FREE with Clara Mattei

Oil just crossed $100 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Gas prices are surging. And the dollar? It's getting stronger — not weaker. That's not a paradox. It's by design.In this episode of the FREE Podcast, economist Clara Mattei sits down with Costas Lapavitsas (Professor of Economics, SOAS University of London) to explain what no mainstream outlet will: the Iran war isn't a disruption to the global economic system — it's a product of it. From the dollar's imperial grip to the hollowing out of US industry to the $2 billion a day being spent on bombs instead of schools, this conversation maps the economic machinery driving the current crisis.Costas brings a new theory of imperialism rooted in Marxian political economy — connecting the financialization of the last four decades, the rise of China, the structural decline of the US as a productive power, and the escalation of militarism that follows when a declining hegemon refuses to let go.In this conversation:• Why the dollar strengthens during war — and who pays for it• Oil at $100+: what breaks next in the global economy• The US spends $2 billion a day on this war — enough to fund free college or universal childcare• How US multinationals hollowed out the domestic economy they claim to defend• Trump as symptom, not author — why this crisis predates and outlasts him• Capitalism and militarism: why markets produce war, not peace• The military-industrial complex: corrupt, inefficient, and structurally incapable of rebuilding US productive power• The WWI analogy: why this moment has no natural point of equilibrium• Why Costas sees hope in American workers and youthGUEST:Costas Lapavitsas is Professor of Economics at SOAS, University of London, and a scholar of contemporary capitalism and imperialism. His latest book is The State of Capitalism (2023). Recent articles include "A Topography of the New Dollar Imperialism" (New Left Review) and "Trump's Chaotic Imperialism" (forthcoming, Socialist Register).Watch Ad-FREE: https://www.patreon.com/freefreeforum🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum⁩❤️ Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate🎧 Listen as a PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum#IranWar #OilPrices #DollarImperialism #Imperialism #StraitOfHormuz #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #ClaraMattei #CostasLapavitsas #PoliticalEconomy #AntiCapitalism #FREEPodcast #EconomicCrisis #USHegemony #GasPrice

Oxfam reports the super rich in the Global North extracted over $30 million per hour from the Global South in 2024. So why does mainstream economics keep telling these countries they just need better institutions?Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven (Senior Lecturer in International Development, King's College London; co-author of Decolonizing Economics) explains how the economics discipline systematically erases colonialism, imperialism, and uneven development from its models — and what that erasure costs the majority of people on the planet.In this episode of the FREE Podcast (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation), Clara Mattei and Ingrid break down:• How Eurocentrism operates as a structural bias inside economic theory• Why Nobel Prize-winning frameworks like Acemoglu and Robinson still blame the Global South for its own poverty• How "institutional reform" functions as a cover for extraction• The case of Ghana's Ashanti Goldfields: 125+ years of colonialism, financialization, dispossession, and forced mergers• How the IMF, World Bank, and structural adjustment deepen underdevelopment• • International financial subordination: why Global South countries pay more to borrow, hold dollars they don't control, and lose domestic firms to multinational competition• Why development economics narrows the lens to individual behavior instead of confronting the global system• The Nobel Prize in Economics as a political instrument• What decolonizing economics actually requires — and why it's a political project, not an academic exerciseGuest links:📚 Decolonizing Economics: An Introduction — https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=decolonizing-economics-an-introduction--9781509545476📄 Cracks in the Gold Standard (new article on mining & development in Ghana) — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25000919🌐 Ingrid's website: https://ingridhk.com/📝 Developing Economics blog: https://developingeconomics.org/🤝 Diversifying and Decolonising Economics (D-Econ): https://d-econ.org/Subscribe for future episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeFreeForumLearn more: https://freefreeforum.orgSupport FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate#decolonizingeconomics #globalsouth #capitalism #imperialism #developmenteconomics #Ghana #NobelPrize #IMF #WorldBank #structuraladjustment #freepodcast #ClaraMattei #economics #unevendevelopment🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum⁩❤️ Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate🎧 Listen as a PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

