Richard D. Wolff

I live and work in China for a local company providing startup services. Long-time student of environmental sciences. I also have been providing consulting as a co-founder of a CSA program here (so far pro-bono). I am enthralled with Prof. Wolff's news updates and in-depth analysis of the current economic paradigm. I have a few questions and another topic suggestion. 1. The good professor has gone through some hypothetical scenarios to illustrate how worker-owned cooperatives would make decisions that are better for workers, better for the sustainability of the company, and better for the communities in which they operate. If (hypothetically) a coal mining company was worker owned and operated, what decisions would they make in terms of operation, and what executive decisions would they make in 2017 - the economic outlook for coal being what it is. 2. What resources are there for companies that have decided to either convert, or initially found a company as worker-owned cooperatives? How can we find advisors/allies to help kick-start such an effort. Comment: I would really like to hear a segment focusing on local food, CSAs and/or agricultural cooperatives. I would like to suggest reaching out to Joel Salitan of Polyface Farms (as seen on Food Inc. and What's With Wheat) for such a segment (or Michael Pollan as an alternative that would be equally illuminating but perhaps less charming than the "nudist buddhist farmer"). I've read his (Joel's) books and think it would be great for listeners to know more about how FDA regulations (as they are skewed to favor big business and industrialized food systems) are onerous for small farmers, and the misalignment of agricultural subsidies in the U.S. of A. Many thanks to Prof. Wolff for his timeless insights and timely updates!