Author Archive: Richard D. Wolff

Richard D. Wolff is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, in New York. Wolff’s weekly show, “Economic Update,” is syndicated by more than 100 radio stations and goes to 55 million TV receivers via Free Speech TV. His three recent books with Democracy at Work are The Sickness Is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us From Pandemics or Itself, Understanding Marxism, and Understanding Socialism.

Why Capitalism Is in Constant Conflict With Democracy

Released for Syndication: 08/07/2020

The capitalist economic system has always had a big problem with politics in societies with universal suffrage. Anticipating that, most capitalists opposed and long...

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The Consequences of Inequality Can Be Fatal

Released for Syndication: 07/29/2020

Capitalism, as Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century shows, relentlessly worsens wealth and income inequalities. That inherent tendency is only occasionally stopped or...

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Many Terms That Are Frequently Used to Describe Capitalism Simply Don’t Hold Up Under Scrutiny

Released for Syndication: 07/24/2020

“Free” and “unregulated” markets simply do not define capitalism, and are not marked by anything like “liberty.”

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Why Government Mostly Helps People Who Need It the Least—Even During a Crisis

Released for Syndication: 07/16/2020

In January 2020, the NASDAQ stock market’s index stood just under 10,000. In the March crash, it fell to 7,000. As of July 10,...

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COVID-19 Exposes the Weakness of a Major Theory Used to Justify Capitalism

Released for Syndication: 07/08/2020

A cornerstone of orthodox economics is the idea that capitalists’ decisions about investing and producing are inherently “efficient.” This means that capitalists select among...

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Could U.S. Capitalism Turn Nationalist?

Released for Syndication: 07/01/2020

The Trump administration has turned sharply toward economic nationalism. It attacks and undermines the World Trade Organization, NATO, and the UN. Trump and other...

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How Racism Is an Essential Tool for Maintaining the Capitalist Order

Released for Syndication: 06/24/2020

U.S. capitalism survived because it found a solution to the basic problem of its instability, its business cycles. Since capitalism never could end cyclical...

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How Workers Can Win the Class War Being Waged Upon Them

Released for Syndication: 06/18/2020

Organized labor led no mass opposition to Trump’s presidency or the December 2017 tax cut or the failed U.S. preparation for and management of...

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There’s a Crisis in U.S. Capitalism

Released for Syndication: 06/09/2020

Capitalism has always had business cycles. The capitalist enterprises that produce goods and services are distinctively organized around the conflicted relationship of employer and...

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Why the Neoliberal Agenda Is a Failure at Fighting Coronavirus

Released for Syndication: 05/29/2020

The utter failure of private capitalism to prepare for the coronavirus should have surprised no one. Private capitalism, as business school graduates repeat, focuses...

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