So, you don't think that cops are needed in poorest neighborhoods, where crime rates are the highest, drugs are sold to kids, gangbangers terrorize the blocks, domestic violence is highest etcetc?
@@sinngleton community cops maybe, of the same ethnicity. Poor neighborhoods is victim of economics and predator capitalism. Fix the root of the problem, then you wont need as much cops.
Because George they are paid to go around and do that so other people might desire not to discover or watch the truth. ' Do you watch "Robert Reich" too? Both these guy professors and on our side the side of the people.
@@barabimbaraboom7830 What we are living through is the endgame of capitalism. Wealth accumulates in the hands of a few and they use it to manipulate the society and government to protect their position as the world around them suffers. We need to empower the people so we control the means of production and have a true democracy.
@@defro125 Again, we don't have true capitalism thanks to the fed... But I wont accept communism as the solution. Been there done that, human nature is corrupt at its core.
@@barabimbaraboom7830 True capitalism is what we see right now in USA. Capitalism is wery unstabel. It break down every 47 years on average. The USSR, after having gone from the dipshit place where almoast half the population was incapebel of reading called the Russian empire to the spacefaring superpower it was in less then 30 years and was compeating with the USA and UK, witch had centuries of building up before that.
The problem is how much suffering are you willing to impose on others to achieve "YOUR" success? For me, if my success creates pain and suffering to others, it is no success at all ! I want to live in a world where my success doesn't cause anxieties in others but strongly support their success. Even if that means that my net worth is not as big as if I ONLY seek my individual success. Let's do a little mental exercise: Imagine that from now on, the company you work for will share with ALL its employees (that includes you) the wealth that you and all other employees help the company make. So, you get your regular salary, AND, either quarterly, or annually, you and EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COMPANY are given a cut of the profits YOU helped achieved. Not just the CEO or the board of directors, or the shareholders, but you also, the simple employee. Why not ? Your work helped create some of the profits, didn't it. So, wouldn't THAT be the world you want to live in ? One where you are rewarded for your efforts ? Why is it that because I, for example, have more connections than you, or more money to invest than you (not efforts) it is OK for me to make 100 times, 200 times, 300 times more than you ? Is that me being rewarded for my efforts ? Or is it me being rewarded for my ability and willingness to exploit ? I guess it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it ? Practically speaking, the solution is this: Let those who have accumulated insane fortunes on the back of others keep their wealth. We don't want it ! But, from now on, let us establish worker coops, where decision-making authority AND profits are distributed much more reasonably. Not necessarily evenly, but reasonably. Based on merits but without exploitation. In worker coops, the highest paid person can make up to 8 times the income of the lowest paid. No more. How would that sound to you ? It has worked wonderfully in Spain for decades. Check it out: Mondregon cooperative corporation...
“Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule, the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class....” ----Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State Friedrich Engels
I love it. In college if I had the chance to take your course even though it not in my major it would have been great. You always seem to agree with my take on things and you have great passion.
4:27 Here's a very good analogy. I clean houses for very wealthy people. Being around all that wealth and opulence and I in comparison live in squalor. So I understand being around it, near it and can't have it. It has made me HATE the rich! I personally would pay money to see them all hung and guillotined.
As Einstein said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them”. So, regarding Einnstein´s saying, coronavirus is a convenient excuse but not the cause of the current problems. CV was a catalyst but the real crisis this time started in Aug-Sep 2019 with the Fed and ECB panicking. The real problem is excessive debt (based in valueless printed paper money) at all levels of the economy, sovereign, corporate, financial and personal. Governments and CBs have created the debt and are now desperately trying to remedy their mistake by doing more of the thing that created it all.
There is not that much difference between Medieval Feudalism and Modern Capitalism. In both systems almost everything is owned by a small group of people who live lives of extreme wealth and privilege off the backs of the rest of the population.
@@newperve So you think I am hurting the feelings of medieval serfs? Noble of you to jump to their defense even if completely pointless. Have you tried opting out of capitalism recently?
I have observed through the years this tendency for workers to find a way to save capitalism. We try and work things around, propose new implementations, give chances to capitalists because this time things will be better... Well enough is enough. The sooner we understand that the whole system is corrupted and stacked against us, because of its truly perverted nature, the sooner we will be free from this hell that we live.
6:40 Ripped off in the economic apartheid of the provision of economic services. Interest free money to the elite, debt bondage for everyone else, asset stripping for the lower classes.
@gary grine Long before all this I was chatting to a car dealer friend who explained to me how he bought a brand new Porsche each year. He took loans from overseas, Iceland I believe at the time at crazy low interest. He had his money in investments that returned far more than he lost servicing the loans (sounds insane but loads of people were doing this pre-crash). The cars back then were in demand and depreciated very little if at all so he effectively got to drive a brand new Porsche for free or sometimes even made a little if it was a GT car or RS. Trick was to get into a position to be able to access the finance and there in lies the rub for the rest of us. Basically he explained all this to me to prove that I was a mug for buying old secondhand cars, didn't have much self awareness that man.
