Weekly Roundup: August 24, 2022

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work.

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

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work!

Economic Update: Recession - Capitalism's Failure Invites System Change

Prof. Wolff defines recession and shows its relation to inflation and stagflation in their respective roles within capitalism's inherent instability. Rooted in the structure of capitalism, recessions represent both costly burdens on employers and employees alike and also strong incentives to question, challenge, and go beyond capitalism. The economics profession has been unable to end recessions despite centuries of trying. The profession often tries to hide the capitalist roots of recession instead. Wolff concludes with how system change might finally "solve" capitalism's intractable instability problem.

Wolff: “We're all left with an economic system lurching from pillar to post, from inflation to recession, and trying to make a life in between these things. We need a political movement that puts capitalism up there as the problem- that sees an economic system that puts people in charge right at the beginning: worker co-ops.”

Cities After… Animated on YouTube!

We're bringing our podcast Cities After... to YouTube! With new, animated graphics to accompany your podcast listening, you can enjoy the work of Miguel Robles-Durán as he dives into the future of cities and allows us to imagine both the dystopian and utopian possibilities for our urban environments.

Watch season 1 on YouTube today!

Global Capitalism: The Splitting of Europe

Prof Wolff looks at the divisions of Europe: over immigration, Brexit and the Ukraine War, and why capitalism needs divisions like these especially during it's time of crisis and inequality.

Wolff: “They're so needy to accommodate the nationalism so that their working class doesn't turn against them that that same nationalism that saves them condemns them to be unable to become a unified capitalist competitor in the world. And they know it, and they suffer from it.”

Ask Prof Wolff: The Transition to Worker Ownership

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I’d like to ask a question because it seems to me that whenever a situation occurs where unionized workers try to take over a business from their employers, offering to buy it, the employers would rather shut down than sell to the workers. Is there an economic reason for this? Even small businesses have had this happen where I don’t think they have a general anti-union strategy. Thank you!" This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

Wolff: “What we have found here in the United States as we've looked into it over the years is that in fact, more than you might think, the following sentence is true: more of these conversions happen at the initiative of the employer than actually happen at the initiative of the employees. Frankly, personally I wish it were the other way around…”