One year into the war in Ukraine, the U.S. government has committed $100 billion to this bloody proxy conflict that is threatening the whole world with catastrophe.

But while huge numbers of people suffer and die, some capitalists are focused on getting their share of this enormous sum of money. Who profits from war?

We need a new system.

We need a new society.

We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago,

but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. We are very excited to have Professor Richard Wolfe join us for our regular weekly segment,

where we discuss the biggest stories relating to the economy, the state of the working class, and the crimes of big business. I'm John

Prysner, filling in for Brian Becker. The Socialist Program brings you content three days a week

thanks to the support of our patrons at patreon.com slash the Socialist Program. We appreciate all

of your support and encourage you to become a patron today if you enjoy listening to this show.

Richard Wolfe is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books,

the latest being The Sickness is the System, when capitalism fails to save us from pandemics or itself.

You can check out all of his work at rd wolf.com. Professor Wolfe,

thanks so much for joining us again today. My pleasure, glad to be here. U.S. aid to Ukraine now

totals 100 billion, and it was passed through Congress without hardly any debate. Meanwhile,

proposed social programs are routinely dismissed because there is, quote, unquote,

no money.

Why is there such a consensus around war among the U.S. capitalist class?

Okay, that are two intertwined answers to that important question.

The first one is pretty well known, but is worth briefly going over

again. We have been a militarily obsessed country since at least the end of World War II.

The United States leaders from both parties have repeatedly said that the

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