Left Anchor

Today we're posting an interview with Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project that was part of a telethon holiday livestream for The American Prospect. (Find the donation page here.) We discuss what happened when McDonald's crossed the Danish labor movement, how the same thing is happening to Tesla, why Americans seem so down on the economy, and more. Enjoy!

We're continuing the discussion on the Gaza war with Adam Johnson. Check out his articles we discuss at The Nation and Jacobin.

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We're unlocking our Gaza discussion with writer and organizer Layla Al-Sheikh, talking about the history of Hamas and Israel, the plausibility of a two-state solution, what people in the West can do to help, whether the Biden administration might think twice about its support for Netanyahu, and more. Check out Layla's article in Dissent and Jacobin, and you can find the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund here.

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Today we've got political science Professor Neil Kraus on to talk about his book The Fantasy Economy: Neoliberalism, Inequality, and the Education Reform Movement. We discuss how all the promises that increasing educational attainment would cut poverty and inequality failed, how that can actually be accomplished with unions and the welfare state, and how a proper higher education system should work. Enjoy!

Today we are speaking with Astra Taylor about her book The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

Today after a brief update on the Gaza situation, we are talking about the new dark horse House speaker, and the end of democratic government in North Carolina. Enjoy!

We are continuing our Gaza discussion with writer and organizer Layla Al-Sheikh. Subscribe to listen to the whole thing! Check out Layla's article in Dissent and Jacobin, and you can find the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund here.

Today we've got David Klion on to talk about Gaza--what has happened on the ground, the immediate and historical contexts, whether this marks the end of Benjamin Netanyahu's career, and if Israel can learn that the occupation is at the root of its most intractable security problems. Check out David's article in n+1 here.

The WGA won their strike against the Hollywood studios, President Biden is on the UAW picket line, Trump is talking with scab parts workers, and New York City was flooded briefly. We talk about it. Note: we discuss the possibility of replacing Dianne Feinstein at the beginning, before it was known that California Governor Newsom would nominate former labor organizer and Uber lobbyist Laphonza Butler to serve out the remainder of her term.

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Apologies for the radio silence over the last couple weeks, Alexi has been in Greece, Denmark, and Germany, and Ryan has been on a reporting trip in Finland. We just haven't had time to record. But we're back to discuss what Ryan learned about Finland's S Group cooperative retailer and how the broader Finnish society compares with America. Enjoy!

Ryan is traveling in Finland, so for this week we're unlocking a recent theory episode. How is socialism related to liberalism? This time we read two works on this question: "The Relationship Between Liberalism and Socialism," by Ed Rooksby, and "Why I Am Not A Liberal," by Liam Kofi Bright. We discuss how liberalism evolved, if socialism contradicts it or evolves out of it, and why billionaires are ontologically unhappy. Enjoy!

Donald Trump has now been indicted four times (though this was recorded before the most recent Georgia indictment). We discuss why this is different from the Mueller investigation, how Trump might escape justice by dragging it out until after the election, and Ulysses S. Grant's view on what happens to people who attempt to overthrow the government, plus some more optimistic news. Enjoy!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how capitalist inequality breaks people's brains. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

In this episode, first Ryan discusses his Heatmap article about Tesla and Elon Musk, as well as the book Ludicrous by Edward Neidermeyer. Then he interviews the Prospect's Luke Goldstein about his investigative article about Q-Cells, a South Korean solar panel company that has set up shop in Dalton, Georgia--the district represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Today we are talking the death of Tony Bennett and socialism banana discourse. Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!

We are taking this week off, so this time we're unlocking an old episode with Phil Christman, talking about his book How to be Normal, a collection of essays about the pandemic, masculinity, whiteness, religion, and much else besides.

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Alexi is back, and we are talking current events: the imploded Titanic submarine, the Elon-Zuckerberg cage match, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny in Russia, the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Joe Biden’s embrace of Narendra Modi, the Greek election, and how freight rail workers finally got paid sick leave. Enjoy! Also don’t miss Yanis Varoufakis’s commentary on the Greek economy.

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, video game journalist, critic, and creator merritt k discusses the state of the gaming press. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

Today we've got John Nichols on to discuss the book he wrote with Bernie Sanders, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Topics include Bernie's favorite writing technology, the definition of socialism, where the American left goes from here, and more. Enjoy!

In this long preview of the latest bonus episode, Ryan and David Dayen explore what's in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between the Biden administration and House Republicans. Subscribe now to hear the rest!

