The Socialist Program

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss why workers have so much credit card debt while financial giant Capital One tries to buy another financial giant, Discover, for more than $35 billion.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Joe Biden can’t remember the names of Hamas or the president of Mexico, but he is still all in for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, pushing Ukrainians to keep fighting and dying, and sending billions of dollars abroad for weapons. 

Brian Becker is joined by Eugene Puryear, the author of the book “Shackled and Chained,” a political activist, and a co-host of The Freedom Side LIVE, a live video show every Thursday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern on BreakThrough News.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss what really causes inflation as housing costs continue to spike, increasing six percent–triple the Federal Reserve’s target.
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

The Israeli state was born in 1948 when zionists colonized Palestine. What are the colonial roots of Israel and what role does Israel play in the pursuit of policies mirroring the interests of U.S. and western imperialism?

Brian is joined by Richard Becker, the author of the newly updated book, "Palestine, Israel, and U.S. Empire," published by 1804 Books.
Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

As negotiations over the war in Gaza continue, Hamas delivered a three-part proposal that would end in a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli military from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the proposal, vowing to fight until “an absolute victory.” Is that possible for Israel? How will this genocidal war end?

Brian Becker is joined by Mohammed Nabulsi, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement and an attorney based out of Houston, and Layan Sima Fuleihan, a popular educator, organizer, the Education Director at The People’s Forum, and an editor at 1804 Books.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the humongous floods in California that have wreaked damage across Southern California. Just 52,400 homes and businesses are projected to be covered by insurance—less than 1% of the more than 7.7 million households in the affected area.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

In an exclusive interview, Brian Becker spoke with Haytham Abdo, a representative of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Lebanon, about his perspective on the war in Gaza.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

The U.S. is amplifying its war on Yemen, in retaliation for Yemen’s protest against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice will rule on South Africa’s case against Israeli genocide.

Brian Becker is joined by Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a prolific author, most recently publishing a new book with Noam Chomsky called “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.”

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

In this patrons-only Q&A seminar, Brian discusses the political reasons why Netanyahu will keep trying to expand the war in Gaza, why Biden is still supporting him, what it will take to stop the genocide, Russia and China’s role, the use of AI in warfare, an organized tax revolt as a tactic, and more.

This episode is a preview of a longer seminar for Patrons in the TSP community. Subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest of this seminar, support the show, register for next time, and access the highly valuable archive of years of socialist analysis.

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the dramatic new report from the IMF showing that 40 percent of all jobs in the world could be impacted by the introduction of Artificial Intelligence. Fears are deepening about mass unemployment, exploding inequality, and other potential consequences of the integration of this new technology into the world capitalist system.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.