it doesn't matter if they build housing that no-one can afford to live in. I lived in Portland when the rents went up 40% over 3 yrs. I witnessed the destruction of old buildings that had reasonable rents, that were replaced by hi-rise condos that no-one I knew had a chance of living in
The solution? It is to impose an annual tax on the owners of land equal to the potential annual rental value of whatever land is held, while exempting buildings from the tax base. This and this alone will end land speculation and land hoarding of land. Land prices will fall and the cost of housing will fall as well.
David Destin happening here in SF too.investment banking firms buy up the property and implement lousy policies and district managers. Zero accountability because of so many lawyers and accountants spending all day every day figuring out how to get rid of older tenants with rent control and turning a dead ear to complaints and issues. They lobby and weild power at the rent board and the building commission
An effort to put land into a city-wide community land trust dedicated to affordable housing would at least mitigate the problem. I developed a model for a scattered-site CLT back at Fannie Mae. I am happy to send the paper to anyone who has an interest. Email me at: edod08034@gmail.com
As a kid growing up in a very well-off family I was basically indoctrinated in defending capitalism for a long while, but as Harvey mentions, living through the internet's transformation into the largely absurd commercial space it is today really tipped me off that something was off about the evangelical praise of the system that incentivized and overdetermined this conclusion.
God yes you got on David Harvey!!! I've been watching his lectures on Marx's Capitol vol 1, all on UA-cam. My god it's a lot to take in but he's a brilliant teacher
That bit about the limit on Japanese car imports are rather ironic when you consider that the US "opened" up Japan to "free" trade by force circa 200 years ago.
Imperial Japan has it's roots firmly embedded in that piece of history when US warships "liberated the Japanese markets" back in the 1850s. Excellent point many Americans are unaware of.
Thanks a lot, Prof David harvey is amazing and very very wise and precise, rarest combination I found, very insightful and will set me looking for more to understand and do.
His observation on the conflict between taxi drivers and Uber was an interesting one. If anyone hasn’t already, I highly recommend people read Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics” as it fleshes out this type of scenario in much greater detail.
Professor Wolff, you are correct when you say, 03:22 “We don’t need to have a system in which competition amongst capitalists is something that kills workers”, giving the example of Uber and Lift; but there is one example where this takes an extreme dimension, Imperialism. Go through the (non-state) history literature and consider the millions who have died in imperial wars throughout history. Think of the poor fools who were manipulated by nationalism and patriotism into thinking they were fighting for “their country”, when they were killing others and dying to increase the wealth of the oligarchs that controlled their government. Think of all the lies the minions of the oligarchs (politicians) have told over the years to convince these fools to die for the wallets of the donors; and think of the millions in history who have died pushing back against imperialism and oppression. Maybe some reference to Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin, may be relevant in a future episode. After all, Lenin was correct when he described imperialism as fascism where the plutocracy who controls the government in a fascist system uses sovereign power to invade other countries for resources, trade, and hegemony.
Although I'm not a political person, I truly appreciate your efforts on getting your informative podcasts out to the general public, Mr. Wolffe. After just celebrating my 71st birthday this week, I am becoming increasing more worried and alarmed at the rapid destruction of our entire nation's economy, and through your continual efforts, have learned many of the actual causes of it. I have also come to the conclusion that this ultimate destruction of our capitalist system has also come as a result of the direct, illegal collusion of the corporate banking system and our largest and most powerful multinational corporations. Today, there is no more direct democracy or "Free Market" economy, only the rotten existence of these entities, NONE of whom have the true welfare of the American public at heart, only continuing, record profits. The entire system is rigged like a crooked card game by these same criminal enterprises, and I believe that our entire country is about to undergo a terrible downfall, all orchestrated by these same individuals, that will rival, or even surpass, the fall of the Roman Empire. At this late stage of the global game, I believe that it is far too late for We the People to do anything about it. But perhaps the next time around we will have the insight and intelligence, thanks to people like you, to build a better world again, this one based upon not only sound economics, but human compassion. Thank you for all that you do.
22:34 Negative Externalities is the phrase I've come to understand - it defines how the current capitalists refuse to pay any attention to the negatives or conveniently assumes they're external accidents. In essence, the system omits both nature and neighbor in its profit equations. Chapter 10, 'The New Human Rights Movement' - (a book worth reading!!)
Very much appreciate what you do for progressive policy Dr Wofll! Agree with your analysis 99% of the time and give a hearty thanks. One thing in this segment that didn't seem complete was in the early part which discussed free trade. You had a lot of things to discuss so there wasn't much time to spend on the subject but a contention of free trade from the progressive framework has been holding other nations accountable when they are able to pay workers less than equivalent wages on products exported to recipient nations. Autocratic nations are well known for doing this. Therefore, in spite of the neo classical bromide of free trade no matter what, it seems consequential to the US that most job losses have resulted because of cheaper labor available in other countries where labor laws and the rule of laws in general are weak. Unrestricted free trade is great for uncontrolled multi national corporations but is it all that great for US workers?
thank you, i really enjoy learning and you are sharing thoughts from a unique perspective not often heard here .... i am a proud canadian peasant with no online spare change capability, lol i really enjoy your interviews as well.... thank you for sharing a bunch of your vids for free.... i find i have lost access to a number of peoples insights behind a paywall.... o well... everyone needs to pay bills... me too Peace and Freedom 2018
I'm from MI. Richard didn't mention a couple disturbing things while he was talking about Detroit. Michigan used to be a fairly blue state. After NAFTA crushed the state's manufacturing prowess many Michiganders blamed unions for "negotiating their way right out of a job." Now Michigan is a "right to work" state which is why Ford might be bringing manufacturing jobs back. It will never be the way it was from the '40s to the '80s. The best this state can hope for now is to be like those low wage southern states we lost the jobs to in the first place.
