Money on the Left

Money on the Left

Money on the Left is a monthly, interdisciplinary podcast that reclaims money’s public powers for intersectional politics. Staging critical conversations with leading historians, theorists, organizers, and activists, the show draws upon Modern Monetary Theory and constitutional approaches to money to advance new forms of left critique and practice. It is hosted by William Saas and Scott Ferguson and presented in partnership with Monthly Review magazine. Check out our website: https://moneyontheleft.org Follow us on Bluesky @moneyontheleft.bsky.social and on Twitter & Facebook at @moneyontheleft 

  1. Public Employment & Training from the Great Society to the "End of Welfare as We Know It"

    2 juil.

    Public Employment & Training from the Great Society to the "End of Welfare as We Know It"

    This month, Scott Ferguson speaks with Mario Rendina about the politics of public employment and training in the United States as they shifted over the course of the late 20th century. Unlike our standard episodes, this conversation is an archival treat: it was originally recorded 11 years ago in 2015, three years before the Money on the Left podcast officially began. Rendina brings over thirty years of hands-on experience working within municipal government in Tampa Bay, Florida—specifically within Hillsborough County. Grounded in his extensive career as a local administrator, Rendina walks us through the decades he spent supervising county initiatives, sketching out how local experimentation actively moved with and against broad macroeconomic shifts at the federal level. As Rendina explains, local administrators routinely interpreted federal laws regulating public employment and training rather than passively accepting top-down mandates as fixed or uncontestable. Despite federal directives to prioritize private-sector placement, Rendina and his colleagues routinely found creative ways to bolster and expand public employment—whether by baking future public employment contracts into library building projects or dynamically staffing their own municipal offices. Throughout the interview, Rendina's testimony tacitly underscores a core Money on the Left lesson: we must not underestimate the institutional and communal capacities that regional governments always-already have at their disposal. While pro-social change requires funding, local institutions can actively leverage their crediting powers and existing infrastructure to mobilize and value local communities. Ultimately, the conversation maps a troubling yet instructive historical trajectory from Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society to Bill Clinton’s notorious "end to welfare as we know it." While the federal government never fully committed to a well-compensated, non-exclusive public job guarantee during this era, Rendina's account highlights genuine pro-social advances we can still learn from today. Crucially, it recounts how Reaganite and Clintonian neoliberalism systematically undercut these endeavors over time, defunding public training programs and increasingly privatizing their leadership, operations, and aims. Conducted with an eye toward future struggles for a federal Job Guarantee grounded in an inalienable right to work, this interview provides a vital archive from which to advance modern movements for public provisioning. Additional Resources: The Full, Raw Audio: Listen to the complete, unedited 2015 recording on our SoundCloud.Conference Presentation: Watch Mario Rendina's presentation delivered at the inaugural Money on the Left Conference at the University of South Florida in 2018.Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 26 min
  2. In the Loop: Revolutionizing Public Finance, Ep. 1

    13 juin

    In the Loop: Revolutionizing Public Finance, Ep. 1

    The Money on the Left Collective is proud to launch its new podcast series, In the Loop: Revolutionizing Public Finance, hosted by Scott Ferguson, Tyler Suksawat, and Will Beaman. In this debut episode, the hosts lay out a bold vision for Democratic Public Finance (DPF), a paradigm shift that rejects the defensive, austerity-driven mindset of "finding the money" and instead reclaims public finance as a problem of legal, social, and democratic design. By wresting control of public resources from Wall Street, shadow banking, and both neoliberal and authoritarian governance, DPF seeks to protect local communities from federal sabotage and end the false trade-offs that misrecognize collective capacities, while pitting public interests against one another.  The episode culminates by introducing what we at MotL call "the Loop"—a generative fiscal framework that utilizes a city-owned public bank to internalize municipal debt, capture interest revenues that would otherwise leak to private creditors, and reinvest that wealth back into local infrastructure. Highlighting the ongoing successes and momentum of building a broad-based coalition around the Seattle Loop, the hosts demonstrate how diverse advocacy sectors—including labor, housing, and the arts—can be woven into a self-replenishing, mutually reinforcing network that transforms public finance into a powerful instrument for the people and the planet. Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Original music by Josh Klinghoffer

