As political attention pivots towards the potential return of Donald Trump, the deeper and more pervasive economic reality of bipartisan austerity persists for most working Americans. Our guest today, Clara Mattei, argues that austerity’s fundamental purpose is not merely economic constraint but an assault on labor itself, embedding a “capitalist realist” resignation into our collective consciousness. In her recent article for Jacobin Magazine, Mattei writes, “When the US state, like most states, increases military spending or rescues banks while simultaneously cutting spending on health care, education, transportation, public housing, or unemployment benefits, it structurally transfers resources from the working majority to the 1 percent of the population that subsists mainly off capital ownership (i.e., stock dividends, rents, and interest).” This reveals austerity as a project not of restraint, but rather a reallocation of resources “in favor of the economic and financial elite and to the detriment of the majority of the population.” As we navigate a landscape where many struggle to afford medical care, are forced to send children to overcrowded, underfunded schools, and endure bureaucracy’s inefficiencies, defense and corporate profits continue to soar. In light of the election results, will we see new tax breaks for the 1% thinly veiled as fiscal “belt-tightening” while the public funds genocidal wars? Can we the people understand how this all functions and begin to organize to push back? 

Well, I don’t have the answers to these questions, but maybe our guest today can help to get us on the right track, please welcome Clara Mattei!