Economist Clara Mattei and tax attorney Bob Lord expose how the US tax code was engineered to build the billionaire oligarchy — and why wealth taxes alone won't fix it.Bob Lord, senior vice president for tax policy at the Patriotic Millionaires and 35-year tax attorney, joins Clara Mattei to break down the mechanics of wealth inequality hiding inside the US tax code — from capital gains and unrealized income to regressive taxation, Social Security caps, and how billionaires legally avoid taxes for decades.The top 0.00001% of Americans — just 19 people — made nearly $1 trillion per year for the past two years. That's not just asset values rising. It's a tax system designed to let billionaire wealth compound tax-free while workers get taxed every two weeks.In this episode of FREE, Bob Lord explains:• How capital gains and unrealized wealth allow billionaires to avoid income tax indefinitely• Why Jeff Bezos paid ~2.4% effective tax rate while his Amazon stock grew 50%+ per year for 32 years• How regressive taxation — Social Security caps, sales taxes, property taxes, fines — extracts wealth from workers while protecting the top• Why eliminating state income and property taxes is the next phase of the wealth transfer• The difference between a wealth tax and fixing the real structural problem• What local organizing and ballot initiatives have accomplished — and what's possible in Tulsa and beyondBob Lord is senior vice president for tax policy at the Patriotic Millionaires and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Find out more:  @PatrioticMillionaires  FREE is hosted by Clara Mattei, economist and author of The Capital Order, as seen on Channel 4, Breaking Points, and more.#ClaraMattei #WealthInequality #BillionaireTax #CapitalGains #TaxTheRich #Oligarchy #RegressiveTax #WealthTax #PatrioticMillionaires #BobLord #UnrealizedGains #freepodcast 🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum⁩❤️ Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donateOur Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/freefreeforum▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum00:00:00 - Introduction00:01:30 - Guest Introduction and Discussion on Tax System00:05:40 - The Flaw of the U.S. Tax System00:06:48 - Disproportionate Taxation and Class Differences00:10:39 - The Role of Tax System in Wealth Inequality00:14:24 - Understanding Regressive Taxation00:16:53 - Impact of Regressive Taxation on Consumption00:22:02 - State Income Tax and the Impact on Middle Class00:27:55 - The Case of Jeff Bezos: Understanding Effective Annual Rate of Income Tax00:31:33 - Rationality of Regressive Taxation and its Impact00:37:02 - Exploring Corporate Taxes, Inheritance Taxation and Offshoring00:49:36 - Mobilizing the Population for Progressive Taxation

Sudan’s war is being framed as “tribal conflict,” while a profit system extracts gold and moves US weapons through regional pipelines.Human rights lawyer Suad Abdel Aziz (Executive Director, Decolonizing Sudan) explains who benefits, how it works, and what people in the US can do now.In this episode:• UAE gold extraction, smuggling networks, and conflict, resource supply chains• US weapons exports to the UAE and how they reach the RSF (Rapid Support Forces)• Red Sea ports, proxy warfare, and the geopolitical stakes• How sanctions and economic pressure helped set the stage• Practical next steps: UAE arms embargo pressure + boycott toolsGet involved:• Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum• Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org• Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donateResources mentioned:• Decolonizing Sudan : https://decolonizesudan.org/• Boycott & Disrupt Toolkit: https://decolonizesudan.org/boycottuae• Support: https://givebutter.com/DecolonizesudanChapters:00:00 The “simple move” that could end this fast00:23 Sudan’s hidden catastrophe + the media frame01:19 Meet Suad Abdel Aziz (Decolonizing Sudan)02:18 Who profits, and why it’s covered up02:41 UAE gold: stolen resources + extraction04:37 US weapons manufacturers + the pipeline06:21 Boycott toolkit + No Thanks app07:28 Sudan–Palestine links + war economy logic08:14 Red Sea ports + regional proxy strategy10:13 Abraham Accords + foreign policy control11:41 Diaspora dilemma: reform vs intervention13:53 RSF, mercenaries, accountability + command chain19:00 UAE’s proxy-militia playbook beyond Sudan20:13 Uprising roots, sanctions strategy, RSF crackdown25:19 What people in the US can do now (arms embargo + pressure)27:53 Closing: reframe Sudan + solidarity▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum#Sudan #UAE #WarProfits

