FREE with Clara Mattei

Clara Mattei
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The FREE podcast is hosted by economist Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order and Professor of Economics at the University of Tulsa. FREE stands for the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation.

  1. The AI Data Center Gold Rush: The Bailout State Behind It

    2H AGO

    The AI Data Center Gold Rush: The Bailout State Behind It

    AI data centers are swallowing trillions, and many are calling it an AI bubble. This episode asks a sharper question: who absorbs the risk, and who pays when the bet breaks?We follow the engine underneath the hype, the state, the Federal Reserve, tech monopolies, and finance, working together to turn a risky AI bet into protected wins, while shifting the costs onto workers, retirees, communities, and the climate.In this conversation, Clara Mattei is joined by Irai Regmi (writer of Radical Transitions; former researcher at the Roosevelt Institute) to map the machinery behind the boom:• What AI data centers actually are and why they’re treated like a new “asset class”• Why state “intervention” isn’t a rescue. It’s the foundation of accumulation• How the Federal Reserve anchors the financial architecture powering the bailout• How “financial stability” language legitimizes protection for the biggest players• Where the costs hit daily life: layoffs, higher electricity bills, water + grid strain, local damage• The hidden gamble: pensions, retirement security, and the austerity cycle that follows bailouts• AI infrastructure, militarism, and the global alliances forming around profit + power• A vital detour to Nepal: what a youth-led uprising reveals about systemic corruption, state violence, and radicalizationAre AI data centers popping up in your area? Where are you seeing the costs show up first? Power bills, water, layoffs, public budgets, or something else?Get involved:• Irai Regmi’s writing Radical Transitions: https://radicaltransitions.substack.com/• Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum• Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org• Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate🎧 Listen as a PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum#AIBubble #DataCenters #FederalReserve

    1h 4m

  2. FEB 10

    Who Profits From Climate Solutions? Green Colonialism Explained

    Green colonialism is when “climate solutions” become a new extraction economy, land grabs, debt, and profit, dressed in green. Who profits, who pays, and what does climate justice require?In this episode, Clara Mattei speaks with Hamza Hamouchene, North Africa Programme Coordinator at the Transnational Institute and editor of Dismantling Green Colonialism.Together, they unpack how colonialism, imperial power, and fossil capitalism shape the climate crisis and the politics of the green transition — and why liberation and climate justice are inseparable in practice.In this conversation:• Green colonialism, in plain terms• Why mainstream climate policy keeps circling market solutions, and why emissions keep rising• Green grabbing and public private partnerships, how risk gets socialized while profits stay private• Climate reparations vs climate debt, and how dependency gets reproduced• Delinking, sovereignty, and what an anti imperial climate strategy looks like• Why liberation movements connect across regions, and what history teaches about anti colonial struggle• How western media narratives about democracy get mobilized to sell war, sanctions, and intervention🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) @FreeFreeForum#GreenColonialism #ClimateJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #GreenTransition #PoliticalEconomy #Decolonization #CarbonMarkets #Imperialism❤️ Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate🎧 Listen as a PodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree:: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

    1 hr
  3. Escape from Capitalism | Clara Mattei & Richard Wolff

    FEB 6

    Escape from Capitalism | Clara Mattei & Richard Wolff

    Economics is political. The “neutral” rules of the economy shape who has power, who gets protected, You can vote, work hard, do everything “right”, and still feel stuck. That’s not a personal failure, it’s how the system is built.In this special episode, economist Clara E. Mattei joins Richard D. Wolff to discuss her new book Escape from Capitalism, and how power hides inside “normal” economic rules, wages, debt, taxes, and public budgets.This is a sharp, accessible conversation about why economics is political, how “freedom” can mask coercion, and what it takes to build real democratic power.In this conversation, Mattei and Wolff unpack:• How “freedom” can hide coercion in everyday life• Why wages, debt, taxes, and public budgets shape what feels possible• How “tight budgets” and cutbacks discipline the majority, while protecting the few• Why blaming “bad leaders” misses the deeper mechanics• Why organizing and new forms of democratic participation matter📚 Get Clara Mattei’s book Escape from Capitalism(US, Simon and Schuster): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Escape-from-Capitalism/Clara-E-Mattei/9781668085141(UK, Penguin): https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468201/escape-from-capitalism-by-mattei-clara-e/9780241742181📘 Richard Wolff’s book https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism🔗 Follow Democracy at Work  @democracyatwrk  https://www.democracyatwork.info/🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation)  @FreeFreeForum ❤️ Watch, learn more, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://www.freefreeforum.org/donate#EscapeFromCapitalism #ClaraMattei #RichardWolff #PoliticalEconomy #DemocracyAtWork #Economics #Capitalism 🎧 Listen as a Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZC▶ Connect with FREELinktree:: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforumBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