I’ve been saying this for years, we need to change the system first if we want to solve the issues with race, and wealth inequality. People very often focus on the problem of race, which is necessary and needs to be addressed, especially now. However I maintain that the problem with race is in itself a symptom of a much larger problem, Wolff describes my sentiments exactly. We need to change the system if we want to see ACTUAL change. What we have right now is just corporate virtue signaling, where they are saying they support black lives matter, or they get rid of the Land O Lakes woman, or they get rid of aunt Jemima. This is all bullshit, it’s not enough. Changing a label doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day, sure it will make people feel better, for example the Kansas City Chiefs is a name that is offensive to Native Americans. I totally understand that, why they want to change it. However like I said, if we want to see actual change in the quality of life for minorities and everyone else, we need to change the system. Unfortunately it is way too easy to get bogged down by race, especially since people use race as leverage to talk about all kinds of things that are not related to changing the system; but make it look like they are.
@gary grine He's saying that even if we take aunt jemima off the syrup bottles, the systems that subjugate black and poor people as a whole will still exist, and institutional racism will continue
Yeah, Idk if anyone else has noticed this, but Capitalism has this kinda Chameleon ability to absorb anything that threatens the status quo and make it marketable. Take for instance how many Che Guavara, Hammer and sickle, or anarchy symbol shirts you see being sold by big corporations. It mimics the outward casual appearance of solidarity, so that the uncritical thinker will just pass it by thinking its on the side of good.
I agree. These other issues are important and need to be addressed in and of themselves. But they are secondary and the underlying cause needs to be addressed properly in order to move forward with real change. Removing the cancers is the first step to holistic healing.
BRAVO MR WOLFF, WELL SAID!!!!! NOW WE NEED ACTIONS (PLURAL) FROM THE SYSTEM, NOT WORDS. OR PROMISES!!!!!! AS LIKE: "WHATCHA GONNA DO WITH WHATCHA GOT?"
No, it really isn't. There are significant differences. Maybe at the later stages it produces similar wealth imbalances, but totally different path to getting there. You need to read some Marx.
The truths you reveal about social, racial and economic injustice, are so powerful! I agree a 100 per cent, because I experience it daily in my work place. Thank you, for this powerful message.
5:40 Yes, he lays out the logic that the elite will use to justify the final redundancy of the other than elite classes. The new Plutonomy does not need most of the economy to function. Thus, is it not economically and environmentally wasteful to attempt to maintain the economy that does not serve the plutonomy? There is no center to hold. There is now only a long pause which will soon and abruptly end.
How do you talk about cops and capitalism for 11 minutes without saying which class the cops belong to and mentioning their primary function as strike-breakers? It's not hard to see the truth, they're usually *from* the working class, but they aren't *of* it. By virtue of what they do, they're the armed guard *of* the bosses' class.
"which class the cops belong to" Simple. The temporarily embarrassed millionaire class. The ones foolish enough to believe the Capitalist system is willing to help them.
Krystal and Saagar, do u want the immigration debates? IMHO any congressional debates is a freaking joke at this point. Just look at the faces like Manhattan and NYC people do and move the blank on! Our gov has lost all the credibility way back ago. Now it is just more obvious for all the people to see. That is around the world! I love when I see Netherlanders (the best they smell injustice all right), Danes (same), French, Caribbean Islands, Brazil and all the Latin American people on the streets. It is goes beyond the BLM. It is a class war, and we got to coordinate it as such. Unite and put our demands internationally. Not the freaking pseudo middle class! Working Class! ==> All of us minus corporate boards.
This is such an important perspective, I think. Activism is wonderful in all it's beauty but there is a caveat to it in our society: many fail to operate from the assumption that our economic system is the root cause. At the very least it should be reformed before you can even think about societal change.
Socialism with American characteristics is needed urgently to prevent the total collapse of our society. Unfortunately, any attempt to support such changes is immediately crushed by the establishment.
There are perfectly observable examples of how Capitalism and Market economy does not bring Democracy, freedom, happiness and equality for all. The examples are the former Eastern block countries and the former Soviet Union republics. In the early 1990s, Western economists went to those countries to show the way and bring these virgin economies into the fold. The former elites of these countries took these lessons to heart, and made themselves the new economic elite - Oligarks and Billionaires. They who controlled the state owned assets sold them to themselves for a pittance and made fortunes. The former welfare systems went bankrupt when their funding was divested into private fortunes. Basically, the states were now ruled by a Governmental Maffia, where corruption and nepotism is rife. That is the Capitalist system. The elite were the educated group, and from that group came those that knew how to take advantage of it. The former KGB agent is now the new Tsar of Russia.
you can not change until you have the power to change. the civilians of a nation only have power in a democracy, and the usa is not a democracy. that is why the civilians are not citizens- they live in a nation, but do not rule it. of course, in any nation, the civilians can revolt, and sometimes the army sides with the people, but that usually just means replacing politician rule with military rule. the reason the usa is not a democracy, madison discussed it publicly, is that democracy would lead to socialism, and madison was not inclined yo see his taxes spent under the direction of the 'mob.' so he made sure democracy didn't happen. and thatis why socialism will not happen, until the constitution is changed.
