Welcome to Current Affairs. My name is Nathan Robinson. I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Magazine. I am joined today by John Cassidy. He is a staff writer at the New Yorker. He is the author of the books, How Markets Fail, The Logic of Economic Calamities.

And most recently, the book that we are here to talk to him about today,

capitalism and its critics, a history from the Industrial Revolution to AI. John Cassidy, thank you for joining us

on current affairs today. Thanks very much for inviting me on. Delighted to be here. Well, first,

congratulations on this book, because it really is just a momentous achievement. It is one of those

books that is called Magisterial because it is a sweeping

history of the criticisms of capitalism across the centuries, profiling dozens of fascinating

figures, tracking the evolution of capitalism, tracking the evolution of pro-capitalist ideas,

of anti-capitalist ideas.

It's totally fascinating, totally rich, and I was totally baffled as to how I could possibly

have a conversation with you about it because there's so much to cover within the have her

here.

So we're only going to be able to scratch the surface here.

So let me start by asking you, John Cassidy, why criticize capitalism? Why would anyone

have criticized capitalism? The foundation of our prosperity, the system that has given us untold wealth,

lifted all boats and created the modern world as we know it. What spurred so much criticism?

Well, it's been criticisms since day one or actually before day one.

My first critic in the book sort of predates industrial capitalism.

Let's start with the basics.

Where does capitalism come from and where do I start?

The book basically starts in 1770 with the first cotton factories.

That's when the Industrial Revolution is usually dated to.

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