AI data centers are swallowing trillions, and many are calling it an AI bubble. This episode asks a sharper question: who absorbs the risk, and who pays when the bet breaks?We follow the engine underneath the hype, the state, the Federal Reserve, tech monopolies, and finance, working together to turn a risky AI bet into protected wins, while shifting the costs onto workers, retirees, communities, and the climate.In this conversation, Clara Mattei is joined by Irai Regmi (writer of Radical Transitions; former researcher at the Roosevelt Institute) to map the machinery behind the boom:• What AI data centers actually are and why they’re treated like a new “asset class”• Why state “intervention” isn’t a rescue. It’s the foundation of accumulation• How the Federal Reserve anchors the financial architecture powering the bailout• How “financial stability” language legitimizes protection for the biggest players• Where the costs hit daily life: layoffs, higher electricity bills, water + grid strain, local damage• The hidden gamble: pensions, retirement security, and the austerity cycle that follows bailouts• AI infrastructure, militarism, and the global alliances forming around profit + power• A vital detour to Nepal: what a youth-led uprising reveals about systemic corruption, state violence, and radicalizationAre AI data centers popping up in your area? Where are you seeing the costs show up first? Power bills, water, layoffs, public budgets, or something else?Get involved:• Irai Regmi’s writing Radical Transitions: https://radicaltransitions.substack.com/• Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum• Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org• Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate🎧 Listen as a PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum#AIBubble #DataCenters #FederalReserve

Hamza Hamouchene, researcher and activist with the Transnational Institute and Algeria Solidarity Campaign coordinator, unpacks green colonialism and who profits from climate solutions. He discusses green grabbing, debt and dependency, why market fixes fail, links between liberation and climate justice, and strategies like delinking and sovereignty. Short, sharp, and sharply political.

Richard Wolff, Marxian economist and founder of Democracy at Work, brings sharp, public-facing analysis. He and Clara Mattei discuss how “freedom” masks coercion, how wages, debt, taxes and budgets shape what feels possible. They unpack austerity’s role in protecting elites, imperialism’s extraction, and why building democratic alternatives requires both theory and hands-on organizing.

Grace Blakeley, author and journalist who critiques modern capitalism, explains corporate planning, state-backed bailouts, and imperial extraction. She unpacks how concentrated firms shape policy, why competition gets harsher for everyone else, and how democratic planning and local organizing can rebuild agency. Short, sharp, and provocative takes on monopoly power and financialized ownership.

We grow enough food to feed everyone, yet hunger keeps rising. Raj Patel explains how the capitalist food system produces “cheap food”, making hunger predictable, and profitable.In this conversation, we start with one unforgettable symbol, the chicken nugget, and use it to expose the “nugget economy”, how costs get pushed onto workers, land, health, and the climate so corporations can sell food that looks “cheap” at the register.If you have ever wondered how we can have full shelves and empty stomachs at the same time, this episode gives you the mechanism, clearly.🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) for more deep dives on capitalism, empire, austerity, climate, housing, work, and the struggles from below that change everything.#FoodInsecurity #AffordableFood #RajPatel #ClaraMattei #FoodSovereignty #FoodJustice #FoodDeserts #freeforum 📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-free🎧 Listen as a Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZCConnect with FREE: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforum Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

Inflation & the cost of living crisis are not just numbers on a chart, they are political choices about who gets squeezed and who is protected.In this SAPE lecture, economists Paulo dos Santos (The New School for Social Research) and Ramaa Vasudevan (Colorado State University) unpack today’s inflation as a social and political phenomenon. They trace how supply shocks, corporate profits, and central bank decisions turn wages, debt, and rising prices into a cost of living crisis and what a fairer response could look like.📘 Organized by SOAS/School of London in partnership with the New School for Social Research, FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation), and the General Federation of Trade Unions.⏰ All SAPE sessions are completely free and open to all.Wednesdays, 6–8 PM UK, 1–3 PM ET, 12–2 PM CT📩 Sign up to join upcoming SAPE events live:https://tinyurl.com/sape-registration#Inflation #CostOfLivingCrisis #PoliticalEconomy❤️ Subscribe for more conversations on democracy, justice, and economic emancipation:https://youtube.com/@FreeFreeForum📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-free