From Alpha To Omega

This week I am delighted to welcome back Ugo Bardi to the show. Ugo is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence, and the man behind the Cassandras Legacy blog, where he writes about resource depletion, climate change, and renewable energy amongst other things. We discuss the recent drop in global C02 emissions and what it means for our global economic system, the hopes for a soft landing post peak-oil and coal, solar panels as our great saviour, and his thoughts on the likelihood of global demographic decline.You can find Ugo’s blog here:http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/The music on this episode was: 'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'Luce Cannon ' by White Isles

This week, I am delighted to welcome Alexander Douglas, a lecturer in philosophy at St. Andrews University, to the show, to talk about his recent book: The Philosophy Of Debt. It was great to talk to Alex about the nature of debt and money, and how all of this stuff is explicitly linked to the power relations and class structure of our society. We also got to talk about how this MMT stuff can be viewed or fits in from a Marxist point of view, a synthesis of which I think could be extremely fruitful.You can find Alex’s blog here:https://originofspecious.wordpress.com/about/You can find Alex’s book here:https://www.routledge.com/The-Philosophy-of-Debt/Douglas/p/book/9781138929746The music on this episode was: 'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'People Move Along' by Pipe-eyeHere are the instructions on how to leave a review on iTunes:1. If you don’t already have iTunes installed on your computer, first you need to install it. 2. If you don’t already have an apple_id, please carefully follow the instructions here where you can create an account without having to give them your bank details (i know… swine!) http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht2534 3. Got to the iTunes website for the show: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...4. Click on the ‘View in iTunes’ button5. Click on the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ tab6. Click on the ‘Write a Review’ button.7. If you have not already logged into iTunes with your apple_id, you will now be asked to.8. Write the review, and click on the submit button.9. If you are having any trouble with all of this, drop me an email to: alpha2omegapodcast (at) gmail (dot) com

In this episode, we have part 2 of the Derick Varn interview, where we discuss the history and theories of Cultural Marxism in great detail. This bumper episode, also veers off into a long discussion on Black Lives Matter, how we need more than just culture wars - how’s about some class wars! Class wars where we call the shots, for a change. Speaking of all this, we start the conversation with myself and Derick talking about Accelerationism and previous guest Nick Srnicek’s new book - ‘Reinventing The Future’. This is a long one people, as it was a pretty unstructured conversation, and I was suffering from a flu at the time of recording. My powers of conversation dipped in the middle, so I let Derick do his thing, but I rally back with some counter-punches of my own, in the later rounds.You can find Derick’s blog here:https://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/You can find Derick’s and Amogh’s Podcast here: http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/The music on this episode was: 'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'Holy Moly' by Matthew E. White

This week I am delighted to welcome back Derick Varn to the show. After listening to the previous show about Cultural Marxism with Doug Lain, Derick sent me an email saying he’d like to come on the show and give his two cents. What followed was a wide ranging discussion on ideology, value theory, and the historical emergence of capitalism. We also discussed the possibility of a revolutionary movement based on a system without abstract value, Marx’s critique of the Gotha Program, and Star Trek as a Marxist Tract. And top of all that, the possible productivity of a communist state, game theory and alternative histories, and the Spanish revolution.You can find Derick’s blog here:https://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/You can find Derick’s and Amogh’s Podcast here: http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/The music on this episode was: 'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'If Not For Money' - The Wytches

This week I am delighted to welcome Doug Lain back to show, for a discussion about cultural marxism, an argument about worker controlled workplaces, and some thoughts on what we can learn from the Inca’s.Doug is the host of the Zero Squared podcast, previously the Diet Soap Podcast, and is the publisher of Zero Books. He is also a sci-fi author, and has been nominated this year for the Phillip K. Dick Award for his latest novel, After the Saucers Landed.You can buy his book here: http://skyhorsepublishing.com/titles/641-9781597808231-after-the-saucers-landedYou can find out everything Doug related here:http://douglaslain.com/And all about Zero Books here:http://www.zero-books.net/The music on this episode was:'All You Need Is Hate', by The Delgados'Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get' by The Dramatics'All About Us' by Teen

After an unplanned hiatus, the show is back with a bang. This week I am delighted to welcome Nick Srnicek to the show. Nick, and his co-author Alex Williams, has recently released a new book with Verso called: “Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work’. I bought this book as a christmas present for myself, and it didn’t disappoint - it’s just the book I have been waiting for someone to write! Indeed, I’m kinda annoyed with Nick and Alex, because it’s the book I really wanted to write! In the interview we cover the first half of the book, which takes a critical look at the functioning of the political left today, and a deep look at the history, strategy and tactics of the neoliberals as a counterpoint. I hope to have Alex back on the show in the near future to discuss the second half of the book, which is much less critique and more ‘what is to be done’. Us leftie’s need to get beyond critique, and that includes this show.You can find Nick and Alex’s book here:http://www.versobooks.com/books/1989-inventing-the-futureYou can also find their blog here:https://syntheticedifice.wordpress.com/The music on this episode was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘USA iii: rail’ by Dan Deacon‘Crying In The Chapel’ by Charles Bradley‘Now Is The Time Of Emotion’ by Prince Rama