Thank you, Richard. Thank God there are economists like you exposing the lie(s) of capitalism. It gets lonely in the humanities railing against a broken system. Good to see a few rare economists providing an analysis of the iniquities of capitalism from the inside, as someone in the know.
Richard Wolff is priceless, in any economy! This is absolutely the core of the problem, which he expresses so clearly. (I think capitalism, feudalism, slavery all have one overriding purpose and impulse: exploitation. And it's amazing how many of the exploited buy into their own exploitation. )
_ Revolutionaries are made, not born. They have to construct their lives consciously along with a set of revolutionary principles. Bringing about change is something all of us can do, or being active in an organization is something all of us can do. We don’t have to be the hero when we join. Nothing will be done until America confronts the real source of all its problems, capitalism and the corporate fascists that control everything. I'm not holding my breath.
AMEN,AMEN,AMEN BROTHER.IF PEOPLE WANT TO CHANGE THE ROAD WE ARE ON.THEN WE MUST BE RELENTLESS AND DEMAND THESE CHANGES OR WE WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD AND BECOME A FASCIST COUNTRY. INSTEAD OF THE BRIGHT SHINING LIGHT THAT LEADS THE WORLD TO A BETTER WAY. LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. WE ARE ALSO TO BE OUR BROTHERS KEEPER.SO WE SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR ONE ANOTHER.
I agree completely but what Richard is saying is ingrained in society since the beginning. From the beginning when man evolved there has always been individuals trying to get over on others for their own benefit. This problem increased as population grew and the industrial revolution forced people to the cities for work and the small groups became melting pots. Other countries mostly Scandinavian have worked to resolve this problem for years but once power is achieved by a small group of people it is impossible to remove it. The oligarchs in the US own the military , government, police, and almost all jobs. this give them complete control over all people and technology has developed to make sure they keep it. The people have not been pushed to the point where they are willing to die for this change and that is what it will take to make this happen, there is no peaceful solution to this problem.
The thing that guys like Dr. Wolff either don't get or conveniently leave out of the conversation is scarcity. No matter what system we have, capitalist or otherwise, there will never be sufficient resources to satisfy everyone's desires. We can spread the money around so it's more equally distributed, but it won't change the amount of land, water, and energy on the planet. On the contrary, giving more people more money to spend only forces the prices of things we value to go up and up and up. Sure, we can try to increase the supply of goods and services in an attempt to meet all the demand, but the Earth is already groaning under the feet 7 billion human beings chasing an ever higher standard of living.
There is something radically wrong with our American economic system when an egomaniac billionaire from New York can drop half a billion dollars on the presidential race as a johnny-com-lately only to withdraw after a few months while, at the same time, we have entire city blocks of homeless people living in tents. Professor Wolff is absolutely right about economic inequality in our country, in my opinion. I'm not a professional economist but I am a published author. My book: "The Conscience of An Agnostic" is listed on Amazon. If I did not have Social Security I could be one of the millions of homeless people suffering in the current economic climate. This is not the America that I grew up in and I fear greatly for our future.
Prof. Wolff; I was wondering if you could do a video on all the MSNBC and CNN segments discussing the recent descent of American democracy into fascism. The panelists often cite other panelists pieces and congratulate them. The value?!
brother, your talk with Dr. West was well received. It's an unpopular opinion and wish more chatter was filled with these thoughts. It is disheartening to see so many cannot make the obvious connection between capitalism and the police. With both sides of the political coin posturing for votes, I shutter for the outcome ---> increased surveillance and rebranding covert/subtitle racism. Bc as you said, without addressing the issue (capitalism), reforms will only be rennovations of the same fundamental problem. I'm wise enough to know the energy we see now will soon fade... and the changes (interest convergence) will be touted as a savior to all oppressed but will suffocate us through new methods - only this time it'll take years for us to realize what happened and how we were duped
In my experience, most people have only very modest ambitions. They don't even want to be billionaires, they don't necessarily want a huge corporate career, and they don't want to boss other people around. They don't hunger for much more than indeed to live without constant fear that they won't be able to to cover the basics of a quiet life, for themselves, and their families. If course they'd like some, also usually very modest, level of consumption beyond that, but of course they are also constantly bombarded with the message that the SHOULD want that. But mostly they just don't want to be punished with homelessness for getting sick or something similar. That is why IT IS so disgusting and dishonest when the propagandists of the euch try to smear those already suffering as being merely envious of the "successful".
