Episode

5/1 The Bastards of The Neoliberals and Crackup Capitalism w/ Quinn Slobodian

May 1, 2023

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma host Quinn Slobodian, professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College, to discuss his recent book Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Sam and Emma start off by checking in on the numerous improprieties of the conservative Supreme Court justices Gorsuch, Thomas, and Roberts, as well as their decision to take a case that looks to dismantle the regulatory state. Then, they’re joined by Quinn, whose 2018 book Globalists Sam was a big fan of; Quinn says that Crack-Up Capitalism is a sequel of sorts, attempting to answer the question that, after globalization lost its luster, where did market radicalists and their ideology want to go next? Sam asks whether the process surrounding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) was a prime example of the changing headwinds amongst this group surrounding the idea of “free trade”, and how that term continued to warp as we kept getting farther and farther from 2016. They then get into the meat of the book, discussing the newest ideas amongst this group of market radicalists (read: libertarians): creating secessionist communities, drawing from ideas stemming from gated communities and homeowner’s associations, that proliferated heavily in the 1990’s to create a different political and societal system: that of an entirely private government, that does not adhere to the general whims of American democracy (election cycles every 2 or 4 years). Quinn also touches on the “frontier” mentality that embodies this type of mentality, one that dates all the way back to the “manifest destiny” idea in the 19th century. They end the conversation by discussing whether this idea of an a-democratic society is the underpinning of an actual ideological movement, or if it is backfilling a pretty general conservative ideal: creation of prosperity for the few and the wealthy at the great expense of the working poor.

In the Fun Half, Sam, Emma, and the MR Crew discuss Kyle Rittenhouse’s recent appearance on Ted Nugent’s program, where Nugent taught Rittenhouse about the “Mike Obama” conspiracy theory, Steven Crowder’s response to the leaked footage of him being verbally abusive to his pregnant wife (hint: he’s not remorseful), Elon Musk and Bill Maher breaking down what the apocalyptic “woke mind virus” really is, and how that virus is playing out a Texas school (they don’t want their kids watching “James and the Giant Peach”). Sam touches on the Fed’s war on labor, and how the New York Times is helping it discipline workers, plus your calls and IM’s!

Check out Quinn’s book here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250753892/crackupcapitalism

Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join

Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow

Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/

Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/

Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/

Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app

Check out today’s sponsors:

ExpressVPN: We all take risks every day when we go online, whether we think about it or not. And using the internet without ExpressVPN? That’s like driving without car insurance! ExpressVPN acts as online insurance. It creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet so hackers can’t steal your personal data. It’d take a hacker with a supercomputer over a billion years to get past ExpressVPN’s encryption. And ExpressVPN is simple to use on all your devices! Just fire up the app and click one button to get protected. Secure your online data TODAY by visiting https://www.expressvpn.com/majority, that’s https://www.expressvpn.com/majority to get three months FREE.

Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

@SamSeder

@EmmaVigeland

@MattBinder

@MattLech

@BF1nn

@BradKAlsop

Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning

Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/

Check out Ava Raiza’s music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/

The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

Past Episodes

It's News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma speak with Ian Millhiser, senior correspondent at Vox, to discuss some of the oral arguments going on in front of the Supreme Court this week. First, Sam runs through updates on South Korean President’s declaration of martial law, Israel’s myriad violations ...
It's ESVN Week #107! Emma and Bradley break down a strange week of NFL action after the Thanksgiving break! Follow Emma and Bradley on Twitter: @EmmaVigeland @BradKAlsop Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Rick Perlstein, historian, writer at The American Prospect, and author of his most recent book Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. But first, they run through updates on Joe Biden’s pardoning of Hunter, Trump’s developing cabinet, Israel’s ethnic ...