William,
I appreciate the comment but I was addressing the root cause of our society’s dysfunction—political and economical (the two are intimately connected obviously). Professor Wolff says capitalism is the root cause of our problems. I say it’s lack of education. We’re talking about politics and economics so I’m discussing education as it relates to those topics. Your father’s skills, although impressive, are not really relevant. Your degree in poly sci should have helped you become a more capable citizen. My point is that few Americans study economics or political science and we don’t teach them with any effectiveness in most k-12 programs.

William Pellegrini

Very good comment!

Just because you don’t have a college education doesn’t mean you could not be part of a worker’s cooperative company and be able to contribute in a valuable way to the success of your company. I have a college degree in Chemistry, and Political Science and an MBA. And I can tell you straight out the least valuable of these degrees is the MBA. They don’t teach you anything of value.
They don’t teach you how to use a lathe or drive a nail or paint a car or other product. My father was a ‘Sheet Metal Mechanic’, in that he was a skilled craftsman who cut and installed HVAC ducts when they were made of sheet metals. My father was more than intelligent enough to contribute to general business decisions. As are any of the workers in a factory, or on a construction crew.
By the way, the people who own everything are a small portion of the population. A college degree doesn’t entitle you to anything. But if your father leaves you 40 Million dollars in a Trust fund, or gives you a million dollars on your 21st birthday, do you really need a college education?

Charlie

I feel honored to be able to value your opinion.

John,
I’m poor so you are allowed to value my opinion. 😜

Charlie Chaplin

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

You’re the good Professor. Peace and Love brother.

Education, or lack thereof, is the root cause of our economic and political problems, not capitalism. I believe Professor Wolff is wrong.

I am always grateful for Richard’s clear and insightful analyses, never more so than in the current dire situation. On the subject of workers’ co-ops, I am intrigued by the possibilities co-ops offer, but also puzzled by how the problem of social production is to be approached in this model. What is envisioned when different co-ops offer the same goods or services – will there not be a competitive, market-driven situation in which they attempt to out-perform another in order to survive and prosper – leading to the classic problems of overproduction, employment redundancy etc? Socialists historically looked to a centrally planned economy to organise production rationally and to avoid the just-mentioned destructive tendencies of the market economy. What happens in an economy based on independent worker co-operatives: can production be rationalised to deliver the maximum benefit across society and to avoid the pitfalls of a market-driven system?

Thank you so much for taking off of your time for producing this valuable piece of educational content which should be widely spread and understood ! I support your views and believe they are common sense and common good, but could not have articulated them as well as you did. Keep speaking, you will be heared.