Trickle-Down Socialism

To kick off Season 4, Dan, Pat, and C$ tried something a little different: no guest interview, just the three co-hosts cutting it up, updating listeners on some previous guests like Dr. Asatar Bair, Lourin Hubbard, Dan Wilson, Robb Smith, and more. 

Topics discussed: 

Unions making in-roads at Starbucks, Successful strikes like St. Vincent Nurses' strike in Worcester, MA, "The Big Quit"

Gary Chambers announces run for Senate with a video of him smoking a blunt, explaining how marijuana prohibition has disrupted countless lives, especially black and brown lives. 

How Cryptocurrency is a scam, how Crypto mining and trading threatens to destroy the planet, and how the instability of the "decentralized" currency could harm countries from El Salvador to Kazakhstan. 

This episode was produced by TDS podcast co-host C$ Burns. If you like the sound of this show, and you have audio editing needs: music, podcast, any other audio - reach out to him at [email protected] or follow him and say hi on twitter: @Cmoneyburns 

Follow this podcast on Twitter @trickledownsoc

Pat's twitter: @profPatch83

Owen Symes, a Socialist Historian, sat down with Pat to discuss his book: "He was Our Man in Washington." You can find the book here: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/he-was-our-man-in-washington 

Symes' account of Obama's presidency is a fair-minded exploration of recent US history, an honest look at Obama's campaign goals and how they turned out, and Obama's inability to break from both the heavy influence of lobbyists in DC and the military industrial complex. Symes also applies the history he's written to relatively recent events like the chaotic withdrawal of US troops and the lightning-quick Taliban takeover of the country. 

In the open, Dan and Pat discuss many recent events in union organizing: a union-yes vote at Buffalo Starbucks, Bessemer, AL Amazon facility conducting a new vote for unionization, and Kellogg's despicable firing of striking workers. Stay tuned for our Season 3 finale, which will be a Dan, Pat, and CMoney wrap-up. The final episode of the season will not include a guest interview so we can focus more on wrapping up all the ideas discussed in Season 3. 

This episode was mixed, mastered, and edited by CMoney Burns. If you have audio content that you would like his help with, please email him at [email protected] or follow him and say hi on Twitter @cmoneyburns 

Pat talked to Daniel Wilson, a self-described working-class Trans Veteran, about his politics and his reasons for running for Congress in California's 26th Congressional district. Wilson has a keen understanding of issues, including the need to save the United States Postal Service and how Postal Banking could do that, the Green New Deal and how a Red Black and Green New Deal would center the needs and aspirations of the nation's Indigenous, Black, and Brown people, and how Medicare For All needs to happen. Also discussed is how the Democratic Party Establishment has treated Progressive candidates like Nina Turner and why that has pushed Dan to choose to run without affiliation with either of the two major political parties. Dan also describes much of the direct action that he's engaged in - far more than the average candidate. 

In the open, Dan Goldsbury, Pat, and CMoney provide a leftist review of Election Day 2021 and a look at a few of the bigger political debates of the week. 

This episode was edited, mixed, and mastered by CMoney Burns. If you have audio editing, mixing/mastering needs, please check him out on twitter @cmoneyburns or send him an email at [email protected]

Pat spoke to Awkword, a founding member of Ten Demands, the Road to Abolition about the need for transformational change to our systems of policing and incarceration. With a system that was founded on racism, with its roots in slave-catchers, activists like Awkword contend that the system as it currently exists cannot simply be reformed. The conversation touched on many important aspects of an Abolitionist mindset: Mutual Aid, providing for key essentials in underserved communities, and helping communities thrive in order to eliminate the need for police and prisons. Also discussed: why the recent "crime wave" is just another scare tactic from the establishment to justify further investment in law enforcement. 

In the open, Dan, C-Money, and Pat discuss the need to ditch Columbus Day, move to naming it Indigenous People's Day, AND couple that change with real progress making with Indigenous groups across the US - like the Land Back movement. 

For more information on Ten Demands, the Road to Abolition: https://www.tenforjustice.com/demands

Pat talks to promising young Progressive Congressional Candidate Muad Hrezi, running for US Congress in CT-01, about the potential for transformational change that Medicare for All would provide for individuals, families, Unions, and small businesses. The benefits of a single payer system that were discussed included: negotiating drug prices to bring costs down, standardizing hospital costs, eliminating the costs to the system of uninsured or underinsured patients, and more. The potential boon to small businesses of having healthcare already covered for any employees was another topic discussed. In the midst of a deadly pandemic, with many insurance companies already starting to refuse coverage for Covid related expenses, the time to reimagine our healthcare system is now. A single payer system is the best way to reduce cost, improve outcomes, and ensure that resources are allocated based on need, not based on profit potential. 

In the open, Dan, CMoney, and Pat discussed the potential implications on healthcare of the upcoming Infrastructure bill and the "Build Back Better" bill that are currently being debated in Congress. 

