Richard D. Wolff

I wanted to add to this comment mainly due to what the general public thinks when they hear the word socialism. So far in the general public I’ve seen socialism associated with either massive government intervention and corruption, or totalitarian and brutal police states (USSR being the prime example). Case in point would be a conversation I just overheard between two people with whom I share cubicle walls with at work. They were talking about the recent United Airlines debacle, and how the Airline offered up to $800 for a person to surrender their seat. When this $800 limit was reached and no takers stepped forward as we know, the subsequent actions of the security personnel was described as “socialist intervention”. I heard so much about how socialism has been demonized in the US, but this conversation really provided a first hand encounter with what people associated with the word “socialism”, and frankly it is sad. I wanted to ask the person who made this statement why he associated the actions taken by United Airlines with socialism, but I had to stop myself because I didn’t want to start such a conversation in an office environment.