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A Patron of Economic Update asks: "To what degree can all economic systems to date be viewed as pyramid schemes, since they all seem to depend substantially upon population growth? And given that world population will have to level off at some point...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I would be considered to belong to the “wealthy” class in my community and country espousing a pro socialist , anti capitalist ideology. I am often accused of being a hypocrite because of what I own or the fact that I have people that I employ with my business (4) and with my household. (My spouse has a bigger business...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I am very interested in the labor movement and am curious about your opinion on co-ops within academia. I recently emailed Noam Chomsky and asked him what he thinks about the idea. He replied that the problem would be how to survive in a market society, as we don’t want universities to be selling products. I then asked if he thinks universities would be able to survive on federal grants...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I am still struggling with the concept, terminology and reality of inflation. A little reading tells me that inflation is actually an increase in the supply of money mainly through the creation of debt by banks. It seems to me that there would be a "natural" increase in the supply of money because of an increase in population, workforce and productivity but not an increase in prices. Price increases are caused by owners...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Could you comment on the relevance of Antonio Gramsci to today's struggles for socialism? How do his theories address some of the failures of socialism in developed countries over the last one hundred years...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Could you respond to Rand Paul's Town Hall video about the $3.5 Trillion spending bill. I find it to be a blatant misdirection of blame to the gov't instead of employers in the country. Clip: fb.watch/89IjRqxxm0; Full video...

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Dear Prof. Wolff, Could you talk about the various effects of overwork on the economy, From the perspective of workers, the employers who push it, and the economy as a whole. I would also like to ask about the various responses to Overwork such as the Chinese “lying flat" movement, and Japanese hikikomori (who have withdrawn from society) and Karoshi (death by overworking)...

A patron of Economic Update asks: "I have recently started reading about David Graeber and his understanding of anarchism, and it sounds very much like what Prof. Wolff talks about when he explains socialism as understood by Marx, and how to democratize workplaces. I was wondering what your take is on anarchism and how it relates to socialism, and whether it is incompatible with capitalism...

A patron of Economic Update asks: "How should we see the CCP? Is this a Socialist project that is in the process of achieving communism? Or is China just another example of a state-capitalism that leans more authoritarian? How should we approach socialist states that do things that contradict our values without helping the reactionaries...

A patron of Economic Update asks: "Dear Prof. Wolff, Douglas Lane, on the Zero Books podcast, recently summarized a critique of worker co-ops from "a Marxist perspective," saying that "market forces" determine that co-ops can only reduce work hours or raise wages if the enterprise remains "profitable." If profit is the surplus value...