I agree, however, In my opinion, the most important change that needs to change is the real estate industry, people should only own the house they live in, too many do not work and just live off of the high rents they keep raising, and expect the renter to pay for the houses they own...stop predatory land owners who take advantage of people who lose their home to high taxes, why can’t their taxes be deferred like people who defer their mortgage payments until the either die or sale.. either way the real estate industry needs to radically change.....
Maybe, but the rot, at least a portion of it, in the policing systems particularly here, comes from within. Read up on testimonials from law enforcement who left the force and are now speaking out about their experiences. It starts in many cases even in the academy.
Capitalism is not a perfect system but acting as though government policies have no adverse effects is equally flawed. Prison populations began to explode after suspending the gold standard. Though I agree that capitalism has turned the prison system from taxpayer funded reform into private sector profits, I do not believe this is a function of free markets. In a free market there is price discovery which keeps malinvestment in check. For example mass incarceration, is way too expensive to be done on a gold standard. It is fiat money that has allowed prison populations to swell and the number of lawyers, judges etc to explode. Another major problem is that police are trained as if their life is always in danger when in reality the average working class American has a more dangerous job. Look at the statistics for America's most dangerous jobs. Cops aren't even in the top 10. Matter of fact it's more dangerous to be a taxi driver.
History tells us that most nations have a life span of 200 years on average.. We are on borrowed time... History is repeating??? Sad to watch history...
@John Albano Since at least 2003 the US empire has been on the fast track towards collapse! I would be surprised if this country is in its present position of power or intact by 2030!
@@thalesnemo2841 i can remember in the 60s when America started it's fall... Study the culture and social problems that the Government just made worse...
Dr wolf are there any organizations that incorporate these two concepts we can join or is it just an idea at this time. Defund/abolish police and end capitalism
The purpose of the police is to protect and advance the interest of the ruling class.
cops are there to take a bullet for the rich when the poor rebel
So, you don't think that cops are needed in poorest neighborhoods, where crime rates are the highest, drugs are sold to kids, gangbangers terrorize the blocks, domestic violence is highest etcetc?
@@sinngleton community cops maybe, of the same ethnicity. Poor neighborhoods is victim of economics and predator capitalism. Fix the root of the problem, then you wont need as much cops.
that's because you dont have true capitalism. Communism is NOT the answer.
@@sinngleton What do you mean "crime rates are the highest" ?
Where did you hide the statistics on war crimes ?
As hard as it is, we need to work together and stand up to these sociopathic bullies and demand the changes we want. Get ready to dodge bullets.
The oligarchy will never release power voluntarily. Shit will get really dark before that happens.
Richard Wolff is a legend
@gary grine CIA in overdrive
He's 78, let's see if he can see Communism flourish by his 90s... wait, will he make it?
I can debunk him in lead than 5 minutes. It never takes me more than an hour.
How can anyone give these critical truths a thumbs down? Wtf??
Capitalist boot lickers
Hardly anything on you tube doesn't get a thumbs down. I wish more people watched these videos
Because George they are paid to go around and do that so other people might desire not to discover or watch the truth. '
Do you watch "Robert Reich" too? Both these guy professors and on our side the side of the people.
Capitalist simps
bc there are lots of dingdongs in the country who probably didnt even watch the video before rating it
End 99% of crimes, how? make society have no poor people, AND have no super rich.
Exactly right!
how do you make society do something?
@@The_Angry_BeEconomist Taxes would be easiest and it has been done before with excellent effect
@@The_Angry_BeEconomist change the game rules.
a high tech advanced race would most likely be classless
Thank you, Professor Wolff! We really need your input in this country right now...
Name one thing he was right about.
Michael Price the failings of capitalism, the benefits of socialism, corruption of the rich....
I love it! The Wolff Man at his best here. Much respect, Sir
Keep preaching, Professor Wolff! America needs to hear the truth.
that's because you dont have true capitalism. Communism is NOT the answer.
Capitalism as we see in the US fits perfectly into what he said. It sucks.
that's because you dont have true capitalism. Communism is NOT the answer.
@@barabimbaraboom7830 What we are living through is the endgame of capitalism. Wealth accumulates in the hands of a few and they use it to manipulate the society and government to protect their position as the world around them suffers. We need to empower the people so we control the means of production and have a true democracy.
@@defro125 Again, we don't have true capitalism thanks to the fed... But I wont accept communism as the solution. Been there done that, human nature is corrupt at its core.
@@barabimbaraboom7830 True capitalism is what we see right now in USA. Capitalism is wery unstabel. It break down every 47 years on average. The USSR, after having gone from the dipshit place where almoast half the population was incapebel of reading called the Russian empire to the spacefaring superpower it was in less then 30 years and was compeating with the USA and UK, witch had centuries of building up before that.
