And the Welcome friends to another edition of Economic Update, a weekly program devoted to the economic

dimensions of our lives and those of our children.

I'm your host Richard Wolf.

A couple of reminders before we jump into today's program.

We have just published a new book that I wrote called Understanding Capitalism.

I wrote it based on all the programs we've been doing over the years.

I tried to collect in there the myths, the problems, the other side, you might say, of the cheerleading

for capitalism that you get on the mass media. It's a chance to understand how the system works, but from a critical perspective.

I wrote it to help organizers. I wrote it to help activists. I wrote it for teachers and students. Those who want an

honest appraisal, one that isn't either the good or the bad, but that is critical where the criticism

needs to be made, and Lord knows more than ever it needs it. The book is called Understanding Capitalism. And not only do we make that available,

and you can find all the information on our website, but also we are initiating a series of classes

for Mondays in October,

again, our website is where you can go to find out more about these classes.

They will use that book.

We will go through that book, but I will lead the class. There will be opportunity for

questions and answers every Monday, four times during the month of October. If you're interested here's a chance to work together

you and I on the material that probably brings you to this program or listening and I invite you to join us.

Today's program will be going over a number of items. We'll start with a story about the

United Kingdom, Britain, things going on there that are really amazing, but are also a

foretaste of what's coming here.

We'll talk about the state of Washington,

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