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Marxist blogger extraordinaire, Michael Roberts. Michael’s blog, ‘The Next Recession’ is one of the best Marxist economics blogs out there, and he also runs a very active facebook group too.We talk about a recent series of articles Michael wrote called: ‘Robots and AI: Utopia or Dystopia, which was prompted by Paul Mason’s recent book Post-Capitalism.You can find the articles and facebook group here:https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-one/https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-two/https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-three/https://www.facebook.com/Michael-Roberts-blog-925340197491022/The music on this episode was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'Planet Junior' by The Babe Rainbow

This week I am delighted to welcome Prof. Bill Mitchell, Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Bill is also the author of the Billy Blog - one of the best places to learn about MMT on the web. He must be the most prolific economics blogger in the world today, and that’s no lie.We met up in London yesterday, to talk about Bill’s new book Eurozone Dystopia, available from the publishers Edward Elgar. We discussed why Greece should bring back the drachma, the failed negotiating position of Syriza, the chances of reforming the eurozone, and why Italy is the canary in the mine. Unfortunately the batteries for the microphone died 5 minutes before the end, so we missed some of the juicy stuff…… apologies.You can find the Professors blog here: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/You can buy the Professors new book here: http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/eurozone-dystopiaEnjoy!The music on this weeks show was:'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'I’m Leaving Now' by Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard'Grass Roots' by Tommy McCook

After a long delay, this week I am delighted to welcome another Irishman to the show, Chekov Feeney. Chekov is the man behind the blog chekov.org, where he reflects and theorizes on his 20 year journey through leftist politics, science and the media. Chekov also works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Computer Science department in Trinity College Dublin. We talk about the good and the bad of radical left wing organisations, the empirical evidence for the liberal and Marxist world views, the need for new theoretical work on the left, and the dramatic political events unfolding in Greece. We join the conversation as Chekov is discussing his recent work in the field of computational history.You can find his blog here: http://www.chekov.orgEnjoy!The music on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra 'One More Robot' by The Flaming Lips'Mary, Don't You Weep' by Aretha Franklin‘The River’ by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Michael Roberts, author of the ‘Next Recession’ blog. We talk about the new reports out on the world economy from the IMF and the Bank of International Settlements, and how Ben Bernanke has come out as a closet Marxist after all these years. We also discuss the recent debate between David Harvey on one side, and Michael and Andrew Kliman on the other, about the relevance / reality of the law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit, and the politics behind it all.You can find Michael's most prolific Blog here:https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/The music on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘Missing You’ by John Waite‘The Drug Song’ by Amateur Transplants‘Green Onions’ by Booker T and the M G's

After repeated requests from a number of listeners, this week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Dr Paul Cockshott, a reader in the computer science department of Glasgow University. We talk of the Socialist Calculation debate, the Soviet plans for their own internet, Google vs a planned economy, and the problems with Council Communism.If you'd like to listen to the show on your phone, you can now also listen with TuneIn here:http://tunein.com/radio/From-Alpha-To-Omega-p686756/

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Doug Lain, host of what was once called the Diet Soap podcast, but which is now the Zero Squared podcast. We talk about why Doug’s new job as publisher of Zero Books doesn't make him a capitalist, what econophysics has to do with Marx, capitalism as objective reality, base vs superstructure, radical politics and the current balance of forces, how Woody Allen has lost his way, the latest book Doug’s working on, and how cool and communist Star Trek is. You can find the shows new Stitcher presence here:http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/from-alpha-to-omegaYou can find the Zero Squared podcast and all of Doug's other stuff here:DouglasLain.comHere is Zero Books:http://www.zero-books.net/The music on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘Maple Leaf Rag’ by Scott Joplin‘Si tu vois ma mère’ by Sidney Bechet‘For The Love Of Money’ by O’Jays‘Ain't Misbehavin’ by Django Reinhardt

