Containing the Crisis at Home and Abroad
The outline of the global economy is dramatically emerging. Capital is more fluid and unregulated than in any time in history. The so-called economic recovery is the most uneven since the end of WWII. Growth rates are moderate, while most new jobs are low-paying and temporary. According to Fortune magazine, the disparity between corporate profits and wages is at a record high. Take, for example, Whirlpool, makers of washers and dryers. It just announced it will be closing two plants and cutting its work force by 8%. It’s not that Whirlpool is losing money. It earned a quarter of a billion dollars in the first nine months of 1994 alone. Wall Street enthusiastically responded to the moves by driving up the value of Whirlpool’s stock. These economic trends are creating enormous pressures on working people at home and abroad.
Recorded at Loyola University.
Speaker
Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, by any measure, has led a most extraordinary life. In one index, he is ranked as the eighth most cited person in history, right up there with Aristotle, Shakespeare, Marx, Plato, and Freud. His contributions to modern linguistics are legendary. In addition to his pioneering work in that field, he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for many decades. Chris Hedges says he is “America’s greatest intellectual” who “makes the powerful, as well as their liberal apologists, deeply uncomfortable.” The New Statesman calls him “the conscience of the American people.” He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics and Haury Chair in the Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. At 97, though having health setbacks, he continues to inform and inspire people all over the world. He is the author of scores of books, including Masters of Mankind, Consequences of Capitalism, Chronicles of Dissent, and Notes on Resistance. He is co-author with Edward Herman of Manufacturing Consent. His latest books are The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World and Surviving the 21st Century.
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