WEBVTT 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:09.690 Different countries have different systems of running their governments and economies. 00:00:09.736 --> 00:00:13.398 Some are equitable and fair, many are not. 00:00:13.438 --> 00:00:17.438 We call each country's system a Political Economic System. 00:00:18.017 --> 00:00:22.017 Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Capitalism are all examples of political economic systems. 00:00:26.733 --> 00:00:30.733 These systems each have their own distinct characteristics. 00:00:31.038 --> 00:00:37.038 The United States uses a Capitalist system, a system which has historically fostered inequity. 00:00:37.885 --> 00:00:44.885 In this course we explore how Capitalism results in class oppression, and is a root cause of health inequity. 00:00:45.081 --> 00:00:53.081 Under Capitalism corporations and private individuals own the means of production and the distribution of goods and services. 00:00:53.273 --> 00:00:59.273 The market is allowed to determine pricing and production levels. Supply and demand. 00:00:59.728 --> 00:01:05.728 Theoretically Capitalism values individual freedom and competition but practically, 00:01:06.022 --> 00:01:13.022 that freedom gives businesses and corporations great leeway in determining wages and working and operating conditions. 00:01:13.305 --> 00:01:17.305 It also allows them to control access to public goods and services, 00:01:17.454 --> 00:01:21.280 as well as control over what those goods and services cost. 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:25.320 For example, healthcare: with minimal to no input from workers or the general public, 00:01:26.896 --> 00:01:30.896 these goods and services become subject to the will of private corporations. 00:01:31.445 --> 00:01:37.445 These corporate practices then create injustice and adverse health outcomes throughout society. 00:01:38.050 --> 00:01:45.050 Capitalism functions on continual growth at the expense of workers rights and environmental sustainability. 00:01:45.370 --> 00:01:51.370 Corporations determine wages and working conditions often with little regard to how they treat the environment. 00:01:52.308 --> 00:01:58.300 In order to compete and make a profit, there is a race to the bottom for worker pay and treatment. 00:01:58.537 --> 00:02:02.537 Corporations exist to make vast profits for investors, 00:02:02.688 --> 00:02:06.688 and so exploit workers by paying them as little as possible, thus creating a vast underclass. 00:02:08.995 --> 00:02:12.995 Power, wealth and decision making, while seemingly spread equally throughout society, 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:20.383 is actually concentrated in the hands of a few corporations and politicians. 00:02:21.446 --> 00:02:25.446 Capitalism is an unjust Political Economic System. 00:02:25.753 --> 00:02:29.753 Capitalism has been at the root of massive economic crisis, 00:02:30.174 --> 00:02:34.174 such as the Great Depression of the 1930s or the Great Recession of 2008. 00:02:35.302 --> 00:02:40.302 Further deepening inequality, and more crucially exacerbating health inequity. 00:02:41.178 --> 00:02:45.178 Capitalism and its associated inequities have been in place since America was founded. 00:02:46.409 --> 00:02:50.409 In fact America's economy was built on the exploitation of cheap labor 00:02:51.373 --> 00:02:55.373 in the form of chattle slavery and the dispossession of Indigenous people in their lands. 00:02:56.909 --> 00:03:04.909 These legacies of exploitation continue today today, to create a particular brand of Capitalism, Racial Capitalism. 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:09.150 In this course we will examine the origins of American Capitalism 00:03:09.282 --> 00:03:13.282 and the various processes used to exploit workers and build power. 00:03:13.592 --> 00:03:20.592 We will also examine how these processes have created long-standing historic inequities that affect our society today. 00:03:21.275 --> 00:03:25.275 Most importantly we will see how these historic inequities built into the system since its inception, 00:03:28.115 --> 00:03:32.115 foster vast differences in public health across groups. 00:03:32.478 --> 00:03:36.478 Class and Capitalism are a root cause of health inequity. 00:03:36.626 --> 00:03:40.626 From unsafe working environments to inadequate, unaffordable housing. 00:03:41.567 --> 00:03:44.458 As well as unequal access to affordable health care. 00:03:44.498 --> 00:03:51.498 We will learn how Capitalism hinders public health, and sets up very different circumstances for different classes. 00:03:52.104 --> 00:03:59.000 Since it is built on concentrating wealth and unchecked power, Capitalism by nature, is undemocratic. 00:03:59.100 --> 00:04:05.371 Dig deep into this course to learn more about how and why and what we can do to make change.