@@darthjarjarbinkstherealsit6832 Nah, we have crony capitalism... you wish you had true capitalism..
Enjoy the money printing
thank you Dr. Wolff......the struggle continues......stay well
Struggle ... Deception?
Excellent talk professor, thank you.
Promoting envy, even I can do that...
I want to live in a world where my efforts are my reward.
No you don't.
The problem is how much suffering are you willing to impose on others to achieve "YOUR" success?
For me, if my success creates pain and suffering to others, it is no success at all !
I want to live in a world where my success doesn't cause anxieties in others but strongly support their success. Even if that means that my net worth is not as big as if I ONLY seek my individual success.
Let's do a little mental exercise:
Imagine that from now on, the company you work for will share with ALL its employees (that includes you) the wealth that you and all other employees help the company make.
So, you get your regular salary, AND, either quarterly, or annually, you and EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COMPANY are given a cut of the profits YOU helped achieved. Not just the CEO or the board of directors, or the shareholders, but you also, the simple employee.
Why not ? Your work helped create some of the profits, didn't it.
So, wouldn't THAT be the world you want to live in ?
One where you are rewarded for your efforts ?
Why is it that because I, for example, have more connections than you, or more money to invest than you (not efforts) it is OK for me to make 100 times, 200 times, 300 times more than you ?
Is that me being rewarded for my efforts ?
Or is it me being rewarded for my ability and willingness to exploit ?
I guess it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it ?
Practically speaking, the solution is this:
Let those who have accumulated insane fortunes on the back of others keep their wealth. We don't want it !
But, from now on, let us establish worker coops, where decision-making authority AND profits are distributed much more reasonably.
Not necessarily evenly, but reasonably. Based on merits but without exploitation.
In worker coops, the highest paid person can make up to 8 times the income of the lowest paid. No more.
How would that sound to you ?
It has worked wonderfully in Spain for decades. Check it out:
Mondregon cooperative corporation...
@@newperve Ok Mao
This is what should be on the television
in the programming television? no thank you
Yep! 👍🏾
Thanks for your work.
“Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule, the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class....”
----Origin of the Family,
Private Property, and the State
Friedrich Engels
I love it. In college if I had the chance to take your course even though it not in my major it would have been great. You always seem to agree with my take on things and you have great passion.
Thank you, this video helped me understand what I already knew. You have a way of explaining things that brings clarity to the subject.
Thank you dr Wolff.
4:27
Here's a very good analogy.
I clean houses for very wealthy people.
Being around all that wealth and opulence and I in comparison live in squalor.
So I understand being around it, near it and can't have it.
It has made me HATE the rich!
I personally would pay money to see them all hung and guillotined.
As Einstein said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them”.
So, regarding Einnstein´s saying, coronavirus is a convenient excuse but not the cause of the current problems. CV was a catalyst but the real crisis this time started in Aug-Sep 2019 with the Fed and ECB panicking. The real problem is excessive debt (based in valueless printed paper money) at all levels of the economy, sovereign, corporate, financial and personal. Governments and CBs have created the debt and are now desperately trying to remedy their mistake by doing more of the thing that created it all.
It's more like buy one child a semi truck load of ice cream cones and giving the other none.
It's more like looting all the ice cream on the block, giving it all to one child and no one else in the neighborhood gets any.
There is not that much difference between Medieval Feudalism and Modern Capitalism. In both systems almost everything is owned by a small group of people who live lives of extreme wealth and privilege off the backs of the rest of the population.
With their own armies ready to repel any revolting peasants!
@gary grine
No, insufficient distribution.
Wow that's a really ignorant thing to say. I mean do you have any idea how hard it was for a serf to stop being a serf?
@@newperve
So you think I am hurting the feelings of medieval serfs? Noble of you to jump to their defense even if completely pointless. Have you tried opting out of capitalism recently?
thanks prof wolff, you are the best,
I have observed through the years this tendency for workers to find a way to save capitalism. We try and work things around, propose new implementations, give chances to capitalists because this time things will be better... Well enough is enough. The sooner we understand that the whole system is corrupted and stacked against us, because of its truly perverted nature, the sooner we will be free from this hell that we live.
They prosper on your fighting against your own people, that's the human condition !
6:40 Ripped off in the economic apartheid of the provision of economic services. Interest free money to the elite, debt bondage for everyone else, asset stripping for the lower classes.
@gary grine Long before all this I was chatting to a car dealer friend who explained to me how he bought a brand new Porsche each year. He took loans from overseas, Iceland I believe at the time at crazy low interest. He had his money in investments that returned far more than he lost servicing the loans (sounds insane but loads of people were doing this pre-crash). The cars back then were in demand and depreciated very little if at all so he effectively got to drive a brand new Porsche for free or sometimes even made a little if it was a GT car or RS. Trick was to get into a position to be able to access the finance and there in lies the rub for the rest of us. Basically he explained all this to me to prove that I was a mug for buying old secondhand cars, didn't have much self awareness that man.
