Weekly Roundup: March 8, 2023

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work.

New this week: Mega-landlords, gender roles, 1 year of Russia/Ukraine war, imagining the world beyond capitalism

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work!

Economic Update: Establishment Media & Russia with Aaron Maté

Prof. Wolff presents updates on dying empires and climate crisis; mass shootings; fast-food mega-corps fund referendum to slow California plan to raise fast food workers wages and working conditions, and why the debt ceiling debate in Congress is a phony GOP-Dem political theater. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Aaron Maté, independent US media critic with special expertise on Russia.

Maté: “I've been trying to point out some of the many facts that get overlooked in discussions over the Ukraine war. The fact that the war, as horrible as it is, it didn't begin when Russia invaded. There's been a war going on in Ukraine since 2014, when there was a U.S. backed coup that overthrew the government of Viktor Yanukovych and that set off a civil war inside Ukraine in which rebels backed by Russia rose up against the new coup government. And the coup government was backed by the U.S. And rather than pursuing peace and respecting a peace deal that was reached in 2015 under something called the Minsk Accords, the U.S. has basically sided with Ukraine's far right in undermining peace and undermining any prospect of peace inside Ukraine”

Capitalism Hits Home: Where do Gender Roles Come From?

Dr. Harriet Fraad traces back the origin of gender roles to the beginning of civilization to explore how and why certain types of work have been historically and traditionally performed by the female gender.

Fraad: “They worshiped female gods or male and female gods who were very much equal. As the economy changed to a male dominated ownership economy, religion changed. changed. People had nomadic herds and the Abrahamic religions Christianity, Judaism and the Muslim religion developed in which women were decidedly inferior.”

Cities After… The Threat of Mega-Landlords

Prof. Robles-Durán discusses the growing prevalence of corporate landlords and their devastating impact on affordable housing and homeownership.

Robles-Durán: “Let me put this clear. Landlords are social parasites. They provide no social value. They are so focused on extracting money that they perceive people's basic need for a shelter as an opportunity to generate substantial profits... Residential mega landlords are just the latest and more evil stage of this capitalist nightmare.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Why Can’t We Imagine Moving Past Capitalism?

A supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "How should we answer when people say, 'capitalism is the only way there is, nothing else works.' How do we live without earning and profiting from our working and, in doing this, making ourselves prosperous from our own industry and ideas?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response. To learn how to ask your own questions to Prof Wolff, click here.

Wolff: “Capitalism, the way of producing goods and services that has employers a small minority on the one hand making all the decisions for the mass of people who do the work on the other the employees, that's a temporary phase in human history. There's much history when we didn't do things like that in the past. There are many examples today where we don't and there will be a big fat future where we don't do that either. There's nothing that's going to make capitalism last forever, just like no other system ever has.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Why Do We Spend So Much on the US Military Industrial Complex?

A supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "To what extent does the US Military Industrial Complex factor into the US economy as a whole? It seems like the US is at endless war and, in my opinion, there has to be a significant economic reason for this. Would the US economy take a great hit or maybe fall apart completely if not for the seemingly endless war profiteering?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response. To learn how to ask your own questions to Prof Wolff, click here.

Wolff: “It's not what the government spends on that matters to support the economy. It's that the government supports it. So for example, suppose we didn't spend all that money on military material. Well then those corporations might become much smaller or they might disappear altogether, but the government could and likely would spend on other urgent national needs. What comes to mind? A green new deal, as many have called it: spending equivalent amounts of money protecting our environment, improving our medical procedures, our educational system, what we can do for our elderly becoming an ever larger part of our society, all of the environmental repair that needs to be done.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Why Does a Piece of Lumber Cost More Today Than It Did 10 Years Ago?

A supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "I don’t understand how inflation works. How can a 2x4 cost more than it did 10 years ago?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response. To learn how to ask your own questions to Prof Wolff, click here.

Wolff: “We know why…an employer at a sawmill making lumber will charge more for the two by four this month than he did a year ago: because he's part of his profit making strategy. And now you can begin to see how this works. If the two by fours go up in price, then all of the other businesses who use two by fours as inputs, they will have to pay more for the two by four. And they will be tempted… to raise the prices of whatever they sell to pass on the cost of higher two by fours to their customers. And that's how inflation spreads from one industry to another.”

Wolff Responds: The Russia/Ukraine War - One Year Later

Prof. Wolff shares his perspective on the Russia/Ukraine war around the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Wolff: “we don't know what we have gotten ourselves into it is very dangerous it is very destructive of that country called Ukraine and we can't know any better this year than we obviously were unable to know a year ago