    36 min
  4. Vulture Capitalism: Empire, Bailouts, Monopoly Power | Grace Blakeley

    JAN 28

    Vulture Capitalism: Empire, Bailouts, Monopoly Power | Grace Blakeley

    Grace Blakeley joins Clara Mattei to break down how capitalism is actually organized: corporate planning, state power, backdoor bailouts, and imperial extraction that protects profitability.In this conversation, we unpack:• How corporations plan production, labor, and supply chains• How governments enforce the capital order through policy, bailouts, and rules• Why competition gets harsher for everyone without power• What democratic planning can look like, participatory budgeting, co ops, local organizing• How organizing rebuilds agency in a system built to produce disempowermentGrace Blakeley is the author of Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom.🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation)#GraceBlakeley #Capitalism #Imperialism #PoliticalEconomy #MonopolyCapital #VultureCapitalism #claramattei 📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-freeConnect with FREE: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforum Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

    52 min
  5. Hunger Is the Point: The Capitalist Food System Explained | Raj Patel

    JAN 21

    Hunger Is the Point: The Capitalist Food System Explained | Raj Patel

    We grow enough food to feed everyone, yet hunger keeps rising. Raj Patel explains how the capitalist food system produces “cheap food”, making hunger predictable, and profitable.In this conversation, we start with one unforgettable symbol, the chicken nugget, and use it to expose the “nugget economy”, how costs get pushed onto workers, land, health, and the climate so corporations can sell food that looks “cheap” at the register.If you have ever wondered how we can have full shelves and empty stomachs at the same time, this episode gives you the mechanism, clearly.🔔 Subscribe to FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) for more deep dives on capitalism, empire, austerity, climate, housing, work, and the struggles from below that change everything.#FoodInsecurity #AffordableFood #RajPatel #ClaraMattei #FoodSovereignty #FoodJustice #FoodDeserts #freeforum 📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-free🎧 Listen as a Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5m5xbrPzTSmdGZFQuZP7ZCConnect with FREE: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforum Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum

    56 min

  6. JAN 13

    Inflation & the Cost of Living Crisis: Who Pays, Who’s Protected?

    Inflation & the cost of living crisis are not just numbers on a chart, they are political choices about who gets squeezed and who is protected.In this SAPE lecture, economists Paulo dos Santos (The New School for Social Research) and Ramaa Vasudevan (Colorado State University) unpack today’s inflation as a social and political phenomenon. They trace how supply shocks, corporate profits, and central bank decisions turn wages, debt, and rising prices into a cost of living crisis and what a fairer response could look like. 📘 Organized by SOAS/School of London in partnership with the New School for Social Research, FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation), and the General Federation of Trade Unions.⏰ All SAPE sessions are completely free and open to all.Wednesdays, 6–8 PM UK, 1–3 PM ET, 12–2 PM CT📩 Sign up to join upcoming SAPE events live:https://tinyurl.com/sape-registration#Inflation #CostOfLivingCrisis #PoliticalEconomy❤️ Subscribe for more conversations on democracy, justice, and economic emancipation:https://youtube.com/@FreeFreeForum📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-free

