Economic Update: Is The US Facing Another Civil War?

[S12 E23] Is The US Facing Another Civil War?
In this week's show, Prof Wolff discusses the stale old debate (competition vs monopoly) and which to blame for inflation; unionization drives across US campuses, and Eastern Kentucky University in particular; how US stores manage inflation; and Elon Musk's peculiar economic "morals." In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Thom Hartmann on divided US politics.
**Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is‪@democracyatwrk‬ production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads. Please consider supporting our work. Become an EU patron on Patreon: / economicupdate and help us spread Prof. Wolff's message to a larger audience. Every donation counts!
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About our Guest: Thom Hartmann is a four-time Project Censored-award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of over 30 books in print and the #1 progressive talk show host in America for more than a decade. He is consistently in the top 10 of the Talkers Magazine Heavy Hundred ranking of the 100 most influential talk hosts in America (#8 this year.) Thom has co-written and been featured in 6 documentaries with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, about the end of the age of oil, is an international bestseller and used as a textbook in many schools and colleges. A former psychotherapist and entrepreneur, Thom and his wife Louise live in Portland, Oregon with a small menagerie of cats, dogs, ducks & geese.
Links:
Facebook - ThomHartmannProgram
Twitter - @Thom_Hartmann
KZbin - / thomhartmann
Website - www.thomhartmann.com/
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NEW 2021 Hardcover edition of “Understanding Marxism,” with a new, lengthy introduction by Richard Wolff is now available at: www.lulu.com/
“Marxism always was the critical shadow of capitalism. Their interactions changed them both. Now Marxism is once again stepping into the light as capitalism shakes from its own excesses and confronts decline.”
Check out all of d@w’s books: "The Sickness is the System," "Understanding Socialism," by Richard D. Wolff, and “Stuck Nation” by Bob Hennelly www.lulu.com/spotlight/democra...
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SOURCES FOR SHOW SEGMENTS:
1. Competition vs monopoly: www.axios.com/newsletters/axi...
2. Texas shooting: www.theonion.com/no-way-to-pr...
• "It's Easier To Get a ...
3. Unionization drives across US campuses: www.wymt.com/2022/05/04/eku-f...
www.richmondregister.com/news...
truthout.org/articles/graduat...
4. Inflation: www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/busine...
www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/busine...
5. Elon Musk: www.cnn.com/2022/05/27/busine...

[@jeorge1153]

"If you're hungry, you're not free; if you're homeless, you're not free, if you don't have a job that pays a decent salary, you're not free" - a good definition of freedom. Democracy should not be just the right to carry guns or right to "choose" (an illusion of choice - as if people are given a wide selection of candidates to choose from) their leader.

[@scruffylee]

and if you are Elon Musk you are not free

[@davidschlessinger9945]

sounds like socialism

[@jeorge1153]

@@davidschlessinger9945 i would rather see the majority doing well than a few ultra rich enjoy life while the majority suffers.

[@mikelloyd520]

Brilliant. Thank you.

[@acegikm]

Ending pain is more important than creating happiness. If someone is suffering greatly, another person's joy doesn't make up for that. If even one person is miserable their entire life, a billion happy people don't counter that. If humans don't find a way to stop the agony and misery of every single person, it's better humanity doesn't exist at all. Anyone who disagrees, consider if you or someone you love had to be that one tortured person - would you still disagree with me? Yet here we are, millions of people suffering and in agony, so some little punks at the top can be super comfortable and feel important.

[@treefrog3349]

The American People in general are consumed with an overwhelming anxiety about their own viability in contemporary America.They rightly feel very insecure and vulnerable. But instead of confronting America's political dysfunction, the source of ALL their concerns, they take their frustrations out on each other! EXACTLY like our "representatives" on Capitol Hill would prefer. "Divide and conquer" has been a successful strategy for them all, Democrat and Republican alike. In fact, our artificial two-party electoral process is the most blatant artificial division of all. A united "voice" of the People is what they fear most. We the People have nullified ourselves through our own internal divisiveness.

[@chriscourtney7369]

Maybe instead of venting our frustration at the hill. We need to start solving issue at the local level. D.C. does care about us we have seen this during Covid. Time to start thinking locally and act locally too down approach from the left and the right is not working.

