This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff analyzes topics from Israel and Gaza to Epstein scandals to U.S. neocolonialism to Europe's failure to seize Russian wealth held in European banks with a focus on the historical importance of key developments shaping the global crisis emerging today.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff devotes the first half to New York's new Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He discusses how and why he defeated so many efforts to block him, and what he needs to do to succeed, deliver on his campaign promises, and create a lasting legacy of his time in office. The second half of today’s show features an interview with Sabrina Salvati on her new documentary film, "REMOVED: Black Erasure in Boston.”

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Black Friday strikes against Amazon in Germany and against Zara in Spain, the rapid decline of New School University as an example of a deepening crisis in U.S. higher education, and a new U.S. national security paper that throws Europe under the bus, further signaling the end of the U.S. empire. The second part of today’s show features an interview with author, activist, and host of “The Muckrake Podcast,” Jared Yates-Sexton, on his political analysis and campaign for change in the U.S today.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides an analysis of "globalization" as a fancy slogan to hide a profit-driven, profit-boosting period (1970-2015) that saw US capitalists move factories abroad. It destroyed so many well-paid factory jobs (especially of white, male Christians) that it produced massive suffering among the affected communities. As their rage built and both Republican and Democratic politicians turned a blind eye to their suffering, right-wing politicians saw an opportunity. Find a candidate really different from the old Republican and Democratic establishments - a Trump - and have him express the rage, anger, and bitterness of those who had lost the American Dream. Trump blamed globalization, foreigners in general, immigrants in particular, liberals, and Democrats: all lumped into "globalists," a term that changed from celebration to total evil. Conveniently for the leaders of major US corporations - the people who had actually made the decisions to move production abroad and profited from that escaped from Trump's blame. Now he promises to lead them to more profits by switching back to economic nationalism. But like globalization, it will prove profitable for the same corporations now as it did before. America First will hide the suffering it imposes every bit as much as globalization did. Capitalism is the problem.

This week’s episode of Economic Update is an adaptation from a talk Professor Wolff gave at Yale University on December 2, 2025, to the Yale Political Union. In this presentation, he discusses the significance of the title "Marx was Right," which Yale offered, and points out that, over the last 75 years, such a topic or event would not likely have occurred on that campus. He provides a basic summary of critical points throughout Marx's work where he has been proven "right." Professor Wolff also discusses how and why socialism has evolved, from the rise and fall of the USSR to the rise of the People's Republic of China.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the internal struggle inside the U.S. Teamsters Union between O'Brien leadership and Hooker challenge group (pro- vs anti-Trump), Trump-McMahon attack on the nursing profession in the U.S., and Trump's own reduction of tariffs and thus of government revenue from tariffs. Then, Professor Wolff interviews Abby Martin about her new film, "Earth's Greatest Enemy," which explores the U.S. military's disastrous ecological impact on the planet.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the nationwide Starbucks strikes and on the results of Trump's tariffs: facts and fakery. The second part of the show features an interview with journalist and podcast host John Fugelsang about his new book: Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds.

This week on Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Harriet Fraad discusses how the saga of the release of the Epstein files is producing a "falling out among the thieves" in the current administration and the political party behind it. The ghost of Epstein is effectively haunting not only the men who sought the thrill of domination from him, but also political power across the globe.

The totality of today's Economic Update is devoted to exploring (1) the multiple ways that capitalism imposes class warfare on its people, and (2) how class warfare shapes the capitalist system's impact on employers and employees. Specific examples show (1) what kind of class struggle is involved in tariffs such as those imposed by Trump, (2) how inflation exemplifies class war, and (3) how unemployment reflects and includes class war. A question addressed throughout today's program is "Why establish and maintain an economic system that produces and reproduces class war across its history?”

In the 1960s, Louis Althusser imported the concept of 'overdetermination' from Sigmund Freud into the domain of Marxian analysis. In the 1980s, Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick developed this idea into a Marxian Critique of Political Economy in their seminal book Knowledge and Class. Yet, many of the premises of the concept and its applications remain fuzzy to people, even students of Marxian theory.

This week, the dialectic goes to work with Professor Richard Wolff to explore this important idea. What is overdetermination? How does it liberate analyses from determinism and essentialism? How can we use this idea in the 21st century to make sense of the world?

In our capitalist economy, employers pay wages and set prices that together determine whether a decent life is affordable. Employers’ goal is to maximize their profit. But employees – the vast majority of us – have different goals. One of them is basic affordability. In this presentation of Global Capitalism, Professor Wolff discusses the factors at play in determining our cost of living, and ways we can and should get involved in affecting them.

The totality of today's Economic Update is devoted to exploring (1) the multiple ways that capitalism imposes class warfare on its people, and (2) how class warfare shapes the capitalist system's impact on employers and employees. Specific examples show (1) what kind of class struggle is involved in tariffs such as those imposed by Trump, (2) how inflation exemplifies class war, and (3) how unemployment reflects and includes class war. A question addressed throughout today's program is "Why establish and maintain an economic system that produces and reproduces class war across its history?”

In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Harriet Fraad explores how rape and mass murder become some men's reactions to their reduced status as providers for dependent women and children. Men who never recognized the life-sustaining care they received from women are lost and angry. Vulnerability and emotional need are inaccessible for many men. Anger and violence seem like socially accepted masculine ways to reestablish lost economic power and an emotional outlet for loneliness. As this epidemic continues to crescendo with the current administration in power, we must understand the correlations at play and explore ways to curb this unnecessary violence.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff’s updates include the 60+ people killed by the U.S. military in what it claimed were "narco boats," Socialist Catherine Connolly wins the Presidency in Ireland, Canada hit with nationwide postal workers strike alongside a strike of the entire public workforce (51,000) in Alberta, Canada, and finally a new poll showing that 67% of U.S. college students look favorably or neutrally on socialism. In the second half of today’s show, Professor Wolff interviews Robert Ovetz and Kevin van Meter on effective new ways of organizing workers.

Zohran Mamdani was declared the winner of the New York City mayoral election on November 4th, 2025. He ran as a Democratic Socialist. He ran as an immigrant. He ran as a Muslim. He ran on a platform of affordability, and he ran without taking a dime from corporations. He defeated a member of a political dynasty and the billionaires who backed him, and he did so with a resounding majority of the vote. He has set an example for others to follow and given hope to many in a tumultuous political era.

In this episode, the dialectic goes to work with the world's leading Marxian economist, Professor Richard Wolff, to examine how and why this monumental moment happened and what it could mean for New York City and the rest of the world.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Italian dockworker unions refusing to load or unload Israeli cargo, the broadened national general strikes in Italy demanding the end of the Italian government's support for Israel because of Gaza, and a discussion of the return of socialism into U.S. politics after 80 years. The second half to the show features an interview with Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Professor at M.I.T. and United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing.

In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Harriet Fraad explores the repressed history of the family structure we know today. It explores the forces that laud the family unit, and those that endanger it. She highlights the failures of American society to support the family structure and children by juxtaposing them with the more successful efforts of other nations.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the impending U.S. recession, JP Morgan admits failures of the neoliberal period as it turns nationalist, and the causes of mass shootings in the U.S. In the second half of today’s show, Professor Wolff interviews two young U.S. union organizers and their organizing method of "workers inquiry": Alex Pyne of the Blue Bottle Independent Union and Anastasia Wilson of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

State intervention or private interest? Public investment or private? More taxation or less? More regulation or less regulation? We are often asked to comment on these questions because, in popular perception at least, they are the 'central' concerns of left-leaning economists. But, as we will discover in this episode, while these may be essential concerns (particularly for Keynesian economists), Marxian economists and thinkers have provided an alternative way of thinking about the project that goes beyond these naive binaries.

In this episode, the dialectic goes to work with the world's leading Marxian economist, Professor Richard Wolff, to make sense of the differences and similarities between Keynesian and Marxian thinkers.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the censoring of U.S. government reports on hunger, changes in U.S. agriculture amid capitalism's decline, the special place of white, male, Christian union members in the MAGA world, and the relation of A.I. and jobs. In the second half of the show, Professor Wolff interviews UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan, host of the podcast “Utopias,” on technology, capitalism, and our collective future.

Women in the U.S. are under political, economic, social, and reproductive siege. The rights we fought for, like abortion rights, are now fully available in only nine states. The Trump regime has attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as well as the employers offering such programs. As an illustration of the effects of these attacks, more than 300,000 African American women in the U.S. have lost their jobs. At the same time, women are joining their sisters worldwide in opting out of both marriage and childbearing despite the pressures of the Trump administration for women to return to the role of household slaves to their husbands.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the I.C.E. raid at a battery factory in Georgia, the growing inequality in the U.S. during both Trump terms, the 75 U.S. military airstrikes on Somalia in 2025, and France's mass national street actions against the Macron government’s austerity policies. The second part of the episode features an interview with Christopher G Beck, the architect who is organizing a union of architects in the U.S. and author of the new book, The Labor of Architecture.

Most things in life--- automobiles, lovers, cancer --- are essential only to those who have them. Money, in contrast, is equally important to those who have it and those who don't. Both accordingly have a concern for understanding it. Both should proceed in the complete confidence that they can.", so writes John Kenneth Galbraith in his famous book “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went.”

