Richard Wolff is a Marxist economist whose clear message that “We Can Do Better Than Capitalism” is resonating with more and more people around the world. But for people living in the shadows of capitalism’s influence, alternatives and new ideas about the economy are hard to come by. To answer the questions of people trying to piece together a better world, we created Ask Prof Wolff.
Listen to Richard Wolff answer some of the hundreds of questions he gets every week about anything, from economics and politics to historical movements and current events, on our YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast player!
Richard Wolff is a Marxist economist whose clear message that “We Can Do Better Than Capitalism” is resonating with more and more people around the world. But for people living in the shadows of capitalism’s influence, alternatives and new ideas about the economy are hard to come by. To answer the questions of people trying to piece together a better world, we created Ask Prof Wolff.
Richard Wolff has answered hundreds of questions over the last few years, and you can watch any of them on our YouTube channel. But just this year, Wolff answered commonly asked questions about socialism, myths of capitalism and how to make sense of current trends, arguments or events.
How can we create a democratic economy? Wolff answers some important questions about worker-owned enterprises and how they handle things like bankruptcy (versus capitalism), working with the government or how a non-profit could be a co-op too.
Other audience questions ask for Wolff’s insight on current events like Critical Race Theory, how to stop the inflation, what Ray Dalio misses in his analysis of empire and more. Prof Wolff tries to intervene in these conversations to propose alternatives to capitalism’s solutions and correct misleading arguments you might hear from those who don’t know better (like if private foundations could “save” capitalism).
What are some key ideas of socialism? Hear Prof Wolff explain things like Marx’s definition of capital, what Marxist dialectics are, and how to understand ex-socialist nations.
Here are some more examples of audience questions Richard Wolff has answered this year:
“Prof. Wolff, could you respond to these ideas of minarchism and anarcho-capitalism, which way too many people seem to be taking seriously these days?"
“As we look through history and the present political culture it seems that it has been easier for the right to organize than the left, and easier for the enemies of the left to throw a wrench in their organizing… Is there something within the ideology of the right that makes it easier for them to organize or is this a case of a correlation without causation?"
"You often mention the fact that capitalism had largely the time to experiment by trial and error until it finally succeeded in replacing the feudal system. The purpose is to substantiate that assertion that is often used in your monologues and discussions with the fan club of capitalism. Can you bring up those examples? Can you point to the early failures and successes to illustrate the trial and error process? Are there books with those examples shown systematically?"
Listen to Richard Wolff answer some of the hundreds of questions he gets every week about anything, from economics and politics to historical movements and current events, on our YouTube channel or on your favorite podcast player!
Due to the sheer volume of questions Professor Wolff receives, questions are selected from submissions from our monthly donors, whose regular support helps us to plan for the long term. If you would like to submit a question for consideration, sign up as a monthly donor via our website, or on our Patreon page. The responses will always be free and open to the public, without a paywall thanks to your generous support.