Prof. Wolff presents updates on (1) the US public education crisis (teacher strikes, declining quality, insufficient resources) and how it undermines the US's economic future, (2) the absurdity of the government shutdown over an ineffective wall and a tiny portion of the government's budget, and (3) how the schools crisis and the shutdown signal a larger social decline. The second part of the show features an interview with Professor Alex Vitale on his book, The End of Policing, and why US police have grown and changed their functions so drastically in recent decades.

On this episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff begins with socialism's history especially in the US: from being widely discussed up to 1945, then repressed in the Cold War, and now vigorously revived since 2008. He then examines socialism's basic economic criticism of capitalism in the 20th century. And finally, he shows how and why the socialism emerging now is new and different.