But what is money? This question may seem obvious at first glance; however, as we discover in this episode, there is more to it than meets the eye. Some claim that we are now entering a new monetary world with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. To make sense of all of this, this week the dialectic goes to work to explore the question of 'money' with Prof. Wolff.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the non-profit reporters that are unionizing in Ohio, the Hilton Hotel workers striking in Houston, Canada's third party with radical leadership, and Canada's postal strike pits private profits of UPS, FedEx, etc, vs the nation's real postal needs. In the second half of the show, Professor Wolff interviews Kim Westcott, Managing Director of Women Building Up, a new community organization in Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated women reintegrate into new lives.

The UN’s latest assessment of children in the developed world puts children in the U.S. at the bottom in intellectual achievement, physical health, mental health, and basic well-being. America’s children are being neglected, and that is endangering our future.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the flight attendants' union strike in Canada, polls show that U.S. Democrats are shifting leftward, with majorities favoring socialism, Nigel Farage discusses Epstein and prominent Americans, and the French people move against Macron's austerity through mass national street actions. In the second half of today’s show, Professor Wolff interviews attorney Michael S. Smith, co-author of the new book, “From the Flag to the Cross: Fascism American Style.”

A popular myth propagated ad nauseam may begin to sound like the truth to some. It is no different for the “risk” theory of profit: the claim that capitalists “create” profits by assuming risk to capital. This theory was born out of the rise of the financial bourgeoisie as a dominant class; from the standpoint of this class, as Marx points out, “production is just an unavoidable middle”. For the financial bourgeoisie, it is a pure case of M to M”, the attempt to convert money into more money by buying and selling financial assets.
But the “modern portfolio theory” is an extension of the same ideas on risk theory that Frank Knight first posited in the 1920s. Its irrationality can be best understood by quoting the popular investor Charlie Munger, who famously remarked that “much of what is taught in corporate finance is, frankly, twaddle”.
In this episode, we explore the risk theory of profit with Prof. Wolff and ask: Is this theory a good representation of profits under capitalism?

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Vermont Public Employers who got the contractual right to act with pay to "defend democracy," Tesla’s board offers Musk a $1 trillion CEO pay package, Trump and top corporate executives merge at Intel and other hi-tech corporations, quite like the mergers in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The second half of the show features an interview with Joe Berry and Helena Worthen, long-time organizers of 'contingent' scholastic faculty in the U.S. (now comprising 75% of higher education teachers), and who are now activists in Higher Education Labor United (HELU).

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Bernie-endorsed Independent U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine, the latest Gallup poll showing that 68% Americans are pro-union, more than 97% of park workers at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon parks vote to unionize, ICE has so far deported half a million, while DOGE has fired a million federal workers (mostly high-wage) resulting in a significant net job loss nationwide. The second half of the show features an interview with Trent Lange, leader of the California movement to get money out of politics.

It is often argued, naively in our view, that “economics” is a science. Yet, it is easy to see that while discredited and unscientific theories, such as the Phlogiston theory in chemistry, can easily get replaced by better ideas, there has always been resistance to the development of revolutionary thought in Economics. This has earned the discipline the title of the “dismal science”.

In this episode, we argue that economics is “ideological” in the precise sense that different groups in society conceptualize economic value (and hence profit) from their respective standpoints: the merchant in the perspective of selling things, the industrialist from the standpoint of hiring labor power and buying means of production, and the financier in the perspective of “risk to capital”.

These ideological positions correspond to the class positions held by individuals within the capitalist circuit. In this episode, we discuss bourgeois theories of value with Prof Rick Wolff.

The left-wing surge of the U.S. working class during the Great Depression of the 1930s compelled the Democratic Party to prioritize serving the working class more than it had before or would again. It was called the New Deal. In response, the US employer class, angry that taxes on corporations and the rich were used to fund government programs for the people, turned to the Republican Party after World War II ended in 1945 and directed it to roll back the New Deal, reducing or eliminating all it had accomplished. Because the New Deal made the great mistake of leaving profits in the hands of employers, the employers used those profits to provide Republicans with the means to defeat the Democrats and roll back the New Deal. In response, the Democrats sought funding, finding it in the hands of many donors who had supported the Republicans. For many years, the U.S. was led by one party or the other: the GOP rolled back the New Deal faster, while the Democrats did so more slowly—one ruling class, two parties to serve it. The 2008 Great Recession ended the cozy system, as both parties had to protect the privileges of the corporations and the rich, even as the US empire and economy declined. As the mass of people suffered and neither the GOP nor the Democrats stopped it, people became desperate and elected Trump out of rage and hysteria. He did not and will not solve the fundamental problems any more than his predecessors did. For that, a genuinely new and different political party is needed — one that puts the American Working People First, the American majority. The program concludes with suggestions on how such a new party could truly transform the country and address its most pressing problems.

Women labor intensively and extensively to create and maintain human life. Women's labor in Creating and raising children, establishing order and cleanliness, providing emotional care for our families, and maintaining all of this is more than substantial. However, it has been devalued in American society and often dismissed as instinct or pure emotional expression. Women’s labor in the home is not focused on creating a marketable service or commodity, and capitalists who cannot directly profit from that labor are to blame for its devaluation and societal degradation. We need to recognize, celebrate, and compensate that essential labor more than just with a Hallmark holiday once a year. This week on Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad explains how and why we must give proper acknowledgement to women's labors of love.

Economic Update returns this week with an all-new episode of updates by Professor Wolff on:
Trump ending Housing First
Spain exploring the possibility of a wealth tax
Trump busting unions within government agencies
Protecting yourself in a declining capitalistic system
France's upcoming Sept. 10th mass movement against Macron's government
Air Canada's strike by flight attendants who defy the government's back-to-work order and win against both the Canadian government and their employer, Air Canada.

Economic Update returns next week to its regular schedule! This week's episode was recorded in June this year and covers topics our viewers have written to us and requested. Professor Wolff explains what deficits are and why the capitalist system enables and invites employers to cause them. He then proceeds to explain how deficits both solve specific problems of capitalism while also causing others. Over time, problems accumulate to undermine the credit of the US and bring economic crisis. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is shown to offer one way out of the crisis by changing how money is created.

Jacinda Ardern was the Socialist Labor Party Prime Minister of New Zealand for 8 years. She led with a politics of empathy, delivering her nation from COVID with just 25 deaths. In a horrific white nationalist attack by an Australian, masses of Muslims were killed and wounded while at prayer. She fostered deep solidarity between New Zealand and its Muslim community, conveying the message that they are one unified nation. In the words of Mohammed, she declared that an injury to one limb is an injury to the whole body. She is a model of a very different and badly needed kind of power. In this week’s episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad discusses the effects of Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as Prime Minister and how we can adopt and replicate core aspects of her successes.

In this week's episode of the "Best Of Economic Update Series," we examine a comparison between the economic failures we face today caused by the same political forces and capitalists that we have encountered before, as well as the causes and effects of economic policies proven to fail. We hope you're enjoying this "Best Of" series. We will return to regular weekly updates on Labor Day, September 1st, and as always, we thank you for your attention, support, and solidarity.

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at some of Prof. Wolff's guest interviews from years past that still echo in today's global socio-economic setting. We hope you're enjoying this "Best Of" series. We will return to regular weekly updates on Labor Day, and as always, we thank you for your attention, support, and solidarity.

Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors in New York in 2019, was also accused of sexually assaulting underage girls for nearly two decades. Because he died in jail while awaiting trial, we may never know the extent of his sex trafficking ring or exactly who else may have participated in those heinous acts. Instead, we are left wondering whether or not he also provided blackmail opportunities for the U.S. and Israeli governments, as it appears he likely did precisely that. It also seems as if Donald Trump was an enthusiastic and willful participant in Epstein’s darkest schemes. In this week’s episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad explores and explains Epstein’s web of crime and corruption, and reveals how Trump swims in the swamp he condemns.

This week on Economic Update, we revisit two of the most viewed episodes of Economic Update. The first features Professor Wolff's analysis of the key changes driving the emergence of a new economic world order, and the second provides a look at the causes and effects of China's economic achievements. You can see both episodes in their entirety at the respective links below:

Economic Update: The Emerging New World Order (April 2023)

Economic Update: The Phenomenon of China (April 2024)

Marx, an analyst of real businesses? You must be crazy.

Well, before you arrive at that conclusion, consider the following:

Procurement time, lead time, inventory management, freight costs, and supply chain management: these are terms commonly encountered by business analysts and participants alike on an everyday basis. Contemporary corporations, such as Amazon and Walmart, have developed elaborate interconnected networks of warehouses and logistics management systems that reduce the 'turnover time' (the two-day delivery method) and facilitate the circulation of capital. Any analyst of the world capitalist system cannot help but notice how geopolitical tensions over supply chains, semiconductors, GPUs, and rare earths tie into the circuits of contemporary global capitalism. A serious analyst of capitalism must, therefore, pay close attention to the "CIRCULATION" of Capital.

But what is the circulation of Capital? How does the world capitalist system connect retailers and financiers with networks of direct-producers ---- Marx's exploited classes in Volume 1--- and suppliers that are spread out across the entire planet? What does Marx's theory say about the 'subsumed classes', or the classes in society that do not directly participate in the production of surplus-value, but facilitate or provide conditions of existence to it? How do we incorporate bankers, merchants, and financiers into the circuit of capital?

