AskProfWolff: A Critique of Robert Reich 

exactly. FDR and his new dealers thought the band-aids they put on capitalism would be the end all. Capitalism waited, bided its time and little by little whittled away the new deal reforms. The beast must be slain, a stake driven through its heart.

@Adymn Sani you're not getting the point. If you abolish the capitalist system, future generations born will not dream of growing up to be rapacious titans of industry lording it over the serfs who will produce the wealth. The system will not exist, there will be no ecosystem to produce the insanity we are living through now. Just as feudalism and slavery were abolished, no one grows up dreaming of owning a plantation with hundreds of human chattel.

​@Adymn Sani The law of the English landowning class, adopted in the US constitution by the US landowning class whose right to rule came from the medieval belief in the right of kings to rule ordained by God? The central function of the law is the creation of "private property" that provides legal cover for the theft of our birth right to the land and resources we all need to live, that is used to extort our exploit labor. We must do their jobs to get their money in order to live, jobs for which we are paid a pittance. We have to buy land they have no right to claim ownership of to build our homes, and pay back huge sums of money, with huge interest on top. When the system crashes, as it must as it a ponzi scheme and they repose your land, you have worked your entire life to make someone else rich. Einstein called this the greatest evil of the world, while Oscar Wilde said, "any man who submits the law of private property has to be extraordinarily stupid" and who could ague this is not the case today? All wars are the elites fighting over resources they have stolen from us, and we are stupid enough to do the fighting for them. The police kill with impunity, as their function is to keep public order, to keep us compliant wage slaves. That is why the barbarity of the police state emerges during crisis, as the elites fear revolution that would disposes them of their ill gotten gain. They are not about to prosecute the thugs they rely on. The left have failed miserably in conveying these simple, self evident truths....including Prof Wolfe (who is a wonderful human being to be sure) as we need to get people angry over being shafted, as this is the only thing they respond to now. "The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying, “This is mine”, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes, might not anyone have saved mankind by pulling up the stakes, filling in the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau The origins of inequality 1757 I will fight and die alone if necessary, before I capitulate to moronic subhuman psychopaths who despise us and have no respect for our lives , and who coerce us under threat of loosing our jobs into actions that will lead to the end of all life on the planet. Fuck that, We truly have nothing to loose but our chains The question is how stupid are we prepared to be.........as stupid as Robert Reich?

@@pwp8737 👏👏👍

@Adymn Sani Tell that to the Sheriff

Asskhole Snarkerson huh?

Or more accurately a Socialist/Communist vs a Liberal. A "leftist" is too vague a term.

@Asskhole Snarkerson For someone who seems so anti-state you sure spend a lot of energy fetishizing it. Marxists don't. Had you actually read Marx and Engels you'd understand why.

@Asskhole Snarkerson Cutting and pasting random quotes is hardly the mark of engagement much less understanding.

@Asskhole Snarkerson use paragraphs bruh

Right! How about the tax reduction Trump gave them. They used them to buy(back) stocks with. Add to it the QE funds. The real slap in the face however, was they purchased Treasury bonds issued to cover the very tax debt they owed, but didn't pay. So, not only are we responsible for paying their debt, we are also paying them interest on it!

The rich were taxed (and should be) because they tend to do stupid and destructive things with money beyond a certain threshold. Stuff like stock market and various other kinds of bubbles.

Watch the documentary movie America: Freedom to Fascism. It's amazing. It's very educational.

And yet I have this argument at least twice a week with working class conservatives who believe that the wealthy pay the majority of taxes in dollars which might have been true 35 yNears ago But yet OAN and Fox News vomit out propaganda to their working class viewers that has created sort of a Stockholm Syndrome among the working class at least the white working class where working people identify with the people who are trying to destroy them

USA citizens generally think their taxes are too high. Why? Because the do not feel they are receiving equitable benefit from them. Should they actually account for all the taxes, excise fees, import taxes and all other taxes by any other name, they'd be flabbergasted! Not only that, the proportion of taxes for the common citizen is substantially higher than the more than the well to do. On top of that, the majority of income(unearned) of the well to do is taxed at an appreciatively lower rate than the common wage earner. Add to this, corporate taxes have fallen from 150% of individual taxes paid to 50% over the last 40 years. If people in the USA were to realize these circumstances, critically examine them and contrast them to the so called socialist countries, I believe they would realize they would recieve a far greater benefit from their. economic models.

