Resisting Trump's Restoration Project with Kali Akuno
<p>This week on Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff examines a major labor strike unfolding in California, where 2,400 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers are fighting for better conditions. Next, we break down how tariffs function as an economic weapon, undermining the living standards of U.S. workers.</p> <p>Finally, Professor Wolff sits down with Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, to discuss Trump’s controversial "restoration" agenda and the growing resistance against it.</p> <p>Kali Akuno is the co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, a network of worker cooperatives and community-led programs that sustain and grow a democratic, just, and sustainable economy in Jackson, MS. Among these programs is the Fannie Lou Hamer Community Land Trust, which enables community members to collectively steward the land and creates opportunities for affordable property ownership.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Solidarity Cities as Alternatives to Capitalism
<p>**** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ****<br /> For those of you in the New York area, we'd like to invite you to join us for another presentation of "Global Capitalism Live with Professor Richard Wolff" taking place on April 30th. Professor Wolff will be giving a lecture on the impact of President Trump’s economic policies and explaining how they are an attack on working people as part of a reflection on May Day. This event will be held in person in the main lecture hall at the Women Building Up campus at 401 State Street in Brooklyn, NY. Seats are limited but you can still get tickets to the event by going to our website: <br /> democracyatwork.info and clicking the link in the banner image at the top of the homepage or by going to: bit.ly/3YEZOu8</p> <p>This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on employers that are blocking, delaying, and opposing improvements on general social welfare, the Trump administration putting an end to "affirmative action" for veterans (including those disabled), and how the Trump tariffs are worsening uncertainty with very serious negative consequences. In the second half of the show, Professor Wolff interviews Professors Maliha Safri and Stephen Healy, co-authors of the new book "Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation."</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Tariffs, the Working Class, and Resistance
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff critiques the DOGE practice of firing federal civilian employees, analyzes the Trump tariff program, and shows how both are presented as ways to solve deep economic problems in the U.S. but are actually an assault on the working class. The second part of the show features an interview with David Van Deusen, the former head of the Vermont state AFL-CIO and now an organizer of union-based resistance to the Trump program.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Unlearning Market Idolatry
<p>This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff explores the last 150 years of largely uncritical celebrations of "the market" as if it were a perfect institution that must be protected from the intrusion of other institutions such as the government, labor unions, and popular organizations. We compare a historical example and the present to criticize today's peculiar mix of market idolatry and its rejection in the U.S.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Mounting Economic Problems
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses certain minimum wages by the Trump administration, the costs of Germany's rearmament, and how Trump's tariffs and deportations have hit central America with economic catastrophe. The second half features a detailed discussion of the historical blaming of foreigners for the internal problems of capitalism in the U.S. </p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
How Marx's Class Analysis Could Solve Inequality Now
<p><br /> In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses how Marx's class analysis presents a solution to today's inequality and the challenges to overcoming it we have faced throughout history. In short, since the early existence of human society, people lived in tribes, clans, and villages that exhibited equality of wealth, income, and political power among their members. As modern history began to unfold, slavery, feudalism, and capitalism evolved as society as we know it took shape. In each of those three systems, huge inequalities separated people into masters vs slaves, lords vs serfs, and employers vs employees. Exploited and oppressed slaves, serfs, and employees opposed the inequalities of those systems but were unable to overcome them despite repeated efforts (revolutions). Marx questioned why modern societies failed to install and sustain systems of egalitarian wealth and power distribution (democracy). His answer lay in the understanding that class differences within the organization of production produce inequalities and sustain them. Overcoming those inequalities thus requires ending the class divisions within the organization of production and instead organizing in favor of a worker-cooperative structured method of production.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Build and Fight: The Resistance Forms
<p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Federal Employees Fight Back
<p>This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the firing of government workers by Trump/Musk with an economic analysis showing it to be an attack on the U.S. working class followed by a discussion of Trump's foreign policy of turning against Europe as merely an adjustment to an "American Capitalism First" project that is as old as the U.S. The second half of the show, features an interview with U.S. federal employee Colin Smalley, a sixteen-year member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an IFPTE union member who discusses how and why workers are fighting back.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
The Nobel Prize in Economics Exposed
<p>This week’s episode of Economic Update features updates on the economic risks and costs Europe faces from deporting or blocking immigrants as compared to Spain's prosperity through a pro-immigrant policy, the work of Michael Burawoy, a Marxist sociology professor at UC Berkeley, and how the inflation of meat prices is affected by a four-company oligopoly that controls 85% of the U.S. meat supply. In the second half of this week’s show, Professor Wolff interviews economics professor Shahram Azhar of Bucknell University on his recently published critique of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
