Behind the News – August 7, 2025
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Upcoming Episode
Behind the News
12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time: Thursdays
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Fundraiser special: cops and AI
Alex Vitale on Zohran Mamdani, the NYPD, and policing generally (Nation article here) • Dwayne Monroe on the AI mania
Anatol Lieven looks at US relations with the world under the Trump regime, specifically Russia–Ukraine, Israel–Palestine, and US self-evisceration
Health cuts, Trump’s trade policy
Adam Gaffney, co-author of this article, on Trump & Co.’s cuts to health care and research • Alan Beattie tries to make sense of Trump’s nonsensical trade policy
Too much work—and what to do about it
Juliet Schor, author of Four Days a Week, on experiments in reducing the workweek • Katherine Moos and Noé Martin Wiener, authors of this paper, on overwork among teachers
NATO summit, the depredations of private equity
Lily Lynch, author of this report, on the NATO summit • Megan Greenwell, author of Bad Company, on the depredations of private equity
Iran, fake work
Sohrab Ahmari, US editor of UnHerd, on Iran, Israel, and the US • Leigh Claire La Berge, author of Fake Work, on the ludicrous side of capitalism
Israel’s war on Iran: two perspectives
Two perspectives on Israel’s war on Iran: Mouin Rabbani on the regional/global context and Joel Schalit on Israeli society and politics
BYD—whence it came, where it’s going • Marx in America
Paolo Gerbaudo on the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD’s rise (articles here and here) • Andrew Hartman, author of Karl Marx in America, on the bearded one’s reception in the US
Weapons and technology, China surpassing the US
Laleh Khalili, author of this review, on the long relationship between the US military and industry • Kyle Chan, author of this article, on how China is surpassing the US
Capitalism and its critics, real abundance vs. bogue abundance
John Cassidy, author of Capitalism and Its Critics, on just that • Sandeep Vaheesan, author of this review, will talk about abundance—neoliberal vs. genuine