Hate to tell you this but the US car industry is very much a US/Canada car industry. The car companies developed in both Canada and the US at the same time. GM made it's 1st cars in Canada and put engines made in Detroit in them, with both Buick and Chevrolet were Canadian car companies before merging with GM. Ford, Chrysler and GM has had car plants in Canada since the early 1900s. Ford opened their 1st car plant in Canada 1904. GM opened their 1st Canadian plant in 1907. Chrysler opened their 1st car plant in Canada in 1925. All these companies went on to help make war vehicles for the Canada's war effort with the famous CMP being one of the high lights. When these car companies have had down turns and needed help the Canadian government provided that help in the way of bailouts/loans to keep them running. I hate hearing Americans claiming this BS about Canadians stealing US job in the car industry...IT IS A SHARED INDUSTRY!!! Canadians auto workers don't get paid 3rd world wages, they get paid very well and as a rule are in the same boat as US auto workers with jobs going to Mexico. I hope Wolff reads this comment and gets the message. Don't be so self centered America!
So a "job" is worth $58,189.95 USD? I thought a job was something that could raise a family. The term "job" gets kicked around a lot in political rhetoric, but shouldn't it have an economic definition? That definition should be tied to what it takes to raise 2.3 kids for 25 years.
Detroit's civic leaders failed the residents of the city by counter-productive tax policies. In the late 1950s, the adjacent city of Southfield took steps to attract business and residents and to ensure that the land within the city would be productively utilized. This was accomplished by adopting up-to-date assessment techniques that recognized the increase in land values caused by public investment in modern infrastructure and other public amenities. Southfield's mayor was a man named James Clarkson. He had read and studied the virtues of a land-only property tax. He was not able to get approval from the state to move to a two-rate property tax, but the very act of keeping land assessments current meant that buildings in the city were taxed at the depreciated value, while land was taxed at its appreciating value. To some extent, Detroit paid the price as Southfield prospered. White flight and business flight contributed, of course. But, the civic leaders in Detroit failed to see the connection. Taxation that imposes heavy burdens on property improvements, on job-creation and on business profits will lead to the kind of decline experienced by Detroit.
I don't quite understand the direction of the criticism of the US automobile corporations. Prof Wolff criticised the market protectionism that the US took in place against the Japanese cars, because they were cheaper than the american made ones by $1200. Japanese cars were made by better technology or by cheaper labour. But the protectionist measures were implemented to aid the less competitive US car industry, thus to save american jobs, weren't they? How can you argue for both the cheaper cars and the saving of US jobs, unless you are suggesting that the american cars were not more expensive due to inferior technology or higher paid workers, but higher profit margins?
Americans their own selves judge American labor to be over-priced, b/c Americans their own selves refuse to pay the higher prices which higher wages cause. Are workers of the world truly to be united? Should Chinese & Indian labor charge $20/hour also? Because American workers saying "you all pay me lots, but I don't pay you much"... sounds a lot like Marx' critique of western Capitalists.
The threat of "we won't build houses if the state limits how much we can charge" is completely hollow. There is no "collision" of builders. There is no "house builders union" that someone must be part of to build a house. If there is money to be made building houses, no matter how little money that might be, someone will build houses and no one will stop them.
It's worse than that to which Prof. Wolff speaks. The California legislature passed laws meant to stimulate construction of affordable housing. Developers received "density bonuses" if they promised to build "low income", "no income", and "moderate income" housing in addition to "market rate" housing. In so promising, developers were allowed to build apartments, etc. at densities higher than building codes had previously allowed. HOWEVER, when these units came onto the market the developers petitioned the court to do away with allocating the new units to affordable / "below market rate" housing markets. Arguing that lawmakers cannot legislate them into unprofitability. THEREFORE, the new units are not available to persons of low income. Developers benefited from tax breaks, and subsidized loans for the construction of an abundance of new units but few to none are available at affordable rates. Instead, most new units enter the market at ever-rising rates. Virtually no affordable units resulted from the actions of our State Representatives. Thank You, market capitalism!
California's citizens made the housing affordability problem worse by voting for Proposition 13. A land-only property tax base is what is needed, with the annual tax imposed equal to the potential annual rental value of whatever land is held. There is ample support for this measure in the economics literature. There is amble resistance for this measure by powerful landed interests.
What would it take to start a company that hires only it's owners and the company is a labor pool. It sells the service of providing labor to industry. And because it is owned solely by it's owners it would function similarly to a union. So, for example, a company would call and say we need 10 part time laborers for the day. The laborers would show up and perhaps dig a ditch. Those same laborers are also the owners of the labor pool from which they came. It would make it nearly impossible for the establishment corporations to call it a union and therefore they wouldn't fall under the same regulations as a union.
