The Robber Barons were some dudes who got rich and were pretty sketchy about it all, but then founded a bunch of universities and stuff like that, so I guess we're cool?

Ch. 2: Jane Mayer / The Koch Brothers and the Weaponizing of Philanthropy - EthicsinSociety - Air Date 4-6-16

Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again?

Ch. 3: “Sportswashing & Greenwashing”: Ex-Soccer Player Jules Boykoff on Qatar Hosting World Cup - Democracy Now! - Air Date 11-29-22

We speak with author Jules Boykoff about the climate and political implications of the 2022 World Cup.

Ch. 4: How One Industry Controls Football - Athletic Interest - Air Date 11-5-21

Who controls football?

Ch. 5: Why Billionaire Philanthropy Won't Solve Anything - Second Thought - Air Date 2-25-22

You ever notice how oligarchs like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are cast as these uber-wealthy saviors who are singlehandedly raising the world out of poverty? That doesn't happen by accident.

Ch. 6: What Is Sportswashing (and Does It Work)? - Freakonomics - Air Date 6-8-22

In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the P.G.A. Tour.

Ch. 7: Why Billionaires Won't Save Us - Our Changing Climate - Air Date 5-21-21

I look at how the elite philanthropy of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk function as more of a billionaire preservation of wealth and self than as an act of altruism.

Ch. 8: Anand Giridharadas: Why We Should Be Skeptical of Billionaires - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 9-19-18

Anand Giridharadas believes we should be a bit more skeptical about embracing billionaires as the change-makers of our era.

MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)

Ch. 9: The 2022 FIFA World Cup And The Rise Of 'Sportswashing' (In The Loop) - Scripps News - Air Date 11-21-22

Christian Bryant explores why sporting events are and can be held in countries with authoritarian regimes in this segment of "Scoreboard."

Ch. 10: Fixing the Economy - Garys Economics - Air Date 11-27-22

After having opened up the publics eyes to the problem of Wealth Inequality, Gary reveals to the Channel his own idea for a possible Wealth Tax.

VOICEMAILS

Ch. 11: Reaching a conclusion on understanding the J.K Rowling episode - Boris from Belgium

Ch. 12: The is/ought malfunction in our pattern recognition - Dave from Olympia, WA

FINAL COMMENTS

Ch. 13: Final comments on the is/ought problem of politics

MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)

SHOW IMAGE

Description: A diptych of photos of Mohammad bin Salman and a painting of John. D. Rockefeller. A drop of black oil falls into a splash over the center of the image.

Credits: Composite design by A. Hoffman. Photo of “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stands with Deputy Crown Price of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud” by U.S. Secretary of Defense, Flickr | License: CC by 2.0) | Changes: Cropped / Photo of painting of J.D. Rockefeller by John Singer Sargent, Flickr | License: Public Domain | Changes: Cropped / Oil drop and splash from Pixabay.

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a quick note to let you know that this episode seems to have had an error when it was originally published,
0:05.0	or actually just slightly after.
0:07.2	I published it on May 2nd and everything may have been fine at first, but then a few days later,
0:12.0	the wrong audio seems to have been swapped in.
0:15.0	And the May Day episode overwrote the original show that you're about to hear.
0:21.0	The why and how is still a bit of a mystery to me,
0:24.0	but the most important thing is that it's fixed now.
0:26.5	It's being republished into the feed to make sure that everyone can hear it.
0:29.5	So apologies for the inconvenience.
0:31.5	It's possible that some of you will have heard this already if you got it right when it was published the first time.
0:38.5	But I think lots of people miss that window and this will be like a brand new episode to you.
0:43.5	So huge thanks to listener Holly for letting me know about this error so that I could fix it,
0:48.5	which also makes this a good opportunity to ask everyone to be like Holly in the future
0:52.5	and let me know about any errors or mix-ups that you may find so that I can fix those too.
0:58.5	Thanks and enjoy.
1:03.5	Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left Podcast,
1:07.5	in which we shall take a look at the intertwining of oil wealth, philanthropy, and culture washing
1:13.5	from John Rockefeller to the shakes of the Middle East.
1:16.5	Clips today are from Brain Blaze, Ethics and Society, Democracy Now,
1:21.5	Athletic Interest, Second Thought, Freakonomics, Our Changing Climate,
1:26.5	and Omen Poirin Company, with additional members only clips from Scripts News and Gary's Economics.
1:38.5	Rockefeller got into the oil business right off to the Civil War
	...

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