U.S. Policy toward China: A Failing Effort to Contain Historic Change
<p>In this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses unionizing Whole Foods workers VS. Amazon and Trump and the contradictions, dangers, and global retaliation of the new administration's tariff program. The show's second half features an interview with political scientist Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III on the China-U.S. competition: its costs, the stakes, and why the U.S. is losing.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Capitalism, Lost Empathy and Rising Addictions
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses Trump's attempts at taking Panama as more evidence of rising colonialism and imperial ambitions, the recent organizing and strike of 10,000 Colorado grocery workers, and finally, corporations and investment funds abandoning DEI. In the second half of the show, Prof. Wolff interviews psychotherapist Tess Fraad-Wolff on capitalism's causal links to declining empathy and rising addictions.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
The View from Prison
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff delivers updates on the North Carolina union election at an Amazon warehouse, the deportation of immigrants, and the U.S. construction industry, a lesson in how capitalism installs new technology like A.I. and how it could be far better done. In the second half of this week's episode, Professor Wolff interviews Serena Martin, a formerly incarcerated social activist and executive director of New Hour for Women and Children.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Marriage and Capitalism
<p>In this week's episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad explores the global shift in household structures, which stands in stark contrast to traditional marriage norms. As the fundamental unit for creating and sustaining human life, the family is undergoing profound transformations. Just as the nuclear family once replaced the feudal family, new and diverse family structures are now emerging in place of the nuclear model, as marriage declines and new patterns of child-rearing and family formation take root.</p>
New Economics Institute with Clara Mattei
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff delves into the heroic efforts of California firefighters and their extraordinary work in battling the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. We also explore the progressive transformations occurring within U.S. labor unions and shed light on the escalating housing affordability crisis across the United States.</p> <p>Additionally, we interview Professor Clara Mattei, Director of the newly established Center for Heterodox Economics in Oklahoma. Professor Mattei shares details about this groundbreaking initiative, outlining its goals, mission, and activities, as well as how it distinguishes itself from mainstream economic approaches.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Trump's Anti-Immigrant Campaigns
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff explores the economic consequences of the United States threatening Mexico and Canada. We also highlight how worker co-ops are joining forces with unions to strengthen both movements and examine the economics of the illegal drug trade. Additionally, we discuss the significance of Indonesia joining BRICS.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Persistent Homelessness: Capitalism's Housing Failures
<p>In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses updates on deep political corruption: the Illinois example, final statistics on the 2024 presidential election results did NOT give Trump any mandate, the Canadian government forcing 55,000 striking postal workers back to work despite massive worker opposition. Finally, we have an interview with housing advocate and activist, Rob Robinson (formerly un-housed) reporting on the global housing advocates' conferences in Spain and Brazil.</p> <p> </p> <p>The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p>You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p>https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</p> <p> </p> <p>Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p>We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p>We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Marxism and Economics: A Global View with Shahram Azhar
<p class="MsoNormal">The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: <a href= "https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate">https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Review of 2024: The U.S. Economy Not So Great
<p class="MsoNormal">In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the "catalog" of 2024's economic problem areas: (1) Slow growth relative to China/BRICS; (2) the war in Ukraine; (3) the crises in Gaza and the greater Middle East; (4) Biden & Trump tariffs policy; (5) scapegoating immigrants; (6) corporations disinterest in climate change and DEI initiatives; (7) rising U.S. labor militancy and public support,' (8) rise of violence; (9) social security benefit increases' failure keep up with inflation. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: <a href= "https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate">https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>
Class Struggles Worldwide
<p class="MsoNormal">This week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delves into key global developments, including President Trump's looming tariff wars, the collapse of Emmanuel Macron's government in France, and massive strikes by Volkswagen workers in Germany. He also examines the fall of governments in South Korea and Syria and its implications, along with the public reaction to the assassination of a prominent healthcare CEO. Professor Wolff concludes by analyzing how these events collectively highlight class struggles fueled by the declining U.S. empire and its systemic challenges.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You can support our work by joining our Patreon community:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: <a href= "https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate">https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate</a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week.1:01</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info</p>