    1 h 32 min
  3. The Public Banking Institute

    1 juin

    The Public Banking Institute

    In this episode, we speak with Walt McRee (President) and Peter Winslow (Vice President) of the Public Banking Institute (PBI) about their past and ongoing advocacy for public banking. Founded in 2011 by author Ellen Brown and a core collective of advocates, PBI aims to break the monopoly of Wall Street's private banking system by establishing a nationwide network of publicly owned, democratically accountable banks. Through this work, PBI seeks to foster a wide-spread monetary and banking system that operates explicitly in the public interest, treating credit as a vital public utility rather than a vehicle for private extraction.  If private mega-banks are legally bound to maximize short-term returns for external shareholders, McRee and Winslow explain, then public banks operate under a legal mandate to generate shared prosperity, measuring fiscal success in terms of community participation, well-being, and resilience. During our conversation, we discuss the history of the PBI, the myriad projects that public banks can finance, diverse models for establishing public banks, and the organization’s efforts to serve as a catalyst for the growing public banking movement across the United States.  Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 20 min
  4. Green Politics and Public Money with Sheridan Kates

    2 mai

    Green Politics and Public Money with Sheridan Kates

    Billy Saas and Rob Hawkes speak with Sheridan Kates, ecological economist, activist and, at present, Green Party candidate for Islington Council in North London in the May 2026 local election. (Update: Since recording, Sheridan won her seat and is now an elected Councillor.) In her academic and political work, Sheridan rejects both the economics and the language of austerity, and instead prioritises democratic, inclusive, and participatory institution building. Sheridan’s activism extends into a commitment to public economics education via her work with Modern Money Lab UK, which held a series of public workshops in London and then a 2-day anti-austerity conference in Bristol in 2025. As a signatory to the Greens Organise ‘Pledge to Oppose Austerity in Local Government’, Sheridan both welcomes the gathering momentum behind campaigns for a UK wealth tax and argues that they do not go far enough. Amidst a new wave of excitement surrounding green politics in the UK, especially since Zack Polanski’s election as Green Party Leader in September 2025, Sheridan looks to a future where our economies are redesigned democratically to put people and the planet before profit. Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    58 min
  5. Pricing the Neighborhood with Ely Fair

    1 avr.

    Pricing the Neighborhood with Ely Fair

    We speak with Ely Fair, who studies structural inequality and poverty in urban geographies from a heterodox perspective. Fair holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Missouri, Kansas City and is presently a visiting instructor in Economics at Knox College.  Examining the institutions responsible for social valuation, maintenance, and transformation at the neighborhood level, Fair focuses especially on the role of housing policy in the racialization of U.S. cities. During our conversation, Fair not only spells out important discoveries in this critical research, but also outlines several positive policy solutions designed to remediate the unjust development of urban geographies. In doing so, Fair explicates his work on the legal history of complementary currencies in the United States, emphasizing the generative role they can play today in advancing housing justice, empowering municipal governments to mobilize labor to create and maintain safe and affordable housing. Lastly, Fair relays his findings about The Freedman’s Savings Bank. Specifically, he contends that the bank's collapse was a result of the federal government’s “negligent paternalism,” creating a moral and equitable obligation for the U.S. government to finally restore the outstanding deposits. From here, Fair proposes a targeted program of restitution that leverages digitized archival records to identify and compensate approximately half a million Black American descendants. Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 41 min
  6. Contesting the End of India's Job Guarantee with Khush Vachhrajani

    1 mars

    Contesting the End of India's Job Guarantee with Khush Vachhrajani

    For over twenty years, India’s national rural jobs program provided a legal right to work for over 265 million people--the majority of them women--serving as a vital lifeline against poverty and a global model for social security. Tragically, however, that lifeline is now being cut. In this episode, we speak with Khush Vachhrajani, writer and national coordinator at the Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research in India, about his recent article in The Wire, "How to Kill a Golden Goose: MGNREGA Repeal Reveals More than it Hides." Vachhrajani contextualizes the sudden 2026 demise of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and its replacement by the new Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VB-G RAM G). As he explains, this shift effectively "kills the golden goose" for millions of rural workers by replacing a demand-driven legal guarantee with arbitrary budget caps and centralized control. We discuss the neoliberal money politics behind this move: a calculated transition from a rights-based framework that empowered workers to a supply-led scheme that prioritizes fiscal austerity over human dignity. Still, our dialog is not merely a post-mortem of a fallen policy. From the "Save MGNREGA" nationwide agitations to defiant resolutions passed in thousands of Gram Sabhas, the people of India are actively fighting to reclaim their right to work. This episode explores both the devastating effects of the repeal and the growing movement of workers, unions, and activists who refuse to let this Golden Goose go quietly, proving that the struggle for democratic accountability is far from over. Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 41 min
  7. Defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Tyler Creighton

    1 févr.

    Defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Tyler Creighton

    In this episode, we speak with Tyler Creighton about the ongoing struggle to save the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from defunding and closure at the hands of Russell Vought in the second Trump Administration. Creighton is a lawyer at the CFPB and a member of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Chapter 335. Before joining the CFPB, Creighton clerked for the Massachusetts Appeals Court and, prior to that, he was an organizer for pro-democracy reforms at Common Cause and ReThink Media. We talk with Creighton about life at the CFPB under the leadership of Vought, central architect of the notorious Project 2025 document and avowed opponent of the agency he now directs.  During our conversation, Creighton details how, in spite of Vought’s attempts to defund and close the agency, the CFPB continues to survive. In Creighton’s telling, the agency’s endurance owes in no small part to the continuous labor actions undertaken by the NTEU and its members. In February 2025, for example, the union sued the Trump Administration, securing an injunction against Vought’s efforts to close the agency. (Read the judge’s extraordinary Memorandum Opinion here.) Then, in late December, a federal district court judge ruled that the Trump administration must continue to fund the CFPB through the Federal Reserve, contradicting Vought’s absurd claim that the CFPB can no longer seek financing from the Fed because the nation’s Central Bank is operating at a loss. Despite the NTEU’s string of successes, the fate of the CFPB still remains to be determined. The good news, however, is that there are ways that you can support the bureau as it rounds into its second year of the second Trump Administration. Learn more about the fight to save the CFPB from the CFPB Union website. Follow and share news from the NTEU account on Bluesky. Join the union’s public demonstrations, if you live near or find yourself visiting Washington D.C. You can also help fund the NTEU’s activities by purchasing any number of cheeky items in their online merchandise shop.  Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 18 min
  8. Graeber's Utopia of Refusal

    2 janv.

    Graeber's Utopia of Refusal

    Will Beaman joins Billy Saas & Scott Ferguson to discuss the enduring influence of David Graeber’s debt-centered work in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s election to Mayor of New York City. Will and Scott unpack their jointly authored essay, “The Utopia of Refusal: David Graeber, Debt & the Left Monetary Imagination,” which is the latest in a series of pieces by the Money on the Left Editorial Collective to agitate for credit-centered experimentation through and beyond the Mamdani mayoralty.  Most crucially, Will and Scott find that the Graeberian framework on debt funnels political attention and action toward periodic acts of cancellation or refusal to the exclusion of radical democratic alternatives such as those outlined in “Blue Bonds: A Fiscal Strategy for Overcoming Trump 2.0” and “How the Zetro Card can Save New York City (Really).” While Graeber’s work has been indispensable to left organization and advocacy since before Occupy, what’s needed now, the hosts argue, is a framework for mobilizing--rather than refusing to engage--the considerable fiscal agency already at hand across all levels of governance. Visit our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com

    1 h 15 min
Tout afficher (226)

À propos

Money on the Left is a monthly, interdisciplinary podcast that reclaims money’s public powers for intersectional politics. Staging critical conversations with leading historians, theorists, organizers, and activists, the show draws upon Modern Monetary Theory and constitutional approaches to money to advance new forms of left critique and practice. It is hosted by William Saas and Scott Ferguson and presented in partnership with Monthly Review magazine. Check out our website: https://moneyontheleft.org Follow us on Bluesky @moneyontheleft.bsky.social and on Twitter & Facebook at @moneyontheleft 

Informations

  • Création
    Money on the Left
  • Années d’activité
    2018 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    226
  • Classification
    Contenu explicite
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Money on the Left
  • Site web de l’émission
    Money on the Left

Vous aimeriez peut‑être aussi