Weekly Roundup: February 9, 2022

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work.

New this week: Economic Update, Capitalism Hits Home, Cities After... & Ask Prof Wolff...

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work!

Economic Update: Rebuilding a Labor and Left Movement

This week on Economic Update, Prof. Wolff presents a critique of US Megacorp merger (Microsoft and Activision Blizzard), China vs US on inflation and economic growth, and the collapse of Boris Johnson (like Trump's lost election). In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews author Aviva Chomsky on problems and prospects of US labor and left social movements.

Chomsky: "In a globally integrated economy and in a hegemonic power like the United States, the idea that something is going to be good for the U.S. economy or for U.S. workers doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good for poor people in other countries. It often means it's going to be bad for poor people in other countries. One really unifying trend among the left and in the union movement in Latin America is anti-imperialism. That is one of the things that that has created a more coherent left in Latin America.”

Capitalism Hits Home: How Americans Cope With Falling Living Standards

Declining living standards, joblessness and pronounced inequality are leaving Americans feeling disconnected, helpless and depressed. In this episode of Capitalism Hits Home, Dr. Fraad talks about the 3 Ds - depression, dissociation and denial - Americans are resorting to as coping strategies for their stark decline in health and living standards. Fraad offers examples of more productive and beneficial ways to cope and heal.

Fraad: “What heals people is the determination that we can recapture this nation. We can join other people. We can make it happen.”

Cities After…The Growing Suburban Divide: Contradictions in the Future of Sprawl - Pt. 3

In this episode of Cities After..., Prof. Robles-Duran breaks down the allure for many average working millennials of moving to the suburbs. Robles-Duran looks at five key contradictions of the contemporary American Suburban Divide: politics, wellbeing, remote work, climate change and economic opportunity. Speculating on dystopian and utopian post-covid scenarios, Robles-Duran ends with a call to action for everyone to join housing movements against sprawl and in favor of metropolitan affordable housing for young generations and the planet.

Robles-Durán: “Young generations and persons with problems are not only forced to live out the economic and social opportunity radius that cities offer, but are also being forced to be the ones that push environmental destruction to the brink and suffer its consequences."

Ask Prof Wolff: The Tragedy of Ex-Socialist Nations

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "How did the people of the USSR come to accept the radical shift back to capitalism? Did they not retain an expectation that people should own their homes and means of production? The mass privatization of the Soviet economy was followed by a decade long depression and a huge rise in poverty. How did that affect public perception of capitalism and socialism? Post-Soviet states seem even less social-democratic than western European states, why is that?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Wolff: “In those societies, there's now a big split. Some people who made money and joined in the move to capitalism are very happy doing well and want to hold on. But, a growing part of their working class feels betrayed [and] wants to change again. Increasingly, some want to go back even to what they had, and that produces tension in a society.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Democracy in Workplaces and Communities

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "In a worker co-op oriented society, how would conflicts between the people who own and operate the co-ops and the wider whole of society be resolved? Say the workers at a plant have two means of producing a product: one that the workers feel is better for them at the cost of the community, and another which is better for the community but makes things more difficult for the workers. How would such a thing be arbitrated?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Wolff: “How do we operationalize this? The answer is we really have two interacting democratic cooperatives to deal with here. One is the cooperative in and of the workplace and the other one is the cooperative in and of the residential community.”