If America has a president like Richard...
It will make America great again.
Make America great*
I’ve been saying this for years, we need to change the system first if we want to solve the issues with race, and wealth inequality. People very often focus on the problem of race, which is necessary and needs to be addressed, especially now. However I maintain that the problem with race is in itself a symptom of a much larger problem, Wolff describes my sentiments exactly. We need to change the system if we want to see ACTUAL change.
What we have right now is just corporate virtue signaling, where they are saying they support black lives matter, or they get rid of the Land O Lakes woman, or they get rid of aunt Jemima. This is all bullshit, it’s not enough. Changing a label doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day, sure it will make people feel better, for example the Kansas City Chiefs is a name that is offensive to Native Americans.
I totally understand that, why they want to change it. However like I said, if we want to see actual change in the quality of life for minorities and everyone else, we need to change the system. Unfortunately it is way too easy to get bogged down by race, especially since people use race as leverage to talk about all kinds of things that are not related to changing the system; but make it look like they are.
@gary grine He's saying that even if we take aunt jemima off the syrup bottles, the systems that subjugate black and poor people as a whole will still exist, and institutional racism will continue
Yeah, Idk if anyone else has noticed this, but Capitalism has this kinda Chameleon ability to absorb anything that threatens the status quo and make it marketable. Take for instance how many Che Guavara, Hammer and sickle, or anarchy symbol shirts you see being sold by big corporations. It mimics the outward casual appearance of solidarity, so that the uncritical thinker will just pass it by thinking its on the side of good.
I agree. These other issues are important and need to be addressed in and of themselves. But they are secondary and the underlying cause needs to be addressed properly in order to move forward with real change. Removing the cancers is the first step to holistic healing.
Copitalism?
If you only had it. BUT we don't..
Indeed
Divided we are weak united we are strong.
The power is always with the people, but too few of them realise this.
Thank you Doctor wolf
BRAVO MR WOLFF, WELL SAID!!!!! NOW WE NEED ACTIONS (PLURAL) FROM THE SYSTEM, NOT WORDS. OR PROMISES!!!!!! AS LIKE: "WHATCHA GONNA DO WITH WHATCHA GOT?"
Besides being a grand economist, I think Prof. Wolff has great insight into human nature and the human condition.
👍😚🤗
Thank you, Professor Wolff. You are brilliant and compassionate; that's a great combination.
As he pointed it out, inequality is a problem in America.
Capitalism is feudalism with some scraps thrown in for the peasants. Just my two cents.
Feudalism with the illusion of choice
Feudalism with cheap crappy food and fancy gadgets to keep one endlessly, mindlessly entertained.
Keep Voting for the least of the evils.
that's because you dont have true capitalism. Communism is NOT the answer.
No, it really isn't. There are significant differences. Maybe at the later stages it produces similar wealth imbalances, but totally different path to getting there. You need to read some Marx.
You Sir, are a great orator! I truly enjoy your presentations...thankyou.
The truths you reveal about social, racial and economic injustice, are so powerful!
I agree a 100 per cent, because
I experience it daily in my work
place. Thank you, for this powerful message.
5:40 Yes, he lays out the logic that the elite will use to justify the final redundancy of the other than elite classes. The new Plutonomy does not need most of the economy to function. Thus, is it not economically and environmentally wasteful to attempt to maintain the economy that does not serve the plutonomy?
There is no center to hold.
There is now only a long pause which will soon and abruptly end.
Just take a look out onto the streets of our large cities for a preview of the wonderful new world of Richard Wolff.
Speaking truth as usual. Thanks Richard
Always glad to hear your teachings, but too often sad at what you tell us.
ABOLISH PRIVATE PRISONS!!!
Well said Sir 😐
lots of ENVY bs..
Great analysis, love how clear an concise you make the core issues at the heart of all these complex problems
First time i seen you speak... I am subbing and an instant fan
Heard you speak but everybody knew what i meant
How do you talk about cops and capitalism for 11 minutes without saying which class the cops belong to and mentioning their primary function as strike-breakers?
It's not hard to see the truth, they're usually *from* the working class, but they aren't *of* it. By virtue of what they do, they're the armed guard *of* the bosses' class.
"which class the cops belong to"
Simple. The temporarily embarrassed millionaire class. The ones foolish enough to believe the Capitalist system is willing to help them.
Look at some of his other work/speeches. He agrees with and argues those points, just maybe not in this particular vid.
You're a true Alpha, Wolff!
