Argentina's President Javier Milei, a self-declared libertarian and "anarcho-capitalist", is promoting crypto scams and overseeing rapid deindustrialization. Manufacturing and construction are collapsing, while the financial sector, mining, and agriculture grow. Donald Trump and Elon Musk praise Milei, as the majority of Argentines live in poverty. The real economy is in crisis, but rich foreign investors rejoice as the stock market booms. Ben Norton explains how Argentina is being turned into a resource colony.

VIDEO with charts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3qgYZMYkj0

Topics

0:00 Who is Javier Milei?

0:40 Elon Musk & Donald Trump

1:08 Crypto pump & dump scheme

2:34 Trump & Melania meme coins

3:18 Economic destruction

5:06 BRICS

5:47 Israel

6:27 CIA

6:48 Spanish colonialism

7:11 Ukraine

7:48 Stock market

10:06 Poverty

11:27 12-hour work day

12:46 72% are worse off

13:39 Income distribution

14:38 Extreme austerity

15:28 Government spending

16:47 Colonialism

17:11 Brain drain

18:39 No toilet paper

19:22 Social spending cuts

20:43 Bicicleta financiera scheme

23:04 Cost of living

23:55 Job loss

24:50 Construction collapses

25:17 Housing costs

26:05 Taunting the poor & hungry

28:45 Luis Caputo

31:36 Billionaire sponsors

32:04 Bondholders

32:30 Inflation & debt

39:48 Manufacturing collapses

47:07 Deindustrialization

49:18 Neoliberalism

50:39 Stock index composition

52:09 Privatization

54:13 Plantation economy

56:39 Gold in London

57:56 Financial colonialism

58:19 Outro

It's now widely acknowledged we are in a multipolar world, but the definition of "multipolarity" is not clear. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio think it means a return to great power competition with imperial spheres of influence, whereas China and much of the Global South say "equality among all countries regardless of size". Ben Norton explains the geopolitical divide.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg0Vur0SI-8

Topics

0:00 US unipolar moment

0:35 Multipolarity is here

1:24 Definition of multipolarity

2:39 (CLIP) Marco Rubio on unipolarity

3:14 US imperial sphere of influence

4:32 China's anti-imperialist view

7:37 Marco Rubio interview

8:52 (CLIP) Rubio on multipolar world

9:14 Rubio fearmongers about China

9:42 Greenland

10:55 (CLIP) Rubio on China

11:02 Neoconservativism rebranded

12:11 Trump's imperialism

12:30 (CLIP) Trump calls to "expand" USA

13:01 Chinese socialism vs US capitalism

14:46 Marco Rubio targets China

17:35 Rubio's fake "populism"

20:22 Nicaragua's anti-imperialist view

22:33 Outro

Why has the price of gold been increasing so fast, breaking records? Economist Michael Hudson explains the politics of the precious metal, and the dynamics of the US dollar system. He is interviewed by Ben Norton.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bvr2SZm-NM

Transcript: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/02/13/politics-gold-price-economist-michael-hudson/

Topics

0:00 Intro

1:49 Highlights

4:14 Interview starts

4:49 US dollar system & Super Imperialism

8:23 Dollar alternatives?

10:56 Why price of gold is rising

15:31 Gold market is political

21:10 Is gold an inflation hedge?

25:19 US military spending

27:33 Budget deficits & MMT

29:41 Gold standard critique

33:29 Politics of money creation

35:39 Commodity markets

38:01 Options trading

39:33 Central banks short selling gold

43:43 Gold leasing

48:01 How much gold is in Fort Knox?

51:03 Is there a run on gold?

1:02:50 Western central bank strategy

1:07:11 Outro

Donald Trump's tariffs will likely backfire and hurt the United States, accelerating the decline of US dominance. To discuss, host Radhika Desai is joined by economist Michael Hudson and China-based scholar Mick Dunford.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wpJZh-gDA8

This is part of the program Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the show here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP

Donald Trump plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians, saying, "The US will take over the Gaza Strip... We'll own it". His son-in-law Jared Kushner has invested in Israeli companies that profit from expanding illegal settlements. Trump and Kushner floated building luxury real estate in Gaza. Ben Norton reports.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBwV8kL5NY

Topics

0:00 Trump is Israel's "best friend"

1:04 US plans to "take over" Gaza

2:19 Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner

3:04 Rebuilding Gaza

3:45 Gaza's "phenomenal location on the sea"

4:24 Kushner eyes "Gaza's waterfront property"

5:05 Ethnic cleansing

5:52 Kushner's investments in Israel

6:51 Saudi Arabia invests in Kushner's firm

8:29 Israel proposes Saudi land for Palestinians

10:00 Trump pressures Jordan & Egypt

11:07 Plans to expel "all" Gazans

11:38 Gaza death toll

13:08 US-Israel made Gaza "Hell"

14:11 Biden vs Trump

15:01 Palestinians don't want to leave home

15:49 Netanyahu is an American

16:49 Netanyahu: Trump is Israel's "great friend"