[@chriscourtney7369]

@Gretchen K. the general government does not care about us as a whole we have seen this through the Covid policies example stimulus package largest transfer from poor working and middle class to the rich. Another example destroying small businesses while allowing big box retailers to operate. The Proffessor and his quest believe in a top down approach a progressive approach democratic socialism or whatever ever you want to label it. 320 million people in this country in different regions with different cultures. Democratic socialism might be what blue states want and that culture might reflect those views, but that idea does not reflect well with some red states. Decentralization is the only path and we have seen that with different state reaction to COVID policies. I understand people have different beliefs then me along with their out look in life running to the middle the general government again to force my way of thinking would not go over well with left leaning people.

[@The.world.has.gone.crazy...]

@@chriscourtney7369 yeah, thats why you dont have a descent medical care system or social system for that mather.

[@peace7394]

The American people were robbed and fooled by Democratic Party politicians. It was related to their cunning work in Ukraine. with WEAPONS from America and NATO.... THE NEO NAZI KYIV regime did not hesitate to destroy VILLAGES and TOWNS in EASTERN UKRAINE.... Neo Nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime have been carrying out massacres of EASTERN UKRAINIAN PEOPLE / RUSSIAN SPEAKERS since 2014. At least pre-arrival of the special military operation of the Russian federation, the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime had committed GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING against 15000 people of EASTERN UKRAINE / RUSSIAN SPEAKERS. From the testimony and confessions of the people of Mariupol, Donestk, Luhanks and others, collected by independent journalists from various countries we can know that THE NEO NAZI TERRORISTS OF THE KYIV REGIME have increasingly gone crazy about killing Ukrainians speaking Russian speakers and also destroying various facilities and houses that exist in cities and villages inhabited by Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Since 2014 various attempts at negotiations to get THE NEO NAZI TERRORISTS OF THE KYIV REGIME to stop GENOCIDE against the Russian-speaking Ukrainian people have been pursued. But the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime backed by politicians of the American Democratic party and NATO have never stopped killing. February 2022 in the end the russian federation provided assistance to the fighters of Donetsk, Luhanks, Mariupol and other urban cities to FREE them from the abominations and cunning of the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime. To understand the existing conflicts. It is mandatory that you learn slowly by listening to some documentaries and reports of humanitarian journalists. Of course, you can also compare it to manipulative reportage carried out by American media corporations and NATO. By comparing you will be able to judge which is right and which is wrong... HUMANITY is the MAIN VALUE.... THE PEOPLE WERE FOOLED AND FORCED TO SUPPORT Neo Nazi Ukraine. U.S. Democrats designed THE DESTRUCTION OF UKRAINE. Buy and install Ukrainian politicians to be in the control of American politics. Making provocations through the work of secret agents in the events of Maidan 2014. Raising neo-nazi groups and then including them in Ukrainian military units to find out the beginnings of the UKRAINIAN CONFLICT and the growth of Ukrainian Neo Nazis who then for 8 years COMMITTED GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING against the people of eastern Ukraine (russian language) More than 15,000 eastern Ukrainians have been killed by Ukrainian neo-nazis. Please learn UKRAINE ON FIRE by Oliver Stone (USA) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnzGnoF9q8Z3i9U Compare with this sub video Ukrainian neo-nazi child training camp by The Guardian. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJqliaCYoNycidk INSIDE A WHITE SUPREMACIST MILITIA IN UKRAINE by TIME kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKqcYmN8fJlpeZY Coverage BBC NEWS 7 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5Oadp6AeZVrm5Y Coverage DEMOCRACY NOW 8 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIC3qKyGatOiZpo The provocation of black American groups by carrying out hidden shootings of the people can be seen on BBC NEWSNIGHT in the coverage 7 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3vLe2meoNhjgMk NEO-NAZI THREAT can be seen in BBC NEWSNIGHT coverage 8 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4SloGOXoMp3g7s Because of the brutality of ukrainian neo-nazis, the people of eastern Ukraine are victims. This coverage was made by the BBC 8 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoKqd42bq8Sbbck There are many documentaries of independent journalists since 8 years ago that can be studied. From there we will be able to know how American and NATO politicians must be held accountable for the overlap of UKRAINIAN NEO NAZIS in the crimes of ethnic cleansing or genocide against the people of eastern Ukraine. For a daily report on the state of eastern Ukraine you can see in the reportage of independent journalists such as PATRICK LANCASTER (USA) on the KZbin channel. Or.... Eva K Bartlett (Canada), Graham Phillips (UK), VN Rangeloni (Italy), Ruben Gisbert (Spain), John Mark Dougan (USA) Their reprotase is on their respective youtube channels And.... Cristelle (FRANCE) On youtube channel : Donbass Insiders .................. May the civilians of western Ukraine and from the east soon find peace. And rotten politicians and fascist mobs must be eradicated for a better future for Ukraine. Mark Bartalmai (German) Title : ukraine agony the concealed war Made in 2014 And I really appreciate LIVRE NOIR (FRANCE) journalistic work. And I also advise all of us to look intellectually at the work ANNE LAURE BONNEL. I suggest you learn a little from the discussion on The Duran (KZbin) and The New Atlas. And... Richard Medhrutst (UK) Jackson Hinkle (USA) Scott Ritter (USA) Gonzalo Lira (Kharkov Ukraina) The Hill (USA) Redacted (USA)