Again

@Asskhole Snarkerson *Caveman grunting noises* Goberment BAD, BAD, BAD. Ughh GRUG SMASH. Socialism is when goberment do stuff, goberment BAD BAD BAD

@Asskhole Snarkerson What if.... this is crazy I know but think it over... what if... banks didn't own everything? What if... you actually heard the initiatives we've advocating for instead of making up a straw man fantasy up in your head? What "new power positions" are you even talking about? They have absolute power, they use that power to do everything they want, there is no such thing as having "150%" of something, they're hard capped at 100%. Your premise doesn't make any sense whatsoever. You must know that already, and that it's a probably a rationalization of your emotional disgust at plastic sock puppet middle men. That you'd rather have them just rule us directly and openly and dispense with the charade of elections. (And I agree, elections are a sham.)

@Asskhole Snarkerson Bahaha yeah cause government and big business don’t already have complete, 100% control right? God forbid we should try and change things to focus on the needs of working people. OoOoOoO ScArY!!!

@Asskhole Snarkerson conservatives are by definition, afraid of change.

It didn't go well for him when he debated Chris Hedges.

@@jonathanbailey1597 Was that the one on DemocracyNow or Pacifica or something like in 2016? Hedges just mopped the floor with Reich, if that's the one you're talking about

I think after Robert ran into Chris Hedges buzzsaw he quit with the "sit down and converse" interviews. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qnPnnkOmmXk.htmlsi=uwv2gwwPkmNaEx17

Wolff is a fashist, anti-semitic right wing immoral arschloch

Reich would win easily cause he states facts

Enlightened self interest required? Yes. Present? No evidence seen. Capitalism requires unbridled profit sneaking? Yes! And since it is required by law ---wonder who put that in-- share holders can sue if they think that is not happeneng!!! Sure we can care about...........but not if it costs us anything! Better to present the appearance of caring and run that up the flagpole until the wind stops blowing. So much cheaper that way! Gotta keep that bottom line up, up, up!

@@davidpeppers551 The only thing that I could add is that the imperative that a corporation must deliver maximum profit for minimum investment means that corporations are essentially engines of mediocrity.

I find the same flaw in logic conspicuously hilarious among rightwing libertarians. They will always fall back on their "no true Scotsman" fallacy whenever you point out any flaws in their beloved capitalism, as in, "ahh, but that's not TRUE capitalism, where all participants uphold the Noble Creed of Free Market competition, but dreaded cronyism instead!" So apparently their ONE TRUE capitalism can only flourish when its participants dispense with ruthless greed and self-interest and embrace a noble and self- sacrificing acceptance of the need to compete honestly and fairly without seeking any dishonest advantages. Aha, got it! So, in other words, the ONE TRUE capitalism of their dreams spontaneously degenerates into dreaded cronyism the moment the natural end results of blind greed and self-interest are allowed to play themselves out. Oops! So much for Laissez Faire and the glorious Invisible Hand!

@@rgzhaffie I find these people always use "mom-n-pop shop" examples for their "ONE TRUE" capitalism, and always ignore the Jeff Bazos and Walton family examples. They intentionally only look at the bottom 50% of the picture to develop their opinions about the system they love so much because the rest completely destroys it.

A corporation has a legal responsibility to make as much money as it can for its shareholders.

Well, labor is dead... who do you think will win in that "back and forth struggle?" Captialism killed it.

@@jasondelvaux3036 Labor isn't dead. And it's advocates will never truly die out. Ideas never die. If our greatest enemy, Fascism, can make horrific resurgences across the globe. Then so can The Left. Indeed, The Left *must* make a resurgence as global Capitalism falls apart.

This guy comes on rt TV can you trust him if means what he's says then this is my proposal give up you wealth and shadow the poor working classes that you are not rich, if you do that I follow you, but Untill then I don't trust you mate 😂😂

He’s as wrong as Reich is. There’s no pending workers revolution coming, capitalism isn’t failing and the economy is not controlled by a few greedy people. Wolff has always been a wannabe Marxist, but he’s found a way to make money out of touting to evils of capitalism and the hope of an impending workers revolution. He’s and Reich are idiots. They should try living in socialist of communist countries before pushing it as an alternative. They won’t, because they are capitalists making money selling horse feathers and snake oil.