Krystal and Saagar, do u want the immigration debates? IMHO any
congressional debates is a freaking joke at this point. Just look at the
faces like Manhattan and NYC people do and move the blank on! Our gov has lost all the credibility way back ago. Now it is just more obvious for all the people to see. That is around the world! I love when I see Netherlanders (the best they smell injustice all right), Danes (same), French, Caribbean Islands, Brazil and all the Latin American people on the streets. It is goes beyond the BLM. It is a class war, and we got to coordinate it as such. Unite and put our demands internationally. Not the freaking pseudo middle class! Working Class! ==> All of us minus corporate boards.
You are the best.
This is such an important perspective, I think. Activism is wonderful in all it's beauty but there is a caveat to it in our society: many fail to operate from the assumption that our economic system is the root cause. At the very least it should be reformed before you can even think about societal change.
It's in words...
But how can the system ever be changed so drastically when it works so successfully for those that benefit the most????
Thank you. For that super message
Wolff is a voice of clarity in these insane times.
Socialism with American characteristics is needed urgently to prevent the total collapse of our society. Unfortunately, any attempt to support such changes is immediately crushed by the establishment.
👍
Outstanding video!
There are perfectly observable examples of how Capitalism and Market economy does not bring Democracy, freedom, happiness and equality for all. The examples are the former Eastern block countries and the former Soviet Union republics. In the early 1990s, Western economists went to those countries to show the way and bring these virgin economies into the fold.
The former elites of these countries took these lessons to heart, and made themselves the new economic elite - Oligarks and Billionaires. They who controlled the state owned assets sold them to themselves for a pittance and made fortunes. The former welfare systems went bankrupt when their funding was divested into private fortunes. Basically, the states were now ruled by a Governmental Maffia, where corruption and nepotism is rife.
That is the Capitalist system. The elite were the educated group, and from that group came those that knew how to take advantage of it. The former KGB agent is now the new Tsar of Russia.
👍
you can not change until you have the power to change. the civilians of a nation only have power in a democracy, and the usa is not a democracy. that is why the civilians are not citizens- they live in a nation, but do not rule it.
of course, in any nation, the civilians can revolt, and sometimes the army sides with the people, but that usually just means replacing politician rule with military rule.
the reason the usa is not a democracy, madison discussed it publicly, is that democracy would lead to socialism, and madison was not inclined yo see his taxes spent under the direction of the 'mob.' so he made sure democracy didn't happen. and thatis why socialism will not happen, until the constitution is changed.
Thank you, Richard. Thank God there are economists like you exposing the lie(s) of capitalism. It gets lonely in the humanities railing against a broken system. Good to see a few rare economists providing an analysis of the iniquities of capitalism from the inside, as someone in the know.
The police protect the state. The state protects capital.
Thanks doc!
Richard Wolff is priceless, in any economy! This is absolutely the core of the problem, which he expresses so clearly. (I think capitalism, feudalism, slavery all have one overriding purpose and impulse: exploitation. And it's amazing how many of the exploited buy into their own exploitation. )
Thx.
Well presented.
_ Revolutionaries are made, not born. They have to construct their lives consciously along with a set of revolutionary principles. Bringing about change is something all of us can do, or being active in an organization is something all of us can do. We don’t have to be the hero when we join. Nothing will be done until America confronts the real source of all its problems, capitalism and the corporate fascists that control everything. I'm not holding my breath.
so on point
The last two minutes was great piece
when someone told me: “where there is unequality, there is socialism.” I was shocked and couldn’t agree more. so it is time to talk about socialism.
?
Dr. Wolff FTW!
So true!❤
Brilliant!
AMEN,AMEN,AMEN
BROTHER.IF PEOPLE WANT TO CHANGE THE ROAD WE ARE ON.THEN WE MUST BE RELENTLESS AND DEMAND THESE CHANGES OR WE WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD AND BECOME A FASCIST COUNTRY.
INSTEAD OF THE BRIGHT SHINING LIGHT THAT LEADS THE WORLD TO A BETTER WAY.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.
WE ARE ALSO TO BE OUR BROTHERS KEEPER.SO WE SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR ONE ANOTHER.
Every politician should c this
Mahalo Sir
One million thumbs up
CHANGE will never happen by continuing to support the corrupt system that oppresses you.
TIME.... Tick tock! Gloom and Doom! Stress is going to kill you! Get out get some SUN! Truth Love and Freedom! 🙏
I agree completely but what Richard is saying is ingrained in society since the beginning. From the beginning when man evolved there has always been individuals trying to get over on others for their own benefit. This problem increased as population grew and the industrial revolution forced people to the cities for work and the small groups became melting pots. Other countries mostly Scandinavian have worked to resolve this problem for years but once power is achieved by a small group of people it is impossible to remove it. The oligarchs in the US own the military , government, police, and almost all jobs. this give them complete control over all people and technology has developed to make sure they keep it. The people have not been pushed to the point where they are willing to die for this change and that is what it will take to make this happen, there is no peaceful solution to this problem.
Btw, it’s called repression
Of course equally now!!
