Capitalism: What Is It?

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

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Summary

What do we mean when we talk about capitalism? Our economic system might seem inevitable, but it's a construction project hundreds of years in the making and no part of it is natural or left to chance. This week, we kick off our series on the past, present and future of capitalism with Kristen Ghodsee, Vivek Chibber, and Bryan Caplan, who debate how an economic system became an all-encompassing force that rules our lives and our minds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The full disclosure, we have never done something like this before on Thurline.
0:10.3	I'm the first to say it could be a lot better and it would be better by being more capitalist.
0:14.7	Trudel, doggy dog, cut throat, capitalism.
0:18.1	I grew up in the Midwest where I always believed capitalism was one of the best things in the
0:23.9	world.
0:24.9	Capitalism to me is a powerful human story.
0:28.0	If we could just bring people from 500 years ago to the present and show them what people
0:31.6	managed to be unhappy about, they would be so confused.
0:34.8	I've had about ten jobs, I've had graduate high school and each time I am constantly
0:40.9	in fear of losing my job.
0:42.5	The corrosive level of anxiety and the increase in inequality I think is going to erode the
0:49.7	fundamental principles of democracy.
0:51.7	I'm not sure I like capitalism anymore.
0:54.5	In this conversation today, if we don't start with the premise that there is a deep social
1:00.3	and political crisis in this country, this conversation is useless.
1:03.9	It is our biggest success and our biggest failure.
1:14.6	I'm Ramteen Alabluy.
1:15.6	I'm Ram Dabin Fata.
1:17.4	And on this episode of Thurline from NPR, we're trying to do something a little different.
1:22.4	Our team has been thinking about capitalism a lot these days.
1:25.9	It's hard not to when so many people are struggling just to get by.
1:29.7	A lot of people are actually quite pissed off about the world we live in.
	...

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