Wolff Responds: No "Tradeoff" Between Fighting COVID-19 and the Economy 

Sadly capitalism only plans for the short-term, and things like public health that are long-term focused get in the way of massive profits.

china showed what could be done by rational action to save lives. and it turns out their economy recovered quickly too. usa showed what happens when the management of the nation is in the hands of politicians. i hope that a lot of those politicians will be looking for work soon. but that doesn't help the usa. the damage is done, and more damage will be done, because politician rule is ineffective, unless your only measure of success is the enrichment of politicians.

I think we can all agree that the trade war with China was brilliant. Finally corporate farms across America could go bankrupt like a trump casino and get bailed out by the taxpayer.

Amazing economics class as always. Thank you, Professor Wolff.

From the UK, where we are about to go into a second, and even more damaging lockdown, this video is *extremely* prescient

The real.vurus is the political situation

when i recall how some nurses in USA didn't have PPE back in March 2020, no c-95masks, and nurses being taught classes on how to reuse a c-95mask... or nurses making their own handcrafted shields and teaching fabric mask sewing classes .... while USA federal government refused to engage in securing protection for medical staff let alone the population.... the federal governement refused to mobilize the business community on a national level to divert business production toward helping confront the pandemic, it abandoned the medical staff who had to fight alone without any weapon any means. i remember a posted picture of three nurses back in March protecting themselves by wearing trash bags and handcrafted face shields being proud of their resourcefulness, at least one of them died of covid those days.

Let's face it folks, capitalism has failed in America. What now?

GREAT TALKING POINTS MR WOLFF AS USUAL 💯 ... SALUTE 💯

Brilliant! Thank you Professor Wolf!

Professor...... This was almost matching Sermon on the Mount !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God bless you.

Wow what a point on every hit and with the finishing blow that statement was amazing

Also, the US has no safety net.

Right on!

Australia just had its third day of zero new cases of COVID-19.

Capitalism cannot be "put on pause" because world lives in Economy of Debt and it cannot stop or it will collapse.

Richard Wolff.... Asking you for an interview because empowering teachers are creating what you just shared using a special platform that cares and shares its revenue with its users globally💕🌎💕

An economy will not be functional if there are too many sick people. That is why the health of people comes first. Only when you are healthy you will enjoy work and life more fully. In a pandemic when the virus is invisible, several East Asian countries have done very well in containing the problem enabling near-normal social and economic activities to carry on. The methods are simple and effective, coupled with good governance and cooperation by all the citizens. Test, trace and isolate. Everyone gets a health code. They take it so seriously, for example, in Qingdao, on the east coast of China when 17 new cases had been recently reported the local authorities tested the entire 9 million people in the city over a period of five to six days. You wouldn't believe when seeing pictures or videos of normal life going on in China. By the way, it is not just China, but South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam etc. In the West, some people are still debating about whether to wear a mask or not. The culture and tradition are different. People in the West don't know what "duty" means. We, as individuals, have a duty to the state and also to our fellow citizens. There is a selfish attitude. Many people in the West have grown up in relatively well off environment and have not suffered any real hardship. Many people don't want to sacrifice anything. To make matters worse, many leading politicians don't follow science; they measure their own success of governance by the stock market index or the GDP. For the sake of argument, what meanings the Dow Jones Index will carry if all of us have died? The Chinese government has just finished its 15th five year plan to tackle a number of issues and take the country forward. It will accomplish its 5 year plan and will, in due course, do another 5 year plan, to serve the many, not the few. The Chinese government has 95% satisfaction rating amongst its people, which is the highest in the world. Irrespective of whether you agree with their principle or ideology, the Chinese people are marching forward with increasing and better quality of life and living standard. They are also focusing on many innovative technologies. This is called progress. In the Western world, the so-called multi-party democracy is in name only, with short-term or little planning or direction. Just because many (but not all) people can vote to elect a leader you call it a democracy. You should realise that in one particular county in Texas with 1,700 square miles area there is only one ballot box for the general election. The idea is to discourage or make it impossible for people to vote. Different states or the courts deliberately make it difficult for legitimate people to vote.

Well said sir.

I love your message. I’ve been preaching the same message since I was a teen. But here you are preaching to the choir. Most of the country has been brainwashed by decades of propaganda. When I take this messages I others I find myself being put down called in American and all that nasty stuff people like to throw at you because of their ignorance. People would rather work agents their own best interest then consider a better way for all. The me first attitude is strong in the US and the world. The most common argument I hear about a social democracy style of governing is; I don’t want my hard earned taxes helping others that are to lazy to do it them selves. I don’t think they realize that the taxes are gone before they get them. The tax code is upsides down. With some restructuring we may nit have to ease the taxes on the average working person to pay for healthcare college a base wage and other benefits we could see from our own taxes. There is generations of conditioning that has to he broken first before changes will happen.

If the United States chooses to shutdown in March or April. Both the economy and health will be much better than now. For example, South Korea, they decided to quickly solve the epidemic through shutdown, and the economy returned to normal after the epidemic ended. On the other hand, life matters.

It might be foolish what I say but what if we could at work wear good droplet catching, yet comfortable masks that blocked noise too so much that we would refrain from talking ? Any local communication would have to be typed on a portable display but additional ear caps could provide for music and management messages while working. There would be less infections normally because as far as is known, the droplets are most responsible and so no talking, or sneezing or coughing, means no droplets.

I think it's not that the people of business community really __want__ to keep their businesses running to make profits, it's what they __must__ __do__ just to save their businesses. Because if some of them put their business on idle, others who will not stop their business will win the competition. I believe they are not evil people. Well, at least I hope some of them are not complete villains. It's the "win or die" system, that makes their actions evil.

May Allah, The Most Merciful keep you firm and steadfast upon the truth you speak Professor Wolff.

This guy is a bona fide social 👩‍💻 👏👏

When civil war happens New Zealand sounding better and better

i called this way back that if they ease restrictions, there would be spikes. i said the same thing about the schools. the same exact thing happened. Trump only cares about the economy. he thinks it reflects the state of the country. hopefully he's done in a few days. but at the same time, i'm not looking forward to Biden either.

I love when Wolff get's all specific....( it's like 1917 all over again )

We are a back to the future hope a miracle

We do not have smart Presidents hope the future will change the situation!

Was Richard Wolff dropped on his head... repeatedly? Not as a baby, but right before this video. He says we should have and could have used restaurants and theaters to have unemployed people teach kids. This idea according to him 8:29 "If you had done that you would have defeated the diseases spread and avoided second lockdowns". How is that at all helpful? Does he think schools are the reason for the second wave? "Nowhere, the research found, was there a spike that coincided with reopening: "What we found is that the school [being opened] makes absolutely no difference," Álvarez told NPR" www.npr.org/2020/10/21/925794511/were-the-risks-of-reopening-schools-exaggerated "Children under the age of 10 generally are at quite low risk of acquiring symptomatic disease,"

"The alternative is to vote for a person who is manipulated by the deep state, gravely compromised by scandals and corruption, who will do to the United States what Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing to the Catholic Church, Prime Minister Conte to Italy, President Macron to France, Prime Minster Sanchez to Spain, and so on." Carlo Maria Viganò 2020 ps: What Fidel Castro did to Cuba?

Just learn from chain instead anti chain America.

I totally disagree with you on this one Wolff