The Analysis News has the post Debt and the Collapse of Antiquity – Michael Hudson.

We get a first look at the new book by renowned political economist Michael Hudson on the age-old battle between creditors and the real economy. Ancient Rome refused to adopt the practices of debt forgiveness and land redistribution previously understood to be essential. Instead, they instituted a rigid pro-creditor legal system, assassinating anyone who remotely threatened it–including Tiberius Gracchus, Julius Caesar, and Jesus. The empire devolved into a rentier economy, ultimately collapsing from within. Today’s neoliberal establishment increasingly defends this failed state framework, even as the same disastrous dynamics intensify.

I was getting tired of hearing interview after interview with Michael Hudson about his new book “The Collapse of Antiquity”, but I was pleasantly surprised by this interview. The interview which is only the first half of two, gets further into the book than I am in reading it. Michael Hudson gets to make a lot of points that I have not got to yet. The few comments on the interview do not seem to have gotten the message right. The comments extol some of the points that Hudson decries.

Here is an excerpt from Michael Hudson’s book that I just read last night.

This does not sound like an endorsement of Socrates’ brand of logic.

28 April, 2023 addition of Part 2. The may be the most startling part if you have been raised in a Western culture.”

In part two, Michael Hudson discusses his new book “The Collapse of Antiquity.” Hudson challenges the traditional beliefs about the fall of the Roman Empire, arguing that it was caused by a financial crisis brought on by excessive debt, wealth inequality, and the concentration of economic power. Hudson draws parallels to modern-day economies and highlights the dangers of financialization and wealth concentration.