Give And Take

My guest is Todd McGowan. HIs newest book is Pure Excess: Capitalism and the Commodity (https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Excess-Capitalism-Todd-McGowan/dp/0231217595/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3KTC25ZAWV3GM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.F48XnU2ZyF_-98Gyug6nZw.cQxE3ENJQy2NAtI6c4Ae9h86gOBzR6VJSqdgUNzlyhg&dib_tag=se&keywords=pure+excess+mcgowan&qid=1739642385&sprefix=Pure+Excess%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1). In it he forges a new theory of capitalism as a system based on the production of more than what we need: pure excess. He argues that the promise of more―more wealth, more enjoyment, more opportunity, without requiring any sacrifice―is the essence of capitalism. Previous socioeconomic systems set up some form of the social good as their focus. Capitalism, however, represents a revolutionary turn away from the good and the useful toward excessive growth, which now threatens the habitability of the planet. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, McGowan shows how the production of commodities explains the role of excess in the workings of capitalism. Ca