18:11 Deportations of pro-Palestine students

19:06 IDF prepares to expel Palestinians

19:44 Gaza is an open-air prison

20:55 Bipartisan US imperialism

22:18 Outro

Donald Trump’s tariffs could destabilize the global economy, warns economist Michael Hudson. US protectionist policies could cause financial crises, as many currencies depreciate and countries can't earn the dollars needed to pay their foreign debts. Ben Norton hosts the interview.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFyWatftnIM

Transcript: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/02/04/trump-tariffs-global-crisis-economist-michael-hudson/

Here you can read Michael Hudson's article on how Trump’s tariffs threaten the global economy: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/01/25/michael-hudson-trump-tariffs-global-economy/

Topics

0:00 Trump's tariff threats

3:10 Highlights of Michael Hudson

5:47 How to pay foreign debt

10:55 Austerity

14:48 Protectionism

17:19 US threats

21:11 Mexico

22:47 Defaulting on debt

25:46 Economic colonialism

28:18 Colombia

29:50 Greenland

30:23 Economic war

31:02 China's win-win approach

32:24 Trump's contradictions

35:20 US dollar & re-industrialization

37:06 Finance capitalism

41:00 Dollar exchange rate & inflation

44:34 Trump proposal at WEF/Davos

45:20 Investing in USA

47:18 US imperialism

49:17 Outro

Big Tech oligarchs in Silicon Valley fear competition from Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek, so they're working with the US government to cut off competitors. Billionaire Donald Trump backer Peter Thiel admits they want monopolies, arguing "competition is for losers". Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jniPAD2uoo

Topics

0:00 (CLIP) "Competition is for losers"

0:17 China's DeepSeek AI breakthrough

1:46 US tech billionaire Peter Thiel

2:06 (CLIP) Peter Thiel praises monopolies

2:31 Peter Thiel backs Donald Trump

3:12 US government targets DeepSeek

4:23 US goal: stop Chinese innovation

5:40 China is developing 10 AI models

6:00 Senate hearing on China

7:15 (CLIP) "Let's steal [China's] engineers"

7:30 CIA testimony

8:24 (CLIP) Ban Chinese apps in USA

8:43 Is DeepSeek stealing from OpenAI?

10:40 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

11:05 (CLIP) Sam Altman & Peter Thiel

11:24 Silicon Valley wants to cut off China

11:49 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei

12:42 Chip restrictions on China

14:34 Big Tech wants US "unipolar world"

16:41 Who's authoritarian, USA or China?

19:03 US oligarchy

20:20 Capitalism vs competition

21:24 Peter Thiel employed JD Vance

21:54 PayPal Mafia

22:30 Robber barons

23:19 Capitalism creates monopolies

24:56 Chinese socialism vs US capitalism

29:38 Outro

The Chinese company DeepSeek shocked the West with a groundbreaking open-source artificial intelligence model that beats huge Silicon Valley Big Tech monopolies. The US government is already trying to ban it, using "national security" as an excuse. Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRmK84_K7Q

Topics

0:00 China's Sputnik moment

1:05 DeepSeek beats US Big Tech

2:20 Open source R1 model

3:18 US tech stocks crash

5:27 US stock market bubble

6:55 Magnificent 7

8:26 Billionaire oligarchs

10:48 USA bans Chinese competitors

13:34 Data privacy and spying?

15:35 Cyber attacks

16:33 US tech war on China

19:36 China "can't innovate"

22:02 China's rapid tech progress

24:49 Dancing robots in China

25:36 Tech race in new cold war

27:20 Outro

Donald Trump threatened Colombia with sanctions and tariffs after it rejected his abuse of immigrants. Colombian President Gustavo Petro hit back against the US attacks, declaring, "We are not a colony!" Ben Norton analyzes Latin America's resistance to meddling by Trump and his neoconservative Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ8YZEecJgE

Topics

0:00 Trump admin's hawkish foreign policy

0:30 Neocon Marco Rubio

1:30 Colombia: from US puppet to target

2:24 Marco Rubio's attacks on Gustavo Petro

3:51 Israel-Palestine

5:21 US attacks on Latin America

5:58 Trump sanctions & tariffs Colombia

7:31 Humiliation of immigrants

9:10 Colombia responds with tariffs on US

10:25 US meddling fuels immigration

12:42 (CLIP) Trump on 'taking over' Venezuela

12:54 Latin America fights back

14:02 Honduras threatens to close US military base

14:40 Illegal US immigration in Colombia

15:22 China's relations with Latin America

16:49 Latin American right bows down to USA

19:30 Ecuador's US puppet president

20:40 Petro's open letter to Trump

32:23 Global South stands up

33:12 (CLIP) Trump wants to 'expand' US empire

33:43 US imperialism

34:24 Outro

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he is resigning. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is talking about annexing Canada and making it the 51st state. To discuss the disaster, political economist Radhika Desai is joined by Dimitri Lascaris, host of the independent media outlet Reason2Resist.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7KySFlP4-0

Check out Radhika Desai's article on Trudeau’s fall: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/trudeaus-fall

You can follow Dimitri Lascaris' channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@reason2resist

This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP