Macro N Cheese
A podcast that critically examines the working-class struggle through the lens of MMT or Modern Monetary Theory. Host Steve Grumbine, founder of Real Progressives, provides incisive political commentary and showcases grassroots activism. Join us for a robust, unfiltered exploration of economic issues that impact the working class, as we challenge the status quo and prioritize collective well-being over profit. This is comfort food for the mind, fueling our fight for justice and equity!
All episodes(50)
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 393 - Money Manager Capitalism: Ponzi Finance in the Shadows with Eric Tymoigne
Published Aug 22, 2026
Eric Tymoigne**Join us on Tuesday to discuss this episode in our online gathering, Macro 'n Chill. August 25, 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/NGxWl6qMTaKXPhR51uHkwAIf public power repeatedly stands behind private finance when it fails, shouldn't that same power be directed toward employment, productive capacity, and human need? So why isn't it?Economist Eric Tymoigne returns to the podcast to examine the rapid growth of private credit and private equity through Hyman
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 392 - The People Are Not One: Socialist Strategy After Left Populism with Daniel Tutt & C. Derick Varn
Published Aug 15, 2026
Daniel Tutt and returning guest C. Derick Varn join Steve to discuss their new book, The People Are Not One: Socialist Strategy After Left Populism, whose title states its thesis outright. When the left speaks of a unified people confronting a corrupt elite, it conceals the real stratifications inside the working class and borrows a Manichean framework that functions identically on the right. Their argument: since 2008, from Occupy through Syriza, Podemos, Corbyn, and Sanders, left populism has
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 391 - Towards Palestinian Liberation with Hamza Hamouchene
Published Aug 8, 2026
Hamza HamoucheneThis week, Hamza Hamouchene returns to the podcast to talk about Towards Palestinian Liberation: Global Perspectives on Anti-Colonial Resistance and Solidarity, the new collection he co-edited with Abi Bae. Palestine, he argues, cannot be understood simply as a “conflict” or humanitarian crisis, but as a national liberation struggle against settler colonialism embedded in a larger system of Western imperialism and global capitalism.Hamza traces Israel’s role within the imperial order, the class
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 390 - China's Green Development is Both Anti-Imperialist & Socialist with Ashwin Shantha
Published Aug 1, 2026
Ashwin Shantha** Do you want to talk about this episode with us? Come to Macro ‘n Chill, our online gathering. Tuesday, August 4, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nLks4k8gQWKQzTAn0CEsoAAshwin Shantha joins Steve for a discussion challenging Western narratives on China – particularly the all-too-common opinions that dismiss its socialist character. This episode makes the case that China is a genuine socialist project where the state disciplines capital rather than being go
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 389 - Voices of Political Economy & Struggle with William Thomson
Published Jul 25, 2026
William ThomsonThis week we’re releasing an episode from Scotland‘s Political Economy podcast. Host William Thomson invited Steve to join him to compare and reflect on their favorite interviews and the thinkers who most shaped their worldviews – from Clara Mattei and Fadhel Kaboub to Bill Mitchell, Jason Hickel, and Marxist-Leninist thinkers. They explore the limits of MMT without class analysis, the capture of academic and political institutions by oligarchic interests, and the importance of historical materi
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 34 - The Legal Nature of Money and the History of the Federal Reserve with Rohan Grey
Published Jul 18, 2026
Rohan Grey**Classic episode re-release! Originally published Sept, 21, 2019**Legal scholar Rohan Grey knows how to use analogies to give shape to an idea. He illustrates his points with references to popular films, folklore and lyrical poets. With experience in the realms of music, early childhood education, political economy, and jurisprudence, he brings Modern Monetary Theory to life in unexpected ways. Throughout this conversation with Steve, he connects economics and the law by illustrating subtle con
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 388 - From Theory to Praxis: Lenin's Revolutionary Formula with Breht O'Shea
Published Jul 11, 2026
**We’re listening to and discussing this episode on Tuesday, July 14 at 8pm ET/5pm PT, in our online gathering Macro ‘n Chill. We’ve invited Breht to join us, so bring your questions. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PXkazv5WTWW7b7kMExA8uw"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." Steve's guest, Breht O’Shea of Rev Left Radio and Red Menace podcast, believes that dedicating one's life to fighting for this vision, even without knowing the outco
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 387 - Judgment of Gender with Allison Butler
Published Jul 4, 2026
Allison Butler**Tuesday evening, at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT, we’ll be listening to this episode and discussing it during our online gathering, Macro ‘n Chill. Bring your thoughts, your insights, your questions. July 7th at at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ay2YXuCvRLOp1dV5yh8HKwWomen in politics, media, and public life are often placed at the center of the spectacle while being silenced on the issues that matter.Media scholar Allison Butler talks to Steve about he
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 386 - Who Do You Serve: Neoliberalism & Oligarchy Through an MMT Lens with Bill Mitchell
Published Jun 27, 2026
Bill MitchellModern Monetary Theory explains how sovereign currency systems work, but it doesn’t tell us who controls the state or whose interests state power serves. Economist Bill Mitchell suggests that a dialectical understanding of capitalism is essential for answering that question.He and Steve discuss MMT not as a policy prescription but as a lens to dissect the capitalist state, not a neutral arbiter but an instrument of class conflict. Bill traces the motion of capital from the post-WWII "Golden Age,
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 385 - MAGAcademy: The Hostile Takeover of Higher Ed with Nolan Higdon
Published Jun 19, 2026
Nolan Higdon** Don't forget about Tuesday’s Macro ‘n Chill, the online gathering where we listen to the podcast together and discuss the issues it covers. Bring your insights, questions, and good-faith disagreements. June 23, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yI-UE7W1TcGglJSZ2l-FfgAs much as we'd like to blame Donald Trump for the near-destruction of higher education, the rot set in long before he ever set foot in the White House. Political analyst and author
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 384 - Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism's Assault on the Earth System with Ian Angus
Published Jun 13, 2026
Ian Angus** Come to Macro ‘n Chill, the online gathering where we listen to the podcast together and discuss what we learned and where we agree or disagree. Tuesday, June 16, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Qm85bGIOSF2H_uNMwOmWtQEcosocialist author, Ian Angus, talks with Steve about his book Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism's Assault on the Earth System. They explore the deep, sometimes invisible ways that capitalism disrupts the planet’s fundamental life cyc
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 383 - The Complicit Lens with Robin Andersen
Published Jun 6, 2026
Robin AndersenJoin us Tuesday, June 9th, at Macro ‘n Chill, the online gathering where we’ll listen to and discuss this episode. 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register with this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/L40tjKhOSCGCJTR-R-QJvwThe title of Robin Andersen’s upcoming book (published next week) is The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of the Genocide in Gaza. You can see why Steve wanted to talk with her. Their conversation looks at how the corporate media helped manufacture consent for Israel’s war on Gaza
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 382 - Yellow Vests & the Battle for Democracy: Beyond the Ballot Box with Ida Susser
Published May 30, 2026
Ida Susser**Every Tuesday we hold an online gathering where we listen to and talk about the episode while building community. Share your insights and questions as we educate ourselves and each other. Macro ‘n Chill, June 2, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/OEYtu7v-SciBITwiIWwdzwA frequent theme of our podcast revolves around the contradiction between formal political rights and the material realities of the working class. This week, our guest Ida Susser talks to Steve
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 381 - Disinformation Nation with Mickey Huff
Published May 23, 2026
Mickey Huff**Will we see you at Macro ‘n Chill on Tuesday? You’re invited to join our online gathering where we listen to the episode together and share our insights and questions. May 26 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/UHE6NoSDRbibqXYAeJJ8gQ Disinformation is neither an accident nor excess; it is the normal functioning of late capitalism’s media apparatus. Our friend Mickey Huff, executive director of Project Censored, talks with Steve about the machine
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 380 - Struggle & Resistance: Retelling Vietnam with Luna Nguyen
Published May 16, 2026
Luna Nguyen** This Tuesday, come to Macro ‘n Chill, our online gathering. Bring your insights and questions about this episode. May 19 at 8pm ET/5pm PT Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/AIz56SKPT6Gfh0pXhs3PTwYou may know Luna Nguyen as Luna Oi, the YouTuber and member of the Non-Compete content collective who creates videos about culture, history, and politics in Vietnam, as well as panels and interviews with indigenous activists and comrades in the Global South.Steve aske
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 379 - The Real Cost of War with L. Randall Wray
Published May 9, 2026
** This Tuesday, May 12, come to Macro ‘n Chill, our online gathering where we listen to and discuss this episode. Bring your questions and insights. 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/rn_HAqgaSRGdj8W2UX9aKw Did you think we had abandoned MMT? Well, after a few weeks of tackling some rather prickly topics, we’re back to strictly non-controversial macroeconomics. Heh heh. Just kidding. Don’t get too comfortable.Our old friend Randy Wray is back, bri
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 378 - Revisiting the Stalin Eras Part 2: Context Not Caricature with Jeremy of Proles Pod
Published May 2, 2026
** Macro ‘n Chill is our weekly online gathering where we listen to the podcast episode and talk about it among friends. This Tuesday, Jeremy of Proles Pod will be with us to answer questions. May 5 at 8pm ET/5pm PT Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/gCOXxGttQryRnQNq-A3NbAThis is Part 2 of Steve’s interview with Jeremy, co-host of Proles Pod, talking about their exhaustive series on the Stalin Eras. It's a nuanced, de-stigmatized discussion about Joseph Stalin an
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 377 - Revisiting the Stalin Eras Part 1: Understanding Democratic Centralism with Jeremy of ProlesPod
Published Apr 25, 2026
** Come to Macro ‘n Chill, our online community gathering, where we listen to and discuss the current episode. This week, Jeremy of Proles Pod will be joining us. If you have questions for him, bring them! Tuesday, April 28th, at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/G7ijDSVmTcKeDc82AAs0XQLast year, Proles Pod completed a multi-part series on The Stalin Eras. Now Jeremy, one of the co-hosts, joins Steve for a conversation about it, resulting in a two-part dialect
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 376 - Modern Monetary Theory & the Question of Democracy with Jim Byrne
Published Apr 18, 2026
Jim Byrne** Questions about MMT? Thoughts about the episode? Come to our online gathering, Macro ‘n Chill. Tuesday, April 21, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/RkspaP0RSNajdc69bqUmkAJim Byrne of MMT101 is back for a conversation that moves beyond the technical mechanics of Modern Monetary Theory to ask the tough questions. While affirming MMT’s core insight that a currency-issuing government doesn’t face financial constraint, only real resource limits, the
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 375 - (R)evolutionary Struggle with Steve Grumbine
Published Apr 11, 2026
Steve Grumbine** This week’s Macro ‘n Chill might shake us up. Some of us, at least. Come discuss the episode with the community. Tues, April 14, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PIf2VnjBS-mwX-Bd4BwWYQIn a solo episode, Steve sets out to describe and explain some of the shifts in direction for Real Progressives and the podcast, mirroring his own changing perspective. He reflects on a decade or more of championing Modern Monetary Theory, while grappling with a
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 374 - Escape From Capitalism with Clara Mattei
Published Apr 4, 2026
Clara MatteiJoin our community on Tuesday evening as we listen to and discuss this episode. April 7th at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nkkVRy2JQbW2Eh4VDtcNHQClara Mattei and her first book, The Capital Order, were hugely important to Real Progressives as we began to expand our focus from Modern Monetary Theory and investigate the political economy of the capitalist system.Now she joins Steve to talk about her new book, Escape from Capitalism. They discuss
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 373 - Is There A Path To Fiat Socialism? with Carlos García Hernández
Published Mar 28, 2026
Carlos García Hernández, author of Fiat Socialism: Achieving the Goals of Socialism Through Modern Monetary Theory, joins Steve to revisit their discussion of topics covered in his earlier visits to the podcast.Their dialogue wrestles with a deceptively simple question: if we already have the monetary capacity to guarantee jobs, housing, and public goods, why does capitalism still dominate? Through a sharp exchange, Steve and Carlos explore whether Modern Monetary Theory can be a pathway to soci
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 372 - Crisis of Hegemony & the Vassalization of Europe with Thomas Fazi
Published Mar 21, 2026
Thomas Fazi** Tuesday evening, March 24, we’ll be listening to and discussing this episode in our online gathering, Macro ‘n Chill. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/DeGM2oAyRt2O-Xsj1nc4IQThomas Fazi joins Steve to dissect the geopolitical and ideological structures that have rendered Europe strategically subordinate to the United States. Thomas argues that NATO’s true purpose, from its inception, was not to defend Europe but to ensure its vassalization by keeping "the Americans in, t
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 371 - You Can't Vote Away Colonialism with Fadhel Kaboub
Published Mar 14, 2026
Fadhel Kaboub** Join our community-building online gathering where we listen to the episode together and discuss it in a relaxed, supportive atmosphere. Tuesday, March 17, at 8pm ET/5pm PT. https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/o3miFIPmSAC2d46Vh14iBAOne of our favorite guests is back to talk about the central problem facing much of the Global South. It is not simply bad policy or weak leadership, but the persistence of colonial economic structures. He explains that many countries, especially in Africa, re
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 370 - Empire & Exodus with Erald Kolasi
Published Mar 7, 2026
Erald KolasiErald Kolasi is back to attack the bourgeois narrative on immigration, which reduces it to a series of individual choices. He and Steve dig into the material roots of migration, showing how empire, land theft, war, labor exploitation, and capitalist crisis have shaped global migration flows for centuries.They ground the discussion in Wallerstein's world-systems theory, defining an empire not by its internal politics but by its extractive external relations, and trace the concrete historical proc
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 369 - Sarah Connor Warned Us with Peter Byrne
Published Feb 28, 2026
Peter ByrneWhile we’re being distracted by chatbots and AI gimmicks, Silicon Valley is quietly embedding its products into surveillance systems, border enforcement, battlefield logistics, and even nuclear command-and-control. The real money isn’t in selfies with AI. It’s in Pentagon contracts and permanent war footing.Investigative reporter Peter Byrne is back to talk with Steve about his 10-part Military AI Watch series at Project Censored. It’s a chilling and materialist analysis of the military-industri
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 368 - Socialism Unmade: Confronting Five Centuries of Capital with Ali Kadri
Published Feb 21, 2026
Ali Kadri“...Some are dancing, some are drowning, but in the end everybody’s going to go under.”Dr. Ali Kadri (Sun Yat-sen University), author of the Unmaking of Arab Socialism, joins Steve to talk about imperialism, development, and why the Arab world keeps getting put through the capitalist meat grinder. Ali argues that capitalism isn’t just markets and greed. It’s a destructive social relationship. Once you look at it that way, many of the world’s mysteries stop being mysterious: war, austerity, pollu
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 367 - MMT & Marxism: Finding Common Ground with Owen Bennett
Published Feb 14, 2026
Owen BennettCan Marxists and MMTers find common ground, or are they doomed to be strategic enemies?Steve’s guest is Australian labor historian and organizer Owen Bennett, who founded the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union in 2015, and more recently, Unionists for a Job Guarantee in 2024. He and Steve explore how to tackle the deep divide between Modern Monetary Theory and the Marxist left. Owen argues that the left's current dismissal of full-employment policy is a historic break from a time when communis
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 366 - Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? with Gabriel Rockhill
Published Feb 7, 2026