This week I am delighted to welcome to the show Jose A Tapia Granados, associate Professor in the Department of History and Politics in Drexel University. Originally trained as a medical doctor, Jose now specialises in the links between fluctuations in the economy and health conditions. He also is interested in purely economic issues, and is the co-author of the book ‘La Gran Recesión y el capitalismo del siglo XXI’ or ‘The Great Recession and capitalism of the XXI century’ in english. The interview is based upon a really fascinating paper of his I read recently called, ‘Does investment call the tune? Empirical evidence and endogenous theories of the business cycle’. In this paper, Jose looks at the different theories of crisis, in particular those of Keynes and Marx, and sees how they stand up when you test them against the historical empirical data. Very interesting stuff indeed.Here is the podcast's new YouTube channel, with all the episodes uploaded:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD63zXEPxFpl9Y0Vh8abp4AYou can find the paper here:http://sitemaker.umich.edu/tapia_granados/files/does_investment_call_the_tune_may_2012__forthcoming_rpe_.pdfYou can find his book here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/GRAN-RECESION-CAPITALISMO-DEL-SIGLO/dp/8483196115The music on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘That's How It Works’ by The Retinas‘Hurricane’ by Ms Mr‘Forever And Ever’ by Demis Roussos

This week I am delighted to welcome Sean Michael Wilson to the show. Sean Michael Wilson is Scottish comic book writer, who now lives and works in Japan. In the last couple of years, Sean Michael has released a couple of explicitly political graphic novels: 'Parecomic: The Story of Michael Albert and Participatory Economics''Fight the Power! A Visual History of Protests Among the English Speaking Peoples'He has also recently wrote a post for the Forbidden Planet Blog on how an anarchy-based economic system would benefit the creation of comics, and all art in general. We discuss the creative process of the comic-book writer, the emergence of the adult comic-book genre, the Walking Dead and it’s Hobbesian view of the world, why Hollywood does not do anarchy, progressive politics in comics, socialism and the world of art, and the need for revolutionary jokes. You may also be interested in a promising new podcast that has just been launched by Amogh Sadu and C. Derrick Varn called ‘Symptomatic Redness’. It features a really good interview Amogh did with me earlier in the autumn, where I give my opinions on all things economic and political, and slander all my previous guests. Here is the link: http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/prepisode-one-interview-with-tom-obrienHere is where you can get your hands on Sean Michael's Work:http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Sean+Michael+Wilson&search-alias=books-uk&text=Sean+Michael+Wilson&sort=relevancerankHere is Sean Michael's blog: http://radicalfun.weebly.comYou can find Sean Michael's Forbidden Planet blog post here: http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2014/comics-sean-michael-wilson-anarchic-approach/The music on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘Turning Japanese’ by the Vapors‘wrapping the green flag around’ by The Dubliners‘Such A Waste Of Mind’ by Faron Young‘Bring Me Sunshine’ by Morecambe and WiseYou can find the Sligo Anarchist here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yieS7jWWdB8

This week I am delighted to welcome Gavin Mendel-Gleason to the show. Gavin works as a Post-Doctoral researcher in the computer science department at Dublin City University. Gavin also writes for the very interesting blog: Spirit of Contradiction, which focuses on various different aspects of leftist or socialist politics and theory.Gavin recently wrote a really interesting article on some empirical and theoretical evidence from the world Econophysics that chimes with Marx’s two-class analysis of capitalism. These results are extremely interesting and serve as another illumination of the accuracy and power of Marx’s work. We also talk about Gavin's experiences working as an anarchist activist in Ireland, and his journey from that to more formal party politics.You can find his blog here:http://spiritofcontradiction.eu/The music featured on this show was:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra‘Working Man’ by Rush‘Top Hat, White Tie and Tails’ by Fred Astaire'Time Will Tell' by The Lafayette Afro Rock Band‘Water No Get Enemy’ by Fela Kuti

This week I am delighted to welcome Thom Workman to the show, Professor of Political Science at the University of New Brunswick. Thom’s research explores the philosophical and sociological critiques of modernity, especially as these have developed over the post-Enlightenment era. In this episode we discuss the history of the Philosophy of Science, Marx’s understanding of science at the time of writing 'Das Kapital', Postmodernism, and how this notion of science has come under attack over the years, from various quarters, both from outside and within Marxism itself. Thom has also published a number of books, his latest called: ‘If You’re in My Way, I’m Walking: The Assault on Working People since 1970’.http://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/if-youre-in-my-way-im-walking.