    41 min
  7. Housing Crisis: Why Wall Street Keeps Homes Empty & Rents High

    JAN 8

    Housing Crisis: Why Wall Street Keeps Homes Empty & Rents High

    Wall Street, banks, and corporate landlords have found a way to make more money from empty homes than from housing people. That’s why your rent keeps going up while whole buildings sit dark.In this conversation, economist Clara Mattei and urbanist Miguel Robles-Durán unpack how the modern housing crisis is driven by the financialization of housing. They explain how banks, asset managers, and corporate landlords turned homes into collateral and global investment vehicles, why empty apartments can be more profitable than housing people, and why the usual answers like “just build more supply” do not fix a system that keeps rents high.• How changes in banking let investors use homes as collateral and build huge portfolios• Why vacancy, speculation, and ghost apartments are baked into the model• How this affects tenants, communities, and entire cities• Real alternatives, from cooperative housing and social rent to public and non speculative models that already exist in places like Mexico and UruguayIf you have ever wondered why your rent goes up while so many homes stay empty, this conversation opens up the bigger story behind the housing crisis.#affordablehousing #HousingCrisis #Rent #WallStreet #Financialization #housingjustice #Landlord #CooperativeHousing #PublicHousing #ClaraMattei #MiguelRoblesDuran #FREEForum

    45 min
  8. Why the Climate Crisis Still Makes Sense Under Capitalism | Andreas Malm

    11/21/2025

    Why the Climate Crisis Still Makes Sense Under Capitalism | Andreas Malm

    In this full interview on the climate crisis, capitalism, and fossil fuels, journalist and academic Andreas Malm (How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Overshoot) joins economist Clara Mattei on the FREE Podcast to explain why capitalism keeps expanding fossil fuels, war, and risky climate “tech fixes” even as global warming passes critical limits.In this video, you’ll learn:• Why fossil fuel expansion keeps growing in the US, Europe, and the Global North after 1.5°C• How banks, asset managers, and sunk costs lock us into “business as usual” fossil fuel infrastructure• How the fossil economy is tied to militarism, colonialism, Gaza, and Palestine• Why geoengineering (solar radiation management, “parasol” schemes) is so dangerous, including the risk of “termination shock”• Two clashing “realisms”: one that protects capital, one that protects life and the climate• What climate justice movements in Colombia, Ecuador, Indigenous struggles, and Palestine are already doing to fight backThis is not a doom scroll. It’s a clear map of the madness — and of the people trying to shut it down at the root.#AndreasMalm #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #FossilFuels #Geoengineering #stardust #Overshoot #claramattei #freepodcast ❤️ Subscribe for more conversations on democracy, justice, and economic emancipation:https://youtube.com/@FreeFreeForum📌 Watch, share, and join the FREE Forum: https://freefreeforum.org 🌱 Support FREE & Help Us Grow: https://freefreeforum.betterworld.org/campaigns/support-free🎧 Listen as a Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/free-with-clara-mattei/id1828302105Connect with FREE: https://linktr.ee/FreeFreeForumSubstack: https://freefreeforum.substack.com/X: https://x.com/freefreeforum Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/freefreeforum.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/freefreeforum/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freefreeforumFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeFreeForum00:00:00 - Introduction00:01:09 - Capitalism and Climate Change00:02:03 - State of Affairs00:02:11 - Investment in Fossil Fuels00:03:51 - Breaking with Mitigation00:04:54 - Sunk Costs00:05:24 - Structural Inertia00:08:55 - Militarism and Climate Change00:10:06 - Colonial Fossil Fuel Expansion00:13:49 - Need for Radical Action00:14:27 - Contrasting Realism00:20:00 - Solar Geoengineering Technology00:20:42 - Solar Geoengineering Technology and Its Dangers00:23:26 - Role of Grassroots Opposition00:25:04 - Colombia: A Beacon of Hope00:28:30 - International Solidarity and Future Actions00:31:42 - Conclusion

    33 min
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5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

The FREE podcast is hosted by economist Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order and Professor of Economics at the University of Tulsa. FREE stands for the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation.

Information

  • Creator
    Clara Mattei
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Clara Mattei
  • Show Website
    FREE with Clara Mattei

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