Volume 1 of Capital deals with the PRODUCTION of surplus-value to demonstrate how MORE value is extracted from workers than they receive in wages. The core of capitalist accumulation is thus the stolen value of workers. But what happens once this value is stolen? Does the capitalist keep all of it? Does he make distributions out of it? To whom are these distributions made and why? These questions are at the heart of Capital Volume 2. With this aim, this week the dialectic goes to work to explore the amazing world of Marx's Capital, Volume II: The Circulation of Capital.

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at Donald Trump's first term as president through the lens of psychology with Dr. Harriet Fraad. She explains what could have led people to vote for him instead of the alternative, and provides a backdrop of the socio-economic situation facing his supporters at that time. She is followed by another interview with Professor Wolff and Dr. Arlie Hochschild, a former sociology professor at UC Berkeley and a renowned author. Her research provides insight into the reasons why many still support Mr. Trump, despite their deteriorating socio-economic situation today.

There has been an extensive study of workers and the commodities they produce. When it comes to who produces those workers, or who produces people, gives birth to them, raises them, and socializes them, there is a lot less material that examines that type of work. Social Reproduction Theory examines the aspects of capitalism and bridges the gap between feminism and Marxism by incorporating variables such as race and gender. In this week’s episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad provides her insights on the latter, as part of Social Reproduction Theory.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the following about Mamdani's victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral race: (1) how it happened, who voted for him and why; (2) the varieties of socialism and the long history of "municipal socialism" in the US and overseas,  (3) possible socialist programs for a Mamdani mayoral administration; and (4) tax revenue possibilities to pay for socialist programs. 

This week, the dialectic sat down with Professor Richard Wolff again to discuss the relational interplay between value and prices.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on Medicare advantage and "pre-authorization" as a way to reduce Medicare payments, liberals and radicals split over Mamdani, Trump's current budget further deepens the inequality of wealth across the US, and Mexico attends the BRICS meeting in Rio de Janeiro. In the second part of today’s show, Professor Wolff interviews Professor Henry Giroux from McMaster University, Canada, on capitalism, culture, and fascism in the U.S. today.

Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the Democratic primary for New York City’s mayor has shaken up the old establishment and is becoming a symbol of progress and real, meaningful change for younger generations, and everyone else, whether or not they like it. With over 40k volunteers and a meter $1.7 million raised, Mamdani’s margin of victory against Andrew Cuomo, the establishment candidate who amassed over $25 million, is a message to the core establishment that change is coming, and it’s coming soon.

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the political theater, of the U.S./Iran hostilities, the political shock of Zohran Mamdani's Democratic primary win in New York City, the withdrawal of union leaders from the Democratic National Committee, and the rising trade among BRICS crosses the $1 trillion milestone. In the second part of today's show, Prof. Wolff interviews two leaders of the musicians' union representing the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, New York City: Javier Gandara and Stephanie Mortimore.

This week, the dialectic sat down with Professor Richard Wolff again to discuss Karl Marx's Capital, Volumes 2 and 3.

The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxist theory. It employs the dialectical mode of reasoning, a method developed over millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis through dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work, intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff, responding to requests, explores the parallels between what led to the rise of Hitler and fascism in Germany after World War I and what has brought the US to Trump and his current policies. Many key basic parallels are presented alongside some remaining differences that help explain why what Trump is doing is not yet what a fully formed US fascism would entail.

It examines the types of labor that shape human beings outside of waged work, both before and after they enter the waged workforce. Social Reproduction Theory complements Marxist theories of labor at the workplace by introducing the labor that shapes human beings outside of waged work.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff has a one-on-one discussion with Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges, who draws on history, his years as a correspondent and NY Times Middle East Bureau Chief, and his current work on and in the Middle East. He explains why Israel attacked Iran and what the short and long-term prospects are for their war. He also devotes some of his analyses to examining Israel's genocidal policies toward Palestinians.

To read Karl Marx is to contemplate a world created by capitalism. People have long viewed the United States as the quintessential anti-Marxist nation, but Marx’s ideas have inspired a wide range of individuals to formulate a more nuanced understanding of the stakes of the American project. Historians have highlighted the imprint made on the United States by Enlightenment thinkers such as Adam Smith, John Locke, and Thomas Paine, but Marx is rarely considered alongside these figures. Yet his ideas are the most relevant today because of capitalism’s centrality to American life.

In "Karl Marx in America", historian Andrew Hartman argues that, although Karl Marx never visited America, the country has been profoundly influenced, shaped, and transformed by his ideas. Since the beginning of the Civil War, Marx has been a specter in the American machine. During the Gilded Age, socialists read Marx as a remedy for the unchecked power of corporations. During the Great Depression, communists turned to Marx in the hope of transcending the destructive capitalist economy. Marx inspired the young activists of the 1960s as they gathered to protest a war overseas. Marx’s influence is also evident today, as Americans have become increasingly attuned to issues of inequality, labor, and power.

After decades of being pushed to the far-left corner of intellectual thought, Marx’s ideologies have crossed over into the mainstream and are more alive than ever. Working-class consciousness is on the rise, and, as Marx argued, the future of a capitalist society rests in the hands of the people who work at the point of production. A valuable resource for anyone interested in Marx’s influence on American political discourse, Karl Marx in America is a thought-provoking account of the past, present, and future of his philosophies in American society.

This week, the dialectic sat down with the author, Andrew Hartman, to chat about this new book.

This week’s episode of Economic Update features an analysis by Professor Wolff on:
1. How Trump seeks to address the problem of costly American wars and their impact on sharply rising budget deficits,
2. How the rising U.S. debt has led to the loss of the United States’ "AAA" credit rating,
3. How Trump’s response is to seek to slash government spending and raise money by imposing tariffs on the entire world,
4. How this backfires as other countries retaliate, hurting US exports and causing the dollar to lose its appeal as the world's safest currency,
5. How China's economic rise is more substantial than the U.S. measures aimed at stopping or slowing that rise,
6. How the declining U.S. empire undermines the U.S. capitalist economy by making it increasingly difficult for CEOs and other corporate leaders in the U.S., households, and the government to prevail over and dominate the U.S. economy and society.

In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad examines the impact of recent global economic losses on the personal lives of Americans, from marriage and family to mental health.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the blow back to Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s rationalization of budget cuts to Medicaid to help fund tax cuts for corporations and the rich, 8,000 Connecticut healthcare workers win contract gains by threatening to strike, and how the advertising industry spawned by capitalism distorts and corrupts human communication. The show's second half features an interview with UC-Berkeley Professor Arlie Hochschild on the reasons why Trump's political base continues to support him.

In the last episode, we discussed the importance of Capital Volume 2 to the project of Das Kapital. In this episode, we delve deeper into the first four chapters of the book, starting with the three circuits. We observe how the world of finance is interconnected with production and retail, and how these three circuits, in turn, interact to form the totality known as the world capitalist system.

The capitalist system comprises financiers, managers, bankers, and a host of non-producing members who benefit from the exploitation of productive workers, as they receive a share of their surplus value. With volumes 2 and 3, Marx has opened the analytical door to an appreciation of the complexity of class struggles in contemporary societies, and the struggles between the “RECEIEVERS OF DISTRIBUTED SHARES”. These struggles, which are extremely important for the real world, are a critical part of the toolkit of Capital Volume 2.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on U.S. vs Chinese wheelbarrows, the Cold War error against China, the lasting effects of terminated U.S. federal workers, how tariffs alone won't bring manufacturing back to the U.S., further declines in U.S. coal mining, McDonald's hamburgers in the U.S., and the rapid economic decline in Europe.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Trump’s cuts to school mental health counselors, the mass strike in LA County, why China is better positioned for a trade war with the U.S., and how profit drives corporate decisions to relocate U.S. factories overseas, thereby making the US economy vulnerable to long, global supply lines.

Most professionally trained neoclassical economists have never bothered to read Capital Volume 1—let alone know about the existence of its two companion theoretical volumes (2 and 3) and three historical volumes. While it’s generally advisable to refrain from speaking on topics one hasn’t deeply studied, bourgeois economics remains full of lively debates peppered with claims that begin: “But Marx didn’t account for [fill in the blank].”

This week on The Dialectic At Work, we examine these alleged “absences” in Marx’s Capital with Professor Richard Wolff. Since most such omissions stem from ignorance of Volumes 2 and 3, we’ll dedicate the next two to three episodes to these critical texts.

Recap: In our last discussion with Prof Wolff, we went over the structure of Capital Volume 1: the question of use-value, exchange-value, and Marx’s theory of surplus-value. We then zoomed into the site of the workplace and the working day, via an exploration of chapters 9 and 10 of the first volume. I also want to remind our audiences that in Season 1, we have already covered how Marx’s work in these chapters was extended and developed into a theory of class analysis by Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick in their book Knowledge and Class.

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff begins by presenting updates on the death of libertarianism and the rise of US economic nationalism, and US universities become big businesses, governed by money concerns. In the episode's second half, Professor Wolff interviews Professor Geert Dhondt, the Chair of the Economics Department and Economics Professor at John Jay College of the City University of New York, on how colleges and universities are reacting to Trump's attack on higher education.

In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad examines loneliness as a major driver of America’s mental health crisis. We explore how socialist and leftist organizing in the past has tackled this issue—and how present-day "12-Step" programs might offer the Left new strategies for reaching and mobilizing Americans.

