Wolff Responds: Capitalism's Awful Solutions to its Crises 

Reject capitalism embrace socialism.

The mafia calls it a “shake down.”

People say UNIONS create a lazy society. When I was growing up in the 1960s I did not see that. At all. My union labor neighbors had well tended homes and yards. Many had hobbies that were beneficial to society. Like 5 acres of strawberries, with an untended roadside stand. The other neighbor a beekeeper, sold honey. 1960s and 70s over 1 in 3 workers were part of organized labor. UNION protected, relaxed, confident, paid well, full healthcare. No copay. No deductable. Small businesses did very well. Small stores, grocery, clothing, bakeries, hardware, farm supplies, hunting&fishing, were icons in my town, having been in families since the late 1930s. All big grocery stores were union. All manufacturing was union Welders, carpenters, plumbers, ALL unionized. Agriculture was decentralized. We had a small meatpacking plant, 2 canneries summer employment for kids & college students & moms. There were 3 dairies within 2 miles of my place...family dairy. They milked 100 cows a day. Grass fed cows, clean barns, clean fields, clean milk. Darigold milk cartoons filled in small cheese and milk factory down the road in the next town. Kids in my school rich and poor treated as equals. Thee only kids that were poor, was because of alcoholic parents. I was one of those kids. Yet the power of a solid neighborhood, solid school system, and a union job saved my ass when I graduated high school in 1971. I bought a house at 22. Sold it bought another with 80 acres in 1977. Raised crops and grass fed beef as a hobby, worked fulltime in a Sawmill. Then Reaganism of the 1980s. My wife's grinding wheel company took 250 jobs to Taiwan in 1987. The rototiller manufacturing company next door shuttered its newly rebuilt plant and took 300 union jobs to Japan in 1989. Reagan broke the IWA union and by 1992 over 120,000 lost union wage protection. Get this....$ 9 dollars an hour is what we lost adjusted for inflation from 1990 to 2018. And healthcare went from free for workers to $ 1200.00 dollar deductible- per family member. No union no senority protection. ..I saw a lot of good men arbitrarily fired. I witnessed the rise of predatory bosses first hand. I watched men become brownosers. Brownosers are the EPIDEMIC. u.s. today is faded glory. Just a cesspool to the billionaires

Christmas day and listening to a critique of capitalism... as it should be. Have a good one those who do 🌲

Their income is less this December. And their taxes will be higher in April since the meager middle class tax cuts expire. Thank you so very much Tinyhands, etal.

On the verge of Collapse

Yes it's shameful. I feel forward will be much worse. I'm retired 65 in Pa. Feel sorry for children of the world . greed by the Elite. Yes that's the tren. Fire Sale every 7 yrs

Dr. Wolff, Thank you for being a "beacon of hope" for those who've lost everything through no fault of their own. Your ideas are slowly gaining momentum with the masses as the leaders of this country show how little they truly care. In a time where the wealth of the world should be stepping up to the plate to help their communities in need, they are using their wealth to buy up the resources (businesses, homes, land, etc) the poor and the middle class just lost with the intent to sell everything back at horrendously inflated prices (what I consider to be predatory investing). Also, I find it quite ironic that those who are urging the people to go back to work for the sake of the economy are hiding like cockroaches in their multi-million dollar mansions. These are the same people who do NOT support stimulus relief checks for the people, cry about "printing money" (unless it's for them), and are the first in line to beg for the government for corporate welfare checks. Money and "the economy" shouldn't be 1st priority over human life. If things don't change for the benefit of ALL soon, it will only be a matter of time before the people organize to create change without the politicians being a part of it.

Hi mr. Wolff. Here in these uncertain times, you must be thanked for your great commitment to the truth. You and your loved ones are wished a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from a fan in Denmark.

The Americans think they live in the land of milk and honey. Oh, come to America, you can become rich. They have generally sold themselves a dream.

