Richard D. Wolff

It seems like this really flew under the radar, but it's worth noting that PwC settled in the middle of a trial in Miami over a case related to shoddy auditing of a failed, corrupt mortgage company in Ocala, FL. Check it out here from Tampa Bay Times. I can understand why PwC didn't want the same fate as Arthur Andersen, but should more people have gone to jail over this?! http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/banking/auditor-pwc-settles-55-billion-lawsuit-as-taylor-bean-mortgage-fraud-case/2291405

Banks getting to create money out of thin air given out as loans which of course need to be paid back with interest for which the money doesn't exist. All money essentially being somebodies loan from their bank. And then a small amount being the government's loan from the federal reserve. And there not mathematically being enough money for everyone to pay it back. The fed getting to control the money supply. Fractional reserve lending. Nothing to back up the money. Bitcoin. Are these interesting things to think about?

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57c48e40e4b09cd22d91f660

Would you be willing to update the available podcasts on the application?

Hi Professor Wolff, I am a Managing Director of an Electrical Wholesale Company here in New Zealand. We sell electrical products to electricians mostly small businesses. After watching your RT interview talking about the solution to our broken economy is changing our business structure from the bottom up, I wish to try the co-op business model. To give you an idea of the how we work, My business partner has a family business in China that manufactures our products, these are then imported to us and we then sell these to our independent electricians at a wholesale rate (30% less then RRP) giving them a 30% margin they can make on the items for themselves. Our RRP is 1/3 the cost of our major opposition, so our customers always get a fair price if they purchase from us directly or from our customers (electricians). My idea is to incorporate these independant electricians into a unified labour workforce under a co-op that serves there interests and paves the way for all of us to obtain bigger contracts that the big corporations usually get. So, my question is...If our production is a capitalist model, our distribution is co-op and the independant contractor is a capialist business model would creating an co-op in the sense work? I have been unable to find anyone here in New Zealand that has done this type of business model before, so this is why I'm asking yourself and anyone else wishing to comment on what practical steps would be required to create such a business model that I can implement from a theory to reality. You thoughts and/or suggestions would be a god sent. Cheers, Dan.

Hello again, Professor Wolff. You say that the issue of outsourcing could be settled if the companies in the US were led by the workforce: they would never decide to move their business abroad. But there is a problem with this view: A capitalist can still just build an additional factory in a country with cheap labour, thereby making pressure on the prices also of the cooperatives. This can lead to bankruptcies and thereby to unemployment. How to deal with this? I mean, of course you can just employ trade barriers, but this wouldn't benefit anyone. Here's another option: make the dollar cheaper. But by which amount? Well, here I'm conservative. I think, one can let the market find an answer. But one can give it an incentive: The Fed (and one can easily imagine that this will become it's mandate) could just buy the surplus the capitalist has made in the currency in that he has made it. Then, the country that has let the capitalists in has the problem.

Dear Professor Wolff, why should we reject disruptive automation? If we can find a way so that demand for goods stays put even if unemployment rises, then the profitable companies (or cooperatives) will just scale up and employ more workers. So, what about rewarding workers for automating themselves out of business by providing unemployment benefits that are ABOVE their last income?

Dear Professor Wolff, My name's Sean, I'm a philosophy major from Sydney. My question is about the automotive industry in the US during the 1970s. From what I gather, the domestic auto industry suffered during the 1970s and onwards, due in part to the 1973 oil crisis and increased imports from foreign investors, particularly investors from Japan, which were producing vehicles that were more fuel efficient. I'm aware of the fact that the UAW and Ford filed for a Trade Safeguard Case that was rejected by the USITC. Eventually, Japan agreed to impose voluntary economic restraints upon itself. So I think I more or less understand all of that. My problem is this: the voluntary economic restraints did not work and the the domestic US auto industry continued to degrade. Why is that? How would these voluntary economic restraints have been different to, say, raising tariffs in the ordinary way, and what kind of difference do you think it would have made if the USITC did not reject the UAW's calls for trade safeguards? I would even be grateful if you could just point me to some good sources, thank you! --Sean

Dear Dr Wolff, I love your economic updatestimulus and have learned so much. Can you discuss the issue of productivity. I hear economics say productivity is better than ever, then I hear them say it has not improved in 40 years. Does it have something to do with flat wages? It's confusing. Also, could you discuss how the ridiculous city of Dubai was created by out of control capitalism?

