The program begins by explaining the economics behind the great US anti-leftist purge (“McCarthyism”) after 1945. It then shows the economic impacts of that purge over the last half century. Finally, it explains how that history produced a very different political response to the crash of 2008 compared to FDR’s response to 1929.
Updates on the US "bribing for college admission" scandal, how lobbyists reflect and worsen inequality, So. and No. Carolina teachers strike for better education, how NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) reflect and worsen workplace inequalities across global capitalism. Interview Victor Grossman, American who lived and worked in socialist Germany across the entire history of the GDR.
Updates on 60 megacorps who paid no 2018 Federal taxes, GM's CEO gets $29.1 million while GM fires thousands, wrecks communities, etc., Notre Dame tragedy exposes French inequality as billionaires suddenly find money for a church, not for people, rising wave of US worker strikes reflect militance and unity. Interview with Rebecca Lurie, Director of Community and Worker Ownership Project, CUNY.
Updates on US college students as share-croppers for investors, on conservatives' fake opposition to gov't intervention in the economy, on deepening inadequacy of retirement savings of US baby boomers, and on how fading US middle class leads many first to blame/scapegoat foreigners, then fellow citizens. Interview Michael Steven Smith on new book, Lawyers for the Left.
Updates on Chicago in change, decline of world trade, New York's "congestion pricing, IMF on Trump trade war and hi-tech monopolies, 7 states sue Ag Dept over school lunch deregulations, Trump cautions audience "Don't underestimate "the power of socialism to get a vote." Interview with Dr. Harriet Fraad on causes of the #MeToo movement.
On this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on Brexit and Mueller Report, Chicago is new site of labor upsurge, how income shapes education and thus "merit," why objections to Green New Deal and Medicare for All are mistaken, how a fascistic "punish the poor" mentality rises in US. In the second half of the show, Prof. Wolff interviews Prof. George Ciccariello-Maher on the crisis, foreign intervention. and resistance in Venezuela.
Updates on LA strippers strike, Trump fails to end US trade deficit, UN reports on protests against capitalist inequality and gov't repression of those protests, GM closes Lordstown, Ohio factory with tragic social effects, Trump and FED reduce bank regulation after 10 years of massive bank misdeeds. Interview with journalist Bob Hennelly on underpaid EMTs and right-wing hostility to Green New Deal's proposal for a universal right to a job.
In-depth analysis of UBI shows its advantages over most welfare, safety net systems. An even better alternative would avoid capitalism's unnecessary production of unemployment because it utilizes technical progress (rising productivity) for profits. The alternative benefits workers' leisure rather than profits. It is more democratic and avoids splitting people into unemployed vs employed, non-poor vs poor. population.
An in-depth analysis of fascism as massive government intervention to protect and save a crashing capitalism. We focus on today's examples, historical parallels (in Germany and Italy), and how "strong men" leaders push fascist agendas. We discuss how fascism and socialism differ and how nationalism serves as fascism's social "disguise.
