Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Latest Episodes:

Labor Unions and Political Power Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff devotes this week's episode to Labor Unions and Political parties. We explain why US & Western capitalism today provoke labor and unions into more and more social and political action. The latest examples are the recent Canadian Postal Workers strike and the Barnes and Noble bookstore workers rally in New York City. The Professor discusses the history of the standard practice of employers filing complaints with the National Labor Relations Board to dispute the results of elections that form unions.

Finally a major discussion on politics and the intersection of labor. What will be unions' relationship to political parties? Will we see general strikes and mass popular mobilizations? Only time will tell.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

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We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01

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The US Capitalist Class and the Election Nov 27, 2024

Show notes

In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses how US foreign aid serves the interests of corporations and their profits. We highlight how San Juan County in Washington state handled its fiscal crisis by cutting its employees' work week to 32 hours. We update you on workers of Wells Fargo Bank who are currently conducting a unionization drive, which could lead to other US banks doing the same. We provide a quick analysis of the history of settler colonialism in New Zealand and how this practice informs and influences the Israel and Palestinian crisis. Lastly, we interview Professors Michael Hillard and Richard McIntyre for a Marxian analysis of the exceptional nature of the US capitalist class and the US election.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

The Dangers and Opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with RJ Eskow Nov 19, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses how major pharmaceutical companies (CVS, United Healthcare, Cigna) are complicit in the opioid crisis in the United States. We highlight a successful food co-op in Minneapolis and explain the inauthenticity of mainstream discourse on the US economy.

Finally an interview with Richard "RJ" Eskow, Bernie Sanders' speechwriter, an expert on AI and the basic social issues its spread now raises.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info1:01

The Global Movement for Cooperatives with Jerome N. Warren Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses U.S. Universities and Politicians' repression of student protesters, the continued global demands of indigenous people for liberation from colonialism's legacies, and Harvard's corporate administration sacrificing its students' and faculty's freedom of expression to pander to some of its donors.

Finally, an interview with Professor Jerome N. Warren, editor of the newly published Routledge Handbook of Cooperative Economics and Management.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

The Economics of US Labor Struggles and Gaza Nov 05, 2024

Show notes

In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the economic repercussions of Western sanctions and how the retaliations they provoke. We then turn to the latest labor strikes and wage & benefit gains achieved by unions at Boeing and East Coast dock workers. We highlight China's dominance of the global energy markets; and U.S. spending on military and police.

Finally, we close with an economic analysis of Israel's ongoing violence in Gaza.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

The Missing Economics of the 2024 US Presidential Election Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, with the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election 8 days away, Professor Richard Wolff explores the shared refusal of both major candidates and their parties to face and debate solutions to the major problems facing US capitalism in 2024: (1) Inequality, (2) instability and (3) a declining empire. Instead we are witnessing both Trump and Harris compete to be the "cheerleader in chief" for capitalism.

Missing from the discourse is a genuine opposition party that might dare to offer an alternative non-capitalist vision and solution to the system's deepening problems.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

Puerto Rican Crises and Left Political Unity Oct 22, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the new law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom banning "legacy and donor" favoritism in private college admissions to foster a "merit system." We also bring your attention to Javier Milei and his regime in Argentina as they impose austerity measures on the country: the masses will suffer to pay off debts that enriched the elite few in classic ways.

Finally, we Interviewed economics Professor Ian Seda-Irizarry of the City University of New York about the conditions provoking the rise of the political left and left unity in Puerto Rico.

Ian Seda-Irizarry is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Economics Department of John Jay College, City University of New York. His work focuses on the current socio-economic crisis of Puerto Rico and its relation to the island's first fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

Flint: The Water Crisis Persists W/Jordan Chariton Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses how FED Chair Jerome Powell admits capitalism's intrinsic instability, a Tennessee plastic plant won't let workers leave before storm Helene hits, we examine new drugs for obesity (Ozempic and Wegovy) which highlights the failures of for-profit medical care.

Finally, we interview Jordan Chariton on his new book "We, the Poisoned: Exposing The Flint Water Crisis Cover-up and the Poisoning of 100,000".

Jordan Chariton is an independent investigative reporter known for reporting on the ground across America on major stories like the Flint water crisis, the Native American protests at Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, and in-depth authentic reporting on union drives, worker strikes, poverty, homelessness, and state and local corruption. Chariton has broken significant investigative stories in The Guardian, VICE News, The Intercept, and Detroit Metro Times; other work from Chariton has been featured on CNBC.com, TheHill.com, Mediaite, and the popular YouTube news channel Breaking Points.

Twitter (X) - @JordanChariton

Chariton's in-the-trenches, gritty reporting has amassed a large following. While covering the 2016 campaign, his tough questions sparked viral videos garnering hundreds of thousands of views. In 2017, he was arrested while covering Black Lives Matter protests in St. Louis. In 2018, he launched his own independent news outlet, Status Coup News, which is on YouTube.

He is best known for his tireless reporting on the Flint water crisis, making 21 reporting trips to the Midwest city to break several major stories on the cover-up of one of the worst environmental catastrophes of the 21st century.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) with Eric Blanc Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the modern political history in the United Kingdom as Conservatives protect UK corporations and the rich by employing "Distractions": First Brexit, and now Ukraine. We then turn to the latest worker uprising this time in Washington state, as workers at Boeing strike demanding better wages and benefits, and state government employees who are legally prohibited from striking are demanding better conditions as well by demanding better pay and conditions. We turn to the United Healthcare Corporation's latest profit-driven "pre-payment information" scheme, which disenfranchises people in need.

Finally, in an interview with Eric Blanc, a founder of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) we discuss its phenomenal success in helping workers across the economy learn about organizing, and access to labor unions for help with forming unions.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

Financializing Public Universities for Wall Street's Benefit Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff addresses the numerous requests for financial planning or investment advice that he receives from many of you. We touch on the truth about investing in the stock and/or bond markets. In addition, Professor Wolff offers a basic understanding of the economics of US capitalism's century-long, profit-driven failure to adequately provide housing to its people.

Finally, an interview with Professors Eleni Schirmer and Sofya Aptekar about their new book "Lend and Rule", from Common Notions Press, and their fight against the financialization of US public universities, and why it is so necessary.

Sofya Aptekar is an associate professor of urban studies at the City University of New York School of Labor and Urban Studies. She is the author of Green Card Soldier (MIT, 2023) and a delegate of the Professional Staff Congress. She can be found on X/Twitter at @sofyaaptekar

Eleni Schirmer is a writer living in Montréal. She currently holds a postdoc at Concordia University's Social Justice Centre and organizes with the Debt Collective, the nation's first union of debtors. She can be found on X/Twitter at @EleniSchirmer.

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.

You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:

https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.

We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info

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