[@chriscourtney7369]

@@The.world.has.gone.crazy... articulate rebutle

[@magicsmurfy]

Finally, someone in the US is asking the right question. The whole world has been asking for years.

[@slee4039]

Unfortunately not enough are listening and believing

[@supercommie]

When you "raise" wages below inflation rate, people shouldn't call it a "raise" because it's a pay cut.

[@michaelandrews4783]

Funny how people only talk about inflation when the it's proposed the poor get a pay rise and rail against it, while ignoring the rich and politicians giving themselves massive pay rises and tax cuts on a whim.

[@wheelie642]

He is a lying schmuck. He doesn’t know diddly.

[@adventureswithlils4331]

It’s not a pay cut…. It’s falling behind

[@gwills9337]

@@adventureswithlils4331 It is a pay cut. You can buy less than you did the previous year. That's a pay cut, just because it's abstract doesn't change the facts on the ground

[@adventureswithlils4331]

@@gwills9337 No a pay cut is when your employer pays you less When you can buy less with same money… it is called inflation

[@veronicaancrum4871]

Tom Hartman you lost me when you mentioned Russia responsible for this mess and never mentioning the democratic party role.

[@geraldcheves6436]

He lost me when he tried to make a comparison between the ante-bellum period and now, only considering the white people, as if the threat of slavery spreading was not a factor in the war. Hartman thinks the cause of the war was the unequal distribution of slave ownership and the concentration of slave ownership amongst the big plantation owners.

[@davidotness6199]

Hartmann lost me years ago. He's all glib and schtick, as likely to defend Adam Schiff and even Pelosi, but never would lift a finger for Julian Assange. The guy is a DNC / HRC poseur, i.e. a garden variety 'shitlib.' He wallows in his own shit.

[@veronicaancrum4871]

@@davidotness6199 I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t even like the term liberal anymore or democracy. Malcolm warned us about them.

[@mousc460]

I became a fan of Hartmann from his show on RT. It was disgusting how quickly he threw RT under the bus to keep his blue credibility. He is weak and not to be taken seriously.

[@l.w.paradis2108]

You beat me to it.

[@3001st]

The Titanic is going down, but the passengers think everything is fine because the band is still playing.

[@slee4039]

It was the giant echo chamber reverberating the band have long stopped playing

[@kathiduran9583]

What a disappoint to be calling Hartmann a progressive as he promotes the duopoly. There is no progressive movement in DC. JFC they support the same donors!!!

[@SolidAir54321]

I believe Hartmann is a pro-capitalist though he doesn't talk about it a lot. I have heard him say something along the lines of, "If I want to start a company I need to borrow money and that money is capital. that's capitalism. So I don't see any other way to do it." He also like to quote Adam Smith even though we're not in Adam Smith's capitalism anymore. If you consider that looking for alternatives to capitalism as a part of being progressive then I think he's not progressive that way. He's more of a Keynesian capitalist.

[@SolidAir54321]

@Russ Ingram Oh no. I can see why you might think that if you've only listened to Wolff on the Hartmann show. But he rails against capitalism normally. He says the biggest problem with capitalism is that it has the same class divisions as slavery (master and slave) and feudalism (lord and serf). Capitalism just continues this with employer and employee. Co-ops do not follow this structure. Capitalist companies are not democratic while worker owned co-ops are.