This week I am delighted to have Rick Rozoff, long-time anti-war activist, NATO expert, and curator of the - Stop Nato: Opposition to Global Militarism blog. In a wide ranging interview, we discuss the current Ukraine Situation, Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Grand Chessboard, the NATO expansion and encirclement of Russia, and the plight of Syria.You can check out his blog here:http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/The music featured on this show were: 'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra'Cut Em Off' by Dizzee Rascal'Solitude' by Billie Holiday'Isolation' by Joy Division'Blueberry Hill' by Vladimir Putin

This week I am glad to welcome C. Derrick Varn back to the show. We discuss the council communism and the Ultra-left, a man who told Stalin where to go and survived, autonomous Marxism and the Occupy Movement, and the failure of revolutions.Enjoy!The music and voice used on this show are:‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his ArkestraPaul D'Amato discussing the life and work of Antonio Gramsci‘The Charleston’ by Django Reinhart'Working Class Hero' by John Lennon'Destroy Everything' by Dr. Peacock & Repix'Wild Colonial Boy' by Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers.

This week we have part two of our discussion with Professor Peter Hudis, of Oakton Community College, about his book 'Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism'. We talk about the Soviet experiment and the alienation of labour, the role of the state in a post-capitalist society, the Spanish revolution and the anarchist understanding of revolution, and the co-operative model as an alternative. You can get the Professors book here: http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Marxs-Concept-of-the-Alternative-to-Capitalism

This week I am delighted to welcome Professor Peter Hudis, of Oakton Community College, who has recently published his new book: 'Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism'. We discuss what Marx had to say about post-capitalist societies, and the reluctance of those on the left to talk about what it might actually look like. We also talk of the theoretical reasons for the failure of the Soviet and Maoist projects, how abstract labour dominates our lives, and how not even the capitalists are in control of the current system.You can find the Professors book here: http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Marxs-Concept-of-the-Alternative-to-CapitalismEnjoy!

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show, the Jazz Pianist, Marxist auto-didact, YouTube star, and the man behind the Kapitalism 101 blog, Brendan Cooney. I’ve recently just finished reading volume II of Marx’s Das Kapital, and so I’ve invited Brendan on the show to see what he makes of it all. We discuss Marx's concept of science, dialectics, Rosa Luxembourg and empire, the role of gold and silver in Marx's work, and the games people play.You can check out Brendan's Blog here:http://kapitalism101.wordpress.com/And his great YouTube videos here:https://www.youtube.com/user/brendanmcooney/videos

This week I am delighted to welcome back the economist, economic historian, and extremely prolific author, Professor Michael Perelman of the California State University, Chico. We talk about the latest book he is working on: 'The Matrix: An exploratory political economy of the dangerous, paradoxical interactions between war, the economy, and economic ideology'. We discuss unintended consequences, the difficult of decision-making in complex situations, US Imperialism, Vietnam, Heavyweight Boxing ,and the little talked about darker side of Winston Churchill.You can check out the Professors books here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Perelman/e/B001ITVL14/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1And here is his blog:http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/Enjoy!

This week we have the second part of our interview with Professor Andrew Kliman. We continue our discussion about his latest book - ‘The Failure of Capitalist Production’ - and in particular focus on Andrews critique of the Underconsumptionist Theory of Crisis, which is pretty dominant on the Marxist and non-Marxist left alike. We hear how the empirical evidence sits squarely in the face of this theory, what role financialisation has actually played in the economy, and the similarities between Keynesianism and Underconsumptionism. We also talk about the new book Andrew is working on, and just how impressed I am by how well Marx’s theories are able to explain the world around us today.You can find the article for the New Left Project that Andrew mentions in the interview, critiquing Sam Gindin's view of the crisis as financial, here: http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/clarifying_secular_stagnation_and_the_great_recessionAnd you can find Sam Gindins response to Andrew here:http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/underestimating_capital_overestimating_labour_a_response_to_andrew_klimanEnjoy!

This week I am delighted to have Prof. Andrew Kliman back on the show to talk about his latest book - ‘The Failure of Capitalist Production’. The book is a brilliant example of empirical economic research, and shows us how relevant and insightful Marx’s work still is, in helping us understand the workings of our capitalist economy. We discuss the empirical evidence in the US that supports Marx's Tendential Fall in the Rate of Profit, the stagnation of capital accumulation, and the role of the IT revolution in the state of the economy. We also talk of the Great Depression, how it sowed the seeds for the renewal of the global economy, and what is behind the growing inequality we see around us today.You can find Andrew's book on sale here: (I very much recommend buying a copy!)http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Failure-Capitalist-Production-Underlying/dp/0745332390And his blog is here:http://akliman.squarespace.com/Enjoy!

