Weekly Roundup: July 20, 2022

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work.

New this week: Economic Update, Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, All Things Co-op, Global Capitalism and Ask Prof Wolff...

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work!

Economic Update: Swedish Socialism Undone

Prof. Wolff presents updates on SCOTUS decisions, on the chaos of a declining capitalism, French elections and a strongly resurging French left, and on the meaning of recent collapse of the cryptocurrency markets. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Eleanor Goldfield, Swedish-US media activist, on why and how Sweden is not socialist.

Goldfield: “Sweden was on its way towards what many might consider socialism, but it is certainly not today, and in fact it continues to go towards the U.S. in terms of privatization of these things that should be state-owned and publicly used”

Anti-Capitalist Chronicles: Shifts in World Hegemony

Prof. Harvey discusses the new book by Brad Delong, “Slouching Toward Utopia,” which aims to explain the massive creation of wealth over the last 150 years for the upper and middle class, its effect on the world order and why it’s failed to deliver an increasing sense of happiness among that top 50%. Harvey takes us through the history of the various world powers, from Italian city-states to the rise of the US as the global hegemon and the present shift in power that has emerged with China’s rapid economic growth.

Harvey: “If a phase of financialization precedes a shifting hegemonic structure, it seems to me that it might be important to look at 2007-2008 and the financial problems that had led up to it which included the East Asian financial crisis, the bankruptcy of Russia, the bankruptcy of Argentina and places like that leading into the financial crisis of 2001 which then was briefly overcome by very loose monetary policy and ultimately culminating in 2007-2008. So in 2008, I kind of said, well is this a sign of a shifting hegemonic condition?”

All Things Co-op: Democracy at Work - 10 Year Anniversary Special

Larry, Cinar, and Kevin celebrate Democracy at Work’s 10 year anniversary by reflecting on their history and involvement with d@w. The ATC guys discuss the value of d@w, their own political histories and perspectives, their path to becoming co-hosts of this podcast, the nuts and bolts of planning, recording and producing episodes, and what they are looking towards in the future.

Cinar: “Democracy at Work itself as a group has been really, I think, influential in furthering this conversation about what we mean by 21st century socialism. You know, a socialism based on worker cooperatives and a political system that kind of reinforces that and recreates it. I think that's been very compelling”

Global Capitalism: War, Sanctions, Deepening Splits: Economic, Political, and Cultural

When we can’t face an economic system that destroys us all, we instead turn to other conflicts of economic competition, cultural war and political divisiveness. Richard Wolff explains all this clearly in just over an hour of analysis on today’s most telling splits in the world that represent an economy contradicting itself.

Wolff: “Things that used to be together are split apart. Things that you thought were necessarily connected aren't. Alliances are disintegrating. Deals are coming undone. There is in a real sense a world falling apart.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Abortion Rights - An Anti-Capitalist Perspective

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "What is the connection between capitalism and the ability for rulers to control women's bodies and the quantity of laborers born (what the business world refers to as 'human capital')?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Wolff: “What we're seeing in the Supreme Court is the connection. Capitalists, when they are busy making money in ways that risk alienating large parts of the population, need allies. They need a mass base, and they turn to those who are upset by modern society, who want to go back in culture, in economics, in politics, in every way. And they make a deal with them. If you support the capitalism that makes us rich, we will support whatever you want to do."

Ask Prof Wolff: Why Are Strikes and Unions Increasing?

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Workers are organizing and Trade Unionism is on the rise in the UK and around the world. Can you offer an analysis of the present wave of class consciousness and what it means for the workers movement in the period of increasing inflation?" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Wolff: “I believe fundamentally that this is a delayed reaction of the working classes in Britain in the United States and beyond. A delayed reaction to things that have been going on for 30 or 40 years and have been accelerating in the last five or ten. What do I mean? I mean a historic redistribution of wealth and income from the bottom in the middle up to the top…”