Recently the Occupy Wall Street movement has gone international. Many believe that these uprisings are a part of a growing concern for a change of governments. What are the real alternatives to current government systems? Will the Occupy Wall Street movement make Americans question capitalism? Richard Wolff, talk show host at WBAI Radio, digs deeper.

 

Appeared in the Guardian "Comment is Free" on October 4th, 2011

Much of the developed world is still reeling from the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown. Austerity measures have begun to wipe out the foundations of the welfare state while the 20th-century model of social democracy seems to be giving way to capitalist absolutism. In 2009, Newsweek heralded the end of capitalism, saying “We are all socialists now!” But two years later, the left has all but quit the European stage and individualism has become the dominant cultural paradigm.

Professor Rick Wolff discusses some of the reasons why we need a new left party in the United States, including the Democratic Party’s dependence on Wall Street and other big business interests; how this dependence has silenced the voices of the poor and middle class in our current political debates; and how left parties in Europe have contributed both to a stronger safety net and more egalitarian society, along with more widespread and militant resistance to corporate power.

Part 1 Part 2

Updates this week focus on Bank of America imposing fees for debit cards, on shrinking borrowing and disposable income growth as downward pressure on US economy, on Harvard's and Yale's wealth growth alongside their tax exemptions, and on the transaction tax on financial transactions looming in Europe.

Richard Wolff spoke about the current economic crisis and its major impacts on our society, and then engaged in an onstage conversation with Anthony Arnove. This event was part of the Lannan In Pursuit of Cultural Freedom series. It occurred on a Tuesday afternoon on September 13, 2011 at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe, NM.  

Richard Wolff, Presentation, 13 September 2011

 

Richard Wolff in conversation with Anthony Arnove, 13 September 2011

 

These Tuesday evenings will each begin with an update and analysis of major economic events of the last month and their contexts of longer-term economic trends shaping politics and society here and abroad. We will focus on the evolving global capitalist economic crisis and its consequences. We will examine topics such as

Republicanos y conservadores siempre se oponen a propuestas de aumentar impuestos a las corporaciones y a individuos ricos con dos afirmaciones básicas: Primero, semejantes propuestas equivalen a una “guerra de clases” anti-‘americana’, que enfrenta a la clase trabajadora a las corporaciones y los ricos. Segundo, semejante actuación extraería dinero para el gobierno que de otra manera se invertiría en producción y por lo tanto crearía empleo.

Updates focus on Obama's deficit and national debt reduction program, on government gridlock and inability to emerge from economic crisis, on ecological risks of Exxon-Mobil deal with Rosneft to drill for oil in Arctic. Today's in depth interview on recently signed labor contracts and strikes. Guest is Prof. Michael Pelias, Long Island University faculty union leader. Comparison of LIU gains and losses in their academic strike and final contract with just-signed General Motors deal with UAW for 48,000 auto workers.

Appeared originally on Truthout on September 19th, 2011

Republicans and conservatives have done us a service by describing federal policies in terms of "class war." But by applying the term only to Obama's latest proposals to raise taxes on the rich, they have it all backward and upside down. The last 50 years have indeed seen continuous class warfare in and over federal economic policies.