Economic Update

Economic Update - What ’Capitalism’s Decline’ Means

This week's show is dedicated to a discussion of the signs of US capitalism's decline. US history as the passage of US capitalism from its birth, through its state-supported growth and expansion, to its global peaking from 1945 to 2000. Wolff presents the causes of its ongoing decline this 21st century, and then offers a conclusion on the right, center and left political responses to decline.

 

Economic Update - Inflation and Labor Shortage

On this week's show, Prof Wolff talks about the social effects of inflation and the lack of accountability on the part of employers. Capitalist employers set prices with the only motive of maximizing. Employees, the vast majority, must live with inflation but are excluded from decisions setting prices. Employers scream labor shortage to get the government to force workers back to work at low wages. Employers recover from economic crashes but undercut workers efforts to do the same. How capitalism works. 

Economic Update - ”Instability - Capitalism’s Constant”

In this week's Economic Update, Prof. Wolff presents updates on the Twitter-Musk scandals, critique of profit as return to risk, mass European union-led strikes against inflation, economic crisis of 54 poorest nations today, US General Assembly vote against US embargo (sanctions) against Cuba, and an analysis of crypto-currency collapse.

Economic Update - ”Persuasion vs Polarization”

 In this week’s show, Prof. Wolff discusses the massive strike of Canadian public employees; economics of the unemployed; business owners,executives and lawyers dominate US state legislatures; and how rising interest rates push the most vulnerable to the margins of US capitalism. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Anand Giridharadas on his new book, The Persuaders.

Economic Update : ”The Terminal Crises of Global Capitalism”

In this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on students' solidarity with workers at Smith College; US car industry manipulates supply/demand to inflate prices, profits; Teamsters strike, solidarity defeat Sysco Systems; Starbucks provokes its 250 unionized stores, and why rising wages do not "cause" inflation. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Prof. William I Robinson on global capitalism and its multiple crises he calls "terminal."

Economic Update: Nomi Prins on the Distorted US Financial System

  In this week's show, Prof. Wolff talks about a new Congress report on huge US wealth inequality; Angela Merkel on relying on Russian oil and gas, the irrationality of 20,000 immigrants dumped on NYC, and Harvard exploiting its tax-exempt status. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Nomi Prins, former Goldman Sachs director, on the distorted US financial system and its social effects.

 

 

Economic Update - ”Capitalism vs Socialism is NOT Markets vs Planning”

This week on Economic Update, Profl Wolff shows how the economics of existing capitalist and socialist economies make use of both markets and planning. The opposition of markets and planning is largely false and has worked to distract students and observers of economic systems from better differentiations such as how they differently organize their workplaces: hierarchical in the case of capitalist, democratic in the case of worker cooperatives. Some major implications of this critique of the "planning versus market" obsession are discussed in relation to the US, Soviet Union, and China.

Economic Update - ”Ana Kasparian on Today’s US Crisis”

  In this week's show, Prof. Wolff discusses US sanctions against Chinese semiconductor chip makers, OPEC+ cuts oil production by 2 million barrels per day boosting inflation, desperate UK conservatives abandon Brexit scapegoat to cozy up to Europe, and what US might do to solve "labor shortages." In the second half of the show, Wolff is joined by Ana Kasparian, host of The YoungTurks," to talk about the media and today's US crisis.

Economic Update - ”Means TV - An Anti-Capitalist Netflix”

 In this week's show, Prof. Wolff discusses global capitalism's "perfect storm" (inflation + rising interest rates + reduced production = "stagflation"); 1000 SFO food workers strike and win; FedEx reinforces "stagflation" predictions, and hurricane Ian confirms system's failures to plan for predictable disasters to lessen their costs and impacts. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Nick Hayes of Means TV on how it has grown as an "anti-capitalist" Netflix.

 

 

Economic Update - ”The Economics of Colonialism Part 2 - The Neo-colonialism Variation”

 In this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents a brief summary of last week's Part 1 as basis for analyzing how WW2 provoked the political independence struggles that changed colonialism into neo-colonialism; how and why political independence is not, by itself, a break from colonialism; why neocolonialism lasts into the present and positions a rich minority of each former colony as the ally, collaborator, and agent of continued entrapment of the former colony within global capitalism. Modern neocolonialism likewise positions a poor majority that seeks real economic independence alongside political independence. The politics of most countries in the world - who are mostly ex-colonies - is a deep class war between that neocolonial minority and its majority/adversary.