Professor Wolff begins this week on Economic Update by analyzing the choice between reform and revolution through two historical discussions: the anti-slavery fight in the mid-19th century and the anti-Depression fight in the U.S. during the 1930s. He then explains the stakes in choosing reform or revolution as goals for social change and outlines how and why both options are now back on the working class's agenda in the U.S. He concludes the discussion by suggesting that revolution is the necessary guarantor of the duration of reforms in the U.S., offering an alternative perspective to consider when choosing reform over revolution.

We are thrilled to share the replay of Democracy at Work and The Left Forum's special live, in-person Global Capitalism event, held last Wednesday at Women Building Up (WBU). Professor Wolff gave a special "May Day" Global Capitalism Lecture on the impact of President Trump’s economic policies and how they are ultimately an attack on working people

We would like to thank Susan Shah, Kim Westcott and all the remarkable people at Women Building Up for hosting Democracy At Work and The Left Forum.

Presented by Democracy at Work and the Left Forum

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Trump VS Harvard, Trump's "antisemitism" maneuver, how higher education in the U.S. is becoming ever more " business-like,” and the economics behind the depreciation of the U.S. dollar since Jan 20, 2025. The show's second half features an interview with Mr. Rob Robinson, who is to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the City University of New York at its Commencement on June 10, 2025, in recognition of his multiple contributions in the fight against homelessness and inadequate housing in the U.S.

In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad explores how the Frankfurt School of Marxian Theory and the Marxist Philosopher Louis Althusser can help us understand Americans’ adherence to Trump even after the chaos and cuts of Trump's first 100 days in office.

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.

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.

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.

Was Marx a Eurocentric thinker? Is his work only pertinent to Western societies? What were his views on colonized societies? What about the question of gender? How did Marx’s views on non-Western societies change over his lifetime?

In this episode, Shahram meets Prof Kevin Anderson, author of “The Late Marx’s Revolutionary Roads”, a new book by Verso that analyzes Marx’s late works (1869-1882), some of which have only recently been published. These notebooks provide a new way of thinking about the Marxian project. 

Professor Anderson explains that in his late writings, Marx went beyond the boundaries of capital and class in Western European and North American contexts. Kevin Anderson’s systematic analysis of Marx’s Ethnological Notebooks and related texts on Russia, India, Ireland, Algeria, Latin America, and Ancient Rome provides evidence for a change of perspective away from Eurocentric worldviews or unilinear theories of development. As Anderson shows, the late Marx elaborated a truly global, multilinear theory of modern society and its revolutionary possibilities.

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."

In this week's episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Harriet Fraad points out how the Left has turned away from the love of community that helped fuel the movements behind leaders like MLK and Che and explains why this has turned out to be a huge mistake. She then explains the importance of love of community, connection, and justice in building a unified Left.

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.

Do you feel tired, alienated, bored, and powerless at work? Do you feel exploited? This episode of Dialectic at Work provides an economic theory that could explain your daily experiences at the workplace. It builds on the discussion with Professor Richard Wolff in the previous episode and dives into the first volume of Capital, which deals with the Production of Surplus Value. Prof. Wolff explains the conceptual apparatus of Volume 1: necessary and surplus labor. These twin concepts explain the precise process via which the work performed by workers becomes the “profits” of the capitalist class.

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.

This week on Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad discusses how the profit motive that defines capitalism is that no one hires you unless they make more money from your work than they pay you. That is simply considered good business, and Dr. Fraad explains how compassion and empathy remain variables that are absent from "good business."

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.

Professor Richard Wolff’s co-author, colleague, and friend, the late Stephen Resnick, would tell his students about his discussion, as a student at MIT, with Paul Samuelson. He asked Samuelson: “What is there in Marx that is both valid and absent in neoclassical theory”? To this, Samuelson responded: “Class analysis.” In this episode, Shahram and Professor Wolff use the dialectic to explore how Marx’s magnum opus, Das Kapital, is understood and its connection to class and class analysis. It begins by examining the overall project of Capital and discussing why beginners should read this essential text. Professor Wolff explains the importance of the three volumes in Marx’s theoretical scheme, the main differences between the first two volumes, and how they individually contribute to our understanding of the ‘capitalist totality’.

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.

In this week's installment of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad delves into the historical evolution of the concept of family. She challenges the common misconception that parenthood is an innate or naturally inherent trait in humans. Additionally, she explores how marriage and partnerships intersect with and shape this dynamic, shedding light on the complex interplay between societal structures and familial relationships.

In this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the economic causes and effects of the global demographic’s decline, the Trump administration's colonial plans for Greenland, and examples of resistance and fighting back as the Trump/Musk firing of federal workers gets underway. In the show's second half, Professor Wolff interviews the activist, organizer, and people's lawyer, who is organizing multiple fronts of resistance, David Cobb.

In this episode, the dialectic goes to work with a professor of sociology and environmental historian, Professor Jason Moore, to explore the following question: can the issues of climate change and class consciousness be isolated from one another? How did Marx conceptualize Nature, and where do human beings fit into the web of life? How does the notion of a 'climate emergency' benefit the ruling classes? What are the various approaches to thinking about the environment within the web of life? Is "man" (in the abstract) responsible for the planet's destruction? Or is it capital? Prof Moore and Prof Shahram Azhar discuss the 'web of life' and how progressives in the 21st century must appreciate the significance of this revolutionary new concept.

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.

In this week's episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad delves into the striking parallels between the Trump administration's strategies and the tactics outlined in the Nazi playbook. The podcast also examines actionable ways to counter and halt this dangerous agenda.

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.

This week, the dialectic goes to explore the question of ‘free trade, trade wars, and protectionism’. What did Marx think about the question? Is it something of concern to the working-classes? How should they respond to a situation in which the capitalists of one country engage in trade wars with capitalists of another country?

To help us understand how Marxian economists and activists view this debate, especially in the present context, we have Prof. Richard Wolff.

Amidst all the noise about ‘bringing jobs back’ and all the rest of it, and the rhetoric of protectionism, how (if at all) will the American working classes benefit from this? I ask this, especially in the context of the cheap goods that we have been buying as consumers in America that were ‘made in China’.

(Context of 1847: a Free Trade Congress was held at Brussels. It was a strategic move in the Free Trade campaign then carried on by the English manufacturers. Victorious at home, by the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, they now invaded the continent in order to demand, in return for the free admission of continental corn into England, the free admission of English manufactured goods to the continental markets. At this Congress, Marx inscribed himself on the list of speakers.)

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.

In this week's episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad delves into the concept of "Love," coming just a few days after Valentine's Day. She examines how America has undergone a significant revolution in recent history—a transformation in the meanings and practices of love. Love and marriage no longer "go together like a horse and carriage," as Frank Sinatra's 1955 song once claimed. Today, most Americans are single, and the majority of marriages end in separation or divorce. This podcast explores the reasons behind this profound shift.

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.

Welcome to another season, and the first episode of Season 2, of the dialectic at work: a podcast dedicated to understanding Marxian theory. Thank you all for your continued support.

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.

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.

In this week's episode, Dr. Fraad reflects on 2024, a year in which there were several high-profile sexual assault cases featured in mainstream media. Dr. Fraad will highlight four cases of brutal sexual assault allegations by men against women that gained significant media attention.

This week's podcast delves into the underlying reasons for these assaults, the increased media coverage surrounding them, and explores actionable steps to prevent future incidents of sexual violence.

We are thrilled to share the replay of Democracy at Work and The Left Forum's special live, in-person Global Capitalism event, held this past Saturday at Women Building Up (WBU). Professor Wolff gave his thoughts and analysis on what the new Trump Presidency means and how we may react.

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.

In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Senator Elizabeth Warren's new bill "The Accountable Capitalism Act", Elon Musk's recent comments on homeless people, Mitch McConnell's criticisms of Trump for isolationism, and the over 9,000 Michigan nurses voting to join the Teamsters Union. Finally, Professor Wolff interviews Bucknell University Economics Professor and Co-Host of The Dialectic at Work Professor Shahram Azhar on the appeal of Marxian economics.

In this week's episode, Dr. Fraad discusses what the Trump administration means for the American people. All but the wealthiest American men, women, and children will suffer while billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the proposed agency, DOGE( the Department of Governmental Efficiency). They plan to cut government jobs, job protections, and aid for poor and working-class people, especially the most vulnerable members of our society. The cuts will protect the wealthiest from interference with their profits. However, we can fight back!

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.

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.

In this week's episode, Dr. Fraad discusses the prevalence of sexual assault allegations and crimes committed by powerful and wealthy men. The news is filled with the names of famously accused rapists: Donald Trump, Puff Daddy, Weinstein, Cosby, Epstein, etc. The #MeToo movement allows them to be exposed. This podcast explores the question of why widespread rape is a perk of monied powerful men.

In this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff dives deep into why socialism remains a popular and successful economic system. Professor Wolff highlights new laws passed by the government of Spain that punish airline companies who employ 'unjustified' airline passenger fees. We then debunk the unsubstantiated and nonsensical myth we hear so often that: 'Socialism has never worked,' and finally we juxtapose the history of the last capitalist collapse (1930s Great Depression) when the US working class turned left versus the current crisis of US capitalism when the initial turn of the working class is to the right.