A slight correction or contention I'd say. Capitalism isn't a technological innovator at all. That which capitalism exploits are the advancements paid for by the state which is literally the people's resources (if you look at it as tax dollars). It was through state funding and institution (NASA) that the space program's advances are now being exploited by SpaceX and others. It was a government funded program that produced the MRI for space exploration that resulted in medical firms using it for diagnosing medical conditions. Etc. Private entities ergo Capitalsim - only gets invovled when there's a defined and limited risk. The country does not weigh these expeditions in the same way and will venture into the unknown for an unknown cost essentually. One could argue that it's purely because of the near unlimited resources/money the government has; regarldess - the incentive for any particular scientific endeavour that leads to these technologies isn't to gain a competitive edge in a commerce system as the case is with private companies. So no Capitalism has not produced technological innovation. It merely exploited the work paid for by the state- the people.
Iggy_TheWhite there is a good article in the guardian that lists each technology in a modern smart phone and how each was supported and funded by state and government grants.
You're correct, but I think Harvey would respond with something along the lines of 'the state developed these technologies like the MRI, the internet, etc... but for the purpose of capital accumulation.' The military developed technologies for imperialist war, which were later adapted and sold for civilian use. Though the funding and the work was done by taxpayers/workers, the work was oriented towards fulfilling the needs for capital accumulation (like winning the Cold War) and not oriented to fulfilling social needs (socialism).
Reality4Peace it's an interesting point. My guess would be that these funds were for exploitation of both the natural world and human resources. Good question as to whether that is 'captialism' itself or something even deeper. If you look at the instance of the enclosures act which was what set the field for capitalism to exist - the serf were forced off the land by the state to even lay the grounds of capitalism. Interesting.
@Simon Yeah that serfs/peasants example is used by Marx (I think in Capital Vol.1) to demonstrate dialectical materialism and the contradictions within capitalism. For private property to exist, first the peasants had to be expropriated from their private property!
Reality4Peace life has its jokes. There was accumulation before capitalism and during. Power has always been lusted after. But you can't take the object of study from the environment it is in. Difficult to say how much of today's human nature is changed because of the economic system and how much remains the same. Humans are pliable.
I'd like to hear Prof Wolff address criticism of public housing. It's often poorly and unimaginatively designed. Then, there's no incentive for individuals to improve their properties. What's the socialist solution? Are there examples of successful models?
Is the limit imposed on Japanese car manufacturers in the 1980s an example of 'protectionism' then? I've heard that word from Noam Chomsky by never got a specific context for it. Whatever it is, it's anti-free market. As far as why capitalist thinkers don't acknowledge the major flaws of capitalism - it's because marketing capitalism is a crucial part of capitalism. When capitalists market products (and politicians) they exaggerate and deceive what the promoted product is in order to attract consumers. Seems like selling capitalism is just Capitalism 101. So then a culture of capitalism as faith-based ideology, not empirical based, and not comprehensive in its functioning in society, is just a natural extrapolation of capitalist culture. When that pomegranate juice company sold their juice, they didn't just say it's good and has qualities conducive to positive effects on the body, they implied or outright claimed in commercials it could cure disease, which they got in some trouble for (which may have been worth it for them). When corporations sell cars, they don't just say hey this is convenient, buy a car. They come up with the most grandiose and sentimental messaging about a car as they can. The spokespeople for capitalism doing the same is totally consistent with how marketing works in capitalism. Ok, you said it, Richard, more intellectually than I. Thanks for your work.
California's taxes are already very high and their State finances are not good even with their large economy. How would they build all these publicly financed houses with no money?
I believe financial systems are destructive to Humanity! I believe we would be better off to let people have everything for doing there jobs. It's the work that makes the civilization not the money. Money puts limits on what a person can have. We don't need a financial system at all.
You have these so called Law Makers, so who do they represent? Here lies the problem. Working class and poor have no voice. Which by the way have given themselves a huge tax break.
There are 2 sides to this. Universal Basic Income in the form we are likely to see if ever, would be to keep us placated while they automate everything and remove citizens from being a part of the country in all but living. We would basically become an ever decreasing burden on their progress in life as automation and technology get better and better. This is basically their ideal, beyond total takeover by force, and opposition being impossible. Once work by us becomes entirely obsolete, capitalism would work, as it already is slowly, to push us out of the picture in this way. On the other side, once renewable energy and resource management/growth are near, at, or above 100%, we need an entirely new credit system based on how much individuals are allowed to consume, which would slowly increase as the renewable amounts increase. In such a system, we would somehow have to have such a spread out citizen control of society in mixed relationship with robotic safety monitoring/automation, so that no individual has blind unlimited control over the excess of renewable powers that have been made. It's one or the other really. We either live in a dystopia run by and for a few people at the top under a totally automated world, where the mass of people are serfs in their own world, more than they already are, or we break through the system-grid-lock of capitalism/corruption and full invest in renewable energies and automation, founding a new form of spread out power structure, where everyone continuously profits more and more equally over time, and we decide our own future together, where no one has to fight for living and continuous progress anymore. The latter would not even be a utopia, but an inevitable position in a free society after reaching a certain level of technological progress. Social constructs would still differentiate, and arguments and fighting would still exist, but with all needs met, it would merely be differences in what we believe in. War in such a society could only exist mentally really, as once everyone lives in a world where there is nothing to really gain through fighting on a global social landscape, it becomes pointless. If an open attack happened between 2 free societies, both peoples would explode to take down and stop the war by their own side. At least until a far future point of robots being so numerous and powerful we are negligible, which is another topic entirely, so far ahead it is to be left for the future, by people who live in that time.
