What happens when basic public goods become a private, paid for service, education becomes a profit-turning treadmill and meanwhile millions live in chronic insecurity?
In this episode Max and Grazielle interview renowned economist Guy Standing, exploring his argument that the privatization of public goods or what he calls the “plunder of the commons” has produced a new global class, the Precariat, and fuelled rising inequality.
Guy explains why a basic income is a matter of common justice, freedom, and security, which are human rights. He further dives into his most recent book that describes how private equity and financialization have transformed schools and universities into profit machines, and why restoring the education system with slower, ethical, democratic learning matters for society.
From privatized education to the future of basic income, this episode is a timely conversation about inequality, insecurity, and what it will take to build systems that serve people instead of profit.
Guy Standing is a British labour economist. He is a Professor of Development Studies at SOAS University in London, and is a founding member and honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). His latest book, Human Capital: The Tragedy of the Education Commons, focuses on the cost of education which focused solely on the building of human capital in preparation for the labour market.
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