The notion that racism and sexism were the primary factors driving the Trump vote is not born out by the data, economics was very important too. The rural working-class found their lives a little better under Trump and don't believe the Democrats care about them. Will Biden address the inequality or bend to the demands of Wall Street? Thomas Ferguson joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

The notion that racism and sexism were the primary factors driving the Trump vote is not born out by the data, economics was very important too. The rural working-class found their lives a little better under Trump and don't believe the Democrats care about them. Will Biden address the inequality or bend to the demands of Wall Street? Thomas Ferguson joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

The notion that racism and sexism were the primary factors driving the Trump vote is not born out by the data, economics was very important too. The rural working-class found their lives a little better under Trump and don't believe the Democrats care about them. Will Biden address the inequality or bend to the demands of Wall Street? Thomas Ferguson joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

The Empire Update for Nov. 23 covering the Grand Finale of Trump's promise to end the Afghanistan War; what's really behind the Somalia troop withdrawal; US-backed monarchy sparks new potential war in Africa; State Department takes new action for Israel against BDS movement; and potential for Trump to start a war with Iran on his way out.

The Empire Update for Nov. 23 covering the Grand Finale of Trump's promise to end the Afghanistan War; what's really behind the Somalia troop withdrawal; US-backed monarchy sparks new potential war in Africa; State Department takes new action for Israel against BDS movement; and potential for Trump to start a war with Iran on his way out.

The Empire Update for Nov. 23 covering the Grand Finale of Trump's promise to end the Afghanistan War; what's really behind the Somalia troop withdrawal; US-backed monarchy sparks new potential war in Africa; State Department takes new action for Israel against BDS movement; and potential for Trump to start a war with Iran on his way out. http://theempirefiles.tv

Transcript

Abby Martin

This is Abby Martin with Your Empire Update, wrapping up the last week of US imperialism.

After hyping up for four years that all troops would be removed from Afghanistan, the Trump administration finally revealed their grand plan: to only withdraw less than half of all US troops stationed in Afghanistan and a minuscule five hundred troops from Iraq, bringing US occupation numbers to around twenty-five hundred in each country. US troops have been occupying Afghanistan for nearly twenty years, and US forces are in Iraq in defiance of millions of protesters calling for their expulsion since the illegal invasion until today.

Moreover, what about the thousands of private mercenaries that remain in both countries? See, Trump increased these killer contractor numbers by sixty-five percent. And right now there are actually more mercenaries in both countries than there are troops. This was his plan all along: to privatize the war and make it even less accountable than it already was. Once this new round of troops leave-, that could very well mean even more contractors take their place. And remember, thousands of troops will still remain.

Any amount is a crime, but twenty-five hundred is actually a lot. The ironic thing about this grand finale announcement by Trump is it's basically the Obama-Biden plan for Iraq and Afghanistan. Withdrawing more regular troops to rely primarily on special ops, CIA, and bombings is exactly what the Obama administration wanted. It only took Trump four years to arrive at the exact same policy. And a big problem with leaving a small number of troops anywhere is that it can easily become a large number of troops all over again. Just as Trump ramped up the residual forces Obama left, he leaves the same for Biden to do, too.

Our next update is yet another totally overblown and misreported story on troop withdrawals.

You may have heard it either celebrated or condemned that Trump is bringing all the troops home from Somalia. So, let's get to the bottom of what's really going on here. First of all, this plan is only a proposal at the moment. It hasn't even yet been ordered, so it might not happen at all. Second, and most importantly, if it does happen, the seven hundred troops in Somalia would not be brought home, nor would they stop combat operations on the ground in Somalia. The current plan being proposed would simply move those troops just slightly over its border to two neighboring countries, Kenya and Djibouti. Their explicit purpose there would still be to conduct ground combat in Somalia. They'll just have to travel a short distance to do so rather than being housed in the country. Not to mention that the US would still leave CIA forces in Somalia, as well as continued airstrikes and drone attacks in the country.

It is important to remember that it was Trump himself who implemented a gloves-off policy in Somalia and removed rules designed to protect civilians from collateral damage. In March 2017, he signed an order declaring Somalia an "area of active hostility" which unleashed the US military to send troops on raids and increase reckless bombing.

The Empire Update for Nov. 23 covering the Grand Finale of Trump's promise to end the Afghanistan War; what's really behind the Somalia troop withdrawal; US-backed monarchy sparks new potential war in Africa; State Department takes new action for Israel against BDS movement; and potential for Trump to start a war with Iran on his way out.

Banking and finance are essential to a modern economy, but they don't have to be privately owned to do it. The Federal Reserve must be transformed to create a system of publicly-owned banks. Gerald Epstein joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

Banking and finance are essential to a modern economy, but they don't have to be privately owned to do it. The Federal Reserve must be transformed to create a system of publicly-owned banks. Gerald Epstein joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay and welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. Please don't forget we have a matching grant campaign going on now. A member has put up ten thousand dollars, and for every dollar you donate now, he'll match it up to 10K. And if you create a new monthly subscription or increase an existing monthly subscription, he'll multiply that by twelve and match that. So, you could click the donate button now or later and be right back.

In an article that appeared in the journal Catalyst, Gerald Epstein and Esra Nur Uğurlu wrote during the global financial crisis of 2007 through 2009, Lloyd Blankfein, then CEO of Goldman Sachs, famously said that it was unfair that people were so mad at him and other bankers for crashing the economy because contrary to common belief, they were "doing God's work." ["Are Bankers Essential Workers?" Catalyst 4:2, Summer 2020.]

God's work? Maybe so, but they were certainly not doing work for the economy, the taxpayers, or the people. Rather, it turns out we were all working for them. However preposterous Blankfein claim was, he went on to argue something that is contained in almost every money and banking textbook and which is constantly repeated by economists, politicians and bankers: "We're very important. We bankers help companies grow by helping them to raise capital and companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose." That's the way the bankers talk. In other words, bankers are essential workers. Well, that's the article that we're going to talk to one of the authors about today.

Now joining us to tell us whether bankers are essential workers is Gerald Epstein. He's the co-director of the PERI Institute. He's also a professor of economics. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton, and he has published widely on a variety of progressive economic policy issues, especially in the areas of central banking and international finance. He's the author most recently of The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance.

Thanks for joining us, Gerry.

Gerald Epstein

Thanks a lot for having me, Paul.

Paul Jay

Talk a bit about this article, because what you get to pretty quickly is that what's essential is not the bankers. What's essential is the banking, meaning we do need banks, but they don't need to be private. Talk a bit about this idea that it's banks that actually are the creators of wealth, which is their big argument. And then we'll get into the public banking part of it.

Gerald Epstein

Right. Well, banks are essential for many activities, especially for activities under capitalism, but also in social-democratic countries as well. And the thing is, it's not that banks by themselves create wealth. Banks can only create wealth if they serve the economy and they serve society. When banks are just serving themselves, we argue that they don't create wealth, they extract wealth from the rest of society. And the problem that we've had in the last 30 or 40 years under this,

Banking and finance are essential to a modern economy, but they don't have to be privately owned to do it. The Federal Reserve must be transformed to create a system of publicly-owned banks. Gerald Epstein joins Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news podcast.