COVID-19 Pandemic Capitalism and Bonds
COVID-19 Pandemic Capitalism and Bonds The world as we knew it seemingly turned upside down overnight. With stay at home orders in place, we are no longer rushing to work each day, getting stuck in traffic, hustling to get the kids to school, and scrambling for time to take care of chores. This strange and abrupt stop to “business as usual” has shined a light on the capitalist systems that are now crumbling down, and offers...
On the Brink: Homelessness Before and During COVID-19
On the Brink: Homelessness before and during COVID-19 When the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. many of us were told to “shelter in place” in order to minimize the spread of disease. But, for a lot of people who are forced to live on the street, its not possible to just close the door and retreat into safety. Today’s show is about homelessness. We start by following two women as they undergo several evictions, even...
Witch Hunts and Enclosures: Bodies, Land and Women
Witch Hunts and Enclosures: Bodies, Land and Women How are witch hunts and Capitalist economies linked? Silvia Federici, wrote the groundbreaking book, Caliban and the Witch. In that book she argues that the witch hunts of the fifteenth century were a necessary pre-condition for Capitalism to flourish. Just as the enclosures of the middle ages created a population of landless peasants, women were experiencing a...
COVID-19 and Lessons from the Spanish Flu
COVID-19 and Lessons from the Spanish Flu In 1918, humanity faced a deadly global pandemic– the Spanish Flu. The CDC estimates that the disease killed at least 50 million people and infected a third of the world population. Today, hand-washing and physical distancing are a part of daily life, as are grim tallies of the sick and the dead. Even though science has made tremendous advances since then, our methods for slowing the...
Bio Hackers versus Big Pharma: Tackling the Rising Cost of Insulin
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans are worried about their health insurance. The cost of treating the illness, if a patient ends up in the ICU, can run into the tens of thousands of dollars without coverage. Which most people just can’t afford. Today we bring you a piece we produced last year about a related topic -the rising cost of insulin, and the effectiveness of medicare for all. As the cost of insulin...
The Great Divide: Racism, Wealth Inequality, and Elections
Coronavirus and the precaution of social distancing is on our minds. Ian Haney Lopez says what we need is social solidarity instead of Trump’s dog whistle politics. In The Great Divide: Racism, Wealth Inequality, and Elections Acclaimed author Ian Haney López talks about his new book – Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America. He explores the...
