Richard D. Wolff

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?

Hello Professor Wolff, and to your support staff, I offer the following comment/question though your "askprofwolff" form, as your most recent Economic Update titled, "Economic Update: Capitalism's Craziness (2016.08.25)" posted to Youtube, is not yet available through your D@W portal. Attempts to submit the same comment through your D@W "Contact Us" form appear to freeze or hang in a "Saving" mode. I appreciate all of the work engaged by you and your staff. Concerning your most recent podcast you did raise the topic of the National Labor Relations Board decision to overturn the Brown University decision (342 NLRB 483), prohibiting the formation of Unions by Graduate Students employed by private academic institutions [https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/board-student-assistants-covered-nlra-0]. I am pleased that you cited the academic institution's unwillingness to cede control, for fear that a unionized student labor force might embolden the tenured staff to likewise work towards organized labor relations. I'm disappointed that this entitlement is not shared amongst the student labor force in public institutions. Would you consider extrapolating upon the other aspects of control that, in addition to the power of collective bargaining, pose a challenge to the administration of institutional academia? To touch upon this subject, I offer an example from your accounting of your own personal student experience to broach the subject of the social controls exerted by an industry focused on distributing selective misinformation and wholesale propaganda. Of course, I refer to the absence of critical analysis pertaining to the discipline of Economics, and the near complete disregard for the works of Karl Marx (amongst other topics of historical and social significance). This topic is truly very significant, and quite large in scope - the contradictions of Capitalism and cognitive dissonance imparted upon a hapless population through propaganda. Regards, Paul

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)

I'm going to get greedy and also ask if you could discuss Argentina, the new President Macri and his nearly immediate decision to acquiesce to the demands of their debtors after a long holdout by the previous administration. Thanks again!

Dear Dr. Wolff: I have heard you use the term 'race to the bottom' when referring to the relocation or offshoring of labour by corporations, typically originating in North America, western Europe and Japan, to much cheaper labour markets in the interest of maximizing profits. If I understand you correctly, the ability of these corporations to do so will drive countries to undercut one another with decreasing standards of labour, simultaneously eroding the purchasing power of the wage earners to support the very same corporations. A self-destructive cycle. I have also heard you speak of enclaves of the labour movement, such as in France, which are still highly organized and have maintained high labour standards, or here in Canada where unions, while steadily weakening, still wield some influence over politicians. With that said, my question is: is the 'race to the bottom' a result of a failure of labour to effectively organize beyond national borders on pace with growth of transnational corporations? Was there ever a possible equilibrium between business and labour after we'd 'hit the bottom', whereby the capitalist system might have survived, in your estimation? Thank you for your continued insights, Dr. Wolff. Please come to Alberta! I think there are a lot of people still looking for answers in the wake of the collapsed oil economy.

Dear Prof. Wolff, let me just thank you for many hours of your elaborate and interesting speeches. I am glad to find that USA is having wise people like you that struggle for all of us. A wise man always looks up and anticipates the future. The more focus and more precision he invests in this aspect, the wiser he becomes. Indeed, by each new speech you make, you prove it to be right. I've got a question, a short one: "What has happened to your YouTube channel?". Thank you. On the other note, Id like to hear, in one of your future debates/monologues, what do you think of capitalism's impact on public health? I know you have talked about it on many occasions, but, I'd like to hear about dark trends in USA concerning legal drug abuse, the growing addiction legal opiates, deaths caused by hunger for profit in the name of health "care". I will provide you with a link to an article that argues about it in some detail. I'd really like to hear your say about it: http://www.globalresearch.ca/genocide-by-prescription-drug-induced-death-in-america/5535449 All the best wishes professor, a good health and a long life filled with many more endeavor in destroying the taboo of socialism and communism in the USA and the world.

Professor Wolff: You have often cited the significant role that automation (robotization) and computerization play in the elimination of good-paying jobs in the United States. Capitalists enthusiastically employ technology that removes workers from production, because machines do not get paid wages, demand profit-eating health insurance, pensions, or benefits, or go on strike. Marx himself noted this phenomenon. I recently had dinner with a neighbor who works for a prominent U.S. manufacturer of industrial robots. He said that according to inside information to which he is privy that within the near future 50% of jobs in the U.S.will be performed by robots. One can imagine that technological advances might even increase this number. My question is what do we do? U.S jobs are disappearing fast, either because of automation or from off-shoring. Is a guaranteed income for all Americans the only answer? Thank you.