Summary of Michael Hudson's Killing the Host

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 As economies grew, people were supposed to save more and have less need to go into debt.

However, as debt levels increased, people began to consume less and save more.

This caused a shortage of market demand.#2 The aim of political economy for the past three centuries has been to recover the flow of privatized land and natural resource rent that medieval kings had lost.

The political dimension of this effort involved democratic constitutional reform to overpower the rent-levying class.#3 The financial sector aims to minimize the cost of roads, electric power, transportation, water, and education, but to maximize what can be charged as monopoly rent.#4 Financializing industry has changed the character of class warfare from what socialists and labor leaders envisioned in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Then, the great struggle was between employers and labor over wages and benefits.

Today, finance is cannibalizing industrial capital, imposing austerity, and shrinking employment.