This Is Hell! 2026 Listener Favorites (so far): Escape from Capitalism / Claire Mattei
Mar 25, 2026
Clara E. Mattei, professor of economics and founder of FREE, author of Escape from Capitalism. She frames capitalism as a global, violent order tied to imperialism and extraction. She traces how history and elites shape economics, critiques austerity and market myths, and highlights collective alternatives like cooperatives, participatory budgets, and food sovereignty.
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Economics Uses Method To Protect The Status Quo
- Mainstream economics often denies history to justify the status quo by obscuring political choices behind technical models.
- Mattei invokes Gramsci to show methodology shapes which questions economists ask and which social relations remain invisible.
Trade Deals Enforce Austerity For Investors
- Trade deals are elite projects that protect investors by promoting labor deregulation, austerity, and privatization.
- Mattei warns EU–India style agreements likely cut labor rights and shift tax burdens from capital to workers.
1920s Factory Occupations Show Democractic Planning Worked
- After World War I workers and peasants occupied factories and reclaimed production, demonstrating democratic planning worked.
- Mattei recounts how elites responded by calling Mussolini and using austerity to crush those movements.
