This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our listeners who support us at patreon.com

and by Verso Books, which has loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is first-class passengers on a sinking ship, elite politics, and the decline of great powers,

by Richard Lachman. The extent in irreversibility of U.S. decline is becoming ever more obvious as

America loses war after war, and as one industry after another loses its technological edge.

In first-class passengers on a sinking ship,

Lachman explains why the United States will find it impossible to retain global dominance.

He contrasts America's relatively brief period of hegemony

with the Netherlands's similarly short premises and Britain's far longer

era of leadership. Decline in those cases was not inevitable and did not respond to global

capitalist cycles. It was the product of the success elites had in grabbing control of resources

and governmental powers. In this process,

not only are ordinary people harmed, but capitalists become increasingly unable to coordinate

their interests as a class. They fail to adopt policies and make the investments necessary to counter economic and geopolitical competitors elsewhere in the world.

Following this model, Lockman traces the transformation of U.S. politics from an era of elite consensus to its present-day condition of paralysis and plunder,

explaining the paradox of an American military with an unprecedented technological edge

unable to subdue even the weakest enemies

and the consequences of finances cannibalization of the economy.

First-class passengers on a sinking ship, elite politics, and the decline of

great powers by Richard Lockman. Out now from Verso Books.

Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin Magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Philly.

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