It sounds nice, but any leftist worth their salt is going to be against UBI under our current capitalist system. It would be creating a whole new class that doesn't produce labor and the oligarchs at the top could point to it and say "that's who's making your lives miserable!" thus deflecting any looking at who's *actually* causing people's lives to be miserable.
Richard can you please speak to how a co-op can be just as exploitative, in the same ways, as a 'capitalist' work place. Co-ops can be just as capitalistic, but hidden behind the co-op title.
Another thing Mr. Wolff.. are you and your guest in favor of equality of outcome? Like your guest said... in pure competition the rich get richer.. why is that? Some people work harder.. some people work smarter.. some lead and some are comfortable being led.. should we take from a person who became rich on his own merits and hard work and distribute it to the less ambitious (or incompetent) because its not "fair"?
Could those two Giants of knowledge and explanation of the capitalist mode of production , rik and dave , start a new progressive party?This is not a joke.I am not talking about simon and garfunkel or sam and dave….
I'm always dismayed that Proff Wolff feels the need to mis characterization of the facts. It is fundamentally dishonest. It smells of the worst attributes of old countries Bolsheviks.
Reality4Peace go back and watch the video. Every where he makes claims that everyone that eats carrots die and therefore carrots is the problem.... simply replace carrots with capitalism.
??????? Are you implying the entirety of Dr. Wolff's Marxist critique of capitalism, which spans several books, can be boiled down to 'everyone in capitalism dies, therefore capitalism = death'? Maybe you'd like to point out to me the part in this video where he says anything like that?
Reality4Peace well you can try around the 19:20 mark or so. The idea that there is inequality in capitalism and some intrinsic force within Marxism that prevents inequality is the fundamental dishonesty. The honest Portrayal would have been a juxtaposition of inequality VIs-a-VIs capitalism and Marxism. He goes on to say capitalism CREATES the need for advertising--- a complete lie.
Reality4Peace It can be argued that she is not lying but it cannot be argued that she os overstating the facts in order to manipulate sentiments of the audience. Both in presentation and somewhat in substance. (Wolff is just the one) ua-cam.com/video/w7J2Nnl7Ano/v-deo.html
Lamprey Milt I disagree. Coops are workers owning the means of production and producing the products. How is this dogshit? Giving entrepreneurs loans they need to innovate and grow into a business, which private banks will not do. Is this dogshit? Fire protection and police protection... dogshit? Healthcare for all... dogshit? Sounds like the wealthy have a mouthpiece with you, but you don't seem to understand that. Are you against democracy in the workplace? This is what your calling dogshit....
matthew mcclain lol like americans who are so self absorbed they actually think they are movie stars would sign up for it. If people want to try it then by all means make it happen! Obviously dont make it government mandatory.
Great show. Also, can never get enough of David Harvey. Such lucid analysis.
it doesn't matter if they build housing that no-one can afford to live in. I lived in Portland when the rents went up 40% over 3 yrs. I witnessed the destruction of old buildings that had reasonable rents, that were replaced by hi-rise condos that no-one I knew had a chance of living in
They don't give a shit! Basically if you can't afford it, fuck you!
The solution? It is to impose an annual tax on the owners of land equal to the potential annual rental value of whatever land is held, while exempting buildings from the tax base. This and this alone will end land speculation and land hoarding of land. Land prices will fall and the cost of housing will fall as well.
Same thing has been happening in Austin.
David Destin happening here in SF too.investment banking firms buy up the property and implement lousy policies and district managers. Zero accountability because of so many lawyers and accountants spending all day every day figuring out how to get rid of older tenants with rent control and turning a dead ear to complaints and issues. They lobby and weild power at the rent board and the building commission
An effort to put land into a city-wide community land trust dedicated to affordable housing would at least mitigate the problem. I developed a model for a scattered-site CLT back at Fannie Mae. I am happy to send the paper to anyone who has an interest. Email me at: edod08034@gmail.com
Love the show Dr. Wolff, keep up the great work!
Great interview, I hope you'll have more interviews with Professor Harvey.
As a kid growing up in a very well-off family I was basically indoctrinated in defending capitalism for a long while, but as Harvey mentions, living through the internet's transformation into the largely absurd commercial space it is today really tipped me off that something was off about the evangelical praise of the system that incentivized and overdetermined this conclusion.
His voice is resonant and I love the way he bites out his syllables with such conviction . Speaks from the heart and the gut. Lovely
"This system is producing us, rather than serving us."
Thank you ☺️ ... you are my “go to” to sanity, I can breath again!
God yes you got on David Harvey!!! I've been watching his lectures on Marx's Capitol vol 1, all on UA-cam. My god it's a lot to take in but he's a brilliant teacher
Always look forward to these!! Screw market economics !
That bit about the limit on Japanese car imports are rather ironic when you consider that the US "opened" up Japan to "free" trade by force circa 200 years ago.
Imperial Japan has it's roots firmly embedded in that piece of history when US warships "liberated the Japanese markets" back in the 1850s. Excellent point many Americans are unaware of.
