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 Wolfe.

Let me quickly remind you that Charlie Fabian is ready and willing to take whatever suggestions,

ideas, documents you might want to send our way to help us plan future programs.

You can reach him at Charlie.

Info-338 at gmail.com.

I want also to take a moment to tease you a bit. We have finished a new book. It's called Understanding Capitalism. It is, if you like, a kind of final piece of a trilogy. We've already produced understanding Marxism and

understanding socialism, which many of you have kindly ordered. So this is understanding

capitalism. It's a completion of that three-part project, but it is also a culmination

of 12 years of doing this program every week, plus 40 years before that of teaching economics

at half a dozen universities. I think you'll find it an extraordinary summary and compilation

of capitalism's problems, the myths that support it, the crisis it now faces, and what comes

afterwards in a way that is readable, accessible, and above all, interesting.

Look for it. It's coming soon. Today's program is devoted to a particular topic, global

and importance, crucial in many, many parts of the world, including the United States.

It's called the problem of deficits, the problem of the national debt.

It's all about why countries borrow money, from whom they borrow. Who benefits from all that borrowing?

It's now in the many trillions of dollars, both in the United States and in most of the other

countries of the world. It's a factor in elections all the time.

It's not a boring topic, although it is often presented in the media,

in details that lose the whole picture.

I'm going to try to focus on the picture. I'm going to try to make sure you

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