572 - Monopoly and Money (Contradictions of Capitalism)

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Episode #572 - Monopoly and Money (Contradictions of Capitalism)

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⌚ Sat 8 October 2011  ☻Milton Friedman, Howie Hawkins, Edward Griffin, Ellen Brown

Download Hour1 Download Hour2If competition is such a good thing, why is it not tolerated in areas of government or law? Or in the money system, which functions as a highly profitable private monopoly? And what about cartel agreements which align the interests of multi-national corporations firmly against the interests of consumers? Are corporations really competing to bring better products to market more cheaply, or are they competing for control of government to grant them privileges?

We start the show this week with a few words from Milton Friedman! His opinion that every society 'runs on self-interest' (which he equates with greed) provides the backdrop to this week's show, which examines the inherent contradictions of capitalism, focusing particularly on monopolies.

Our first presentation is Howie Hawkins speaking on "Ecological Socialism versus Capitalist Exterminism", given to the NY Greenfest in August 2011. He lists 10 contradictions of capitalism and notes the importance of regulations in defining what is a free market, and the terms on which competition takes place.

Next we hear Edward Griffin on "The Meaning and Mythology of Monopoly Capitalism". This presentation from 1975(?) highlights some of the ways in which transnational corporations fail to compete with each other -- how they are cartellized to form supra-national structures which are beyond the power of individual nations to control.

We conclude the show with a 2010 interview of Ellen Brown by Ken McDermott Roe on the history of money. She explains how privately owned central banks works, and how different US administrations have used different money systems until the 1913 institution of the private Federal Reserve monopoly.
Thanks to Essential Dissent for the recording of Howie Hawkins and to History Counts for the Ellen Brown interview.
To find out more on money creation, you are recommended to try the Wizards of Money series.
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Source archive: Interview Clip on Greed (3 min) Milton Friedman Ecological Socialism versus Capitalist Exterminism (37 min) Howie Hawkins The Myth and Meaning of Monopoly Capitalism (43 min) Edward Griffin History Counts Interview on Web of Debt (29 min) Ellen Brown

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