Gabriel RockhillThis week Steve invited Gabriel Rockhill to talk about his new book Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? Vol 1 of The Intellectual World War. The war on communism is about protecting imperial super-profits, keeping cheap labor and resources flowing from the Global South to the imperial core. It has never been about lofty values and freedom fries. So why does the empire care about books, grants, and academic careers?Gabriel’s investigation begins with a potent symbol: the legacy of Che Guevara
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 365 - Funding White Supremacy with Robert B. Williams
Published Jan 31, 2026
Funding white supremacy is a core, not incidental, function of the modern capitalist state in the U.S. It is also the title of economist Robert B. Williams’ 2025 book, Funding White Supremacy: Federal Wealth Policies and the Modern Racial Wealth Gap.Bob and Steve share the fundamental position that capitalism doesn’t just produce inequality by accident, it builds durable ladders for some and trapdoors for others. Wealth, not income, is the key instrument because it is power that reproduces itsel
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 364 - State Money, Class Struggle with Anthony Anastasi
Published Jan 24, 2026
Anthony AnastasiWe’ve made the case before, but it bears repeating: MMT is a politically neutral, descriptive lens explaining the operational realities of a sovereign fiat currency system where the availability of real resources, not money, are the constraint. And Marxism is an analytical framework for understanding class relations and production. The two are not inherently opposed. It’s a mistake to dismiss MMT as capitalist apologetics.Steve’s guest is Dr. Anthony Anastasi, an economist teaching at the Sino-B
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 363 - Venezuela's Unfinished Revolution with Ricardo Vaz
Published Jan 17, 2026
Ricardo VazSteve opens in a subdued mood brought on by the dizzying speed of ‘current events.’ For this episode he’s stepping back and looking at Venezuela. News reports are working hard to create confusion. On social media US citizens claim that kidnapping a sitting president is justified if you don’t like him. Or if he’s socialist.To understand a situation, it must be considered historically, materially, and as a connected process. With that in mind, Ricardo Vaz of Venezuelanalysis, joins Steve to talk a
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 362 - Debunking the Institutional Theory of Economic Development with Erald Kolasi
Published Jan 10, 2026
Erald KolasiSteve welcomes back Erald Kolasi, physicist-economist, author, and friend of the podcast. Erald is here to do a demolition job on “institutional” development fables like Acemoglu & Robinson’s Why Nations Fail. He argues that by treating good institutions as the master key (inclusive vs. extractive) they smuggle in a liberal moral scoreboard while dodging the real motors of history: power, class struggle, imperial systems, and material constraints like energy, trade dependence, war, and ecologica
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 361 - Discernment in the Age of Disinformation with Andy Lee Roth & Shealeigh Voitl
Published Jan 3, 2026
Shealeigh Voitl and Andy Lee Roth join Steve to talk about Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2025. The book – an annual publication – compiles the year's most important yet underreported or misreported news stories, which they’ve identified through a student-led research process.Andy highlights the point that corporate news focuses on what went wrong today but ignores what goes wrong every day. “It's the difference between dramatic events and systemic problems.”The #1 underreported stor
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 360 - Care Theory of Value with Emma Holten
Published Dec 27, 2025
Emma HoltenLet’s face it, even “good” macro talk can fall into the trap of treating the economy like a tidy spreadsheet while real lives get crushed in the margins. To help us peer beneath the covers, Steve invited Emma Holten, a Copenhagen-based political economist to talk about her book Deficit: How Feminist Economics Can Change Our World. We often discuss deficits around here, but Emma is looking at a different kind. She reframes deficit as what societies rack up when they systematically undervalue care
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 359 - Epstein: Power, Corruption & Media Complicity with Nolan Higdon
Published Dec 20, 2025