You can learn more about Muad Hrezi here: https://hrezi.com/

or follow him on Twitter: @muadhrezi 

As always, this podcast was edited, mixed/mastered by audio production guru CMoney Burns. If you have audio that you want to publish with professional sound quality, connect with CMoney on twitter: @cmoneyburns 

Dr. Asatar Bair, Economics professor, meditation coach, and Twitter's most famous Marxist sits down for his second TDS podcast interview. This time, he's interviewed by TDS podcast teammate CMoney Burns. The conversation covered Dr. Bair's viral tweet in defense of a more balanced view of Stalin, whether markets have any place in a Socialist Economy, Afghanistan and the rapid takeover of Taliban forces, and more. Have a listen, then check out Dr. Bair on Youtube or by connecting with him on Twitter: @asatarbair 

Pat talks to Kurt Andersen about his book: Evil Geniuses, the Unmaking of America. Andersen is the author of novels such as Fantasyland. He co-founded Spy Magazine, was managing editor of Time magazine, lead host of NPR's studio 360 and he's covered the politics and architecture beat for various publications. While he was aware of the widening wealth gap throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, it wasn't until he wrote Fantasyland and started research for Evil Geniuses that he saw the intentionality and deviousness of the systematic way in which corporate interests have shaped our political economy over the last 50 years. 

Evil Geniuses examines coordinated efforts to achieve conservative economical and political changes in the United States from the 1970s to 2020, and discusses how the resulting unfettered laissez-faire approach to capitalism has resulted in an extreme level of economic inequality. 

In addition to talking about the history of how the system was rigged, how Americans were taught to distrust the government, and how taxes and regulations have been systematically slashed since the 1970s, Andersen explains in the interview some potential solutions to wealth inequality: Universal Basic Income, Boosting Union membership and Union power, worker Co-operatives, removing the profit motive from healthcare, and more. 

In the open, Dan is back! We went for a longer discussion this episode to provide plenty of discussion around some of the key issues that Pat and Kurt Andersen discuss in the interview. We discussed the current Infrastructure Bill as well. 

This episode was edited, mixed, and mastered by CMoney Burns. For help with your audio needs, feel free to contact him on Twitter at @CMoneyBurns

Further reading on this topic:

The Powell Memo: https://law2.wlu.edu/deptimages/Powell%20Archives/PowellMemorandumTypescript.pdf 

Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan by Kim Phillips-Fein 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2751831-invisible-hands

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30011020-democracy-in-chains 

CMoney Burns interviews Ben Burgis: philosophy professor, host of "Give them an Argument" podcast, and author of "Canceling Comedians while the World Burns: a Critique of the Contemporary Left." In the interview, Burgis explains key ideas from his recent book, including how the phenomena that the Right has dubbed "Cancel Culture" might not be the best use of time and energy on the Left, but that it comes from a place of frustration, lack of policy wins, and a desire to see at least some results from activity on the Left. Burgis uses the example of Bernie's recent interview with Maureen Dowd of the NYT, in which Bernie demanded that the interview stay focused on policy proposals that Senator Sanders was trying to include in legislation in the Senate rather than cultural 'distractions' like the #FreeBritneySpears controversy, to demonstrate what discipline on the Left looks like. Also mentioned in the interview: Stalin's recent rise to "trending" status on Twitter and how Burgis doesn't think trotting out Stalin is the best way to convince new people to join the Left. 

Burgis writes for Jacobin in addition to his recent book on Cancel Culture. You can find him on Twitter @BenBurgis and his book is available wherever you get your books. 

This episode was edited, mixed, and mastered by CMoney Burns. For help with your audio needs, feel free to contact him on Twitter at @CMoneyBurns

Pat speaks to William Dakota Compton, candidate for Congress in Kentucky's 1st district. Compton is a public school music teacher who has seen first-hand how the move to defund schools has affected the quality of education for our nation's youth. He worked as a fast-food worker through college and grad school, and speaks about the grueling and demanding nature of such jobs, the need for more unions, and the need to pay all workers a living wage. Compton is openly gay and his candidacy represents hope and recognition for countless youth and adults in his district, state, and the South in general who are questioning their identities or sexualities and who might not feel safe in their homes or communities to say anything about it or come out publicly. 

Also - Dan is back from the wilderness of New Hampshire - back in time to argue the finer points of Student Debt Cancellation. Up next for TDS podcast: philosophy professor and author of Give them an Argument: Logic for the Left will sit down with CMoney Burns of the TDS pod to talk about the Left, about Cancel Culture, and about how to forge ahead without getting into the traps of Left in-fighting. After CMoney's conversation with Ben Burgis, we will feature an interview with Kurt Andersen, author of "Evil Geniuses: the Unmaking of America." Stay tuned - subscribe, rate, review us wherever you get your podcasts. 

To learn more or support William Compton's candidacy, you can find him here: https://www.williamcompton.com/

or follow him on twitter @Compton4KY2022 

As always, this episode was edited, mixed, and mastered by CMoney Burns, who has an incredible audio studio in his apartment. For rates on your own audio editing, mixing/mastering follow him or say hello on twitter: @cmoneyburns or send him an email at [email protected] 

Remember - the level of inequality in our country has not always been this high and it doesn't have to be. We the people can decide we want to live better than this.