Michael Hudson
michael-hudson.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2010
Economist Michael Hudson writes on debt, interest, rent extraction, ancient economic history and geopolitics.
What HN saysHN commenters recommend him on the history of debt and capitalism and cite his Israel essay, though the cited comments mostly link him alongside geopolitical commentators.
35HN people shared it
22linked it in comments
19stories submitted
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Most-shared posts
- 1Israel as a landed aircraft carrier6 people · first shared 2023
- 2How Interest Rates Were Set, 2500BC – 1000 AD4 people · 27 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Global Economic History in 2.5 Hours4 people · 1 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 4How an “Act of God” Pandemic Is Destroying the West2 people · 5 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 5The new road to serfdom: The coming real estate collapse (2006) [pdf]2 people · 4 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 6And forgive them their debts2 people · first shared 2018
- 7A Debt Jubilee for America?1 people · 5 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 8Wall Street’s Euthanasia of Industry1 people · 3 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 9Understanding America's Post-Industrial Economy1 people · 3 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 10How Rome Reversed Christianity From Compassion to Control1 people · 3 points · first shared 2024 · discussion on HN
- 11Clearing the Fog1 people · 2 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 12The Seven Trumpets?1 people · 2 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 13Greenspan Returns to De-Regulation1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 14From Marx to Goldman Sachs: The Fictions of Fictitious Capital1 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 15How a $13 Trillion Cover Story was Written1 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
pphysch · 2022-03-09
Michael Hudson on global economics - https://michael-hudson.com/2022/02/america-defeats-germany-for-the-thi…
Benjamin Norton on Latin American geopolitics - https://multipolarista.com/
Pepe Escobar has fantastic & entertaining insights on the Eurasia region if you can stomach the occasionally pro-Russian hagiography - his main site (+ other great analysts) is down to DDOS right now - http://thecradle.co/
The difference between these guys and Zeihan, is these guys are actually on the ground (or spent their careers on the ground), whereas Zeihan is a desk jockey that makes pretty charts and ridiculous, baseless extrapolations from them.
chalst · 2021-01-21
I recommend Michael Hudson on the relationship between debt and capitalism. His view is that the danger to the stability of the economy presented by debt is not a feature of capitalism but is very old, but with capitalism comes a nrw unhealthy relationship with debt, where the interests of the creditor are regarded as sacrosanct.
Two links:
His tribute to David Graeber - https://michael-hudson.com/2020/09/vale-david-graeber/
A summary of his book on debt cancellation in bronze-age societies - https://b-ok.global/book/4983733/12aafa?dsource=recommend
basilgohar · 2026-06-06
It's important to not frame this as a US vs Israel thing. Israel is, at best, the last of the Western world's settler colonies, and as such, is serving a purpose, a so-called landed aircraft carrier. [0]
The fact that there is tensions in the government regarding Israel means that the entities that found value in Israel are losing out to those that don't. So-called America-first powers no longer see 1st-tier support of Israel as in the interests of the US.
This will not go well with Zionists, who are still supported by massive backing and financial interests. They will spend a LOT of money to keep Israel the US's "top ally" despite it being no such thing in any meaningful way. Israel is a tool of the Western imperial forces.
The fact that this story is breaking means that Zionism is getting more-and-more toxic to people in power.
[0] https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier…
eternalban · 2021-01-29
> Just because they engaged in debt cancellation doesn't mean they didn't practice usury - quite the opposite, indicates they practiced it quite a bit.
Well that is the whole point! Mesopotamia invented usury, among other long standing contributions, including the Zodiac, and various mod 60 constructs. And that amazing civilization totally collapsed.
Btw, Debt cancellation ("jubiliee") is the cause celebre of the economist I cited in my OP. If you are interested in the topic, Michael Hudson is your man.
https://michael-hudson.com/2018/08/and-forgive-them-their-debts/
> Practically, the anthropological origins of usury prohibitions have very little to do with non-usury markets. Even those groups which you listed practice usury - they simply put those who practice it into secondary (or lower) social groups.
This is a fair point and one never underestimates the hypocrisy of mankind. That said, the point remains that it is interesting that something in the collective memory of the region zeroed in on usury as a "sin".
> The reference to communism attempts isn't a non-sequitor since depending on the particulars of their brand of communism they either want to limit usury to only a national/popular entity or get rid of it entirely.
As CCP has demonstrated, Communism is apparently an extremely plastic concept. /g My objection to your OP was and remains this: removing usury from the political-economy regime does not mean "communism".