[@laserbrain7774]

Guest is firmly in the "push biden to the left", "Blue no matter who" crowd.

[@jimcarrington6744]

No, Thom is a Bernie supporter. You should learn how to listen, kid.

[@unreliablenarratorz2772]

Yeah, cuz he is correct

[@laserbrain7774]

@@unreliablenarratorz2772 Pure delusion.

[@unreliablenarratorz2772]

@@laserbrain7774 the only delusion is thinking that liberal democrats are no different than fascist republicans.

[@Camcolito]

@@jimcarrington6744 Bernie is in the blue no matter who / push Biden left crowd also.

[@indricotherium4802]

Progressivism can stay inside the Democratic Party and not be smothered? I find that very, very doubtful. Conspicuous absence of mention of Third Party.

[@greorbowlfinder7078]

Democrats are corporate tools. Progressives have to divorce them based on irreconcilable differences. Worse, people like Kamala Harris and Lloyd Austin represent the Washington DC dirt bag meritocracy perfectly. Our government is ran by a divisive, racist, dirt bag, meritocracy that can't be trusted based on their own measurable results. The current dirt bags running our government scream racism as cover for their own corruption. America has no shared sense of purpose other than looking at your skin color and genitals to figure out who you are. Absurd government.

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

tell me how you accomplish that in under 30 years. You folks are uninformed reacitonaries that would rather fight the dems and the republicans at the same time than just take back the democratic party and use that infrastructure tell me how what you call for happens The issue is you probably voted 1 time in your life, didn't win, then started this "3rd party" nonsense

[@rogersmith7396]

Biden is taking non progressive Dems down the toilet. He only looks good when Trump is running. There is a reason he is so f ing old, thats who voted for him. Trump is no spring chicken himself.

[@indricotherium4802]

@@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis : one would expect an intelligently led Thrid Party to set itself realistic and achievable goals. It would certainly have to taget one or two states where it picks up the minimum number of electoral college seats to give itself real leverage. I'm sure your informed political insight enables you to judge what the minimum might be. Perhaps it shouldn't set its hopes too high in whatever state you live in.

[@transsylvanian9100]

The Democratic Party is where progressive politics goes to die. It is and always will be a dead end.

[@PoliticalEconomy101]

Replace monopoly, competition, and freedom with cooperation, public ownership and solidarity pls

[@sylviam6535]

That is called socialism and it has failed every single time, but I guess it will be different next time…

[@s0515033]

How do you replace it? Take everyone's shit? I never really understood this. I am fine with cooperative and public goods. But uh, the problem is we are not starting from scratch. There is a pre-existing system and no one is going to be okay with their property being made a coop.

[@sylviam6535]

@@s0515033 - That’s why they always do it by force.

[@adambrock7692]

Kinda completely stupid that we let basic needs food housing medicine be about most profit that can be made

[@Eliminator5555]

Yep. Nothing more important than allowing endless speculation in every aspect of society, including housing.

[@joycesvarvar]

What kind of government " by and for the people" would allow a social, economic or political situation" where the situation is completely opposite of " for and by the people" when basic needs like food, clothes, shelter and health care and education, become the domain of only those who can afford it, and there is no cap on that either, as everything related to cost keeps rising. The whole economic system which prioritizes Profit over People is evil within itself. America is quickly becoming Third World in it's looks and operation of Government. Dominated by two sides of the same coin. Republicans are extreme Capitalist, but so are Democrats, they all get elected, comfortable and become third rate actors with no moral guard rails, whatever the script call for, they become.

[@kelsonhampton439]

Great update Professor Wolff, thank you for doing these and providing your comments and analysis. Very informative.

[@boi9842]

Did Democracy At Work went full liberal ? gun bans, saying Russia and China wants to install authoritarian governaments around the world, saying USA is a democracy, endorsing neoliberal crap like AOC and Bernie, wtf is wrong with them ?

[@duggydugg3937]

bullsmoke,.... proff yelps about KAPATALIZM.. ignores deficate SPENDING.. die falscher LENDS government SPENDS makes IRS extract to pay the loanshark back

[@jeffmurray1681]

Thom Hartmann is a progressive? Could've fooled me.