In this episode, Professors Shahram Azhar and Richard Wolff continue their discussion and analysis of the seminal book Knowledge and Class. Professor Wolff reflects on how he and his friend and co-author Steve Resnick developed their own language and theories around class.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff devotes this week's episode to Labor Unions and Political parties. We explain why US & Western capitalism today provoke labor and unions into more and more social and political action. The latest examples are the recent Canadian Postal Workers strike and the Barnes and Noble bookstore workers rally in New York City. The Professor discusses the history of the standard practice of employers filing complaints with the National Labor Relations Board to dispute the results of elections that form unions.

Finally a major discussion on politics and the intersection of labor. What will be unions' relationship to political parties? Will we see general strikes and mass popular mobilizations? Only time will tell.

In this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses how US foreign aid serves the interests of corporations and their profits. We highlight how San Juan County in Washington state handled its fiscal crisis by cutting its employees' work week to 32 hours. We update you on workers of Wells Fargo Bank who are currently conducting a unionization drive, which could lead to other US banks doing the same. We provide a quick analysis of the history of settler colonialism in New Zealand and how this practice informs and influences the Israel and Palestinian crisis. Lastly, we interview Professors Michael Hillard and Richard McIntyre for a Marxian analysis of the exceptional nature of the US capitalist class and the US election.

In this episode, the dialectic goes to work to explore one of the most fundamental concepts in Marxism: class and class analysis. What is class? What do Marxists mean when they deploy this term? In this episode we discover, via the seminal book Knowledge and Class, how the concept of surplus is used to develop a theory of classes in society. The fundamental and subsumed class framework, first developed by Resnick and Wolff, provides a non-essentialist approach to classes. Prof Wolff and Prof Azhar discuss how multiplicities of class processes can coexist at any point in time and pull and push individuals, communities, and nations in different trajectories.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses how major pharmaceutical companies (CVS, United Healthcare, Cigna) are complicit in the opioid crisis in the United States. We highlight a successful food co-op in Minneapolis and explain the inauthenticity of mainstream discourse on the US economy.

Finally an interview with Richard "RJ" Eskow, Bernie Sanders' speechwriter, an expert on AI and the basic social issues its spread now raises.

In this week's episode, Dr. Fraad explores why and how a convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault was chosen to lead America. Americans and particularly white American men are frightened. They have lost family wages and their wives as well. White women have lost the lifetime financial support of their domestic labor and child care. Americans have no Left Party to explain their lesser lives. Why not? This podcast begins to explain it.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses U.S. Universities and Politicians' repression of student protesters, the continued global demands of indigenous people for liberation from colonialism's legacies, and Harvard's corporate administration sacrificing its students' and faculty's freedom of expression to pander to some of its donors. 

Finally, an interview with Professor Jerome N. Warren, editor of the newly published Routledge Handbook of Cooperative Economics and Management.

This week, and in the next few weeks, the Dialectic goes to explore one of the most important texts in Marxian political economy in modern history: Knowledge and Class. The book, written in 1987 by Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff after decades of research and critical analysis, developed a new “non essentialist” Marxism. The Fundamental and Subsumed Framework, developed in this book, has been used to examine a host of economic settings and situations, including economic analyses of countries, and businesses. It is the method Prof Wolff uses to do economics.

In this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the economic repercussions of Western sanctions and how the retaliations they provoke. We then turn to the latest labor strikes and wage & benefit gains achieved by unions at Boeing and East Coast dock workers. We highlight China's dominance of the global energy markets; and U.S. spending on military and police.

Finally, we close with an economic analysis of Israel's ongoing violence in Gaza.

In this episode, Dr. Fraad discusses the history of childhood. To quote the most well-known historian of childhood, Lloyd deMause, "The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only begun to awaken." We all begin life as children. Our history must be claimed. Feudalism and capitalism cast children as private property to use, abuse, exploit, or love. This podcast explores our common history through a Marxist lens. In case we need the footnote it follows: Lloyd deMause The History of Childhood. Psychohistory Press, New York. 1974

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, with the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election 8 days away, Professor Richard Wolff explores the shared refusal of both major candidates and their parties to face and debate solutions to the major problems facing US capitalism in 2024: (1) Inequality, (2) instability and (3) a declining empire. Instead we are witnessing both Trump and Harris compete to be the "cheerleader in chief" for capitalism.

Missing from the discourse is a genuine opposition party that might dare to offer an alternative non-capitalist vision and solution to the system's deepening problems.

This week the dialectic explores the Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded to Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson for their “contribution to Institutional Analyses” of long-run economic development.

We critically examine the claim that “settler colonialism” results in progress and development. Professors Wolff and Azhar discuss how the real economic history of colonized and indigenous peoples rebelled against the “whitewashing” in Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson's work.

The dialectic revisits the work and contributions of Paul Baran, including his analysis of the historical tendencies within capitalist development, and how it leads to under-development in the Global South.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the new law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom banning "legacy and donor" favoritism in private college admissions to foster a "merit system." We also bring your attention to Javier Milei and his regime in Argentina as they impose austerity measures on the country: the masses will suffer to pay off debts that enriched the elite few in classic ways.

Finally, we Interviewed economics Professor Ian Seda-Irizarry of the City University of New York about the conditions provoking the rise of the political left and left unity in Puerto Rico.

Ian Seda-Irizarry is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at the
Economics Department of John Jay College, City University of New York. His work
focuses on the current socio-economic crisis of Puerto Rico and its relation to the
island’s first fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s.

In this episode Dr. Fraad discusses how the American Empire is Falling. That truth which is recognized throughout the rest of the world and in U.S. financial circles, is denied across America. However, the evidence cannot be denied. Where the denial expresses itself most is in "Spirit Level Afflictions". Glaring economic and social inequality, distrust between people, addiction, mental illness, lowered life expectancy, birth rate decline, suicide, homicide, imprisonment rates, and much more. All signs of a society in deep turmoil.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses how FED Chair Jerome Powell admits capitalism's intrinsic instability, a Tennessee plastic plant won't let workers leave before storm Helene hits, we examine new drugs for obesity (Ozempic and Wegovy) which highlights the failures of for-profit medical care.

Finally, we interview Jordan Chariton on his new book "We, the Poisoned: Exposing The Flint Water Crisis Cover-up and the Poisoning of 100,000".

In this episode, the dialectic discusses the rising temperatures, melting glaciers, droughts, and famines as we have never seen in history; this week the Dialectic at Work explores the position of Capitalism, our dominant economic system, in the Web of Life. Prof. Shahram Azhar discusses the issue with leading environmental historian and historical geographer, Professor Jason W. Moore.

Professor Moore is the author of numerous books and articles on the subject, including "Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital", "Anthropocene or Capitalocene", and "A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things".

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the modern political history in the United Kingdom as Conservatives protect UK corporations and the rich by employing
"Distractions": First Brexit, and now Ukraine. We then turn to the latest worker uprising this time in Washington state, as workers at Boeing strike demanding better wages and benefits, and state government employees who are legally prohibited from striking are demanding better conditions as well by demanding better pay and conditions. We turn to the United Healthcare Corporation's latest profit-driven "pre-payment information" scheme, which disenfranchises people in need.

Finally, in an interview with Eric Blanc, a founder of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) we discuss its phenomenal success in helping workers across the economy learn about organizing, and access to labor unions for help with forming unions

In this episode, Dr. Fraad juxtaposes our capitalist system with sexual assault. Capitalist exploitation, like rape, requires a lack of connection and empathy for the workers one exploits. Capitalism encourages domination and disconnection from workers' human needs and wants. The rapist does the same. Rapists refuse to see their victim as a fellow human but only as an object to be exploited and dominated. While the majority of rape victims are women 10 percent are men yet another remnant of patriarchy.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff addresses the numerous requests for financial planning or investment advice that he receives from many of you. We touch on the truth about investing in the stock and/or bond markets. In addition, Professor Wolff offers a basic understanding of the economics of US capitalism's century-long, profit-driven failure to adequately provide housing to its people. Finally, an interview with Professors Eleni Schirmer and Sofya Aptekar about their new book "Lend and Rule", from Common Notions Press, and their fight against the financialization of US public universities, and why it is so necessary.

In this episode, the dialectic goes on to explore how Hegel's idea of historical transformation and change in the world of consciousness and thinking can be used to understand the political and economic situation around the world. Drawing upon a host of examples from the past, and the present, from England, France, and the United States, as well as thinking about future possibilities and trajectories, Prof. Wolff and Prof. Shahram Azhar analyze how Hegel's idea of dialectical change can be used to understand and change the world for the better.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff offers a special episode to continue the previous discussion on communism. We will discuss how socialism's history evolved into separating socialism from communism and creating multiple, different meanings of what is considered communism today.

American women are on a birth strike. The U.S. leads the developed world in reducing the global birth rate. Only well-funded government programs for families and children will change this phenomenon. U.S. women cannot be the national safety net. This week's episode explains why U.S. women are on a birth strike and what we can do to correct that.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff offers a special episode discussing the unscary origins of the ideas of communism and socialism before the Cold War demonized them. We will discuss how socialism's history evolved into separating socialism from communism and creating multiple, different meanings of what is considered communism today.

We live at a time when multiple crises surround us. Moreover, we are told that there is no alternative (TINA) so we must all accept the 'lesser of the two evils logic'. This week the dialectic goes to work to critically examine this claim. In particular, we dive into the political situation in France, Germany, and the United States in the context of the electoral process.

