In a compelling launch event hosted by the David Graeber Institute, three leading thinkers—economists Michael Hudson, Yanis Varoufakis, and moderator Ann Pettifor—explored the tectonic shifts shaping today’s global economic order. Framed by the legacy of the late anthropologist David Graeber, the conversation offered a sharp critique of rising techno-feudalism, U.S. imperialism, and the looming climate crisis.
Hudson opened with a historical lens, describing how Donald Trump’s economic strategy draws on 19th-century protectionism through tariffs—not as a route to national revival, but as a tool for global coercion. Rather than rebuilding industry, Hudson argued, the U.S. now exports financial and technological control. Tariffs, monopolistic digital platforms, and weaponized finance—especially the dollar—are the new instruments of empire.
Varoufakis built on this, coining the term cloud capital to describe how digital platforms like Google, Meta, and Amazon differ from traditional capitalism. Unlike industrial capital, cloud capital doesn’t produce physical goods but extracts “cloud rent” from data and digital infrastructure. He warned that the fusion of cloud capital, digital payments (like stablecoins), and U.S. hegemony forms a new superstructure of control. Trump, he argues, is merely a vehicle for this new class of techno-rentiers.
Both Hudson and Varoufakis connected this rent-based model to the historical concept of economic rent—where monopolists extract wealth without creating real value—drawing a parallel with feudal landlords. They argued that today’s tech monopolies are the digital heirs to that tradition, now backed by finance and enforced by U.S. trade and military policy.
Pettifor raised alarm over the climate crisis, global debt, and the devastating impact of U.S. dollar hegemony on the Global South. With debt levels at 333% of global GDP, she emphasized that dollar-based debt repayments are unsustainable—particularly with rising U.S. interest rates. Hudson agreed, calling for debt cancellation as a precondition for any meaningful progress in the South.
Attention turned to alternatives. Varoufakis advocated for a revival of John Maynard Keynes’ International Clearing Union (ICU)—a global settlement system that taxes trade imbalances and eliminates currency hegemony. He urged the BRICS nations, particularly China, to adopt this vision and challenge the dollar’s dominance—not with a new hegemonic currency, but through a multipolar, cooperative structure.
Yet both speakers remained skeptical of China’s current trajectory. Hudson noted China’s entanglement with real estate and failure to fully address economic rent, while Varoufakis questioned its political will to de-dollarize.
Finally, the discussion returned to the role of the state. Varoufakis emphasized that value is collectively produced—yet privatized through state-sanctioned rent-seeking. Pettifor echoed Roosevelt’s example: the state must confront entrenched financial power if it hopes to serve the people and planet.
As the session closed, the speakers agreed: escaping this crisis demands radical rethinking of debt, digital infrastructure, and the biosphere. And above all, it requires rediscovering the political courage to break with extractive systems—before they break the world….more