Ready today for a new system. This one has repeatedly ruined my life and now is ruining my children's lives. We never get ahead.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, Richard! Thank you for your video this morning....Getting ready for work on this Christmas Day..I love the information you provide. What do you think about Americans going on a general strike?

1 out of 3 returning to their companies saw a cut in wages and hours❄️

When there is a downturn in the economy, we should cut the pay of Congress and the President as well, then we'll see how they like Capitalism!

I really appreciate your positive thinking about how to improve the situation. Nonetheless, we still need a government that will make cooperatives possible. Until then we will deja vu the suffering over and over again. As long as we can keep the uneducated or under educated subjugated, nothing will change. The weak link is our schools and the anti-intellectual attitude of many young people. I know way too many people who hate school, learning, studying and those who are successful in schools. Too bad many of our schools only make success possible for school athletes.

Thank you Mr. Wolf for this gift in Christmas

Happy Christmas Comrades! ✊

Mitch is dyed in the wool Southerner and his loyalty is to the plantation owners. Slavery and low paid workers for them is great thing. That is why they embrace von MIses and Hayek. They are birds of a feather.

Extraordinary Economics class on the mechanisms of the capitalism! Brilliant, as usual. Thank you, Professor Wolff.

My understanding Capitalism are trying to bring back the jobs from China to America at a lower wage in due time. All in while the middle class and poor Class are suffering due to the coronavirus. Don’t let a good devastation go to Waste. It will be two classes of people poor class and the 1%

Prof Wolff breakin' it down with crystal clarity, as always.

Limits to Growth is destroying capitalism. Degrowth is our future.

During the Great Depression the Roosevelt administration provided work programs and assistance to help the people ...

Truth

Didn’t buy gifts this year, wanna break from this sickness

Stay healthy Prof Wolff we are going to need your keen intellect! Coming out the other side of this capitalism epic fail crash after crash economy and global viral pandemic deadly combination assault on the working class and as always the poor. which by the way is expanding in number by an alarming rate! It does not feel right to wish everyone Happy Holidays when we know so many are suffering It just feels more like we are going through the motions definitely not festive at all!

I just found out today that you taught David Pakman! Excellent job Professor.

Where's my Free Market solution to inequality? Where's my Free Market solutions to poverty and pollution? Waiting seems futile.

Merry Christmas!

AT THE 54:48secmark IN FRANK CAPRA's *It's a Wonderful Life* [which, after having seen this film for over 60 years now, i consider to be the GREATEST CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM BY AN AMERICAN ever done] in a shot of Jimmy Stewart and Thomas Mitchell in the main office on a wall in the close distance between the two is a picture of Peter Bailey (played by Samuel N Hinds) and underneath that picture is a little framed motto type thing==THE MOTTO SAYS "All you can take with you is that which you've given away" LET THAT SINK IN, friend. LET THAT SINK IN...then you'll recognize one of many reasons why the FBI was after Capra and this film for portraying Potter "too evil", the film and Capra were "Communist". ****CAPITALISM TAKES EVERYTHING****, LEAVING ONLY SUICIDAL AND OMNICIDAL DESTRUCTION BEHIND. It can do nothing other than that. IT SUCCEEDS BECAUSE *ALL HUMANS* DO THAT. Not much time left. Like the Redford film title of a few years ago: ALL IS LOST.

Such inspiring final words. Thank you!

Dr Wolf you speak with compassion and knowledge...again

Beautiful Sweater Love your program Merry Christmas

Thank you

could work in Canada.....USA ....no chance..,,at least not now or near future

The proponents of Capitalism, Communism and Socialism have not advocated mandatory accounting in the schools since the 50s. Is that too difficult a concept for any of them. What is NDP? What has happened to the depreciation of automobiles since Sputnik?

Spot on. Great video!

Just a side note: Computer equipment depreciates very quickly. Solely because it is obsolete very quickly.

