Is Capitalism Working for You?
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 2 October 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One guest says “a free market is a mythical creature, like Santa Claus.” So how do we describe “capitalism” really, and can we make it do better?
We examine our current economic system, callers’ feelings about it, and the evolution of that system with guest host Noel King, host of Vox’s “Today Explained.” She’s joined by Vinson Cunningham, Staff Writer for the New Yorker, and Kirstin Munro, Professor of Economics and the New School. Plus we take your calls.
This episode was inspired by “Today Explained’s” recent series, “Blame Capitalism: Souring on the system.”
Tell us what you think. Instagram and X (Twitter): @noteswithkai. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or going to Instagram and clicking on the link in our bio.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. Tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What is capitalism, like at its core, what is it really about? |
| 0:05.9 | Capitalism is defined as an economic system in which the means of production and private |
| 0:10.6 | property are owned and controlled by private owners for the uses of making a profit. |
| 0:17.1 | The making of profit, the ownership, like owning a factory or owning a house and being a landlord. |
| 0:23.3 | A small group is a very large group. |
| 0:26.5 | You first have to have what's definition of capitalism. |
| 0:29.1 | And I think it changes depending on what your positions are, what your ideology is. |
| 0:34.1 | Capitalism, it depends more on what you can achieve and not about what the states want to do. |
| 0:38.8 | People have a opportunity to earn lots of money. |
| 0:41.2 | Capitalism requires people to be exploited. |
| 0:44.0 | We literally were out in the field as products. |
| 0:47.1 | Where do we think capitalism came from? |
| 0:56.3 | Welcome to Notes from America with Kai Wright. |
| 1:12.2 | I'm Noel King, I'm filling in for Kai today and I'm glad you're here. |
| 1:15.9 | I'm the host of a show called Today Explained. |
| 1:18.2 | It's a daily news podcast and radio show that's produced by Vox. |
| 1:21.6 | And I've just wrapped up a big series called Blame Capitalism. |
| 1:25.7 | That's what we're going to talk about today. |
| 1:27.2 | Capitalism. |
| 1:28.4 | This is our economic system. |
| 1:29.7 | We all live with it. |
| 1:30.6 | We all work within it. |
... |
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