When Capitalism fails they just become socialists 2008 is a perfect example. Then they go back to being Capitalists again. It's very convenient for them.

@Asskhole Snarkerson Who lambasted whom?

​@@lawsonj39 You can't reason with him, he's a caveman grunting about "Goberment BAD"

In his documentary, he apologized for not doing enough when in office. So now he's trying harder and I believe he is

The Artificial Society I It’s my understanding he left the Clinton administration because he didn’t agree with the Clinton policies on labor.

@@mountaindweller777 I believe that is true. As well as the Obama administration after a brief stint.

I thought NAFTA and Wall Street regulating were Obama’s fault? That’s what Trump says anyways!

That was essentially a gamble suggested by corporations, too.

That would require a national and even international revolution to succeed. Unfortunately too many are completely brainwashed into believing the media and government propaganda.

@@bicyclist2 :(

We have to found the Communist party based on ML principles and democratic centralism. As soon as the election is over.

It's a co-op system where workers all get 1 vote, investors get only 1 vote not the number of votes based on the number of shares they own, all involved simply get 1 vote and 1 vote only as to all aspects of the operation of the business. Private single owned corporations would compete with these co-op companies. Capital formation would come from a co-op Fed Reserve Banking system that would also rival the private bank owned Fed Reserve system of today. Willed the power back to the people. And demonstrate yet again every aristocracy is a harmful parasite to most people.

@@nobodynowhere21 "based on ML principles and democratic centralism." Michael, unless those things can be simply defined or at least summarized, people may never follow that path, and the generalizing, stereotype labelers will have a field day. I agree in theory with what you say, and think it may be in the right direction, but the details of the route need explained. Have you read Ursula Le Guin's 'The Dispossessed' which envisages a more just society like 'Anarres' ?

We have one. North Korea!

like the new-nazis do....sure thing.....these people are the real danger

That would be interesting.

Yes. He destroyed Paul Krugman earlier in the year.

@Granville's Hammer No but that sounds interesting!

Mung debate would be the perfect venue

Its how it always worked. Every system is doomed to fail, it just a question of time and how many "fixers" are willing to keep it running.

Spot on.

Exactly. Capitalism would be a great system were it not for greed.

I would get front row tickets. With that being said I think Wolff would beat him and beat him badly if they ever had a debate.

Revised slightly: As long as the characteristic " Greed" exist, socialism or communism will never be just. Actually, NO system can survive "greed". Greed exists. I love science fiction but it is FICTION. So is imagining a future without greed.

Chomsky has highlighted Adam Smith’s actual perspective on the dangers inherent to the division of labor. In _Wealth of Nations,_ Smith makes the point that if labor becomes too specialized people will become _as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become._ In context: _”In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part of those who live by labour, that is, of the great body of people, comes to be confined to a few very simple operations, frequently one or two. But the understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding,or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him, not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgement concerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great extensive interests of his country he is altogether incapable of judging; and unless very particular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable of defending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturally corrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard with abhorrence the irregular, uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body, and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance, in any other employment than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expense of his intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society this is the state into which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarily fall, unless the government takes some pains to prevent it.”_ -Wealth of Nations

"Adam Smith and his legacy. He actually argued against unfettered capitalism" That might not be quite the same thing as arguing FOR communism.

At least he supports universal healthcare. But yeah

His policy prescriptions would fix a lot. Reich and Wolff have the same goals, but different methods. I think they would both theoretically work. Reich has history on his side, his policies have always worked. But yes, the capitalist class is always trying to roll them back. Wolff wants a system which would function, but the capitalist class is even more hell bent on sabotaging it...even to the point of war and endless assassination attempts. I think Reich's policies are pragmatic and sustainable, and Wolff's policies can be used as successful rhetoric to ensure the public doesn't become complacent, nor brainwashed by capitalists' propaganda to start rolling back Reich's policies. Sometimes you need radical ideas being broadly accepted by society to ensure the pragmatic and more moderate policies remain intact.

Decapitated* head...

Woops! Looks like I angered the Grammar Gestapo... Severed, decapitated. Same difference.

@Joseph Henderson Broken record much?