Lower pay that is what the end game

We, the people, got to spend less in general. Marketing and false promotion of sales stuff are eating poor Americans alive. "Buy buy buy......" is not a way of life, and it creates a more significant gap in inequality.

Dickens wanted Scrooge to be redeemed. "Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man." That was a work of fiction.

Upon reflection on your commentary today, I see the following weaknesses: 1.... even if you buy equipment from failed businesses, you still have to store and resell. Is there really that much money to be made, when you factor in moving said equipment, storing it, advertising it for resale, etc....????.... 2....... Who will occupy the tsunami of vacated business spaces.......????....... pre-pandemic there were an increasing number of empty spaces in Malls etc......3....... If wages decrease then what happens to the sectors of the Economy based on tourism, durable goods, Travel and Leisure....?????...... Wealthy investors and owners in these areas will, in turn, wind up going out of business. The whole rotten deck of cards are falling like dominoes....The non-human world is exacting it's Revenge upon us. Long overdue. And this is only the prelude.The American Empire is DOA. I welcome your responding to the foregoing.

It’s very easy to be negative and criticize and much more difficult to lead with viable alternatives, which requires creative constructive thinking.

Good old corporate greed, tired of low wages.

Very well stated and true.

Find out how much you pay to work. Add everything up. Buildings, vehicles, employees, inventory, and all the rest. Chances are, you pay four times your salary to work. I know someone who makes $50,000 a year and if his company were a worker co-op, he would make over $250,000 a year. Dr. Wolff always uses an exampell of making $20 an hour but the company will make $22. Giving the company a profit of two dollars. This is not how it works. As you can tell, corporations want all of your money. Either way, I learned all I did from Dr. Wolff. Thank you.

The fact of the matter is that capitalism can exist with *very few actual capitalists*. From Engels: "If the crises demonstrate the incapacity of the bourgeoisie for managing any longer modern productive forces, the transformation of the great establishments for production and distribution into joint-stock companies, trusts, and State property, show how unnecessary the bourgeoisie are for that purpose. All the social functions of the capitalist has no further social function than that of pocketing dividends, tearing off coupons, and gambling on the Stock Exchange, where the different capitalists despoil one another of their capital. At first, the capitalistic mode of production forces out the workers. Now, it forces out the capitalists, and reduces them, just as it reduced the workers, to the ranks of the surplus-population, although not immediately into those of the industrial reserve army. But, the transformation - either into joint-stock companies and trusts, or into State-ownership - does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces. In the joint-stock companies and trusts, this is obvious. And the modern State, again, is only the organization that bourgeois society takes on in order to support the external conditions of the capitalist mode of production against the encroachments as well of the workers as of individual capitalists. **The modern state, no matter what its form, is essentially a capitalist machine - the state of the capitalists, the ideal personification of the total national capital. The more it proceeds to the taking over of productive forces, the more does it actually become the national capitalist, the more citizens does it exploit. The workers remain wage-workers - proletarians. The capitalist relation is not done away with. It is, rather, brought to a head.** But, brought to a head, it topples over. State-ownership of the productive forces is not the solution of the conflict, but concealed within it are the technical conditions that form the elements of that solution." www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch03.htm I think figures like Richard Wolff have a role to play in determining this State capitalist outcome in America providing it some intellectual weaponry. I do not think his solutions amount to socialism, even though I believe he sincerely believes so. I a

The only economic element allowed to "deflate" is labor costs. God forbid apple stock deflates, or oil, or whatever. But labor? It's great!

Do you have solutions which dont violate natural law? Do you even understand natural law? *“The vision of the anointed begins with entirely different premises. Here it is not the innate limitations of human beings, or the inherent limitations of resources, which create unhappiness but the fact that social institutions and social policies are not as wisely crafted as the anointed would have crafted them.”* ― Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy

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I hear ya, but, using your own metrics the cycle is ~ 10 yrs, not 4-7yrs.

