This course describes how the economic system works. It is divided into two halves. The first four classes discuss corporate crimes and unethical behaviour, and explain the main mechanisms that transfer wealth into the hands of executives and shareholders within advanced nations, particularly the US and Britain. It also explains the fraudulent nature of the financial system. The second half explains how the international economic system is deliberately structured to transfer wealth from poor countries to rich. The course explains that many theories in economics textbooks have little relevance to the real world. The course is presented in ways that anyone can understand. No previous knowledge is required.
This course is intended to complement ‘Understanding the World Part 1: US and British War Crimes and Propaganda’. Each part works as a standalone course. Together, the two courses provide a fairly comprehensive guide to how the world works. They can be taken in any order, or at the same time.
Your Instructor
Rod Driver is a part-time academic. He has studied Maths; Sports Science; International Relations, Terrorism and Security; and Economics. He was 3 years into a PhD in Media and Communication Studies, but has postponed it indefinitely due to the arrival of his children. He is particularly interested in understanding how the world works, and in de-bunking modern-day US and British propaganda, which permeates our societies.
He believes that much academic teaching is far too uncritical of the establishment and the status quo. He also sees the current academic focus on ever-more specialised and compartmentalised courses as unhelpful, because few people have a sufficiently broad understanding of enough topics to be able to understand the links between them. He sees understanding as rather like a jigsaw puzzle – it’s only when you have all the pieces in place that the picture makes sense. For this reason he incorporates psychology, power, and corruption of politics and the media throughout his teaching.