Thanks a lot, Prof David harvey is amazing and very very wise and precise, rarest combination I found, very insightful and will set me looking for more to understand and do.
I rarely see Indians in comments sections of Prof. David Harvey's or Prof. Richard Wolff's videos!! It is s pleasant surprise!! :-)
As usual Richard, you have fed my mind.
His observation on the conflict between taxi drivers and Uber was an interesting
one. If anyone hasn’t already, I highly recommend people read Thomas Sowell’s “Basic
Economics” as it fleshes out this type of scenario in much greater detail.
Nooo... such an epic guest and such a short interview 😭
Professor Wolff, you are correct when you say, 03:22 “We don’t need to have a system in which competition amongst capitalists is something that kills workers”, giving the example of Uber and Lift; but there is one example where this takes an extreme dimension, Imperialism. Go through the (non-state) history literature and consider the millions who have died in imperial wars throughout history. Think of the poor fools who were manipulated by nationalism and patriotism into thinking they were fighting for “their country”, when they were killing others and dying to increase the wealth of the oligarchs that controlled their government. Think of all the lies the minions of the oligarchs (politicians) have told over the years to convince these fools to die for the wallets of the donors; and think of the millions in history who have died pushing back against imperialism and oppression. Maybe some reference to Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin, may be relevant in a future episode. After all, Lenin was correct when he described imperialism as fascism where the plutocracy who controls the government in a fascist system uses sovereign power to invade other countries for resources, trade, and hegemony.
LOVED that interview...You could make him an excellent part of your shows!
Although I'm not a political person, I truly appreciate your efforts on getting your informative podcasts out to the general public, Mr. Wolffe. After just celebrating my 71st birthday this week, I am becoming increasing more worried and alarmed at the rapid destruction of our entire nation's economy, and through your continual efforts, have learned many of the actual causes of it.
I have also come to the conclusion that this ultimate destruction of our capitalist system has also come as a result of the direct, illegal collusion of the corporate banking system and our largest and most powerful multinational corporations. Today, there is no more direct democracy or "Free Market" economy, only the rotten existence of these entities, NONE of whom have the true welfare of the American public at heart, only continuing, record profits. The entire system is rigged like a crooked card game by these same criminal enterprises, and I believe that our entire country is about to undergo a terrible downfall, all orchestrated by these same individuals, that will rival, or even surpass, the fall of the Roman Empire.
At this late stage of the global game, I believe that it is far too late for We the People to do anything about it. But perhaps the next time around we will have the insight and intelligence, thanks to people like you, to build a better world again, this one based upon not only sound economics, but human compassion. Thank you for all that you do.
22:34 Negative Externalities is the phrase I've come to understand - it defines how the current capitalists refuse to pay any attention to the negatives or conveniently assumes they're external accidents. In essence, the system omits both nature and neighbor in its profit equations. Chapter 10, 'The New Human Rights Movement' - (a book worth reading!!)
I like the format where Professor Wolff reports updates for thirty minutes better than where he does so for just fifteen.
Very much appreciate what you do for progressive policy Dr Wofll! Agree with your analysis 99% of the time and give a hearty thanks. One thing in this segment that didn't seem complete was in the early part which discussed free trade. You had a lot of things to discuss so there wasn't much time to spend on the subject but a contention of free trade from the progressive framework has been holding other nations accountable when they are able to pay workers less than equivalent wages on products exported to recipient nations. Autocratic nations are well known for doing this.
Therefore, in spite of the neo classical bromide of free trade no matter what, it seems consequential to the US that most job losses have resulted because of cheaper labor available in other countries where labor laws and the rule of laws in general are weak. Unrestricted free trade is great for uncontrolled multi national corporations but is it all that great for US workers?
Mr Wolff, you are loved all over the world.
David Harvey? More like Baevid Harvey
An interview with David Harvey..Very nice!!!...Could we request an interview with David North???
Good video! We need more of this. I have not seen much of Harriet Fraad, I hope she is doing ok.
Please have Michael Parenti on sometime
that'd be epic
Wolff, Parenti, and Harvey, the triumvirate of the coming Marxist utopia
I think Parenti would probably have some big disagreements with Harvey and Wolff but it'd be a valuable conversation to say the least.
thank you, i really enjoy learning and you are sharing thoughts from a unique perspective not often heard here .... i am a proud canadian peasant with no online spare change capability, lol
i really enjoy your interviews as well....
thank you for sharing a bunch of your vids for free.... i find i have lost access to a number of peoples insights behind a paywall.... o well... everyone needs to pay bills...
me too
Peace and Freedom 2018
"Will there be?" is a killshot of a rhetorical question if I ever heard one.
yo david harvey a real one
David Harvey, da truth
I'm from MI. Richard didn't mention a couple disturbing things while he was talking about Detroit. Michigan used to be a fairly blue state. After NAFTA crushed the state's manufacturing prowess many Michiganders blamed unions for "negotiating their way right out of a job." Now Michigan is a "right to work" state which is why Ford might be bringing manufacturing jobs back. It will never be the way it was from the '40s to the '80s. The best this state can hope for now is to be like those low wage southern states we lost the jobs to in the first place.
Great discussion. US Corporate Media fails us.
