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"Generations from now, when future anthropologists try to make sense of this moment in the American experiment, looking to our idols for clues about our priorities, they will need to contend with a perplexing but undeniable fact: in America, we worship our bosses." - David Gelles in The Man Who Broke Capitalism (2022)

Recently, I asked one of my Grade 4 students to write a paragraph about their favourite superhero. They wrote a paragraph about none other than Elon Musk.

In today’s episode, I draw on David Gelles’ recent book The Man Who Broke Capitalism, as well as my own research on capitalist annihilation to reflect on the current state of capitalist worship that plagues our society. What does it say when a society’s heroes are morally bankrupt billionaires?

In today’s podcast episode, we deep dive into:

* The debate of whether capitalism is broken, or is merely functioning as it was designed to (ie. to self annihilate)

* The process of manufacturing capitalism following the downfall of the welfare state, and the insidiousness of capitalism to impact our worldview

* Blurring the lines between celebrity, politician, and capitalist, so as to render capitalists aspirational and thereby normalize capitalism

* The effects of ignoring moral bankruptcy, in spite even of evidence in the Epstein files

* Policy solutions, and their limitations so long as we don’t dismantle capitalism at the level of our minds