Nolan HigdonFor a masterclass in true bipartisanship, look no further than the guest list of Jeffrey Epstein! We all love a good conspiracy story, but it’s often just business as usual for the class in power.Nolan Higdon – lecturer, media critic, and author of The Gaslight Gazette – is back for a deep analytical dive into the Epstein saga. Moving beyond true-crime sensationalism, Nolan and Steve frame the scandal as a stark case study in systemic class power, media complicity, and the mechanisms elite netwo
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 358 - Now Is the Time of Monsters: Gramsci on Counterrevolution with Vijay Prashad
Published Dec 13, 2025
Vijay PrashadHistorian and journalist Vijay Prashad talks with Steve about why Antonio Gramsci still matters. Listeners to this podcast know that we have a pretty good grasp of the monetary system. But we’re constantly working to expand our understanding of the systemic underpinnings of real power. How else will we be able to seize it? For help, we turn to Gramsci. According to Vijay, Gramsci was doing class forensics. His core puzzle was brutal and practical: why did big chunks of Italy’s working-class bail
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 357 - Socialism with Chinese Characteristics with Yan Liang
Published Dec 6, 2025
Yan LiangIn today’s world, anyone serious about anti-imperialism, global development, and monetary sovereignty needs to break through the well-funded US propaganda machine and develop a fact-based, nuanced understanding of China. To this end, Steve asked Yan Liang to come back to the podcast to look at China through the MMT lens, analyzing its economic management, global role, and response to Western villainization. They discuss China’s development ethos and describe China as a state that actively uses i
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 356 - Scotland's Economic Suicide Pact? with Will Thomson
Published Nov 29, 2025
Will ThomsonSteve and his guest, Scottish political economist William Thomson, use the fight over Scotland’s independence to dissect how class power hides inside “neutral” economic rules. Will, founder of SCOTONOMICS, talks about his journey from neoclassical training to a heterodox, political-economy perspective grounded in MMT, ecological economics, and class analysis. He recently wrote a paper (with friend-of-the-podcast Dirk Ehnts) showing how the Scottish government’s plan to copy the EU’s Stability an
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 355 - Dialectics of Dominance with Aaron Good
Published Nov 22, 2025
Aaron Good“We’re at an inflection point – a civilizational crisis. Western imperial dominance is ending, and its dying spasms are only accelerating the collapse.” Aaron Good Aaron Good, author of American Exception: Empire and the Deep State, is back to talk with Steve about the crisis of the US-led imperial order and the manufactured “common sense” that keeps people trapped inside a rigged system. Centuries of Western imperial dominance are unraveling, and the US responds with flailing, genocidal actions
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 354 - The Fed As a Weapon of Class Power with L. Randall Wray
Published Nov 15, 2025
Randy: “We’re supposed to believe the central bank manages inflation by using interest rates?" Steve: “It’s ridiculous.” L. Randall Wray, one of the original MMT economists, recently wrote a paper with Yeva Nersisyan entitled, No, the Fed is NOT Independent – It is a Creature of Congress. Steve invited Randy for a conversation about how the Federal Reserve is, and always has been, a "creature of Congress," and its supposed independence is a smokescreen that benefits the wealthy at the expense of
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 353 - Dollars for Oligarchs, Austerity for Argentina with Daniel Kostzer
Published Nov 8, 2025
Daniel Kostzer** Want to take a deeper dive into this podcast? Join us on Tuesday evenings for Macro ‘n Chill, where we listen to the most recent episode together. Ask questions, share your insights, or just hang with us. 8pm ET/5pm PT. Find the registration link at realprogressives.org. And while you’re there, sign up for book club. It’s not too late – there are still two more sessions in our current series. ** Trump’s “$20B for Argentina” wasn’t aid – it was a heist. Economist Daniel Kostzer joins Steve to
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 352 - Nothing to Hide with Heidi Boghosian
Published Nov 1, 2025
Heidi BoghosianHeidi Boghosian is an attorney, author, and co-host of Law and Disorder podcast and radio show. She joins Steve to discuss how the US surveillance state is a tool of class discipline and repression. From the Federalist Society pipeline to post-9/11 “safety” theater, both parties helped build a digital police state that criminalizes poverty, protest, and anyone messing with profits. And let’s not forget the copaganda about “crime” and “illegals” to keep folks scared while manufactured austerity p
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 351 - Born on Third Base with Steve Hall
Published Oct 25, 2025
Steve Hall"The self-made man is a lie that we have taught people to keep them from complaining, to keep them from whining, to keep them from asking for better from their government, to keep them from asking for better from their employer." The two Steves – Hall and Grumbine – get together to dismantle the myth of the self-made man, exposing it as a centuries-old political weapon designed to disempower the working class. Professor Hall traces the roots of this "possessive individualism" back centuries, say
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 350 - Naked Corruption with Bill Black
Published Oct 18, 2025
Bill BlackDo you know what kakistocracy means? You’ll find out in this episode with guest Bill Black. Because, yeah, this is an educational podcast. A lot of us learned the term ‘elite control fraud’ from Bill in past episodes and you’ll hear more about it here. Bill is a great storyteller. His experience as a regulator trying to enforce laws against the great crooks of the world gives him a lot of material. If you haven’t already heard our first episode with him, check it out: “Exposed: A Serial Whistleb
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 349 - Cultural Syndromes of Capitalism with David Fields
Published Oct 11, 2025
David Fields**This week’s Macro ‘n Chill gathering should be a lively one. Whenever we dive into the topic of cultural hegemony, it sparks a thoughtful discussion. Join us on Tuesday, October 14, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Click here to register This is the 349th episode of our podcast. Just sayin’.Steve’s guest is David Fields, talking about his recent article, The Cultural Syndromes of Capitalism. David explains the rise of far-right figures like Donald Trump is not a random accident but a direct outcome of the capit
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 348 - Gaza: Digital Colonialism & Resistance with Omar Zahzah
Published Oct 4, 2025
Omar ZahzahThe Palestinian liberation struggle is a fundamental class and anti-colonial issue. First-time guest to the podcast, Professor Omar Zahzah, talks with Steve about the active collaboration of Silicon Valley tech giants with the US and Israeli governments to censor and suppress anti-Zionist narratives. "What these companies are doing is digitally amplifying a physical process of settler colonial dispossession." Omar goes beyond labeling digital censorship as simple political bias. He argues that S
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 347 - Libertarianism vs. Reality with Brett Scott
Published Sep 27, 2025
Brett ScottEconomic anthropologist Brett Scott, the author of Cloud Money, talks with Steve about libertarianism’s big lie. Or lies – plural.From a class perspective, libertarianism is largely an ideological tool that protects elite power by promoting a false narrative of individualism and "free" markets. It serves as a smokescreen, concealing the mechanisms of power in a class society. What worse, it’s presented as neutral. As if all citizens are on an equal playing field. Market transactions replace the
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 346 - MMT: Why Our Allies Ignore Us with Yeva Nersisyan
Published Sep 20, 2025
Yeva Nersisyan** You are invited to attend Macro ‘n Chill, our community building online gathering where we discuss the current episode of the podcast. Tuesday, September 23 at 8pm ET/5pm PT Click here to register. Our friend, MMT economist Yeva Nersisyan, joins Steve to discuss the struggle to communicate MMT's core principles in a media landscape filled with misinformation, including from those who should know better. They call some of them out by name and express disappointment when natural allies on the l
- StandardSummaries onlyEp 345 - Argentina: IMF, MMT, Class Warfare with Daniel Conceição
Published Sep 13, 2025
Our friend Daniel Conceição is back for his sixth(!) time on Macro N Cheese. He and Steve share their critique of "neutral" or academic MMT that avoids class analysis. Understanding a government's monetary capacity is meaningless without using that knowledge as a weapon for class struggle against an oppressive economic system. Daniel shares his experiences in Buenos Aires, describing a city with grand public infrastructure (a legacy of Peronism) now filled with poverty due to austerity. He disma