This week our guest is Dr. William Paul Cockshott, a reader in the Computer Science Department of Glasgow University. Paul was trained as an economist, then as a computer scientist, and he has made contributions to the fields of image compression, 3D television, and parallel compilers. He is also known for his work in applying econophysics to classical economics, the field of economic computability, and as the co-author of the book 'Towards a new Socialism', advocating for the more efficient and democratic planning of a complex economy.In this show we discuss the origins of classical political economy, and how it was influenced by the rapid advances in the world of physics. We talk of the importance of Watt and his steam engine, the development of the theories of thermodynamics and entropy, and their importance in economy. The work of Babbage and Alan Turing also get a mention, as well as the human as universal robot. We also discuss the overwhelming empirical evidence for Marx’s Labor Theory of Value, why it is that it works, and the importance of the work of previous guest Prof. Gregory Chaitin in the modern factory. Oh yes, and some roman pottery, chinese crossbows from the Qin Dynasty, and how difficult it is to fold your clothes.Enjoy!You can find his books, talks, and research on his website here: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc/reports/index.html

This week our guest is Matias Vernengo. Matias is an Associate Professor of Economics, at Bucknell University, and a former Senior Manager of Economic Research at the Central Bank of Argentina. He blogs regularly at his site Naked Keynesianism, as well as for Triple Crisis, and is currently the co-editor of the Review of Keynesian Economics. We discuss a paper he recently co-authored with David Fields on the hegemonic role of the Dollar in the world economy. We talk of the advantages of being the worlds reserve currency, the Bretton Woods agreement, Nixon closing the gold window, the Triffin Dilemma, threats to the dominance of the dollar in world trade, and the irrelevance of gold in today’s financial system.You can find his excellent blog here:http://nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.com/The Triple Crisis blog here:http://triplecrisis.com/And the Review of Keynesian Economics Journal here:http://rokeonline.com/roke/REVIEW_OF_KEYNESIAN_ECONOMICS.htmlYou can also find the paper we discuss here:http://nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/taylor-francis-online-hegemonic.htmlEnjoy!

This week our guest is Conor McCabe. Conor is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Justice in University College Dublin, and has just released the second edition of his book, 'Sins of the Father: Tracing the Decisions That Shaped the Irish Economy'.The book is a brilliant class analysis of the Irish economy since the origins of the state, and seeks to give a deep systemic structural analysis to the causes of the crisis, and to help explain why things panned out the way they did. We discuss the Garden Cities of Ebenezer Howard, Irish economic policy and the British Empire, the rise of land speculation in Ireland, an extravagantly pointless Irish hotel, NAMA - the worlds largest property company, which owns all the worthless toxic commercial property in Ireland. Amongst other things...You can find Conor's book here: (It's well worth the read...)http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sins-Father-Tracing-Decisions-Economy/dp/1845886933Happy New Year!

The guest on this years Christmas edition is David Blacker. David is a Professor of Philosophy of Education and Legal Studies at the University of Delaware. His academic background is in the history of philosophy, and his writings pursue insights from that tradition within the context of contemporary education problems. His essays have appeared in the Monthly Review magazine, and he has just released an excellent new book, called, ‘The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame’, which looks at how the educational world is being affected by Marx’s law of the falling rate of profit. We discuss many of the themes of the book, including: determinism vs free will, base vs superstructure, the 'Ye Deluder Satan' Act, student debt and neo-feudalism, radical youth movements, and the utility of a stoic pessimism.You can buy his book here: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Rate-Learning-Neoliberal-Endgame/dp/1780995784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387294781&sr=1-1And you can find the monthly review here: http://monthlyreview.org/Happy Xmas!

This week our guest is Dan Kervick. By day Dan works in the book publishing industry. By night, Dan is an independent scholar, specialising in the work of the British Philosopher David Hume, and a regular blogger on progressive and egalitarian economics over on:http://neweconomicperspectives.orgWe discuss the institutional working of the banking system, how reserves really work, bubble blowing and the logic of quantitative easing, military Keynesianism, and the role of capital flows in the modern economy.

This week our guest is Dr Marco Raugei. Marco is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University (UK), and a Senior Researcher with the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change of ESCI - Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). His main research interests are in theoretical improvements of existing approaches for environmental sustainability assessment, and the development of strategic energy supply scenarios, with special focus on photovoltaic (PV) technologies. He has also been actively contributing to the theoretical and methodological advancement of Emergy Synthesis, which looks at human-dominated processes and systems as parts of and ultimately supported by the larger system in which they are embedded, namely the global geo-biosphere.You can sometimes find his writings on Ugo Bardi’s blog:http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/We discuss his work on renewable energy, in particular his work on the current state of Photovoltaic or PV systems. We learn about the key differences between Energy Returned on Energy Invested and efficiency, bootstrapping fossil fuels to build a renewable future, re-organisation of our current economic system, and renewable energy’s storage problems.Enjoy!