Hate to tell you this but the US car industry is very much a US/Canada car industry. The car companies developed in both Canada and the US at the same time. GM made it's 1st cars in Canada and put engines made in Detroit in them, with both Buick and Chevrolet were Canadian car companies before merging with GM. Ford, Chrysler and GM has had car plants in Canada since the early 1900s. Ford opened their 1st car plant in Canada 1904. GM opened their 1st Canadian plant in 1907. Chrysler opened their 1st car plant in Canada in 1925. All these companies went on to help make war vehicles for the Canada's war effort with the famous CMP being one of the high lights. When these car companies have had down turns and needed help the Canadian government provided that help in the way of bailouts/loans to keep them running. I hate hearing Americans claiming this BS about Canadians stealing US job in the car industry...IT IS A SHARED INDUSTRY!!! Canadians auto workers don't get paid 3rd world wages, they get paid very well and as a rule are in the same boat as US auto workers with jobs going to Mexico. I hope Wolff reads this comment and gets the message. Don't be so self centered America!
Nearly one-half of all goods purchased in the U.S. are produced by multi-national companies that produce all around the world.
So a "job" is worth $58,189.95 USD? I thought a job was something that could raise a family. The term "job" gets kicked around a lot in political rhetoric, but shouldn't it have an economic definition? That definition should be tied to what it takes to raise 2.3 kids for 25 years.
2 kids is too many. stick with 1.
I'm a bit confused about the shout out to Colorado. Did they do something recently, if so, what exactly was it?
Rob Thomas the worker co-ops. Pretty sure that what he was referring to.
?? New ones? Successful ones? The electric company in Colorado Springs is a co-op, if you can believe that.
Detroit's civic leaders failed the residents of the city by counter-productive tax policies. In the late 1950s, the adjacent city of Southfield took steps to attract business and residents and to ensure that the land within the city would be productively utilized. This was accomplished by adopting up-to-date assessment techniques that recognized the increase in land values caused by public investment in modern infrastructure and other public amenities. Southfield's mayor was a man named James Clarkson. He had read and studied the virtues of a land-only property tax. He was not able to get approval from the state to move to a two-rate property tax, but the very act of keeping land assessments current meant that buildings in the city were taxed at the depreciated value, while land was taxed at its appreciating value.
To some extent, Detroit paid the price as Southfield prospered. White flight and business flight contributed, of course. But, the civic leaders in Detroit failed to see the connection. Taxation that imposes heavy burdens on property improvements, on job-creation and on business profits will lead to the kind of decline experienced by Detroit.
I don't quite understand the direction of the criticism of the US automobile corporations. Prof Wolff criticised the market protectionism that the US took in place against the Japanese cars, because they were cheaper than the american made ones by $1200. Japanese cars were made by better technology or by cheaper labour. But the protectionist measures were implemented to aid the less competitive US car industry, thus to save american jobs, weren't they? How can you argue for both the cheaper cars and the saving of US jobs, unless you are suggesting that the american cars were not more expensive due to inferior technology or higher paid workers, but higher profit margins?
Americans their own selves judge American labor to be over-priced, b/c Americans their own selves refuse to pay the higher prices which higher wages cause. Are workers of the world truly to be united? Should Chinese & Indian labor charge $20/hour also? Because American workers saying "you all pay me lots, but I don't pay you much"... sounds a lot like Marx' critique of western Capitalists.
The threat of "we won't build houses if the state limits how much we can charge" is completely hollow. There is no "collision" of builders. There is no "house builders union" that someone must be part of to build a house. If there is money to be made building houses, no matter how little money that might be, someone will build houses and no one will stop them.
It's worse than that to which Prof. Wolff speaks. The California legislature passed laws meant to stimulate construction of affordable housing. Developers received "density bonuses" if they promised to build "low income", "no income", and "moderate income" housing in addition to "market rate" housing. In so promising, developers were allowed to build apartments, etc. at densities higher than building codes had previously allowed. HOWEVER, when these units came onto the market the developers petitioned the court to do away with allocating the new units to affordable / "below market rate" housing markets. Arguing that lawmakers cannot legislate them into unprofitability. THEREFORE, the new units are not available to persons of low income. Developers benefited from tax breaks, and subsidized loans for the construction of an abundance of new units but few to none are available at affordable rates. Instead, most new units enter the market at ever-rising rates. Virtually no affordable units resulted from the actions of our State Representatives. Thank You, market capitalism!
California's citizens made the housing affordability problem worse by voting for Proposition 13. A land-only property tax base is what is needed, with the annual tax imposed equal to the potential annual rental value of whatever land is held. There is ample support for this measure in the economics literature. There is amble resistance for this measure by powerful landed interests.
I second Edward Dodson
🔥 🔥 🔥 dynamic duo right here
What would it take to start a company that hires only it's owners and the company is a labor pool. It sells the service of providing labor to industry. And because it is owned solely by it's owners it would function similarly to a union. So, for example, a company would call and say we need 10 part time laborers for the day. The laborers would show up and perhaps dig a ditch. Those same laborers are also the owners of the labor pool from which they came. It would make it nearly impossible for the establishment corporations to call it a union and therefore they wouldn't fall under the same regulations as a union.
See Mondragon (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation) and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (www.investopedia.com/terms/e/esop.asp).
