
VIDEO with charts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3qgYZMYkj0
Topics
0:00 Who is Javier Milei?
0:40 Elon Musk & Donald Trump
1:08 Crypto pump & dump scheme
2:34 Trump & Melania meme coins
3:18 Economic destruction
5:06 BRICS
5:47 Israel
6:27 CIA
6:48 Spanish colonialism
7:11 Ukraine
7:48 Stock market
10:06 Poverty
11:27 12-hour work day
12:46 72% are worse off
13:39 Income distribution
14:38 Extreme austerity
15:28 Government spending
16:47 Colonialism
17:11 Brain drain
18:39 No toilet paper
19:22 Social spending cuts
20:43 Bicicleta financiera scheme
23:04 Cost of living
23:55 Job loss
24:50 Construction collapses
25:17 Housing costs
26:05 Taunting the poor & hungry
28:45 Luis Caputo
31:36 Billionaire sponsors
32:04 Bondholders
32:30 Inflation & debt
39:48 Manufacturing collapses
47:07 Deindustrialization
49:18 Neoliberalism
50:39 Stock index composition
52:09 Privatization
54:13 Plantation economy
56:39 Gold in London
57:56 Financial colonialism
58:19 Outro -
It's now widely acknowledged we are in a multipolar world, but the definition of "multipolarity" is not clear. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio think it means a return to great power competition with imperial spheres of influence, whereas China and much of the Global South say "equality among all countries regardless of size". Ben Norton explains the geopolitical divide.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg0Vur0SI-8
Topics
0:00 US unipolar moment
0:35 Multipolarity is here
1:24 Definition of multipolarity
2:39 (CLIP) Marco Rubio on unipolarity
3:14 US imperial sphere of influence
4:32 China's anti-imperialist view
7:37 Marco Rubio interview
8:52 (CLIP) Rubio on multipolar world
9:14 Rubio fearmongers about China
9:42 Greenland
10:55 (CLIP) Rubio on China
11:02 Neoconservativism rebranded
12:11 Trump's imperialism
12:30 (CLIP) Trump calls to "expand" USA
13:01 Chinese socialism vs US capitalism
14:46 Marco Rubio targets China
17:35 Rubio's fake "populism"
20:22 Nicaragua's anti-imperialist view
22:33 Outro -
Missing episodes?
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Why has the price of gold been increasing so fast, breaking records? Economist Michael Hudson explains the politics of the precious metal, and the dynamics of the US dollar system. He is interviewed by Ben Norton.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bvr2SZm-NM
Transcript: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/02/13/politics-gold-price-economist-michael-hudson/
Topics
0:00 Intro
1:49 Highlights
4:14 Interview starts
4:49 US dollar system & Super Imperialism
8:23 Dollar alternatives?
10:56 Why price of gold is rising
15:31 Gold market is political
21:10 Is gold an inflation hedge?
25:19 US military spending
27:33 Budget deficits & MMT
29:41 Gold standard critique
33:29 Politics of money creation
35:39 Commodity markets
38:01 Options trading
39:33 Central banks short selling gold
43:43 Gold leasing
48:01 How much gold is in Fort Knox?
51:03 Is there a run on gold?
1:02:50 Western central bank strategy
1:07:11 Outro -
Donald Trump's tariffs will likely backfire and hurt the United States, accelerating the decline of US dominance. To discuss, host Radhika Desai is joined by economist Michael Hudson and China-based scholar Mick Dunford.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wpJZh-gDA8
This is part of the program Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the show here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP -
Donald Trump plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians, saying, "The US will take over the Gaza Strip... We'll own it". His son-in-law Jared Kushner has invested in Israeli companies that profit from expanding illegal settlements. Trump and Kushner floated building luxury real estate in Gaza. Ben Norton reports.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBwV8kL5NY
Topics
0:00 Trump is Israel's "best friend"
1:04 US plans to "take over" Gaza
2:19 Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner
3:04 Rebuilding Gaza
3:45 Gaza's "phenomenal location on the sea"
4:24 Kushner eyes "Gaza's waterfront property"
5:05 Ethnic cleansing
5:52 Kushner's investments in Israel
6:51 Saudi Arabia invests in Kushner's firm
8:29 Israel proposes Saudi land for Palestinians
10:00 Trump pressures Jordan & Egypt
11:07 Plans to expel "all" Gazans
11:38 Gaza death toll
13:08 US-Israel made Gaza "Hell"
14:11 Biden vs Trump
15:01 Palestinians don't want to leave home
15:49 Netanyahu is an American
16:49 Netanyahu: Trump is Israel's "great friend"
18:11 Deportations of pro-Palestine students
19:06 IDF prepares to expel Palestinians
19:44 Gaza is an open-air prison
20:55 Bipartisan US imperialism
22:18 Outro -
Donald Trump’s tariffs could destabilize the global economy, warns economist Michael Hudson. US protectionist policies could cause financial crises, as many currencies depreciate and countries can't earn the dollars needed to pay their foreign debts. Ben Norton hosts the interview.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFyWatftnIM
Transcript: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/02/04/trump-tariffs-global-crisis-economist-michael-hudson/
Here you can read Michael Hudson's article on how Trump’s tariffs threaten the global economy: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/25/michael-hudson-trump-tariffs-global-economy/
Topics
0:00 Trump's tariff threats
3:10 Highlights of Michael Hudson
5:47 How to pay foreign debt
10:55 Austerity
14:48 Protectionism
17:19 US threats
21:11 Mexico
22:47 Defaulting on debt
25:46 Economic colonialism
28:18 Colombia
29:50 Greenland
30:23 Economic war
31:02 China's win-win approach
32:24 Trump's contradictions
35:20 US dollar & re-industrialization
37:06 Finance capitalism
41:00 Dollar exchange rate & inflation
44:34 Trump proposal at WEF/Davos
45:20 Investing in USA
47:18 US imperialism
49:17 Outro -
Big Tech oligarchs in Silicon Valley fear competition from Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek, so they're working with the US government to cut off competitors. Billionaire Donald Trump backer Peter Thiel admits they want monopolies, arguing "competition is for losers". Ben Norton explains.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jniPAD2uoo
Topics
0:00 (CLIP) "Competition is for losers"
0:17 China's DeepSeek AI breakthrough
1:46 US tech billionaire Peter Thiel
2:06 (CLIP) Peter Thiel praises monopolies
2:31 Peter Thiel backs Donald Trump
3:12 US government targets DeepSeek
4:23 US goal: stop Chinese innovation
5:40 China is developing 10 AI models
6:00 Senate hearing on China
7:15 (CLIP) "Let's steal [China's] engineers"
7:30 CIA testimony
8:24 (CLIP) Ban Chinese apps in USA
8:43 Is DeepSeek stealing from OpenAI?
10:40 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
11:05 (CLIP) Sam Altman & Peter Thiel
11:24 Silicon Valley wants to cut off China
11:49 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
12:42 Chip restrictions on China
14:34 Big Tech wants US "unipolar world"
16:41 Who's authoritarian, USA or China?
19:03 US oligarchy
20:20 Capitalism vs competition
21:24 Peter Thiel employed JD Vance
21:54 PayPal Mafia
22:30 Robber barons
23:19 Capitalism creates monopolies
24:56 Chinese socialism vs US capitalism
29:38 Outro -
The Chinese company DeepSeek shocked the West with a groundbreaking open-source artificial intelligence model that beats huge Silicon Valley Big Tech monopolies. The US government is already trying to ban it, using "national security" as an excuse. Ben Norton explains.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRmK84_K7Q
Topics
0:00 China's Sputnik moment
1:05 DeepSeek beats US Big Tech
2:20 Open source R1 model
3:18 US tech stocks crash
5:27 US stock market bubble
6:55 Magnificent 7
8:26 Billionaire oligarchs
10:48 USA bans Chinese competitors
13:34 Data privacy and spying?