This week we are joined by Professor Matheus Grasselli. Matheus is the Deputy Director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, and an associate professor at McMaster University, where he is the co-director of PhiMac, the Financial Mathematics Laboratory. He also writes a blog on Quantitative Finance for the Fields Institute, where he discusses his work, and thoughts on economic modelling, complexity theory, and probability. Matheus has been working with Prof. Steve Keen to help give a mathematicians viewpoint on his ground-breaking monetary economic models of the capitalist system. We discuss the current state of neoclassical macroeconomic modelling, complexity and emergence, Wynn Godley and his stock-flow consistent models, Hyman Minsky and Ponzi finance, black swans and fragility, Bayesian vs Freqentist statistics, Poker, and Samuel Beckett.You can check out his blog here: http://fieldsfinance.blogspot.co.uk/

This week we have the second part of our interview with C. Derick Varn. We discuss Derick’s new on-line literary journal 'Former People, A Journal of Bangs and Whimpers', the origins of modernism, the influence of Freud, relativity, and quantum mechanics on modernism, modernism's role in politics, and of course, a little Marx. Derick also reads a few excerpts from his writings and poetry.You can check out Derick's stuff here:http://formerpeople.wordpress.com/http://skepoet.wordpress.com/Enjoy...

This week we are joined again by C. Derick Varn. Derick is a poet, teacher, and theorist. He blogs for the (Dis)Loyal Opposition to Modernity, Symptomatic Commentary, and is one of the chief editors of the on-line socialist magazine, the North Star. He also co-hosts the ‘Pop The Left’ podcast with Doug Lain, and has just started a new on-line literary magazine, Former People: A Journal of Bangs and Whimpers, which seeks to look again at modernism and it’s relevance to politics. We discuss the historical tensions between Marxists and anarchists, how Occupy stunned the vanguard, the problems with democracy and the flaws of Leninism, Chomsky on Marx, the interaction of the base and superstructure, and how capitalism is killing the dinosaurs again....http://skepoet.wordpress.com/http://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/http://douglaslain.net/pop-left-8-dual-power/http://formerpeople.wordpress.com/http://www.thenorthstar.info/Enjoy!

This week we are joined by the renowned Marxist economist Michael Roberts. Michael predicted the whole economic and social crisis we now find ourselves in, years before it occurred. He is a working economist in the city of London, and the author of the book ‘The Great Recession’, which gives his Marxist analysis of the current crisis. You can read his prolific writings over on his excellent blog, ‘The Next Recession’.We discuss the key differences between Keynes and Marx, Keynes' class consciousness and ideology, Kondratieff waves and profit cycles, capitalism killing robots, the breakdown theory of Capitalism, and the possibility of a final permanent crisis.You can find his blog here:http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/And his book here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Great-Recession-Michael-Roberts/dp/144524408XEnjoy!

This week, Doug Lain, the host of the excellent Dietsoap podcast, has returned to the show to tell us about his novel ‘Billy Moon’, that is due out from his publishers, Tor, on the 27th of August. Using Doug’s novel for the basis of the conversation, we meander through an array of topics including the May 1968 aborted revolution in France, the interaction of ideology, architecture, and space, the rationality of socialism, the Situationists and the Occupy movement, how we need to dream and escape the dream, the structure of a new revolutionary strategy, the need for bastards, feminist literary critique, and his upcoming Think The Impossible book and podcast tour to San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Oh yes, and no conversation between myself and Doug would be complete without a rant about our dear friend, Karl Marx......You can check out Doug's Dietsoap podcast and writings here: DouglasLain.comYou can read an excerpt of his book over here on his publishers site:http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/billy-moon-excerptAnd you can order a copy over here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Billy-Moon-Douglas-Lain/dp/0765321726Enjoy!

This week we are joined by Charles Eisenstein. Charles is an author and public speaker, and self-described "degrowth activist". His book ‘Sacred Economics - Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition’, puts forward a radical alternative to our current monetary economy, based on degrowth, realigning money with ecology, changing the nature of work, and the return of the gift. Charles has a regular blog over at the ‘Reality Sandwich’, and occasionally contributes to the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free’ section.We talk of money (of course!), our stories and ideologies, people power, exploitation, the occupy movement and revolution, and his optimism for the future. Enjoy!http://www.realitysandwich.com/blog/1736http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charles-esensteinhttp://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Economics-Money-Society-Transition/dp/1583943978/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375134757&sr=1-1

This week we are joined by Nicole Foss, of the ‘Automatic Earth’ blog. Before being a renowned blogger on energy and finance, Nicole was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level. Nicole has just finished a long speaking tour of the antipodes, and joins us from Holland to give us the lowdown on the worlds of energy and finance. We discuss the likely future role of fracking and tar-sands oil production, hyper-inflation and hyper-deflation, the coming economic difficulties we are all likely to face in the coming decades, and the prospect of a return to fascism in the west... You can find her proflic blogging over here:www.theautomaticearth.org

