Episode

3/6 Has Capitalism Become Obsolete? w/ Steve Paxton

March 6, 2023

Sam and Emma host author Steve Paxton to discuss his recent book How Capitalism Ends: History, Ideology and Progress. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on clashes in and around Atlanta’s developing “Cop City,” DHS’s illegal domestic intel program, Biden vs. the airlines, the East Palestine clean-up, Kari Lake coming out of CPAC as the #1 GOP VP choice, and Meta and Google playing along with the criminalization of abortion, before diving deeper into recent protests in Israel after Netanyahu rolled back judicial powers, walking through what it would take to reverse Israel’s severe shift right in recent decades. Next, Steve Paxton joins as he dives right into his exploration of capitalism as both an important step in social progress, and one that brought about its own obsolescence, first stepping back to explore capitalism’s revolution of humanity’s productive capacity, shifting society’s primary problem for the survival of its most marginalized from an issue of capacity to one of distribution, before looking to capitalism’s emphasis on equality of individuals, particularly in production and political participation, and how this promise was used to legitimize the emerging bourgeois class’ right to the means of production. Next, Steve walks Sam and Emma through capitalism reaching its critical mass in terms of social “progress,” with the profit incentive diverging from societal needs while technological innovation becomes largely driven by state-sponsored investment in universities, before they look to the development of the Right-Left binary as one not grounded in policies, but in pushes for and against social progress. Wrapping up, Paxton tackles the future evolution of socialism and labor relations that are built around public ownership of the means of production, and why the nationalization of particular industries (electric, healthcare) should be the primary focus of the Left.

And in the Fun Half: Emma, Sam, and the MR Crew tackle the future of the social security fight, the lingering impact of the death of Rush Limbaugh, and CPAC’s various shitshows, from Nikki Haley calling out the “woke virus” to Michael Knowles’ explicitly genocidal rhetoric. Anthony from Long Island discusses his upcoming campaign in Brookline, MA, Christina from SC discusses her state’s upcoming attack on abortion rights, and Sandy from Ontario platforms her country’s trans refuge bill. Dave Rubin comes out in support of Scott “Black People Are a Hate Group” Adams, and John Oliver eviscerates Ron DeSantis. Jordan from SoCal dives into the gamification of Amazon’s surveillance programs, plus, your calls and IMs!

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