I call this "Serfing USA"

2:05 the American proletariat would become so desperate that they will go to work for a lower wage... Why? Worker wages worldwide tend to even out so the United States in a capitalistic profit motive way is getting closer to the wages of Chinese proletariat

Very well said. And the distinction is spot on. Both do wars because it is a stop gap on running out of exploitative practices domestically. As well as an opportunity to spread the pain and destruction on a global scale. While reaping profits at the same time. An all inclusive agenda to make a global population desperate. Which always make profit for them domestically as well. Come at the most vulnerable from all sides. Which is why military spending is out of control. For a dominate military is vital to profits for the few and disaster for the many.

loud background noises are distracting.

I totally agree with everything you said. I would love to hear how socialism would solve the problem if something such as a recession were to happen though. Please don't take this as a "prove your way works" question. My perspective is more so "all I have known my whole life is capitalism and I want to be able to think differently. But I just can't imagine how it all comes together, since this is all i know." (It would be great to have some ammunition to fight the "prove your way works" type of people too though.)

I was un-Subscribed, so check your status people. I was also un-subscribed from several channels in the last several weeks. What's up with that?

Doesn't that mean that 58% of Americans household incomes were higher in December of 2020 before the covid crisis hit in February and March? Isn't that a good thing?

It will take some strong socialist policy to get America out of this present mess,after that things should never be the same again..forget capitalism or socialism,put heart,heads,&hands together find a balance.

1922-91.. USSR.. what happened? Why did it fail? Why will it work in the US? Why is our quality of life so high in the US with all these billionaires "taking" our money?

Maybe Mr. Wolff can define the differences between Republican Corp Capitalism and Democrat Plutocracy and tell us which is going to be better for Socialists like him. Answer:Neither.

With enough social supports, capitalism could work. It would be like the health insurance companies if we moved to Medicare For All or some other universal health care system. The health insurance companies could exist on the fringe, providing services not covered by the universal health care plan. Capitalism would exist in the same manner, with limitations and closer monitoring.

A servant or slave IS NOT grateful to any master, not in any system! Especially if that master created the mess, set up the system for failure for the have nots. Exactly, we CAN DO better than the current crap system in place!

This man speaks the truth.

First and foremost, you gotta think about what causes recessions. They are caused by government intervention. For example, people are out of work today because the government intervened and said that businesses need to close so that the virus doesn't spread. You gotta think twice before proposing even more government intervention to a problem caused by government intervention. Secondly, let employers and employees negotiate their wages. If Employer A is too stingy with the pay, there's Employer B down the street who will pay more to the employee, leaving Employer A to make a decision: either increase wages to attract needed employees, or go bankrupt by let Employer B take all the employees

Still no solutions offered!

Democratic Socialism. Democratize work. Basic necessities are human rights: food, shelter, clean air/water, education, healthcare, childcare, eldercare, transportation, communications.

Let's see. Oh I know, let us loan federally guaranteed money at negative interest rates to enable private equity firms to acquire all those idle assets still owned by those shut down. This is called a Capitalist solution under the "creative destruction" clause. We have got to get those assets working again. It is unfortunate so many just do not save enough to weather rainy days you know. Well the financiers and money lenders and credit card companies will just have to raise the rates and institute new fees to cover the costs of loss and economic recovery. Ain't American Capitalism Grand!

Its time to show them why they need to afraid REVOLT!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

What solutions for you , professor propose?

Americans love every holiday to see the Dickens story of Scrooge but never learn the lesson. The wealthy as well. As time pass the wealthy gets worst. Now is the Grinch but this time he is orange.

Richard, what is your solution? That one can decide what should be made? Government decided production. Capitalism works better than government cronies deciding. We need more taxes on inheritance. Your father’s wealth, does not give you a status in society.

And that is why every person who has a personal wealth over 5 million US dollars should be in jail for crimes against humanity.

Before Reagan and Thatcher we almost had it

Yes! We can do better than Capitalism... however, it seems to be the objective conditions are not present yet. We need to be prepare when this happens...

