DRAFT FOR COMMENT — Summary of Michael Hudson’s economic ideas

Reader’s Digest version of Michael Hudson’s insights DRAFT FOR COMMENT;

or, Why the USA has good reason to be frightened of its economic future

Note ~ Bruce is open to COLLABORATION on producing a short Reader’s Digest version of Michael’s ideas. I know of no good, short summary of his ideas, no primer, no outline. If you know of one, LET ME KNOW HealingToolbox atttg mail If you wish to collaborate and make this into a term paper or published work, happy to support you. I don’t need the credit. This is far outside the field of my other books.

The first thing to know about M​ichael​’s conceiving of economics as a discipline is, he doesn’t isolate it from politics, political theory or national security strategy. Michael sees all three interconnected in a 3D hologram

The second thing to know about M​ichael​’s conceiving of economics as a discipline is, he does not isolate it in time. Michael conceives of economics in the context of human history, from the beginning of recorded history. For example Michael seems to agree with those who say from a healthy Democratic Socialist view, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar was the candidate of greater democracy and public benefit. Brutus was part of the rentier class who assassinated Julius. So “Et tu, Brutus?” Can and should be interpreted as, “Brutus, you too are a rentier? I thought you were on the side of greater benefits for workers. Boy am I disappointed.”

The third thing to know about M​ichael​’s conceiving of economics as a discipline is, he accepts the facts of not one but two counter-revolutions by the rentier class occurred. The first one was in the 1890s in what we know as Gilded Age 1.0.

The first counter-revolution was against Classical Economics of the early 1800s, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Marx, Henry George, all the people who warned about economic rents and wished to limit them. Yes, Marx was more similar to Adam Smith. Marx was NOT a Communist aligned with Russia as many of us were taught in Orwellian schools.

The second counter-revolution occurred in the USA against the popularity and success of FDR’s New Deal Politics. Many historians cite the 1971 Powell Memo as the start of the second counter-revolution in the USA. You can read it here: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/

Without understanding these two conservative, rentier counter-revolutions, it is virtually impossible to understand M​ichael​’s conceiving of economics.

Let’s pause right here to note much of the difficulty media folk and conventional academics have even listening to Michael is due to their unfamiliarity with, or ignorance of, these two counter-revolutions. Please consider Michael Hudson is not the best place to begin to understand Michael Hudson. A better place to start to understand Michael Hudson is learning about the TWO prior rentier counter-revolutions. Any questions?

The fourth thing to know about M​ichael​’s conceiving of economics as a discipline is, Michael accepts the reality of class warfare. Michael downplays the significance of hyphenated Americans, African-American, Latin-Americans and so on as primarily a successful conservative attempt to “divide and conquer.” Michael goes back to Marx: All the workers have more in common as workers and debtors than they will ever have in common as races, ethnicity religion or any other difference Blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and pink collar workers — and any other collar-colors — all have more in common as wage earners than any other distinction.

Let’s pause here to consider the needs and vulnerabilities of wage-earners as a group:

- Wage-earners are vulnerable to being maneuvered into debt,

- All wage earners are in need of government protection from parasitic rentiers constantly devising strategies and tactics to extract wealth from productive workers and siphon it up into non-productive activity,

- All wage earners worldwide benefit from non-profit healthcare which reduces workers’ needs for higher wages,

- All wage earners worldwide benefit from air, water, land — and now — internet, governed and regulated as Public Commons. The more healthy Public Commons which exist, this again reduces workers’ needs for higher wages, which means goods can be produced more cheaply, which means the goods are more competitive in a world marketplace.

This is probably a good place to mention higher education. Michael and Thomas Frank are two of a few public intellectuals starting to realize higher education is ; or at least a, major determiner of class. If you have a four year or more Bachelors Degree, or especially a Masters or Doctorate, your thinking differs from those with only a high school education or less.

To go off-topic briefly, we can ask, how does higher education change thinking so as to create class? The difference is higher education wakes up critical and independent thinking. Much harder for Orwellian propaganda to influence you if you have been practicing thinking for your self in pre-algebra, essay writing and term papers. End of digression.

[Where does this naturally go next? I’m no economist; I’m just a writer. HELP!]