Hidden Forces第17集，主持人Demetri Kofinas与Robert Johnson讨论了政治经济学、不平等以及技术官僚机构的失败。Johnson博士是新经济思想研究所所长，也是纽约富兰克林与埃莉诺·罗斯福研究所的资深研究员兼全球金融项目主任。Johnson曾担任索罗斯基金管理公司乔治·索罗斯的执行董事多年，是1992年击垮英格兰银行的著名投机团队的一员，迫使英镑退出欧洲汇率机制。他曾在参议员威廉·普罗克迈尔领导下担任美国参议院银行委员会首席经济学家，在此之前，曾在参议员皮特·多梅尼奇领导下担任美国参议院预算委员会高级经济学家。

🤔 **黑星期三的遗产：** 1992年的黑星期三事件，英镑退出欧洲汇率机制，标志着全球金融、国际贸易、外汇和金融监管的巨大变革。此后，投机行为发生了显著变化，全球金融市场更加波动，风险也随之增加。

📈 **生产力下降、边际成本下降、总债务增加、人口老龄化：** 这四种趋势共同导致了民粹主义的兴起。生产力下降导致经济增长放缓，边际成本下降导致企业利润率下降，总债务增加导致经济脆弱性上升，人口老龄化导致社会负担加重。这些因素共同造成了社会不满情绪，为民粹主义的兴起提供了土壤。

👨‍🎓 **专家与信任危机：** 近年来，人们对专家、技术官僚和学者的信任度下降，这与专家群体对社会问题的解决方案缺乏共识，以及一些专家在利益集团的操控下，为自身利益服务有关。这种信任危机导致了社会对政治体制和经济体系的质疑，并加剧了政治极化。

🏛️ **民主制度的保护：** 在缺乏令人信服的学者、值得信赖的政治家和鼓舞人心的领导人的情况下，如何保护我们的自由民主制度？我们该如何应对政治腐败，如何确保政治决策不受金钱的影响？

💰 **金钱与政治：** 如何将金钱从政治中剔除？如何在政治制度中建立透明和问责机制，防止金钱对政治决策的过度影响？

In Episode 17 of Hidden Forces, host Demetri Kofinas speaks with Robert Johnson, about the political economy, inequality, and the failings of our technocratic institutions. Dr. Johnson serves as President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Finance Project for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York. Robert Johnson served for many years as a Managing Director for George Soros at Soros Fund Management and was part of the famous team of speculators that broke the bank of England in 1992, forcing the pound out of ERM. He served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire, and before this, as Senior Economist of the US Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici.

Black Wednesday was almost 25 years ago to the day. How has global finance, international trade, foreign exchange, and financial deregulation changed the landscape of speculation in the years since? How has a decline in productivity, a collapse in marginal costs, a rise in total debt, along with an aging demographic laid the groundwork for a rise in populism? What is the role of experts, and how has faith in technocrats and academics declined in recent years? How do we defend our liberal, democratic institutions absent convincing academics, trustworthy politicians, and inspirational leaders? How do we get the money out of politics when politics is so beholden to money? How do we reform a corrupt government that is in bed with Wall Street – a government that is beholden to multinational corporations and co-mingled with industrial military companies whose very profitability is dependent on multi-billion dollar federal contracts? It is time for us to become educated on how our political economy works, because if we don’t have the knowledge to call out “the experts,” then we are powerless to affect the very changes that we seek to induce.

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor: Stylianos Nicolaou

Engineer: Ignacio Lecumberi

Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod