Better Future with Michael Mezz 009 - Saikat Chakrabarti on Billionaires, AI, and How to Reclaim Democracy
My guest today is Saikat Chakrabarti – former chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, co-founder of Justice Democrats, co-author of the Green New Deal, and now a candidate for Congress running to replace Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco. We discuss whether the Democratic Party can be transformed from within, why corporate money has hollowed out American politics, and what it would take to build an economy that works for everyone. We also dive deep into AI – who should control it, and why leaving decisions about humanity’s future in the hands of a handful of tech CEOs may be the most dangerous form of deregulation yet.
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0:00 Who controls AI’s future?
0:46 Intro: Saikat Chakrabarti
1:19 Corporate capture in the democratic party
7:03 From tech millionaire to “class traitor”
10:57 Scapegoating immigrants and abolishing ICE
13:48 Reagan’s neoliberal legacy and the case for public investment
22:02 The “March for Billionaires” and wealth inequality
31:33 Building a net zero, high wage economy
42:00 A new foreign policy beyond colonialism
48:43 AI, China, and democratic control of technology
56:46 Replacing corporate Democrats
1:00:16 Cutting funding to Israel
1:02:46 Supporting Saikat
Host/Creator: Michael Mezzatesta
Guest: Saikat Chakarbarti
Editor: Nuria Salgado
Designer: Amea Wadsworth
Thanks for watching episode 009. Lots more on the way :)