I always find these analyses too simplistic: The economy is a complex, dynamic and organic system. Does our practice of capitalism have flaws? Absolutely. No creation of humanity is "perfect". However everyone proclaiming they have an answer to such a complex system... is ridiculous

It's still illegal

I wish people would quit using that word "capitalism"! Capitalism died decades ago. I remember as a young man in the '50s and '60s, we had spending choices due to competition, INCLUDING JOBS. Today most everything is equally unaffordable no matter where you look, ESPECIALLY JOBS. Why don't we just call it Monopolyism, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT IS, for jobs, services, and products!

The mentality you speak of. What it does for the economy, GDP is not helpful.

Would be very happy to have conversation with you or any other Marxist to defend capitalism but haven't found a single taker who doesn't disappear after a few exchanges yet.

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So many platitudes coming out of this guy's mouth. "Intellectual"

VOLUME, Prof Wolff, VOLUME!!! Your video is nearly inaudible!!!

Richard Wolff explains this in straight forward, common sense terms.

Sell that expensive car for all it's worth. Buy a good used car with no payment. I've done it for 28 years.

He is advertising a Patreon, interesting

In the last 200 years free market capitalism has raised income growth adjustable to inflation 40x for production workers, and 16x for unskilled laborers. Where Richard is wrong, he describes crony capitalism, and says "See, Capitalism has failed you" but crony Capitalism isn't capitalism. But why does crony capitalism exist? It exists because of unchecked overreaching power the government has took from the people, his solution? Give government even more power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely isn't just a cute saying. Capitalism isnt perfect it does creates inequality, but humans are inherently unequal, and in a free society you'll see income inequality. But capitalism also creates wealth, your system just creates inequality. He's stuck on billionaires being the problem, the US federal governments spends all of Jeff Bezos money every WEEK, if you some how confiscated 100% of the wealth of every billionaire in America it pays for the US government for only 8 months, then what? Every decade our governments prints out more money in existence and your stuck on some Bezos and Walton family shit... adorable. The pie isn't finite, its been expanded exponentially, and people like Richard are still obsessed on the size of the slices. The incentive principle that has been embedded into human genetics that has driven us for 300 million years is completely lost on him. Richard is a dude who made up his mind 50 years ago, and is too headstrong to admit he was wrong despite mountains of historical evidence, economic logic and human nature to prove him wrong. It's not an easy thing to admit you were wrong your whole life. He's stuck in a 1960s worm loop, every day is ground hog day for him trying to prove Communism is the way of the future. His livelihood depends on it.

Was the Federal Reserve created illegally?

Much Mcconnell is not that articulate.

“*The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.*” ― Milton Friedman

Is there a way to file a suit and force congress to resign unless they pass m4a, 15$ hour, and forgive student debt? And defund congress

Indians and most pale skin people has an inherent failure to understand Prof Wolff's economic lecture. Period.

A solution to the problem of poverty is to share natural wealth (or a monetary representation of natural wealth) to all people. A solution to the problem of environmental degradation is to make markets honest, so that impacts on the environment are represented in prices. Prices will represent capital, labor AND environmental costs. Profits will go preferentially to industries that produce value for people at the least cost to the larger community of life and to future generations of humans. Why do economists who raise concern about poverty and economic stress NOT mention the idea of sharing natural wealth? Where are the economists who call for honest markets? Biological Model for Politics and Economics: gaiabrain.blogspot.com/2010/03/biological-model-for-politics-and.html

What to you get when you mix a holly weird zombie apocalypse movie, psychopathic eugenics, racism, and a group of scared oligarchs?.............COVID-19-84!

Just thought I would stop by the special ed channel. All these sheep following capitalist Richard Wolffs teachings. Wolff is the greatest capitalist alive, owns a business, youtube channel, and is a teacher. The income must be nice, I guess hard work pays off 🤷‍♂️

sound sucks RW