This week we are joined by Prof. Bill Black. Bill is Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is an expert in white collar crime and banking regulation, and developed the concept of ‘control fraud’, in which a business executive uses the business he or she controls as a weapon to commit fraud. He is also the author of the book: ‘The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One’. Today, Bill tells us about a series of articles he has written over the last year on the economic achievements and political shenanigans of Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador.You can find Prof. Black blogging prolifically over at:http://neweconomicperspectives.org/

This weeks guest is Professor Doyne Farmer. Doyne is a physicist, econo-physicist, and founder of the Prediction Company, which brought insights from physics to the world of finance and stock markets. He is a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, where he co-directs the Oxford Martin Programme on Complexity, and is External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. We ask him about econo-physics, how it ties in with complexity theory, and what this all means for the current economic orthodoxy. We also talk about some models he has built that try and replicate the housing crash experienced in the Washington DC area, and how leverage and market impact works to destabilise our economies. He also has recommendations for what we should use instead of mark-to-market accounting that might help quell some of the market instability and high leverage we see about us today. And on top of all that, we talk of his days as a professional roulette player....

After a brief holiday to bask in the cold and brutal wet weather of Ireland and England, the show is back on the road, fueled up, and raring to go. This weeks guest is Professor Alan Freeman, where we talk about the falling rate of profit, crises of capitalism, and our way out of the current economic mire. The interview is loosely based about a paper of his just published in the Journal of Australian Political Economy called: The Profit Rate in the Presence of Financial Markets: A Necessary Correction.(http://media.wix.com/ugd//b629ee_20b6bcc79e688bee2ab6f94f971f7b06.pdf)You can see him talking about it at the recent Historical Materialism conference in New York:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TODNwYP1zYAAlan is a retired but research-active cultural economist. He formerly worked for the Mayor of London's Economic Analysis Unit where he was responsible for the Living Wage, Innovation, and the Cultural and Creative Industries. He is co-editor, with Radhika Desai, of a new book series entitled 'the Future of World Capitalism', published by Pluto Books. He is one of a 'small club' of economists who predicted the crash of 2008, and in 2008 he also predicted that the economic crisis would not leave the industrialised countries until these countries undertook public investment on the scale associated with US government spending during World War II (about 55% of GDP). He is a visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University where he works on the Cities Cultural and Creative Evidence project, and currently lives in Winnipeg, Canada. Enjoy!

This week we speak to Professor Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics, and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, at the University of Cambridge. Prof. Wadhams is an expert in Arctic sea-ice, and is a review editor for the physical sciences component of the upcoming 2014 IPCC (or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) Fifth Assessment Report. We discuss the precarious nature of the Arctic Sea-Ice, the end of summer ice altogether, the problems with the IPCC reports, climate tipping points, the release of massive quantities of methane into the atmosphere, and likelihood of Southern Europe turning into desert in this century.Enjoy!

Welcome to the 1st anniversary of the 'From Alpha To Omega' podcast.This weeks guest is KMO, host of the C-Realm and Z-Realm podcasts, and the author of ‘Conversations on Collapse’. We talk at length about Zombies, Vampires and the Apocalyptic Collapse meme. We also discuss his experiences living on a former commune in Tennessee, his recent move to the sprawling metropolis that is New York City, and his thoughts on the Occupy movement.A big thank you to everybody who took part in the shows, the listeners, and all of those who have donated money to the podcast to help keep it ticking over. Hopefully the next year will see the show grow it's audience and expand the topics covered.You can find KMO's prolific podcasting output over at:c-realm.comOr on his podomatic feed here:http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/Enjoy!

This weeks guest is the C Derick Varn, Poet, Lecturer, and resident of South Korea. Derick writes for ‘The (Dis)Loyal Opposition Blog’, and includes among his interests: alternative visions of the future, the failures of nationalist Marxism, early Leninism, and the relationship between anarchism and Marxism. We discuss the Russian revolution, the Vanguard Party and it's problems, the profound failures of the cultural revolution, and the emergence of decentralised movements like occupy and the 5-Star Movement.Derick has also just interviewed myself, for his Blog, where I get to expound a few of my own opinions for a change. If you are interested in reading these incoherent babbles, you can find them here:http://skepoet.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/interview-with-tom-obrien-one-marxism-mmt-and-the-eurozone-crisis/Here is the link to his blog:http://skepoet.wordpress.com/And you can also find him appearing regularly on the 'Pop The Left' Podcastwith Doug Lain over at:http://douglaslain.comEnjoy!

