Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff Democracy at Work, Richard D. Wolff

In this week's show, Prof Wolff discusses the replacement theory's grain of truth amidst its mostly ideological function: to save capitalism from criticism. He analyzes why US capitalists deprived so many white, male, Christian workers of their jobs, incomes, and social standing over recent decades and why that analysis was largely silenced by Cold War taboos since 1945. Were a new US left-labor alliance now to offer that critical-of-capitalism alternative, replacement theory's notion of a great conspiracy (largely by Democrats) to replace white, male, Christians with "others" would be far less socially influential.

This program examines the structure and functioning of the large capitalist corporation dominating modern economies. We discuss their basic economics and influence on politics. We criticize rationales for corporate profits such as "risks" and "entrepreneurship" and explore parallels between corporate structures and monarchies. 
 
 

In this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on US's groceries inflation; US teacher crisis; capitalists profiting from guns and protection from guns, UN report on global suffering from Ukraine war's and sanctions regimes' costs to world's people in terms of fuel, food, and interest rate inflations; and median New York City rent of $4,000/month make city housing increasingly unaffordable to most New Yorkers. In the second half of the show, Wolff is joined by Katie Halper: podcaster, writer, and filmmaker who talks about political decline in the US.

Professor Wolff takes a deeper look at the life and work of Karl Marx in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.