Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s fifth appearance on the show. He was also a guest on episode 180, where he and Robinson discussed neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, and the rentier economy, and on episode 198, where they discussed Marxism, economic parasites, and contemporary debt cancellation. He has also joined with Richard Wolff. In this episode, Michael and Robinson discuss how the Crusades shaped the future of economics, the role of economics in political history, the current budget of the Republicans, problems with social security, the effects of AI on economics, and more. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024).

Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com

Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:37 Why Historians Missed How the Crusades Shapes Economics

00:10:39 What Motivated the Crusades?

00:20:09 The Problem of Financing Wars

00:29:23 How The Roman Catholic Church Invented Financial Interest

00:40:08 Importing Jewish Merchants to England

00:45:12 The Intolerance of the Catholic Church

00:48:51 The Origin of Roman Catholic Indulgences

00:58:39 Using Indulgences to Finance the Crusades

01:05:54 Neglecting the Role of Economics in Political History

01:15:43 Finance as the Central Planning Power of Governments

01:18:17 What’s Wrong with the Republicans’ Budget?

01:19:48 The Dark Problem with Social Security

01:26:40 The Conflict Between Finance and Democracy

01:37:19 How the 1 Percent Don’t Contribute to the Economy

01:38:40 How Will AI Impact the Future of Economics?

01:45:55 How Will AI Affect Unemployment Rates?

01:54:18 Will the 1 Percent Need People in an AI Future

01:58:32 How Will AI Affect the Future of Academia?

02:08:59 Papal Financial Control vs The IMF

02:19:37 How the Government Favors the Creditor over the Debtor

02:23:42 The Difference Between the Chinese and American Economies

02:32:37 Global Warming’s Devastating Effects on the Economy

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

In this special episode, Robinson and Karl Zheng Wang co-host at the Yale US-China Forum. Return guests from the show include Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, and Yascha Mounk. Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yannis Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician, and current Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. Robin Visser is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she researches modern Chinese and Sinophone literatures, urban cultural studies, and environmental studies. Pei Wang is Professor in the Chinese History and Culture Program at the University of Hong Kong, where she specializes in comparative philosophy, psychoanalysis, and more. Daniel Mattingly is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, where he studies the domestic and international politics of authoritarian regimes, with a focus on China.

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:46 The Future of Europe and China

00:10:40 There Is No Such Thing as Trade Wars, They Are All Class Wars

00:15:50 How Wall Street’s Failures Fueled the Rise of Tech

00:20:02 Why Is There a New Cold War Between the US and China?

00:27:18 Why the United States Is Abandoning Democracy and Why China is Yannis Varoufakis’s Only Hope

00:29:26 Richard Wolff to Yannis Varoufakis: Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War with China?

00:35:58 How Class WARFARE Shaped the World Superpowers CLIP

00:41:01 Is China Capitalism’s Final Form?

00:52:03 Is There Any Way that China and the United Stated Could Avert Conflict?

00:59:16 Varoufakis to Wolff: Is a Tariff Hail Mary Trump’s Only Remaining Option?

01:03:39 Daniel Mattingly on China’s Sociopolitical Organization

01:08:39 How Does Xi Jinping Talk About Socialism?

01:13:47 Yascha Mounk on US-China Competition

01:22:36 Philosophy, Socialism, and Capitalism

01:48:40 Pei Wang on the Hero and Father in US-China Competition

01:54:31 Hero and Father Archetypes in Politics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical analyst, futurist, and best-selling author who researches and strategizes around demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security. In this episode, Peter and Robinson focus on revisiting content from his latest book—The End of the World is Just the Beginning—in the context of today’s developments. More particularly, they discuss, Donald Trump, tariffs, ICE Raids, deportations, how demography and geography will affect the future balance of world powers, the impact of AI on global economics, what the end of the world order could look like, Trump’s immigration policies, and more. You can keep up with Peter through his website or YouTube channel, links to which are below.

Peter’s Website: https://zeihan.com

Peter’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ZeihanonGeopolitics

The End of the World is Just the Beginning: https://a.co/d/bZJES4t

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:09 Trump and the End of the American-Led World Order

00:06:49 Does AI Change the Economics of the Future?

00:14:39 The 2,000,000,000$ Failure of the F-35 Fighter Jet

00:25:00 Why the United States Needs Immigrants

00:33:03 Is There Any Strategy Behind Donald Trump?

00:41:43 Why Food Will Become Weaponized in the Near Future

00:50:39 Why China’s Economy is Doomed to Recession

00:53:55 How Do We Prepare For China’s Collapse?

01:00:37 Trump’s Tariffs and the Fall of America

01:01:54 Was Russia Doomed to Fall Even Before Ukraine?

01:05:51 The Biggest Underestimated Global Conflicts

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.