15:35 Cyber attacks
16:33 US tech war on China
19:36 China "can't innovate"
22:02 China's rapid tech progress
24:49 Dancing robots in China
25:36 Tech race in new cold war
27:20 Outro -
Donald Trump threatened Colombia with sanctions and tariffs after it rejected his abuse of immigrants. Colombian President Gustavo Petro hit back against the US attacks, declaring, "We are not a colony!" Ben Norton analyzes Latin America's resistance to meddling by Trump and his neoconservative Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ8YZEecJgE
Topics
0:00 Trump admin's hawkish foreign policy
0:30 Neocon Marco Rubio
1:30 Colombia: from US puppet to target
2:24 Marco Rubio's attacks on Gustavo Petro
3:51 Israel-Palestine
5:21 US attacks on Latin America
5:58 Trump sanctions & tariffs Colombia
7:31 Humiliation of immigrants
9:10 Colombia responds with tariffs on US
10:25 US meddling fuels immigration
12:42 (CLIP) Trump on 'taking over' Venezuela
12:54 Latin America fights back
14:02 Honduras threatens to close US military base
14:40 Illegal US immigration in Colombia
15:22 China's relations with Latin America
16:49 Latin American right bows down to USA
19:30 Ecuador's US puppet president
20:40 Petro's open letter to Trump
32:23 Global South stands up
33:12 (CLIP) Trump wants to 'expand' US empire
33:43 US imperialism
34:24 Outro -
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he is resigning. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is talking about annexing Canada and making it the 51st state. To discuss the disaster, political economist Radhika Desai is joined by Dimitri Lascaris, host of the independent media outlet Reason2Resist.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7KySFlP4-0
Check out Radhika Desai's article on Trudeau’s fall: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/trudeaus-fall
You can follow Dimitri Lascaris' channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@reason2resist
This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP -
At his inauguration, US President Donald Trump promised to "expand our territory", invoked the colonialist "Manifest Destiny", and vowed to forcibly take over the Panama Canal (falsely claiming China runs it). He later threatened BRICS with 100% tariffs. Trump has hinted at use of military force to colonize Greenland as well. Ben Norton reports on Trump's foreign policy.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HKc1uQpUFs
Topics
0:00 Donald Trump's inauguration threats
0:56 (CLIP) Trump vows to 'expand our territory'
1:28 Mask off imperialism
1:59 Panama rejects Trump's threats
2:55 (CLIP) Trump hints at military force
3:27 Geopolitics of Panama Canal
4:01 Why Trump wants to colonize Greenland
5:18 Greenland's minerals
6:25 Trump threatens BRICS
7:09 (CLIP) Trump attacks BRICS... and Spain
8:18 Trump wants to make Canada 51st state
9:32 Trump threatens Mexico
10:31 Trump attacks Cuba
11:44 Politically motivated US 'terror' list
14:04 Trump strongly supports Israel
15:19 Marco Rubio, extreme warmonger
17:28 Summary of Trump's foreign policy
18:49 Outro -
BRICS added as a new partner Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, with the 6th-biggest population on Earth. BRICS+ now has 10 members and 9 partners, which make up 54.6% of the world population and 42.2% of global GDP (PPP). Ben Norton explains the importance of this expansion.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNNrMP_1E9g
Sources and more information here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/19/brics-expands-population-nigeria-africa/
Check out our related video on BRICS' plan to challenge US dollar domination by creating a multi-currency financial system: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/
Topics
0:00 BRICS expansion
0:58 BRICS' two main goals
1:52 De-dollarization
3:36 Map of BRICS membership
4:00 Indonesia joined BRICS
5:01 List of members & partners
5:37 BRICS is 54.6% of world population
6:57 Fastest growing countries by population
7:59 Africa's population growth
9:05 BRICS is 42.2% of global GDP (PPP)
9:47 Africa's biggest economies
11:37 Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer
12:05 BRICS+ & OPEC+
13:04 Shared economic interests
14:27 Outro -
India has the world's largest population, but can it be the next global economic superpower? Or will extreme poverty, inequality, unemployment, and lack of industrialization and manufacturing capacities hold it back? Why is the Western media so eager to portray India as a pro-Western alternative to China? Ben Norton is joined by economic historian Jyotishman Mudiar to explore these questions and more.
VIDEO with charts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXU42fqJ6g4
Check out Jyotishman's channel India & Global Left: https://www.youtube.com/c/IndiaGlobalLeft
Topics
0:00 Intro
4:32 Is India the next economic superpower?
12:37 Technology
16:39 Geopolitics
20:27 Indian stock market
22:37 Quality of life
34:21 Billionaire oligarchs like Adani & Ambani
42:09 China controls its billionaires
44:42 China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
46:22 Manufacturing in India vs China
49:24 Privatization in India
54:37 India's manufacturing stagnation
56:58 Can services replace manufacturing?
