On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Guy Standing. He discusses his new book, ‘The Corruption of Capitalism’, the shocking revelations made by Dominic Cummings about disastrous coronavirus pandemic mismanagement by the Boris Johnson government, arguable neglect and chronic corruption, the revolving door between big finance and politics in the UK, the financial sector’s tremendous control and influence over the British economy, the mainstream media being a part of the rentier economy system, how big financial companies groom people to go into politics to ensure favourable policy, why work doesn’t pay in the UK and how the economy directs most wealth to the capitalist class, why the furlough scheme was fundamentally unfair, the prospect of economic catastrophe coming out of the pandemic for the working class killing more people than coronavirus in the UK, mass privatisation of public services due to neoliberal economic doctrine and much more!
Finally, we speak to Mahesh Zagade, former principal secretary to the government of Maharashtra. He discusses the coronavirus catastrophe in India where over 326,000 people have died from the disease, Narendra Modi’s failure to secure enough vaccine supplies for India despite it being one of the pharmaceutical production hubs of the world, the Indian variant and the causes of its ‘black fungus’ in some patients and more! Afshin Rattansi challenges him on the Indian government’s neoliberal approach to the pandemic, arguably prioritising big pharma coronavirus vaccine profits thanks to contracts with foreign countries as hundreds of thousands continue to die and go without the vaccine in India.
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