It's the Brian Laira Show on WNYC.

Good morning again, everyone.

This hour, 300 years of capitalism and its critics.

100 years of Yogi Berra, born 100 years ago today. First,

we will journey through the history of capitalism through the eyes of some of its greatest critics.

How did this economic system originating in pre-industrial England take over nearly every corner of the globe.

Capitalism has presided over governments ruled by kings, democratically elected officials,

and fascist dictators alike.

It's all encompassing, yet seemingly always in crisis.

Capitalism has become an identity, and opposing it is an identity in its own right on yet another level. Many of you know

John Cassidy from his pieces in The New Yorker will try to get to one or two of his latest as well,

like Donald Trump versus Barbie. But he's got a new book coming out tomorrow called Capitalism

and its critics, a history from the Industrial Revolution to AI.

In it, he charts the development of our current political economy through the eyes of those who sought to change it.

The book seems suited to a time where Americans' critique of the economy decides elections,

and capitalism's evolution has seemingly led to global, quote, polycrisies

of income inequality, climate catastrophe, rising authoritarianism, and war. And Donald Trump is trying

to return us to a particular form of capitalism, if we think about it on a hundred-year timeline,

200, 300-year timeline, that John's

book seems to say was already left in the dustbin of history. John Cassidy joins us now to

introduce us to some of capitalism's critics on this timeline and their arguments for reforming

the system or overthrowing it entirely.

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