As always, we connect the story with key concepts within Marxist theory. Specifically, we ask why Marxists INSIST that 1) The abolition of wage-labor and its replacement with economic democracy, ie workers' self-directed enterprises is POSSIBLE and 2) that this goal set in step (1) is DESIRABLE, in the precise sense that it will solve the structural problems of our times by going to the ROOT of the issue. In other words, Marxism provides PRECISELY the THIRD alternative we need.

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff draws attention to the 10,000 hotel workers who recently conducted a strike impacting major hotels across 19 US cities. We highlight the contested merger of the two largest grocery chains in America. Albertsons and Kroger threaten to become the third largest retail giant after Amazon, and Walmart plus the Canadian government forces 9000 Canadian railway striking workers back to work, with murmurs of a general strike looming. We also give a shout-out to a small Brooklyn pizzeria unionizing with Starbucks workers.

Finally, an exclusive interview with world-renowned economist, politician, author, and the former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis discusses global economic change and the working class, topics discussed in his latest work "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism".

On this week’s special Labor day episode of Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff honors both Labor Day and President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln once said in 1861 that "Labor is the superior of capital." Yet, capital in the United States has only two major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats who both are currently advocating for capital over labor and essentially operating as a two-party monopoly excluding all others.

In today's political discourse, Labor has no party advocating for what Lincoln once advocated. The injustice and inequality generated in and for society by capitalist economies is neither necessary nor welcome. A genuine labor party is the missing solution.

On this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses Kate Pickett's and Richard Wilkinson's best-selling study in the book "The Spirit Level" (2009), showing how economic inequality correlates with most of the major social problems of our time.

We will juxtapose their latest paper "The Spirit Level at 15: The Enduring Impact of Inequality" Which details how economic inequality has only gotten worse since the past fifteen years, despite government laws and programs aimed to "reduce" inequality.

Wilkinson and Pickett show how inequality leads to severe social ills, divisions, and disintegration. What we need is to face that it is capitalism that generates the inequality that generates the hostilities and social tensions intruding upon and damaging our lives."

Family was a mainstay of child development and emotional sustenance for both adults and children. US families are now falling apart. Today's episode asks the question: "What can be done to replace their sustaining power?"

On this week's episode of the Dialectic at Work, Professor Shahram Azhar and Professor Wolff discuss the crisis of democracy globally, the rise of far-right authoritarianism, the climate crisis, and finally how Marxism can address these issues.

This discussion took place at the recent No War but Class War Forum on May 31st at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus Sponsored by Historical Materialism and Institute for the Radical Imagination Conference

This week's episode features updates on the UK and French elections showing dramatic shifts to the left contradicting US mass media, US self-induced global economic isolation in pursuit of punishing countries doing business with China, Trump and Biden equally unwilling to solve Social Security's financial problems by taxing incomes of the rich as Congress could and should. Professor Wolff closes with an interview with Dr. Harriet Fraad on global declines in marriage and birth rates and those declines' connections to capitalism.

In this episode, “Are you Guilty of Reading Capital?”, the Dialectic goes to work to begin a series of discussions on Marx’s magnum opus, Capital. This episode and the next few will build the foundations for an analysis of Capital and Marx’s theory of surplus-value.

Building on our discussion on Althusser and overdetermination in Episodes 2 and 3, we now turn to how this new way of thinking about dialectics will impact our reading of Capital.

We begin with the following idea: “There is no neutral reading of Capital. We are all guilty of a reading of Capital” (Althusser, Reading Capital). If indeed it is the case, then there is no ‘one’ singular reading of Capital. Rather, as Rick Wolff demonstrates, within the intellectual canon there can be and have been multiple trajectories that Marxist scholars have adopted in the last century-and-a-half while grappling with this text.

We then dive into the following issue: Why did Marx begin his intellectual journey in Capital with the commodity? What is it about the commodity that makes it such a ‘mysterious’ thing with mystical properties? Viewers will begin to see that Marx’s idea of the commodity, and labor-power as being a unique commodity within the world of commodities, is crucial to his overall project of understanding capitalism.

On this week’s Economic Update, Professor Wolff devotes the entire program to explaining clearly and accessibly what government deficits are, why they occur, and who benefits from them. We show how deficits and debts reward corporations and the rich at the expense of the mass of employees. This show will equip our audience to see through the misuse of deficits and debts in the 2024 election campaigns.

There is a worldwide revolution that is already happening. It’s in the family, the primary site of creating and sustaining human life. Just as the nuclear family replaced the feudal family, new family forms are replacing the nuclear family as marriage breaks apart and children are born.

On this week’s Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses a huge victory for Uber and Lyft drivers' struggling for better wages in Massachusetts; we also bring to your attention six United States senators who criticized Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase for failing to curb fossil fuel investments as he promised. In addition, we discuss the unfortunate new law passed by the new right-wing government in Greece extending the working week to six days.

In this episode, “On Making Sense: Let Everyone Tell Their Story”, the Dialectic goes to work to further explore the Marxist idea of dialectics and ‘overdetermination’. Specifically, we deal with the following question: if indeed (as Prof. Wolff has argued in the previous episode) reality is ‘overdetermined’ by a complex interaction between a host of over-determinants then how can we say anything analytical about the real world? How can we still ‘tell a story’?

We argue that the only solution to the mess is to examine the ‘conditions of existence’ that mutually shape a given object of analysis by pulling it and pushing it in multiple trajectories. There are, therefore, no guarantees in this kind of Marxism.

Different analysts will choose to examine different aspects of the social totality by focusing on some part of it. This also leads us to a criticism of mainstream Economics and its emphasis on the ‘empiricist’ mode of reasoning. As Prof Wolff demonstrates here, the field of econometrics makes irrational claims of ‘one-way’ causality that are at odds with how the real-world works. Since ‘evidence’ is always examined in the light of theories, there is no ‘neutral’ way of discerning the truth from fiction. The empiricist focuses on the ‘evidence’ but forgets that evidence is mediated within a theory; the ‘rationalist’ focuses on ‘reason’ but forgets that reason is constructed within the evidence. Marxian overdetermination does not give supremacy to either, but rather understands the dialectic at play between experience and reason, and their impact, in turn, on a host of outcomes.

On this week’s Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the remarkable bursts of unionization at Starbucks in the US, award-winning New York nurse fired for referring to "genocide" in Gaza, and critique of Paul Krugman's argument that "democracy" is at stake in the 2024 election.

Finally, we close with a major discussion on the tension between the realities of climate change and the profit-driven fossil fuel industry that dominates our global economy

Donald Trump has morphed from a transgressive man into a "Totem", a symbol and embodiment of the rage of Americans at the erosion of white male privilege, and the economic and social devaluation of the their lives. He embodies the retribution for the ravages of capitalism.

Explore Global Capitalism with Richard Wolff as he talks about the decline of the United States Empire, examining its military losses, economic challenges, and changing global status. Wolff highlights the historical pattern of rising and falling empires, using the Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine conflicts as indicators of the US's waning dominance. Economically, he observes the fading hegemony of the US dollar and the rise of China and the BRICS nations as new global economic powers. Politically, he notes global shifts towards multipolarity and the immense opportunities and choices facing China as a potential new empire or an advocate for a more equal, multi-centered global community. Finally, Wolff discusses the systemic issues of capitalist structures and the potential transformative power of reorganizing workplaces into democratic, employee-run cooperatives.

On this week’s Economic Update, the entire program is devoted to how old socialism's rapid growth and global spread in the 19th and 20th centuries entailed a focus on the state. Key issues were: (1) would the socialist state limit itself to regulating capitalist enterprises and the market (as in many Western European nations) to enhance the well-being of the employee class or would the state itself own and operate enterprises and replace the market with state planning (as in the USSR), and (2) would the socialist strategy to acquire state power be reformist and electoral or revolutionary and armed. Concrete experiences in and with both kinds of old (i.e. state-focused) socialism led to self-criticisms from which a new socialism has emerged for the 21st century. The new socialism criticizes the state-focus of the old and prioritizes the transformation of the workplace over the social positioning of the state in and for the socialist vision and strategy.

In this episode, “A Theoretical Rupture: Overdetermination”, the Dialectic goes to work to explore the Marxist idea of dialectics and ‘overdetermination’. We begin by asking Prof. Wolff about the theoretical problems and conundrums he faced as a young Marxist thinker and how he, alongside Stephen Resnick, decided that a theoretical rupture was necessary within Marxian thought.

We learn about the problem of economic “essentialism”, and the fact that the complexities of reality cannot be reduced in a simplistic way to the economic dimension of lives. Rather, there is a complex interplay between multiple ‘conditions of existence’.

We learn that Marxian theory is a continuously evolving discipline that seeks to constantly reinterpret the world to change it. We discuss how Althusser imported Freud’s idea of overdetermination from The Interpretation of Dreams, Prof. Wolff’s meeting with Althusser in France, and the new set of ideas that were first presented by Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick in their book Knowledge and Class.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the rise of the Chinese car industry, the struggle between employers vs employees over in-person vs remote workplaces, and the US military's anti-vax program in the Philippines as part of the US-China Cold War that is already underway. In the second half of our program, we interview Kristen Gonzalez, New York State Senator, District 59, on progressives winning elections.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the latest US and EU tariffs against China's electric vehicles, 27,000 Virginia teachers vote to unionize, and students and workers at all 6 University of California campuses strike against attempted repression of students peacefully advocating a Gaza ceasefire.