@Joseph HendersonNo...nobody said anything about Communism. Capitalism is broken. Plain and simple. I'm free to have an opinion about a severely flawed system. I don't need your approval and I don't have to move. Everytime someone critiques capitalism, you nit wits come out of the woodwork and say the same old tired shit. ...and what you called an "argument" was merely a biased statement. So...no.

LOL!!

Jack Vac, you drank the koolaid. You don't understand the simple concepts of democracy, cooperation, sufficiency but not excess. Read more of Professor Wolff, more Professor Cornell West, and even more MLK. There is a less rapacious way to live, to produce, to share, to look after all of us do none of us fall below estates standard, regardless of our abilities and talents. The common good is a value worth pursuing. Stop listening to the media that propagandized and allows no deviation from a hardline capitalism of all for a few and none for you.

As his political platform. Reformism is a lot easier to sell to normies as opposed to immediately seizing worker ownership of business. There's a lot of argument about if incrementalism (real incrementalism, not lib fake incrementalism) like that could work. To slowly get to where the public is groomed to the point where the revelation of Xenu is palatable. My guess is no, because they won't allow us to accomplish anything in the first place and we're in the final decades of civilization.

@@BMoser-bv6kn there's no need for population reduction. We already produce enough food for 10 billion people, but we waste it because of capitalism. I also reject your notion that Sanders is anything but a filthy capitalist. Sanders represents the left-wing of Capitalism, but he's no leftist

@@slimyfisher1370 Three explanations to consider.... 1. He was trying to get the word 'socialist' back into our political vocabulary 2. he was a sheepdog in sheep's clothing chasing the left into the Democratic fold. 3. The Dems saw that the DSA was gaining popularity and wanted to head them off by co-opting their messaging and saying Right wing Bernie was Democratic Socialist. Personally, I am as confused as you as to the real reason (thus the grasping at conspiracy) but if I were betting I would say #1 if only to safeguard my view of humanity.

That was my thought. Even the not-really-socialism of a Bernie Sanders had much of the country yelling "VENEZUELA" as if socialism was to blame for that country's problems.

Excluding Cubans, Venezuelans and Bolivian diaspora in the US, good thing most of the older US population indoctrinated against this word are passing away and that the younger generation isn't so averse to it. Only issue remaining, Fox News is still propagandizing this BS incessantly, but doubt their appeal goes below 45 year olds much.

Also ranked choice voting and hand counting of paper ballots, software counted results are weird.

"I very much doubt that either of us will live to see its realization." Not to mention the presence of that annoying truth lurking in the corner of our minds, in a currently-distant corner starting to gather cobwebs, the distraction that everybody hates to talk about let alone face up to, sits climate change. Rapidly advancing climate disruption that isn't going to get better without immediate drastic action. At a time when we are all struggling with a pandemic and sliding into severe financial difficulty. Confusion. Distractions. Idiots at the helm. Bottom line on our ability to rise to the challenge? I'm not holding my breath.

Even Milton Friedman got it. So long as you tow the line.

Yeah they are really profitable RN

Crypto is the feature 🌏

These is the best time to start up an investment on cryptocurrency

@@markrichard4810 it will be a lucrative move to take advantage of crypto now, because it will be very profitable overnight

@@mark-we1jd yeah you gotta see the favourable market rise in Crypto

The rich see economic crisis as a garage sale, that’s why investing right now will be the best decision...

Buy sliver and crypto Crypto is the future

Trading crypto has become a lucrative way of making money

Stock are good too

I wanted to trade crypto but I got confused by the fluctuations in price

I worked in a worker cooperative for 7 years and know what you mean about "member engagement". We can all have different priorities at different times, and with the complex world around us and different development socially, mentally and sexually between most individuals, solidarity and cohesion is a problem and all this can be exacerbated by interests to suit their agenda. Do you really think those with the power would ever let " a combination of short term fixes of the sort Reich envisions" replace capitalism? 'Frailty, thy name is human'.

"add in the reduction of money in politics lobbying" ... is that to prolong the 'unfixing' time ?

what would prevent the for profit private enterprises from just bribing politicians in their favor, like they do now, and privatizing everything, like they are doing now?

Take videogames. The issue isn't "private vs. public", the issue is "who owns the major means of production and makes the decisions at the videogame developer studio?"