Thanks
I like this guest.
a pond seeks equilibrium after a splash and gets flat, but a flag in the breeze cycles forever
If it's not enough time, then you know what to do... Bring back the hour-long program!
Thank you.
A slight correction or contention I'd say. Capitalism isn't a technological innovator at all. That which capitalism exploits are the advancements paid for by the state which is literally the people's resources (if you look at it as tax dollars).
It was through state funding and institution (NASA) that the space program's advances are now being exploited by SpaceX and others.
It was a government funded program that produced the MRI for space exploration that resulted in medical firms using it for diagnosing medical conditions. Etc. Private entities ergo Capitalsim - only gets invovled when there's a defined and limited risk. The country does not weigh these expeditions in the same way and will venture into the unknown for an unknown cost essentually. One could argue that it's purely because of the near unlimited resources/money the government has; regarldess - the incentive for any particular scientific endeavour that leads to these technologies isn't to gain a competitive edge in a commerce system as the case is with private companies.
So no Capitalism has not produced technological innovation. It merely exploited the work paid for by the state- the people.
Iggy_TheWhite there is a good article in the guardian that lists each technology in a modern smart phone and how each was supported and funded by state and government grants.
You're correct, but I think Harvey would respond with something along the lines of 'the state developed these technologies like the MRI, the internet, etc... but for the purpose of capital accumulation.'
The military developed technologies for imperialist war, which were later adapted and sold for civilian use. Though the funding and the work was done by taxpayers/workers, the work was oriented towards fulfilling the needs for capital accumulation (like winning the Cold War) and not oriented to fulfilling social needs (socialism).
Reality4Peace it's an interesting point. My guess would be that these funds were for exploitation of both the natural world and human resources. Good question as to whether that is 'captialism' itself or something even deeper.
If you look at the instance of the enclosures act which was what set the field for capitalism to exist - the serf were forced off the land by the state to even lay the grounds of capitalism. Interesting.
@Simon Yeah that serfs/peasants example is used by Marx (I think in Capital Vol.1) to demonstrate dialectical materialism and the contradictions within capitalism.
For private property to exist, first the peasants had to be expropriated from their private property!
Reality4Peace life has its jokes. There was accumulation before capitalism and during. Power has always been lusted after. But you can't take the object of study from the environment it is in. Difficult to say how much of today's human nature is changed because of the economic system and how much remains the same. Humans are pliable.
Can you interview Noam Chomsky please?
please put transcript button
I'd like to hear Prof Wolff address criticism of public housing. It's often poorly and unimaginatively designed. Then, there's no incentive for individuals to improve their properties. What's the socialist solution? Are there examples of successful models?
In order to give capitalism credit for technological advancement, one must never have known an engineer.
Is the limit imposed on Japanese car manufacturers in the 1980s an example of 'protectionism' then? I've heard that word from Noam Chomsky by never got a specific context for it. Whatever it is, it's anti-free market.
As far as why capitalist thinkers don't acknowledge the major flaws of capitalism - it's because marketing capitalism is a crucial part of capitalism. When capitalists market products (and politicians) they exaggerate and deceive what the promoted product is in order to attract consumers. Seems like selling capitalism is just Capitalism 101. So then a culture of capitalism as faith-based ideology, not empirical based, and not comprehensive in its functioning in society, is just a natural extrapolation of capitalist culture.
When that pomegranate juice company sold their juice, they didn't just say it's good and has qualities conducive to positive effects on the body, they implied or outright claimed in commercials it could cure disease, which they got in some trouble for (which may have been worth it for them). When corporations sell cars, they don't just say hey this is convenient, buy a car. They come up with the most grandiose and sentimental messaging about a car as they can. The spokespeople for capitalism doing the same is totally consistent with how marketing works in capitalism.
Ok, you said it, Richard, more intellectually than I. Thanks for your work.
I mean : knowlegde of,and explanation about the capitalist mode of production!
*EVERYONE SPAM THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE POD CAST TILL HE BRINGS ON PROF. WOLFF!!!*
Read Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn for a scathing indictement of the failings of the capitalist system.
California's taxes are already very high and their State finances are not good even with their large economy. How would they build all these publicly financed houses with no money?
I can't believe he's comparing blatant harassment with cab drivers struggling to compete with others
New York taxicabs need to be collectivized. Privately-owned "Kulak" taxicab owners need to be liquidated.
So are you suggesting government should pick winners and losers in the Cab industry? No competition = poor output.
My 2 most favorite Americans!!! (After Bernie obviously)
If there's a Purgatory it's The Suburbs.
I believe financial systems are destructive to Humanity! I believe we would be better off
to let people have everything for doing there jobs. It's the work that makes the civilization
not the money. Money puts limits on what a person can have. We don't need a financial system at all.
Tarrifs punish american consumers not the foreigners. We pay the tariffs not the exporter.
rich you have cool friends
You need a brighter backdrop.
When you have unemployment at 40% it will be interesting to see how your views change.
So we know all of this are we going to continue to sit and let it happen and bump our gums or do something. Nothing changes unless we push the line
Japan made better cars then the US thats why the US restricted their imports. American car quality continued to decline after that.
Please listen, all Californians need to stay in California. You brought it on yourselves, don't bring it on us.
You can't create jobs that you don't need workers for. They needed much less than 1000 extra jobs which is why they only created what they did.