I was wondering Richard if you had any prior knowledge of the UK 'business man' Sir Philip Green? His knighthood, almost certainly bought (which if you pay the right person you can purchase as easily as you can a chocolate bar - see the 2006/2007 'Cash for Honours scandal), stands as a sarcastic joke for the thousands of workers he has abused over the years. A self-made billionaire, he has most recently become involved in a pensions controversy in the UK, whereby he purchased a British apartment store, BHS, as part of his Arcadia Group, a retail company that includes Topshop, Topman, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, and Outfit, of which he is chairman. He took as much money out as he could for him and his family, and sold the poorly performing store chain for £1, leaving it with a pension deficit for it's workers to the tune of roughly £600 million, more or less the same amount he took out of the business. He was due to be discussing this issue with the government, but was recently found by a journalist to be on a yacht at the time, and Green assaulted the journalist who found him. He really is a monument to the worst excesses of CEO's under UK capitalism, and he been involved in many scandals throughout his life including a issue with tax avoidance and workers rights exploitation. Although you could devote an entire hour to his behaviour and nonferrous practices, I would be grateful if you would include some discussion about him on your next broadcast. I have not heard of you discuss him in the past, and he seems to neatly summarise the behavioural practices of big business owners - except this one got found out. He is currently under no real pressure from anyone political or otherwise and stands unpunished because of his wealth and friends in the press.

I wonder if in one of the upcoming updates, Professor Wolff could give his definitions for the terms socialism, communism, Fascism and Marxism. Often when I get into discussions about these topics, I feel that my own definitions don't properly convey what they are. And most people sadly have definitions of their own that are quite frankly, wrong. I certainly don't want to try to explain it if I don't even have an accurate definition. I've often tried to find professor wolff giving a definition of these terms but I haven't thus far. Professor wolff has a brilliant way of describing things that few can match. I feel, for that reason, the definitions he uses would be pretty good ones. I really dislike having subpar definitions for terms that are virtually undefinable thanks to the propaganda surrounding it. Thank you, Robbie pierce.

Dr. Wolff: Would you care to comment on the issues likely to arise at the up-coming central bankers' meeting in Jackson Hole? The World Socialists' website had an interesting article on the subject: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/08/26/pers-a26.html. Thank you.

It seems inevitable at this point, Global economic collapse. While becoming aware of this myself, I also try to inform the people around me. And they look to me for answers. As humans we are always looking for a strategy. What do we do [before, during, after] the economy collapses? In other words, What does an economic collapse look like in modern days? Will we experience similar effects of the Great Depression? Hoovervilles, Bank failure, Mass Migration... these are things happening now in some form. Can we expect more of that or will we have a newer, stronger version of a depression because of the way society and economy has evolved? It's like a sick joke, but at this point between political revolution and economic collapse I don't see a situation without collateral damage. Should we start collecting cash stashing it in our mattresses? Hoarding bottles of water? I don't like comparing it to doomsday preppers, but that kind of conveys my question. Thank you! Everything you do helps me in so many ways. And I'm actually talking with Betsy and volunteering my time to help spread the word and make videos for you guys and Democracy at Work. -Matt Russell

Hillary has said that there is not much we could do to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs to China. Trump implies the opposite. Who's right?

Professor Wolff: You recently interviewed your brilliant wife Harriet Fraad to discuss the adverse impact of capitalism on family life. The human cost of this exploitative economic system that creates deep and widespread financial stress and insecurity is devastating. An article published this month on theconversation.com documents the tragedies that too often overwhelm the lives of precarians. (https://theconversation.com/how-work-can-lead-to-suicide-in-a-globalised-economy-62847)