“The place where most adults spend most of their life is at work, and there is no democracy at work”

This interview originally appeared in the English-language section - The English Corner, of Contexto Magazine. 

Much like Bernie Sanders, Richard Wolff (1942) has spent his entire adult life saying (and writing) many of the same things. Until not so long ago, his fierce critique of capitalism, voiced in his radio show Economic Update and articulated in countless papers and books, found little resonance beyond the fringes. And yet, like the Vermont Senator, he has seen a spectacular renewed interest in those ideas lately. When Wolff, a Marxist economist who was trained at Harvard, Yale and Stanford, sat down with CTXT at a coffee shop near his office in Manhattan’s New School for Social Research a couple weeks ago, he was preparing for a trip to Kentucky, where he would give a series of lectures in public and state universities. “I’ve never even been to Kentucky. And they’re paying to have me tell them about the disaster that capitalism is and what we can do to change it!” he joked, pointing to Occupy Wall Street as the force that brought theories like his –and Bernie Sanders’- onto the discussion table. In his idiosyncratic tone –combining the didactic with the forceful – Wolff spoke about the current situation of the American economy, the forces driving global competition, and the intricacies of the solution he proposes in his bookDemocracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism (Haymarket Books, 2012), which turns to the Basque Mondragón Corporation for inspiration.

 

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Prof. Wolff on The Big Picture RT: "More Co-ops Means Less Inequality"

Prof. Wolff joins The Big Picture's Thom Hartmann and discusses the lack of economic democracy in the current economic system. For a large chunk of the American workforce - capitalism is no longer working the way it's supposedly designed to work. Is it time to look for alternatives to the free market? And if so, where? Prof. Wolff offers Worker Self-Directed Enterprises (WSDE) as a solution.

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Prof.Wolff on Clearing the Fog: "Building Power for Worker Rights"

Prof. Wolff joins Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese on Clearing The Fog to discuss the current situation for workers and how they are building power to lift up wages and worker rights. 

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Economic Update: Poverty and the US Economy

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on slow US economy, money drives Yale, Chobani workers get profits, more car corps scandal, and Christian/Marxist dialogue. Interview with...READ MORE


The David Pakman Show: "Economist Richard Wolff on the Panama Papers

Prof. Wolff joins The David Pakman Show to discuss the implications of the Panama Papers leak.

 


How Capitalism and Racism Support Each Other

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This article originally appeared at Truthout.org

Capitalism's supporters use and benefit from a racism whose practice and consequences should be blamed on capitalism itself.

"Racism" is so often applied to US prison statistics and policing; to data on differences in employment, housing, wealth and income distributions, college enrollments, film awards, and so much more; and to hardening hostilities toward immigration. At the same time, racism is so often condemned -- at least in mainstream media, dominant political circles and most intellectual and academic institutions. Racism's persistence where the capitalist economic system prevails raises the question of the connection between capitalism and racism.  READ MORE

 


Economic Update: Gentrification: The Market Rules

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on pay of CEO's that fight $15/ he for workers, workers who get public assistance, facts on taxes paid and evaded, Mitsubishi like VW. Major discussion on...READ MORE


Prof. Richard Wolff on Smart Talk with Andrew Mazzone

Prof. Wolff analyzes the economy of the US from a Marxist perspective.

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Economic Update: Prisons and Sugar Babies

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on IMF, Panama Papers and tax evasion, workers fighting back. Major discussions of economics of prisons and...READ MORE

Global Capitalism: April 2016 Monthly Update

The Varieties of Socialism: An Economic Analysis

Co-sponsored by Democracy at Work, Left Forum, and Judson Memorial Church

These programs begin with 30 minutes of short updates on important economic events of the last month. Then Prof. Wolff analyzes several major economic issues. For this month, these will include...READ MORE

 


Prof. Wolff on RT TV: "Americans cast a vote of no confidence to the government of today."