You have these so called Law Makers, so who do they represent? Here lies the problem. Working class and poor have no voice. Which by the way have given themselves a huge tax break.
Go bears!5:02
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME!!!
U r a sick mess
There are 2 sides to this. Universal Basic Income in the form we are likely to see if ever, would be to keep us placated while they automate everything and remove citizens from being a part of the country in all but living. We would basically become an ever decreasing burden on their progress in life as automation and technology get better and better. This is basically their ideal, beyond total takeover by force, and opposition being impossible. Once work by us becomes entirely obsolete, capitalism would work, as it already is slowly, to push us out of the picture in this way.
On the other side, once renewable energy and resource management/growth are near, at, or above 100%, we need an entirely new credit system based on how much individuals are allowed to consume, which would slowly increase as the renewable amounts increase. In such a system, we would somehow have to have such a spread out citizen control of society in mixed relationship with robotic safety monitoring/automation, so that no individual has blind unlimited control over the excess of renewable powers that have been made.
It's one or the other really. We either live in a dystopia run by and for a few people at the top under a totally automated world, where the mass of people are serfs in their own world, more than they already are, or we break through the system-grid-lock of capitalism/corruption and full invest in renewable energies and automation, founding a new form of spread out power structure, where everyone continuously profits more and more equally over time, and we decide our own future together, where no one has to fight for living and continuous progress anymore.
The latter would not even be a utopia, but an inevitable position in a free society after reaching a certain level of technological progress. Social constructs would still differentiate, and arguments and fighting would still exist, but with all needs met, it would merely be differences in what we believe in. War in such a society could only exist mentally really, as once everyone lives in a world where there is nothing to really gain through fighting on a global social landscape, it becomes pointless. If an open attack happened between 2 free societies, both peoples would explode to take down and stop the war by their own side.
At least until a far future point of robots being so numerous and powerful we are negligible, which is another topic entirely, so far ahead it is to be left for the future, by people who live in that time.
Jebus.
Step 1 is Henry George's Single Tax. Step 2 is reaping the cascade of positive outcomes from step 1.
Can UBI be implemented for transition to (RBE)Resourced Based Economy?
It sounds nice, but any leftist worth their salt is going to be against UBI under our current capitalist system. It would be creating a whole new class that doesn't produce labor and the oligarchs at the top could point to it and say "that's who's making your lives miserable!" thus deflecting any looking at who's *actually* causing people's lives to be miserable.
Criticize the theory of democracy it is what guids the politics pf america got it 😂😂😂
Richard can you please speak to how a co-op can be just as exploitative, in the same ways, as a 'capitalist' work place. Co-ops can be just as capitalistic, but hidden behind the co-op title.
Dr
Criticiz the theory of the politics of the u s a got it 😅😅😅
D:
I love eu but that intro music is awful lol
Another thing Mr. Wolff.. are you and your guest in favor of equality of outcome?
Like your guest said... in pure competition the rich get richer.. why is that?
Some people work harder.. some people work smarter.. some lead and some are comfortable being led..
should we take from a person who became rich on his own merits and hard work and distribute it to the less ambitious (or incompetent) because its not "fair"?
Could those two Giants of knowledge and explanation of the capitalist mode of production , rik and dave , start a new progressive party?This is not a joke.I am not talking about simon and garfunkel or sam and dave….
Liberal progressives are the vanguard of capitalism bro that wouldnt even make sense. Socialism NOW
I'm always dismayed that Proff Wolff feels the need to mis characterization of the facts. It is fundamentally dishonest. It smells of the worst attributes of old countries Bolsheviks.
Is there an example you can cite?
Reality4Peace go back and watch the video. Every where he makes claims that everyone that eats carrots die and therefore carrots is the problem.... simply replace carrots with capitalism.
???????
Are you implying the entirety of Dr. Wolff's Marxist critique of capitalism, which spans several books, can be boiled down to 'everyone in capitalism dies, therefore capitalism = death'?
Maybe you'd like to point out to me the part in this video where he says anything like that?
Reality4Peace well you can try around the 19:20 mark or so. The idea that there is inequality in capitalism and some intrinsic force within Marxism that prevents inequality is the fundamental dishonesty. The honest Portrayal would have been a juxtaposition of inequality VIs-a-VIs capitalism and Marxism. He goes on to say capitalism CREATES the need for advertising--- a complete lie.
Reality4Peace It can be argued that she is not lying but it cannot be argued that she os overstating the facts in order to manipulate sentiments of the audience. Both in presentation and somewhat in substance. (Wolff is just the one)
ua-cam.com/video/w7J2Nnl7Ano/v-deo.html
Capitalism is flawed. And Im a stronget supporter of Unions. But this socialism idea is dogshit.
Lamprey Milt I disagree. Coops are workers owning the means of production and producing the products. How is this dogshit? Giving entrepreneurs loans they need to innovate and grow into a business, which private banks will not do. Is this dogshit? Fire protection and police protection... dogshit? Healthcare for all... dogshit? Sounds like the wealthy have a mouthpiece with you, but you don't seem to understand that. Are you against democracy in the workplace? This is what your calling dogshit....
matthew mcclain lol like americans who are so self absorbed they actually think they are movie stars would sign up for it.
If people want to try it then by all means make it happen! Obviously dont make it government mandatory.