Today we've got historian David Broder on to discuss his book Mussolini's Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy. The new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the most right-wing person to hold the post since the fascist dictatorship. Where did she come from, how has the Italian far right evolved, and where is it going?

Today we've got Tanja von Knorring on to discuss what is happening with trans issues in Finland. She's a longstanding expert in this area, and explains the historical context regarding trans rights, how policy has changed recently, where the recently transphobic backlash there has come from, and more. Enjoy!

Today we've got Professor Mark Paul on to talk about his book The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights. We discuss the idea of an economic bill of rights, how the right stole the idea of "freedom," how to fix America with a few simple policies, and more. Enjoy!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how "James Medlock" posted a million bucks out of a reactionary venture capitalist. Subscribe now to hear the rest!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss the incredibly deserved firing of Tucker Carlson from Fox News. Subscribe now to hear our discussion on Supreme Court corruption and Republicans' new push for child labor.

Today we've got Justin Joque on to talk about his book Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism. It's all about Bayesian versus frequentist statistics, big data, machine learning, AI chatbots, and how they're used in modern capitalism--highly relevant stuff these days. Enjoy!

Today we've got Nashville city council member Sean Parker on to talk about Tennessee political drama. Why does the Republican state government hate Nashville so much, how have things changed in recent years, why did Black legislators get expelled from the state House, and is there any hope for change? Listen to find out.

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Today we're talking again with Pete Davis, author of Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing, about his film Join or Die. It's a documentary about Robert Putnam and the accelerating decay of social institutions like clubs, unions, churches, and so forth. Pete explains why those are so important, and what might be done about it.

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, Skanda Amarnath, executive director of the Employ America think tank, discusses why the Silicon Valley Bank failed. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

Today we've got Professor Jon Shelton on to talk about his book The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy. We discuss how the justification for public schooling was wildly different in the 19th century, why education doesn't solve poverty, why "human capital" is a nonsense idea, how education reform became a fake substitute for class politics, and more. Enjoy!

In this excerpt of our latest bonus episode, we discuss the implication of Michael Knowles' eliminationist rhetoric about trans people. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing where we discuss the reaction to our previous episode, Jesse Singal twitter drama, President Biden's undermining of DC home rule, and more.

Today we've got historian Dan Berger to talk about his new book Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey -- and then we've got the two main characters of the book as well, Zoharah Simmons and Michael Simmons. Zoharah and Michael have lived astounding lives, and they tell us stories about working with SNCC during the fight against Jim Crow, campaigning for Julian Bond, traveling the world to join the freedom struggle in other nations, and more. Enjoy!

Today we've got Evan Urquhart and Michael Hobbes on to talk about the ongoing frenzy of bigotry directed at trans people, and why centrist and liberal reporters are feeding it. Evan covers trans issues at Assigned Media, while Michael is a journalist currently working on the Maintenance Phase and If Books Could Kill podcasts. Also check out Evan's coverage of detransitioners, Tom Scocca's critique of the Times coverage, and this open letter to New York Times management from many of its employees and contributors.

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Today we've got Felicia Kornbluh, professor of history at the University of Vermont, on to talk about her new book A Woman's Life Is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor, and the Journey From Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice. We discuss the fascinating history of pre-Roe abortion rights activists, the movement against coerced sterilization, what full reproductive justice means, and more. Enjoy!

In this excerpt Marianne talks about the bad and good sides of the Biden administration. Subscribe here to listen to the whole thing!

This time we're doing a movie review episode talking about two classics: Casablanca and Inside Llewyn Davis, discussing both their politics and their merits as films. Enjoy! (And pardon Ryan for repeatedly pronouncing it "Llewelyn".)

This time we've got Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on to discuss his book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). We talk about how this cooption process has happened, how to counter it without falling victim to irritable knee-jerk anti-"wokeness," what identity politics originally meant, and more. Enjoy!

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We're off this week for vacation, so we're reposting one of our favorite episodes about one of our favorite movies. Happy holidays everyone! The essay by Clare Coffey about Mary Bailey that we mention can be found here.

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, David Dayen talks about the Sam-Bankman Fried prosecution. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

Today we've got Marshall Steinbaum, professor of economics at the University of Utah, and The Nation's Jeet Heer on to talk about crypto shills--who they are, how they got like that, why there are so many of them among cultural and political elites, and more. Enjoy!

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Today we've got historian Chad Pearson on to talk about his book Capital's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century. We discuss how racism is heavily rooted in the need to control Black labor in the South before and after the Civil War, how the KKK was a kind of employer's association, how the civil liberties of workers were systematically violated by corporations and the government in the Gilded Age, and more. Enjoy!

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