In the second half of our program, we interview Oscar-nominated and Emmy Winning writer, director, and anti-fracking activist Josh Fox of the award-winning films GASLAND Parts 1 and 2 on his latest film "The Edge of Nature"

In this episode, "For Roses and Bread: On Marxism as a Theory of Overcoming Trauma", the Dialectic goes to work to explore the following question: Why Marx? Why Marxian Theory?

We begin with this, our inaugural episode, with a deep dive into Professor Richard Wolff's life. His upbringing, education and what led him to dedicate his life to the Marxian project.

We argue that among the diverse reasons why people choose to study Marxism is that it provides an analysis of the 'urgent living problems' that confront us as individuals, as societies, and as a global community. The great dialectician, Lukacs, famously remarked that the Marxist dialectic is revolutionary since it not only seeks to understand the world but also, as Marx rightly pointed out, to change it.

With that in mind, we explore the life and times of Professor Richard D Wolff as a point of entry into the theory we are about to explore. We dive into the sociohistorical circumstances, during and after World War II, that turned a man born to middle-class European immigrants who were fleeing to the United States to escape Nazism into a critic of capitalism.

This is crucial to the aims of the podcast since the theoretical and political concepts that we will explore in upcoming podcasts were shaped, in part, by the experience and backgrounds of Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick.

After watching this episode, viewers will begin to see how Marxism provides a way of dealing with an unjust and unfair world; not by imploding internally, nor by blaming ones' self for one's miseries, or by victimizing others. Instead, we examine our trauma as a manifestation of the larger problem, the historical bourgeois epoch called capitalism.

We should then be able to appreciate that Marx provided a disturbing yet profound critique of capitalism that is critical to understanding the real cause of our misery: it is just the way capitalism works. Marxist knowledge then is crucial for anyone who wishes to change it.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff devotes the entire program to an analysis of tariffs. We discuss why tariffs are not a workers' issue. why capitalism's continuous swings between free trade and protectionist periods/phases make little impacts of workers, and why contending capitalists seek to get workers to support their views of tariffs.

Women with access to birth control are increasingly opting out of bearing children worldwide. Women are now economically forced into labor outside of the home. Thanks to persistent male chauvinism women are then expected to perform a "second shift" of housework and childcare.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses The Washington Post's exposure of the corporate rich sponsoring police repression against student protests and how Boeing rewards CEOs while it exhibits the airlines' worst safety record. In addition, the UAW loses union election as German capitalists and southern governors join forces to intimidate workers with job threats. Finally, we highlight why mass public transport is a better alternative to gas-powered vehicles than electric vehicles.

We would like to present a special edition of Economic Update featuring an exclusive discussion between Professor Richard Wolff and Dr. Cornel West. This program was recorded in June, 2023, but unfortunately we were unable to air this important discussion at that time. You will hear Dr. West explain why he undertook the challenge and burden to run for President of the United States. Given the political reality of US politics, as exhausted by the two major parties, we thought it would be a public service to invite Dr. West to be heard in this form. No endorsement is intended.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff comments on US megabanks once again taking new off-the-books risks, Elon Musk endorsing right-wing undemocratic census proposals and Fossil Fuel industry executives bribe Trump with campaign donations. In addition, we highlight the many US and global labor unions and workers who have joined the movement in supporting of ending the Israeli military actions in Gaza.

What are the Skills and Strengths Learned In Performing Women’s Traditional Labor of Caring
for Vulnerable Lives , and Creating Order and Cleanliness? Why Are These Knowledges
Unknown, No Less Uncelebrated? Ignoring these strengths and skills devalues women, devalues
caring, devalues life itself and perpetuates callousness towards others, a callousness that allows employers to exploit employees.

In this week’s Economic Update, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the reasons why the official United States unemployment rate is currently low in comparison to historic rates; We also highlight why U.S. restaurants are losing business. We then turn to the hypocrisy of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the face of repression of growing American protest movement against Israeli policy in Gaza. In addition, we discuss Gabriel Zuckman's report on the economic impact of the dramatic cuts in taxes on billionaires vs rising taxes on the poorer half of the U.S.

Today on "Ask Prof Wolff Live" Professor Richard Wolff will be ready to answer your questions and will be joined by Jared Sexton Yates. They will start by discussing how we would allocate resources in a socialist or communist society to meet our needs and how union and worker demands can overcome the limits and constraints of the global labor market while maintaining their leverage?

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff discusses the successful unionization drives that is sweeping across US universities (example: Boston University), We highlight the facts that disprove Biden's "great economy" claims and why inflation is much worse in the United States than in China. Finally we have an exclusive Interview with Jared Yates Sexton, writer and political analyst, on prospects for a left turn in US politics

The family is a sacred cow, It is presented as instinctual, and eternal. It isn't. Family is breaking down. It's time to study it, question it, and create new alternatives and study the successful alternatives whose stories have been repressed. If we do, we can find ways to empower and free each other on every level.

This week in honor of Karl Marx's birthday over this past weekend, Professor Richard Wolff offers a discussion of Marx's important theory of uneven development as central to capitalism. We show its widespread existence, using examples of it from past and present. We conclude by showing how uneven development helps cause key social problems in capitalism.

Today's May Day Special, a collaborative effort with long-time contributor Charles Fabian, opens with the major causes for why May Day 2024 is so special. These include the fact that the great crash of global capitalism in 2008-2009 shook the world in ways that include shocking a declining US labor movement back to life and growth.

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff dedicates the entire show to the economic developmental achievement of China, together with the historical background that motivated that achievement. We analyze the uniqueness of both the economic philosophy and the politics of China.

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff devotes this program devoted to how to understand government spending. How it shapes the larger society. We will focus on two questions 1) What is the government spending on? and 2) How is that money going to be used, and who benefits? If government spending only flows to capitalist corporations, they will use it to reproduce capitalism including its inequalities and injustices. This is a crucial impact of government spending but rarely examined. The alternative - spending on worker coops - is explained and explored as a better alternative.

The United States has lost its position in the top 10 happiest nations? We have lost on every marker of life satisfaction. How do we regain our joy and hope?

In this week’s Economic Update Professor, Richard Wolff examines US spending on war materials for Ukraine and Israel, we will discuss Chinese Electric Vehicle imports and the US's protectionist response, and we will highlight the possible convergence of worker cooperatives as part of union negotiating strategies, and we discuss the impact of Harvard college workers vote overwhelmingly to join two unions. Finally, we Interview author and union organizer, Kim Kelly.

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff discusses how the capitalist political economy can explain the Baltimore bridge disaster, we explain why raising minimum wages helps big vs small businesses. We highlight the recent court rulings in New York and how cities can lower rents for their citizens as Kingston, NY just did, (if tenants mobilize to do so). Finally an Interview with Professor Jared A. Ball on the myths of black buying power and black capitalism and the role such myths play in supporting capitalism

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff discusses the US Treasury Department charges Apple as monopoly, Georgia's state government sides openly with employers against unions, two union members decide to enter important elections as independent voices in Nebraska and West Virginia, and a critique of the FED's policy that keeps inflation and interest rates high. Finally we Interview Mike Elk, publisher of the Payday, on his views regarding the important UAW fight for union recognition at VW plant Chattanooga, TN.

This week on Ask Prof Wolff Live, we explore anti-inflationary measures implemented by central banks, the rationale behind income caps subject to social security tax, and the potential implications of transitioning from a socialist or communist economy to a wartime footing.

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff discusses the UAW union’s latest moves. Their organizing drives at auto plants, their efforts to form unions among employed and free-lance journalists. In addition, we will highlight New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to deploy national guard troops in New York City subways and what that means for everyday residents. Finally, an interview with psychotherapist Tess Fraad-Wolff on interactions between patriarchy and capitalism, today.

We need to add to the powerful emerging union movement and unite it with all of our progressive movements whether Climate Justice, Black Lives Matter, the Feminist Movement, or the Sexual Rights Movement. We need one big multifaceted union and a political party that expresses that unity. In solidarity.

This week's episode of Economic Update we discuss we discuss United Kingdom politician George Galloway by-election victory, and the raised minimum wage in UK. We will comment on Elon Musk's lawsuit against the NLRB, as Trader Joe, Starbucks, and Amazon also join to ask right-wing Supreme Court to gut regulation of business. We then look at US protectionism as the Biden administration raises tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, in an attempt to keep Chinese EV's from US markets. Then in labor news we discuss Starbucks’ negotiations with unions and how Michigan’s legislature killed "right-to-work" law after 58 years. Finally, we have an Interview Richard RJ Esjow on the current decline of the “US Empire”. Richard Eskow is a journalist and host of The Zero Hour. a syndicated radio and television program. A lead writer, speechwriter, and editor for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, he was also a featured columnist at The Huffington Post. He worked for years in the corporate world, with governments and with multinational organizations as the World Bank, specializing in healthcare financing, policy, and information technology.

In this installment, Prof. Wolff discusses the impact on children's autonomy, explores the intersections of class struggle with other forms of oppression, and unravels the intriguing concept of "Scientific Socialism." Following the insightful discussion, Prof. Wolff addresses a range of questions from the audience, providing deeper understanding and perspectives on these critical topics.

This week's episode of Economic Update hosted by Professor Richard Wolff, we discuss the underemployed of US college graduates, failed anti-Russian sanctions, the collapsed UK birthrate, and expanding wars in the Middle East, we will dive into the costs and risks in absence of a ceasefire in Gaza. Finally we Interview Dr. Harriet Fraad, host of Capitalism Hits Home and a clinical therapist. Professor Wolff and Dr. Fraad explore the post 1970's deindustrialization in the US, its impact on white males versus other social groups, and resulting US social splits.

The time for colonialism and settler colonialism is over! Whether it's in South Africa, America, Europe or Israel. The world is transforming. With the rise of China and the other BRICS nations, the United States have less power. The remaining US wealth is racing towards the billionaire class leaving the rest of us behind. What can we do about it?

This week's episode of Economic Update hosted by Professor Richard Wolff, we discuss the Philadelphia University of the Artist Faculty Union and its struggles; we clarify what declining inflation does and does not mean; we answer the question: as to why sanctions fail. Finally we interview Essence Magazine's senior news & politics editor author, lawyer Malaika Jabali and discuss her newly released book "It's Not You Its Capitalism".

This week's edition of Ask Prof Wolff covers a range of topics including the degrowth movement, labor and artificial intelligence, globalization's effects on national economies, and the promotion of worker-owned enterprises. Through historical context and economic theory, the discussion explores capitalism's intricacies, aiming to illuminate transformative possibilities for a more equitable economic system.

This week's episode of Economic Update hosted by Professor Richard Wolff, we discuss Germany's recession, California fast-food workers unionize, How the war in Ukraine boosts US stock market, corporate stock holdings, while hurting most wage/salary incomes, In addition we ask what lessons from the protest/revolt of European farmers? Finally, the ongoing exposing of major injustices of the US federal tax system (tax exemptions for schools, churches, hospitals, and charities and social security's flat tax system)

This month's discourse dives deep into the pressing issues facing Europe in 2024, exploring themes of disunity, decline, and despair. From the impact of Ukraine and sanctions leading to European de-industrialization to the resurgence of fascism and immigration challenges, we'll cover a range of pivotal topics. Join us as we analyze the geopolitical shifts with China's rise, the US's relative decline, and the significant protests of Euro-farmers that signal Europe's future directions. We'll also delve into the political landscapes of the UK, examining the collapses of both the Conservative and Labor parties.

[EU S14 E06]

This week's episode of Economic Update hosted by Professor Richard Wolff, we will be discussing the increasingly more common corporate threats to force remote workers back to working onsite. We then turn to Ukraine war economics, US vs BGI as anti-Chinese economic nationalism, US's escalation of war in the Middle East, and finally a critique of the US tax system's injustices.

[S07 E06]

Despite the sometimes depressing and unnerving problematic state of affairs we are seeing a growing number of people finding new connections and support systems amongst themselves, binding together and forming supporting systems to help them through these challenging times.

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This week's episode of Economic Update hosted by Professor Richard Wolff, we will be discussing the continuing decline of US manufacturing; a 29,000 person strike at California State Univ.; the Houthis disrupt Red Sea shipping in move against Israel; and Texas refuses to obey US federal government's rules in struggle over immigration and white supremacy. In addition we have a special Interview with leading economist Prof. Michael Hudson on basic crises facing US capitalism.

[EU S14 E04]

This week’s Economic Update Professor Richard Wolff discusses the special dimensions and qualities of the US labor movement's current dynamism; Thomas Piketty’s analysis showing how capitalism generates widening wealth and income gaps leading to crashes or simmering, divisive, and domestic resentments. Leading to the system itself becomes destabilized.

[EU S14 E03]

In this week's episode of EU, Prof.Wolff delivers updates on the mass closing of Greyhound bus stations around the U.S., the escalating strengths of Russian obstacles in Ukraine, the choice the UK faces between paying for the bombing of Yemen or funding their National Health Service, how Boeing's safety debacle propelled China into the lead of global automotive exports and how Israel has also been aversely affected by the shifts and changes of the world economy caused by the decline of U.S. dominance.

[S07 E05]

What exactly do these terms mean- White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, Hetero-Patriarchy and Capitalism? These are social divisions that function together. They separate us. They prevent us from uniting for a just socialist society that works for all of us.

[EU S14 E02]

In this weeks show, Prof. Wolff analyzes the corporation. It stands as a basic institution blocking real democracy in our society. The corporation's structure and operations empower and enrich a tiny social minority at the expense of the people's wealth and democratic power. Like the critiques of slave plantations and feudal manors that preceded the disappearance of those systems, the growing critique of capitalism reflects but also informs critical social movements now.

[EU S14 E1]

Happy New Year! For our first Economic Update of 2024, Professor Richard Wolff discusses the myth of the current narrative of the United States disconnecting itself economically from the Republic of China

[EU S13 E46]

This week's episode of Economic Update features updates on an analysis of Philadelphia, PA's extreme income inequality, the number of workers on striker per year since 2017 in the U.S., the UAW organizing a strike at the VW plant in Tennessee plus other UAW unionization drives and the 400k public employees on strike in Quebec that are heading towards a general strike. In the second half of, Prof. Wolff interviews Rob Robinson, formerly homeless advocate/fighter for homeless housing rights, housing, official of Human Rights Network and Chairman of The Left Forum.

[S07 E04]

Addiction, Suicide, and Psych Drugs are all heavily marketed. Opioid medications like Oxycontin induce addiction, guns facilitate suicide, and pills numb justified anxiety and depression. Why are they now epidemics?

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This week's episode of Economic Update features updates on the economic crises in Argentina and Germany, the graduate student unionization wave happening across U.S., how & where the chocolate industry is using child labor, a critical analysis of what "profit" means and a departed Kissinger.

[S07 E03]

Addiction, Suicide, and Psych Drugs are all heavily marketed. Opioid medications like Oxycontin induce addiction, guns facilitate suicide, and pills numb justified anxiety and depression. Why are they now epidemics?

[S13 E44]

We hope you all enjoy this week's episode of Economic Update featuring updates on Tesla vs the Swedish Unions, a teachers strike in Portland, Oregon, "food insecurity" in the U.S. today, how the King of Britain has been secretly profiting from assets of the dead and a Michigan "entrepreneur" failed in effort to buy electoral defeat of Rachid Tlaib.
In the second half of this week’s episode, Prof. Wolff interviews Norman Solomon on his latest book, "War Made invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of its Military Machine".

Join this special iteration of "Ask Prof Wolff" where we respond to your questions live! (November 29, 2023)

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Updates on the closing of a Florida plant that should be converted to worker co-op, oil company profits VS the social damage they do, how mega-corporations (Walmart, Amazon) are taking over the grocery business and the social purpose and the meaning of the "middle class". In the second half of this week's episode, Prof. Wolff interviews Jared Yates Sexton. The discussion focuses on his latest book, "Midnight Kingdom" and how the U.S. practices social control by spinning stories the public sees and hears.

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Updates on U.K.’s King Charles in Africa, the unionization struggles at Starbucks, a growing strike against Musk’s Tesla and the Bangladeshi women’s labor strike. An analysis of the economic concept of "surplus" and how capitalism makes it possible.

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We can support our failing families. We can learn from attempts abroad and from our own history.

Join this special iteration of "Ask Prof Wolff" where we respond to your questions live! (November 15, 2023)

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Updates on risks to UAW strike victories, realtors fined for collusion on real estate commissions, Bangladeshi strikes for higher minimum wages for clothing workers, China outmaneuvers Malaysia and US in rubber glove business, UN vote isolates USm Israel, Ukraine over Cuba embargo. Interview with Dr. Stephen Bezruchka on how economic inequality connects to stress, health problems, and inadequate healthcare.

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In this episode of "Capitalism Hits Home," Dr. Harriet Fraad examines the intersection of the faltering American economy and the breakdown of traditional family structures. The discussion challenges narratives placing blame on individuals, particularly critiquing the tendency to scapegoat white men for societal shifts, and emphasizes the systemic issues of corporate greed. Fraad delves into the repercussions for children, highlighting the prevalence of poverty and hunger. Drawing comparisons with France, the episode explores historical factors like anti-communism and an authoritarian family structure as barriers to collective action in the U.S. Despite these challenges, there is optimism in the growing unionization efforts across various sectors, with a vision for a unified movement driving societal change.

[November 2023] New

In this episode, Professor Wolff discusses the 3 Kinds of State Role in Economy, 1 Kind of Workplace Revolution, Saving Capitalism from Itself, as well as Socialism, Fascism and Capitalism’s Decline.

Join this special iteration of "Ask Prof Wolff" where we respond to your questions live! (November 8, 2023)

[S13 E40] New

Update on Nobel Prize in economics to Harvard Prof. Claudia Goldin; comment on Maine/Halloween shootings, global financial secrecy index and President Biden's pursuit of money for war. Major segments on (i) UAW strike victories at Ford, GM and Stellantis, and (ii) abortion access victory in France.

Join this special iteration of "Ask Prof Wolff" where we respond to your questions live! (November 1, 2023)

[S13 E39] New

This week's episode features a discussion of (1) the crisis of today's real left; (2) the need to acknowledge, build upon, but also go well beyond the successful socialisms of the 19th and 20th centuries; (3) the macro focus on the state and the omission of a microfocus on the workplace; and (4) democratizing workplaces as 'what is to be done'.

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All Empires rise and fall. America's empire is no exception. We need to admit it. To make Americans' lives better, we could start with cutting the military budget, and not just because we can, but because we should.

Join this special iteration of "Ask Prof Wolff" where we respond to your questions live! (October 25, 2023)