Today’s episode features an analysis (part 1) of how, why capitalism – especially in US – failed to prepare for or cope with a virus thereby enabling it to trigger another crash of capitalism (third this century: dot.com in 2000, sub-prime mortgage in 2008). In part 2, Prof. Wolff provides an analysis of how to respond to crash better than the US govt by emphasizing re-employment in millions of new jobs rather than unemployment, emphasizing worker-coops, etc.
Plutocrats like to control the range of permissible public dialogue. Plutocrats also like to shape what society values. If you want to see where a country’s priorities lie, look at how it allocates its money. While teachers and nurses earn comparatively little for performing critical jobs, corporate bosses including those who pollute our planet and bankrupt defenseless families, make millions more. Wells Fargo executives are cases in point. The vastly overpaid CEO of General Electric left his teetering company in shambles. In 2019, Boeing’s CEO got a bonus (despite the Lion Air Flight 610 737 Max 8 crash in 2018). Just days before a second deadly 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia.
This disparity is on full display in my profession. Public interest lawyers and public defenders, who fight daily for a more just and lawful society, are paid modest salaries. On the other hand, the most well compensated lawyers are corporate lawyers who regularly aid and abet corporate crime, fraud, and abuse. Many corporate lawyers line their pockets by shielding the powerful violators from accountability under the rule of law.
In this video clip, Dr. Richard Wolff shares information on the world’s billionaires.
This clip is occurred during a talk at the Revolutionary Workers Group, Revolutionary University, October 2, 2016
Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. Wolff has also taught economics at Yale University, City University of New York, and the University of Paris I (Sorbonne).
Speak Out Now/Revolutionary Workers Group is a revolutionary group. They believe that a socialist world is possible and can be brought into being by the active struggles of the majority of the people of the world. They believe the international working class is the social force that can transform society and create a new world. But to do so, revolutionary organizations must be built in the working class. For this reason their group aims its activity primarily at large workplaces. Their newsletters are distributed at several workplaces every two weeks. http://revolutionaryworkersgroup.org/
Carl Sagan was ahead of his time – many of the statements in this video are still extremely relevant today. Please enjoy these seven intellectual “beast mode” worthy moments with Carl Sagan.
On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom discusses the future of neoliberalism and a 21st century approach to economics with Kate Raworth, author of “Doughnut Economics.” Then, Thom talks to Horace Cooper of the National Center for Public Policy Research and Charles Sauer of the Market Institute about the GOP’s newest attempt to repeal Obamacare and FBI Director James Comey’s comments on Wikileaks.
Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown/Democracy At Work(For tickets/info on Dr. Wolff’s speaking events, click Democracy At Work.) There is a bright line from Carter and Reagan deregulating the airlines to what happened United Airlines Flight 3411 and the PR disaster that’s followed.
On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom discusses Trump’s economic and trade policies with economist and professor Dr. Richard Wolff. If Trump cuts taxes and ramps up defense spending, the U.S. could be looking at a shift back to Reagan-era economics.