2 chapters across the catalog
Post-Civil War sharecropping is described as "slavery under another name," where landowners used debt and high-interest store credit to keep laborers tied to the land. Mo Fax shares a personal connection, mentioning his great-great-grandfather's sharecropping records. The hosts draw parallels between historical debt peonage and modern economic systems where individuals are unable to own property.
Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks explains that the 2008 collapse was driven by banks removing leverage protections and making massive bets on derivatives. Bankers incentivized predatory loans to create "candy" for these derivative packages, often ignoring a borrower's ability to pay to secure short-term commissions and bonuses. This analysis refutes Bloomberg's claim that minority borrowers were the primary cause of the recession.
