Ben Burgis

There we go.

Um, uh, we had Mike Beggs on, who co-wrote it with, uh, Ben Burgis and Bhaskar Sunkara, who will be on this program in the future to discuss it.

But, uh, it is a very in-depth look at socialism and markets, which I think is, uh, something, uh, gonna be a hot, uh, uh, topic of debate, I think, for maybe the next, uh, 10 to 20 years, if I had to guess.

So, uh, check that out.

Put this on screen here.

Mike Beggs talking about his book with Bhaskar Sankara and Ben Burgess, The Blueprint, How Socialism Can Work in the Real World.

Very, I mean, exhaustive book on markets and socialism and that sort of stuff.

So I think it comes at a really good time where people are asking some of these fundamental questions.

[instrumental music] Welcome to Varun Vlog.

[instrumental music] Hello, and I'm here with friend of the show Ben Burgess.

Just a reminder for those of you who somehow don't know him, he is the host of Give Them an Argument, and a regular columnist and com- commentator for such outlets as Jacobin Magazine, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and Current Affairs.

I believe you've also written for MSNBC or what is now MS Now.

I never really understood how that became, even with Crenshaw herself, a politics of, of identity and representation exactly.

I mean, I, I get the, the argument about people falling through the cracks because of legal categories, and I get the idea that we should do materialist analysis with all these factors included in, but that's not what intersectionality started representing.

In fact, at one point, I w- from both its critics and its supporters, I was like, "I don't even know what you mean." Like, it just seems like United Colors of Benetton shit to me.

Which, you know, uh, which again, I'm not necessarily against, but if it's representational or if it's based on standpoint epistemology, either one of the two things, I have serious problems.

While legalization of drugs like cannabis has cut down on crime and has been a factor in lowering incarceration rates, it does lead us to another question about legalization.

Will corporations make more addicts? Having a mildly joking conversation with my friend and fellow podcast host and writer Ben Burgess a few months back, we spoke about the reality that we don't know how addictive marijuana actually is.

The major studies that argued the drug was non-addictive were conducted in the early 70s.

And the chemical potency of the plant, which is now grown in indoor facilities to harness its power, is much greater than the weed smoked at Woodstock.