> it's worth noting the only surviving…
pols45 · 2025-10-07
Snowden told us Americans spy on Americans too and get Americans to pay for it. Then what happened? Israel is just doing what Americans have trained them to do - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier…
recursivedoubts · 2025-09-02
I do want low inflation, as well as a debt jubilee[1] and a system reset to a sustainable economic model not based on usury.
[1] - https://michael-hudson.com/2020/12/jubillee-perspectives-with-steve-ke…
joules77 · 2025-08-20
Check out the commie Michael Hudson's - Superimperialism - or - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/07/global-economic-history-in-2-5-hour…
cen4 · 2024-07-28
Covers it quite well - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/07/global-economic-history-in-2-5-hour…
qp11 · 2024-06-09
The issues have been well understood for decades but the fixes involves dismantling existing power structures so nothing simple about it. Short summary of the issues - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/07/global-economic-history-in-2-5-hour…
jc88heh · 2024-04-16
No rush to Ukraine tho cuz the US has such a bizarre long term security strategy -> https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier…
ycdxvjp · 2023-12-12
The only take that made any sense to me about what's going on there - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier…
dkcj77 · 2023-11-16
Michael Hudson, of super imperialism fame, has a good take - get others to keep your biggest rivals occupied - https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier…
doc49j · 2023-11-13
Some one hasn't heard about FIRE
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_economy
https://michael-hudson.com/2019/10/asset-price-inflation-and-rent-seek…
xtian · 2023-03-25
pacyu · 2020-01-26
>who is buying these stocks? It’s not individuals. It’s not even pension funds. It’s not the private sector. Almost all the stock purchases are being bought back by corporations in share buyback programs. In other words, companies are buying their own stocks in order to push up the price
stocks keep going up while only a minority benefits and not much is returned into actual growth http://michael-hudson.com/2017/08/stock-on-trumponomics/
dnomad · 2018-09-14
And of course the Sabbath did not actually originate with the Jews. The tradition goes back to at least the Bronze Age if not earlier.
If people are interested in a rigorous treatment of ancient economics and their surprising modern relevance consider they should really look into Hudson [1].
[1] https://michael-hudson.com/2018/08/and-forgive-them-their-debts/
stephen_g · 2017-02-04
That's a much better term, and I agree, with one caveat - more and more the owning class don't invest in production (the 'real economy') but in financial instruments that really at the heart make money by extracting value from the productive sectors.
Michael Hudson has some interesting writing on the subject, such as this journal article, 'Finance is not the Economy' - http://michael-hudson.com/2016/08/finance-is-not-the-economy/
varunom · 2016-06-30
For a wider prospective of how this whole tax haven thing got setup [0] is a nice read.
0: http://michael-hudson.com/2016/04/laundering-havens-for-war-budgets/
adamcrowe · 2010-06-27
General and fallacy debunking:
'Economics In One Lesson' by Henry Hazlitt
http://jim.com/econ
Land and rent analysis (missing in almost all textbooks):
'The New Road to Serfdom: An Illustrated Guide to the Coming Real Estate Collapse' by Dr. Michael Hudson
http://michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/RoadToSerfdom.pdf
'The Chaos Makers: The Dreamers & The Deceived' by Fred Harrison
http://renegadeeconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/the-chaos-make…
WhyDoIThink · 2022-08-23
This video titled "The Reason Education Sucks" from George Carlin will explain why rent is skyrocketing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILQepXUhJ98
Here is a quote from that video:
"But there's a reason. There's a reason. There's a reason for this, there's a reason education sucks, and it's the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never gonna get any better. Don't look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don't want: They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well informed,…
LinuxFreedom · 2017-02-17
A very interesting book to to gain a clear understanding: "Killing the Host" by Michael Hudson
http://michael-hudson.com/2015/09/killing-the-host-the-book/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH8FWrbzxEs
Almost everything Mr. Gatez does is wrong and became a big problem for humanity - Windows, his investments in GMOs and atomic power and US pharma companies that are blackmailing poor countries - with this piece the most important thing he does: justify tax on work as something good. Sure, a few percent of taxes are used for public wealth (good thing!), but the biggest part nowadays is extracted and transformed into profits for rich individuals and companies.
As democratic control of how taxes are used seems to be of no interest for the public, the system that was built for more participation is transformed into a profit-extracting machine for international criminal organizations.
But maybe the robot tax idea can trigger a general discussion about what should be taxed and what not. Please add the book by Mr. Hudson to these discussions.