Image by Ross via Flickr
by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
March 23, 2023
Overview: This was an impromptu conversation precipitated by former Congressman Dennis Kucinich to have a deep dive discussion with a former economic advisor, Michael Hudson, on the shockingly large recent bank collapses. As the former chair of the powerful Government Oversight Subcommittee, Kucinich had a ringside seat in unraveling the bank collapses after the housing bubble burst. He confronted the players in the field with withering questions in Congressional hearings. Now Kucinich wanted important feedback from a banking insider on how this crisis was different than the one in 2008.
Kucinich knew that Hudson was a former Wall Street banker/investment professional who worked for Chase Bank and then the Hudson Institute as well as managing the second most successful bond mutual fund one year. Hudson has often candidly admitted that everything he really learned about economics came on Wall Street and not in his Ph.D. classes. Hudson’s first assignment at Chase was to figure how much money South American debtor countries could pay without collapsing. His intense and ground-breaking research into the predatory balance of payments system led to his first (of many) books, Super Imperialism, now in its third printing. The meeting was moderated by a close friend to both: David Kelley.
The meeting was arranged the day before and, at the last minute, it was decided to record it. After the meeting the participants agreed that while the production quality was minimalist, the topics covered had been largely missed by the mainstream media and was worthy of being released. The transcript has been lightly edited to make it more readable and to keep all salient comments and vocabulary.
ScheerPost on Mar 16, 2023
This is a wide-ranging discussion about the anatomy of bank failures. Dave Kelley, the moderator, is a pension actuarial expert, headquartered in Ohio. Chairman of the Domestic Policy subcommittee of the Govt Oversight Committee, Kucinich, as a senior member of Congress, investigated the subprime meltdown (see YouTube videos), grilling Wall Street titans. Michael Hudson is one of eight economists in the world who predicted the collapse of the financial system 2007-2008. He is a noted author on the corruption of the economy. Kucinich’s most recent book, The Division of Light and Power, explored corruption in the banking and private utilities industries.
Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of A Philosophy for a Fair Society (2022), The Destiny of Civilization (2022), …and forgive them their debts (2018), J is for Junk Economics (2017), Killing the Host (2015), The Bubble and Beyond (2012), Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1968 & 2003 & 3rd Edition 2021), Trade, Development and Foreign Debt: A History of Theories of Polarization v. Convergence in the World Economy (1992 & 2009) and The Myth of Aid (1971), amongst many others. Support his work via Patreon. He can be reached via his website Michael Hudson, mh@michael-hudson.com. Originally published March 21, 2023.
From the archives:
Reckless Capitalist Banks Rescued by Government Socialism – Again! by Ralph Nader
Society’s Collapse Has Already Begun, by Rainer Shea
Chris Hedges and Seymour Hersh: How America Destroyed the Nord Stream II Pipeline
Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai: Since Money is Political
Central Banks Are A Symptom, Capitalism Is The Cause, by Pete Dolack
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