This weeks guest is the Jazz Pianist, Marxist, and YouTube Star Brendan Cooney, who has blazed a trail for himself on YouTube with his totally cool videos explaining Marx’s insights into the functioning of our capitalist economic system. He also is the man behind the Kapitalism101 blog. We discuss the success or failure of the Occupy movement, and critique it’s organisational structure. We also talk of Marx’s Critique of the Gotha program, a 19th century radical proposal of today's German Social Democratic Party, and the abject failures of the 20th century’s attempts to overturn capitalist forms of production.You can find Brendans blog here:kapitalism101.wordpress.comAnd his large tranche of excellent Marx related videos over here: http://www.youtube.com/user/brendanmcooneyEnjoy...

This week we welcome back Prof. Andrew Kliman to the show, where we discuss Marx’s value theory, his book ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ where he tries to dispel some of the myths surrounding Marx’s theories, and the Tendential Fall in the Rate of Profit. I've recently just finished his book, and would recommend it to anyone wishing to get a deeper understanding of the issues we discuss in this show. You can find the Professors books here:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-Kliman/e/B001JSALNS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1And here is his website:http://akliman.squarespace.com/Enjoy!

This weeks guest is Ugo Bardi, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence. He specialises in resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, or ASPO, is the president ASPO Italy, and a contributor to the Oil Drum, the best energy blog on the web. He is the author of several books, including "The Limits to Growth Revisited”, his upcoming book "Plundering The Planet", and even finds time to write his own excellent blog, Cassandra’s Legacy. Our discussion covers the role of volcano's, Georg Bauer, the father of mining, space aliens, and climate change.You can find his blogging work here:http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/http://theoildrum.comhttp://peakoil.netAnd here is where you can get a hold of his books:http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Revisited-SpringerBriefs-Analysis/dp/1441994157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360432828&sr=1-1&keywords=limits+to+growth+revisitedAlso, a few weeks ago, I was interviewed for a recent episode of Doug Lains dietsoap podcast, where we talk of Marx, Keynes, and money. You can find the show here: http://douglaslain.net/diet-soap-podcast-170-money/ Enjoy....

This week we welcome back Philip Pilkington to the show to talk about his latest writings on the life and times of Friedrich Hayek, the ideologue behind the Neoliberal project. Philip came over to my house this week and we sat about and waxed lyrical on such highfalutin topics as Classical Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Ordoliberalism. We also got around to political propoganda and the Mont Perelin society, the similarities between the far right and Leninism, and how, after Hayek's nefarious influence, our politics has never been the same again...You can find Philip’s writing on the Naked Capitalist blog, the third most popular economics blog on the web.www.nakedcapitalism.comEnjoy!

Our guest week this week is Prof. Stephanie Kelton, Assistant Professor of Macroeconomics, Finance, and Money and Banking at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. We continue our exploration of Modern Monetary Theory, where we talk about full employment and the job guarantee, the fiscal cliff and the euro crisis, and the role of bond vigilantes and inflation, in times of energy crises.Professor Kelton writes regularly for the 'New Economic Perspectives' blog, where you can find some of the best heterodox economists on the planet posting their work.You can check it out here: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/Enjoy!

On this Christmas episode, our theoretical physicist guest is Geoffrey West, Professor and former President of the Sante Fe Institute. We discuss his recent groundbreaking work in the world of biological and social complexity. In the last few years, the Professor has applied his high-energy atom smashing physics know-how, to the field of biology and came up with some startlingly general results, which give us deep insights into all sorts of things, from the life-expectancy of a mouse and the efficiency of cities, to the very nature of our social systems, and their limits.Astounding stuff.... Enjoy!PS The show is now on twitter.... the follow button is just over there on the left hand side of the web page.PPS A very merry Christmas to all you listeners.

This week we talk with the Jazz pianist, band leader, teacher and composer, Dorian Ford. I met Dorian at a jazz gig a couple of months ago, and since we couldn't stop talking about music that night, I thought why not get him on the show. A welcome departure from all the god-damn politics and economics. Within the walls of our musical meander, we discuss the history of jazz, it’s relation to classical music, and the effects of the ‘academisation’ of the modern american classical music, that we call Jazz. We also talk about how music is a function of it’s economic and cultural conditions, and the K-Pop phenomenon that is Gangnam Style.Dorian Ford describes himself as a piano player. He also is leader of the eponymous Dorian Ford Quartet, who I was lucky enough to catch last month playing at the newly opened St. James Theatre Studio in Victoria, London. He is also the programmer for the gigs at St. James Theatre every Friday night, where you can hear the finest in Jazz and Roots music perform in a really great setting.If you’d like to find out more about these gigs or the man himself, you can check out his blog: http://dorianfordjazzandroots.tumblr.com/Or his website: http://www.dorianford.co.uk/.Enjoy...