The thing that guys like Dr. Wolff either don't get or conveniently leave out of the conversation is scarcity. No matter what system we have, capitalist or otherwise, there will never be sufficient resources to satisfy everyone's desires. We can spread the money around so it's more equally distributed, but it won't change the amount of land, water, and energy on the planet. On the contrary, giving more people more money to spend only forces the prices of things we value to go up and up and up. Sure, we can try to increase the supply of goods and services in an attempt to meet all the demand, but the Earth is already groaning under the feet 7 billion human beings chasing an ever higher standard of living.
There is something radically wrong with our American economic system when an egomaniac billionaire from New York can drop half a billion dollars on the presidential race as a johnny-com-lately only to withdraw after a few months while, at the same time, we have entire city blocks of homeless people living in tents. Professor Wolff is absolutely right about economic inequality in our country, in my opinion. I'm not a professional economist but I am a published author. My book: "The Conscience of An Agnostic" is listed on Amazon. If I did not have Social Security I could be one of the millions of homeless people suffering in the current economic climate. This is not the America that I grew up in and I fear greatly for our future.
Prof. Wolff; I was wondering if you could do a video on all the MSNBC and CNN segments discussing the recent descent of American democracy into fascism. The panelists often cite other panelists pieces and congratulate them. The value?!
brother, your talk with Dr. West was well received. It's an unpopular opinion and wish more chatter was filled with these thoughts. It is disheartening to see so many cannot make the obvious connection between capitalism and the police. With both sides of the political coin posturing for votes, I shutter for the outcome ---> increased surveillance and rebranding covert/subtitle racism. Bc as you said, without addressing the issue (capitalism), reforms will only be rennovations of the same fundamental problem. I'm wise enough to know the energy we see now will soon fade... and the changes (interest convergence) will be touted as a savior to all oppressed but will suffocate us through new methods - only this time it'll take years for us to realize what happened and how we were duped
❤️
British Feudalism? The British had bourgeois state in 1776. The Americans secessionists were pre-capitalist slavers and built an oligarchy.
Can't go Out of the "home",, Can't Be IN it either due to the Normalizing of the break down of the family and child abuse decades ago.
In my experience, most people have only very modest ambitions.
They don't even want to be billionaires, they don't necessarily want a huge corporate career, and they don't want to boss other people around.
They don't hunger for much more than indeed to live without constant fear that they won't be able to to cover the basics of a quiet life, for themselves, and their families.
If course they'd like some, also usually very modest, level of consumption beyond that, but of course they are also constantly bombarded with the message that the SHOULD want that.
But mostly they just don't want to be punished with homelessness for getting sick or something similar.
That is why IT IS so disgusting and dishonest when the propagandists of the euch try to smear those already suffering as being merely envious of the "successful".
I agree, however, In my opinion, the most important change that needs to change is the real estate industry, people should only own the house they live in, too many do not work and just live off of the high rents they keep raising, and expect the renter to pay for the houses they own...stop predatory land owners who take advantage of people who lose their home to high taxes, why can’t their taxes be deferred like people who defer their mortgage payments until the either die or sale.. either way the real estate industry needs to radically change.....
truth
What are those tools on the wall?
Briilliant....
Maybe, but the rot, at least a portion of it, in the policing systems particularly here, comes from within. Read up on testimonials from law enforcement who left the force and are now speaking out about their experiences. It starts in many cases even in the academy.
Capitalism is not a perfect system but acting as though government policies have no adverse effects is equally flawed. Prison populations began to explode after suspending the gold standard. Though I agree that capitalism has turned the prison system from taxpayer funded reform into private sector profits, I do not believe this is a function of free markets. In a free market there is price discovery which keeps malinvestment in check. For example mass incarceration, is way too expensive to be done on a gold standard. It is fiat money that has allowed prison populations to swell and the number of lawyers, judges etc to explode.
Another major problem is that police are trained as if their life is always in danger when in reality the average working class American has a more dangerous job. Look at the statistics for America's most dangerous jobs. Cops aren't even in the top 10. Matter of fact it's more dangerous to be a taxi driver.
Dr. Richard Wolff is Mister Rodgers for adults.
History tells us that most nations have a life span of 200 years on average..
We are on borrowed time...
History is repeating???
Sad to watch history...
@John Albano
Since at least 2003 the US empire has been on the fast track towards collapse! I would be surprised if this country is in its present position of power or intact by 2030!
@@thalesnemo2841 i can remember in the 60s when America started it's fall...
Study the culture and social problems that the Government just made worse...
@John Albano
Yes definitely after the 1971 Powell memo a blueprint for the corporate coup d’etat !
Dr wolf are there any organizations that incorporate these two concepts we can join or is it just an idea at this time. Defund/abolish police and end capitalism
Sorry I'm wondering about those crude implements too much to pay attention.
1:34
So are you calling for a peaceful takeover or bloody conflict War?
... And the Second Amendment!