Ten Years Ago: Unemployment [10th Anniversary of Economic Update with Richard Wolff]

 
 
The staggering failure in the last 10 years, that Economic Update has periodically talked about, has been the failure even to remember American history well enough to have instituted a federal jobs program.

"We didn't have a federal jobs program, and the business community clapped, because their biggest fear, their worst nightmare, is a government offering good jobs to millions of unemployed people. Oh yes, on the 4th of July our business leaders give speeches about the wonders of competition, but they don't want competition from the government." - Richard Wolff

To mark Economic Update's 10th anniversary year, Professor Wolff is revisiting relevant moments from 10 years ago to explore how capitalism, its defenders, and its critics have all changed.

For the month of May, Prof Wolff takes a look at unemployment, an unnecessary state of suffering for American citizens, and our American society that so badly needs a wide array of work to be done.  

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Learn more about Prof Wolff's new book, "The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself," now available. Visit us at www.democracyatwork.info/books

"Richard Wolff in his new book examines frightening and anti-democratic configurations of corporate power, offering not only a blueprint for how we got here, but a plan for how we will rescue ourselves and create new models of economic and political justice.” - Chris Hedges


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Showing 7 comments

  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-09-27 04:44:29 -0400
    There is one thing that I want to share with you, and it is brutal
    To prevent an average guy/gull from thinking is to destroy them within, it is called Social Engineering
    Most of us are nice people, we do things, create, and love one or the other sometimes or whatever
    We do like to be nice and care for one another. I’ve seen it with babies
    Now, how to destroy it all? So simple
    To destroy someone is to deny it to function as a human being
    And a frog in boiling water comes to my mind
  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-09-27 04:21:36 -0400
    And I want an explanation, right here and now
    Since when a plantation owner wants to be slaves educated?
    It smells like Democracy all over or a Communism
    Education for all for free, when slaves start to think nothing good comes from it
    Since when the military is to protect and not to kill. I scratch my head
    Perhaps big Pharma’s only dream is to keep us healthy and happy? Sincerely I doubt it
  • Philip Wood
    commented 2021-06-11 16:06:37 -0400
    We seem to always forget some very important facts. You must make a profit or go out of business. Why-because you must have enough money to pay your people. After all, without people you cannot run the company and if you do not take care of your people, they will work for someone else. You can neither tax nor regulate yourself into prosperity and to have jobs you must have investment and profit. Profit is not a dirty word because it is also known as a paycheck for many. Those who do not innovate will wither and die and be replaced by those who do. Those with education, skills, and experience will command more compensation ( an engineer with a masters degree and 20 years experience is worth more than 18 year old high school drop out). Companies continually strive to become better and more efficient at what they do because others will replace them if they do not. Jobs become obsolete and are replaced with new ones. Automation has produced a hundred jobs for each one that they eliminate and we all benefit by that. Most of us started at the bottom. I know that I did. I have been retired for eighteen years and have no pension, however, I an doing just fine because I planned. If you did not plan, then you have no reason to complain about those who did. I all comes down to the individual.
  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-06-04 00:39:50 -0400
    For seven years I used to be a Professor
    And yes, I do have a master’s degrees for it
    Pedagogics/Psychology/Engineering Sciences
    So sad that it all went to waste
    In a mid of a sweet afternoon all was breaking down
    I was blind and full of myself not to notice changes around
    The stench of rotting corpses dissolving within their own
    Escaped me at all, and I blame myself for it
    And I’m old, too old to go underground as I did before
    It shall be my students do it, forget about it, let them enjoy
  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-06-03 23:26:33 -0400
    I’m afraid to loose my Canadian Citizenship because
    • I’m White
    • I’m Heterosexual
    • I’m not Transgender or LSBTQP….
    • I’m conservative in my thinking
    • I like women very much
    • I’m not a Pedophile
    • I hate war
    • I think a lot
    Please give me a better reason to strip me from my Canadian Citizenship
  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-06-03 21:26:41 -0400
    But of course economics of the society and well being of the subjects are connected intravenously
    The demarcation line in here becomes a little bit fuzzy for all of us
    How little is enough to pay for a worker to survive and multiply and pay taxes?
    Now the other thing, how much we as a Government we have to pay them
    To stay quiet without this pesky demonstrations and God forbid Guillotines on every corner?
    Democracy/Cleptokracy merged in one harmonic endeavor, I love my Country that’s all
  • Romanda Marchero
    commented 2021-06-03 21:00:42 -0400
    Is it really an economic system solely to blame it for all, Mr. Professor?
    It would be foolish not to take into equation a myriad of the other factors
    Greed that came from a closet so proudly, that it became worshiped Lady of our times
    How about alienation of rapid technology development and human ability to cope with it
    And maybe the cultural demise that perms itself onto a very single thought of been disgraced
    How about a magnificent drop in self esteem of working people faced with layoff possibility every week
    And I can talk like it forever for hours, it is foolish to cherry-pick one over the others
    With my Best;
    Roman Majcher

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