1:08:02 India's dependence on US Big Tech
1:18:43 AI, automation, & population growth
1:29:50 Agriculture in India
1:43:09 Outro -
What will Donald Trump's second term as US president mean for the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine and Israel's war on Gaza? How will his tariffs affect the economy? To discuss, political economist Radhika Desai is joined by Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNQztns8C9U
This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP -
BRICS keeps expanding. As a new full member, it added Indonesia, the 4th most populous country with the 7th largest economy on Earth. BRICS now has 10 members and 8 partners. Together they make up 41.4% of global GDP (PPP) and roughly half the world population. Ben Norton explains.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIDWOWHW-cU
Sources and links here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/07/brics-adds-indonesia-member-economy/
Check out our related report on BRICS' plan to challenge US dollar domination by creating a multi-currency financial system: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/
Topics
0:00 BRICS expansion
0:51 Map of BRICS membership
1:11 List of BRICS members & partners
1:47 BRICS share of world economy
2:27 BRICS vs G7
3:44 Indonesian economy bigger than UK & France
4:41 Indonesia's BRICS invitation
6:05 Global South cooperation
6:56 China supports Global South
7:29 Non-Aligned Movement & Bandung Conference
8:31 US-backed coup against Sukarno
8:58 CIA-sponsored massacres
9:53 ASEAN prefers China over USA
11:07 Philippines allies with USA
12:08 Indonesia calls China & Russia friends
13:52 China is Indonesia's largest trading partner
14:17 China is ASEAN's largest trading partner
14:39 Nickel production
15:32 Indonesia industrializes with China's help
21:53 BRICS cooperation
23:43 De-dollarization
24:46 Outro -
The US stock market is in "the mother of all bubbles", with the market capitalization of publicly traded companies at 206% of GDP. This is higher than the dot-com bubble of 2000, and even the peak of the crash of 1929. Meanwhile, just 25 companies make up over half of the weight of the S&P 500, and the Magnificent 7 Big Tech monopolies are 35% of the market cap of the index. However, the US economy was built upon this financial house of cards, and politicians are profiting from it. Ben Norton explains the dangers.
VIDEO with charts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rguHublkxCQ
Topics
0:00 American exceptionalism
0:53 US stock market is over 60% of world
1:16 USA is 74% of MSCI World Index
2:10 Top 25 companies in world
3:29 Exorbitant privilege of US dollar
4:59 S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices
6:07 Magnificent 7
6:50 Just 25 companies make up 50.3% of S&P 500
8:26 Tesla is insanely overvalued
12:03 Big US companies are really financial firms
13:11 How to measure a bubble
14:15 Buffett Indicator (market cap to GDP)
15:57 Public & private equities to GDP
17:00 How the US government inflated the bubble
21:10 Richest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks
22:23 Warren Buffett's warnings
23:56 Berkshire Hathaway dumps stocks
26:32 Jeff Bezos sells Amazon shares
27:22 Mark Zuckerberg sells Meta stocks
27:40 Elon Musk sold Tesla shares
28:08 The "greatest bubble in human history"
30:27 Alan Greenspan and "irrational exuberance"
31:16 Fears of "pent-up exuberance"
32:19 P/E ratios
33:41 Irrational investing
34:54 Donald Trump's tax cuts help the rich
37:54 Trump and Ronald Reagan
39:04 Trickle-down economics
41:16 Wall Street fills Trump's cabinet
42:02 Financialization of US economy
43:44 Will Trump reverse de-industrialization?