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Prof. Wolff joins Sophie Shevardnadze of RT America to discuss the American Election campaign.

 

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Economic Update: Efficiency: Capitalist vs Human

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on tax issues: Panama Papers, corp tax rates, tax-avoiding "inversions" and Yale's tax avoidance. Part 2 of interview with...READ MORE


Economic Update: Worker Coops: Why and How

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on China's rising wages, lethal overdoses and economic crisis, courts worsen Puerto Rico's crisis, moving jobs to Mexico, and Florida governor tries to help Yale evade taxes. Major discussions of...READ MORE


Economic Update: How Capitalism Changes Intimacy and Family

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on top bankers' pay, bad auto corps' decisions, deflation, and socialist economics. Interview with Dr. Harriet Fraad on...READ MORE


RNN's The Empire Files: Understanding Marxism and Socialism

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Despite a concerted effort by the U.S. Empire to snuff out the ideology, a 2016 poll found young Americans have a much more favorable view of socialism than capitalism.

Though he died 133 years ago, the analysis put forward by one of the world’s most influential thinkers, Karl Marx, remains extremely relevant today. The Empire’s recent rigged presidential election has been disrupted by...READ MORE


Economic Update: Choosing Your Struggles

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on FED decision, struggles over China trade and Brexit, and fascism. Major discussions: (1) critique of capitalists' "job creation" and...READ MORE


Prof. Wolff Examines The Presidential Candidates’ Positions on Economy

Prof. Wolff joins Rob Lorei of WMNF, Tampa's community radio, and dissects the economics of higher tariffs of imported goods, as proposed by Donald Trump, the US corporate tax rate compared to other countries and the financial viability of an increased minimum wage.


Economy and Psychology: Real Depressions, Real Solutions Audio

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Economist Richard Wolff and his wife, psychologist Harriet Fraad, will discuss how economic policies impact our psychological and social well-being...READ MORE


Global Capitalism: March 2016 Monthly Update

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Economics and 2016’s Presidential Politics

Co-sponsored by Democracy at Work, Left Forum, and Judson Memorial Church

These programs begin with 30 minutes of short updates on important economic events of the last month. Then Prof. Wolff analyzes several major economic issues. For this March, these will include...READ MORE


Economic Update: Economics of our Politics

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on Europe's new econ stimulus, French workers rally for job security, US airlines' rip-off fees. Response to question about govt blame for economic crisis since 2008. Major discussions on...READ MORE


Economic Update: Seeds of Fascism?

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on injustice of Argentina's default settlement, on Pope Francis's rejection of "exploiters," and on stagnating real median incomes in US. Major discussions of...READ MORE


Economic Update: Good for Profits, Bad for Society

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On this week's Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on Citibank calls "Recession" for 2016, Robert Gordon's new book "Rise and Fall of American growth, college students to Europe for free educations, drug and food companies profit at public's expense, economics of presidential candidates, pension struggles heat up, and why China's slowdown due to US/Euro/Japan economies. Major discussions of...READ MORE


Economic Update: Capitalism is the Problem

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on Bloomberg's money, negative interest rates, the oil market, Puerto Rico's cruel sales tax, Fed Reserve governor supports breaking up banks 'too big to fail,' and Apple borrows despite its huge cash hoard. Response to listeners: converting capitalist into worker coop type enterprises. Major discussion...READ MORE


Capitalism, Greece, and the End of Lesser-Evil Choosing

Housing rights activist Ada Colau

This article originally appeared at www.tikkun.org

The question of whether to vote for the lesser evil in the upcoming presidential election is being resolved even as we wrestle with it. The last few years of global capitalist change and the response thereto in Greece show the historic moment now breaking out of such dead ends. 

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Economic Update: Economic Change, Economic Disorder

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On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on China achieves economic superpower status, profit produces drug scarcities, Ireland's unjust austerity, millionaire tax in Massachusetts. Major discussions of...READ MORE


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