45:38 Real estate & homelessness
46:38 US dollar
47:34 Wall Street vs Main Street
49:06 Outro -
The United States spent decades trying to overthrow the Syrian government, before succeeding in 2024. A declassified CIA document from 1986 outlined US plans for regime change. The blueprint was almost exactly what happened in the proxy war that started in 2011. Ben Norton explains.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKXxKCm1psU
How the US military supported the Syrian rebel offensive that toppled the Assad government: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/12/23/us-military-syria-rebels-assad/
Topics
0:00 Overthrow of Syrian government
0:38 CIA document from 1986
2:25 CIA exploited religious sectarianism
3:58 Installing a pro-Israel regime
5:17 Arab nationalist government had "grudging respect"
5:57 Syria's state-led economic model
7:11 Rebels pledge neoliberal shock therapy
8:09 Muslim Brotherhood
9:45 US wanted "business-oriented" regime
10:43 Proxy war on Syria
12:15 Outro -
While Donald Trump's supporters falsely claim he is an "isolationist", he is threatening to colonize the Panama Canal, annex Canada, and seize Greenland (and its rare earth elements). The Trump team also plans to invade Mexico, bomb Iran, and wage proxy war on China. Ben Norton explains.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_UzMTh82w
Topics
0:00 Trump's warmongering foreign-policy record
1:35 Trump threatens Panama, Greenland, Canada
2:59 Colonial Christmas threat
3:49 Trump followers revive Manifest Destiny
4:41 Top Pentagon official invokes Monroe Doctrine
5:42 US interventions are not jokes
6:32 Seizing the Panama Canal
8:45 Elon Musk backs colonialism in Latin America
10:29 China defends Panama's sovereignty
11:44 US colonial Monroe Doctrine
13:29 History of US imperialism in Panama
16:07 Panamanian revolutionary Omar Torrijos
18:03 CIA and Manuel Noriega
19:10 US invasion of Panama in 1989
20:20 Trump wants Greenland's rare-earth minerals
22:37 Annexing Canada
23:51 Pro-Trump influencers promote colonialism
26:08 Plans to invade Mexico
27:56 Bombing Iran
28:50 Cold war on China
30:30 DOGE will cut social programs, not military
31:51 Cabinet full of billionaire oligarchs
32:27 Bipartisan imperialism
34:19 Outro -
The Global South-led organization BRICS continues to expand, adding 9 partner countries in January 2025, after admitting 4 new members in 2024. The group now makes up roughly half of the global population and more than 41% of world GDP (PPP). It's an economic powerhouse, with top producers of key commodities like oil, gas, grains, meat, minerals, and more. Ben Norton analyzes the growing influence of BRICS+.
VIDEO with charts and maps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_shuhJvvBY
BRICS MEMBERSHIP (9 members + 9 partner countries)
- 5 original members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa.
- 4 new members officially admitted in January 2024 are Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE. (Saudi Arabia has neither accepted nor denied the invitation. Argentina rejected the offer.)
- 9 confirmed partner countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan.
- 4 invited partner countries have not yet given a response: Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey/Türkiye, Vietnam.
Check out our related video on BRICS' plan to transform the global financial system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pHr5yzLEHA
BRICS plans ‘multi-currency system’ to challenge US dollar dominance: Understanding Russia’s proposal - https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/10/19/brics-russia-multi-currency-system-us-dollar/
Topics
0:00 History of BRICS expansion
0:45 9 new partner countries
1:38 Map of BRICS membership
3:45 BRICS is an economic powerhouse
5:00 What does partner status mean?
5:39 De-dollarization of international financial system
7:06 1/2 of global population
8:35 BRICS economies are bigger than G7
9:24 41% of world GDP (PPP)
10:20 US GDP is overstated
12:49 Food production
17:32 Oil & gas production
18:32 Renewable energy
19:21 Mineral production
20:43 Building a global alternative
22:07 Outro -
Syrian rebel commanders have admitted that the US military helped them overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. NATO member Turkey and Israel played a key role as well. Ben Norton reviews the evidence.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qicLi6kqt7M
Topics
0:00 Intro
0:41 US troops occupy Syria's oil & wheat fields
2:56 US military oversaw Syrian rebel assault
6:22 Turkey backed Syrian rebel operation
6:48 Israel helped Syrian rebels
8:06 US military funded Syrian rebels
10:54 Rebranded Al-Qaeda takes over Syria
12:19 USA & Turkey carve up Syria
13:05 Israel colonizes Syrian land
14:31 Jake Sullivan: "AQ is on our side in Syria"
15:15 CIA armed & trained Syrian rebels
16:18 Jabhat al-Nusra rebrands as HTS
17:20 US diplomats meet with HTS leader al-Jolani
19:12 Western media whitewashes Al-Qaeda 2.0
21:05 Outro - Show more