[@cev12]

EXACTLY! I didn't know who he was, so I watched some videos of his from the past week. Chatted warmly with Pramila Jayapal, the Progressive Caucus chair, who's repeatedly failed progressives. Completely supported the $40 billion in war and fossil fuel industry sales to Ukraine. **gag** NOT a progressive.

[@robp4074]

Progressive's are progressive in name only.

[@GregoryWonderwheel]

My reaction too!. Hartmann is a Pied Piper for the Democratic Party. There are no progressives in the Democratic Party other than those being put to sleep by being in the Party.

[@dinopanteloukas6868]

He’s just a democrat. He thinks there’s a fundamental difference between the dems and republicans. I can’t stand the liberals anymore. The democrats are the war party now. It’s only the divisive social issues that separate them.

[@cev12]

@@dinopanteloukas6868 You took the words right out of my mouth… the democrats are just corporate and about identity politics. And I’m ashamed I ever was in the party (been green party for years now).

[@MutualistSoc]

In this country. It's easier to get a gun. Than to form a union.

[@zofiajaneczek184]

And easier to use that gun on the innocent than actually get a good job with decent pay! Yes unions are likened to Communism and we can't have any happy workers left! ALL must parish and buckle under this crap system! It wouldn't be the good old USA if you didn't hate your job, it would probably be.... Europe! I just finished a wonderful day in over 100 degree heat on the job, my employer doesn't give a shift, but I'm 100% sure a union would!

[@MutualistSoc]

@@zofiajaneczek184 I work in a Union shop. They have what's called a (wet bulb test). It's reads like the relative humidity to temperature. If it's like 70% humid with a relative temp of like 86 degrees they start passing out water. After 90 degrees we get Gatorade. And an hour after that if it doesn't drop off we get a 15 minute break every hour.

[@MutualistSoc]

@@zofiajaneczek184 Also these 15 minute heat breaks do not take away from our normal breaks. So one a day of excess heat my day could look like this. Work (6:00 -8:30am) On break (8:30-9:00 norm pass out water) Work (9:00 -11:30) Break (11:30- 12:00 Recieve Gatorade) Heat break (12:00-12:15) Work ( 12:15 - 1:15) Heat break ( 1:15 - 1:30) Work ( 1:30 - 2:00) Break (2:00 - 2:30) Heat break (2:30-2:45) The heat breaks do add to alot more leisure time to rest from the heat. But as members we don't feel the wet bulb is always implemented like it should be. So we are gonna be asking to have a new practice done to were our heat breaks are based off the temperature outside. To make it more transparent.

[@MrBreeze66]

It’s odd that people here are consumed with working for a Union while people coming here through immigration are wanting to start a business of their own. Owning is the American dream, but it seems people have forgotten that.

[@MutualistSoc]

@@MrBreeze66 I fully support Individual / Family Ran businesses. Only area where I don't agree is if that individual businesses workload becomes to high and they hire someone, but pay the person less than what the market value of their labor created so to profit off the individual.

[@svensebastiana2491]

A very sad interview with Hartmann who completely misses the boat that both parties are culpable for the steady decline. By blaming one side while ignoring the fascist elements of the other, we carry on the downward spiral.

[@AbtinX]

That man is, well I've no nice words. He's a product of his system

[@davepetrovich9851]

Hartmann wants to keep his audience.

[@mr.cosmos5199]

Nowadays it’s difficult to know who to trust and time is so precious with so much happening around us at increased pace. Professor Wolff is one voice I trust , that’s worth the time listening to.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Wolff is a clown. He tells fairy tales about economics at the left of a second grader. While I agree with him on so much, he doesn't teach anyone anything useless and I think he is in the empty of the other side.

[@MutualistSoc]

In this country. It's easier to get a gun. Than to get Healthcare.

[@Skull322Bones]

"'No way to prevent this,' says the only nation where this regularly happens"....I love The Onion! LOL

[@l.w.paradis2108]

"With help from autocratic governments including _Russia"_ Now we know how bright Thom Hartmann is.

[@lilithstarchild5098]

He's a bottom feeder sh*tliberal.

[@MathUDX]

Glad I wasn't the only one to laugh out loud at that nonsense. I have no idea how anyone can think he's some sort of intellectual anymore, he's just another useful partisan for the Democrats.

[@nicholasszegho6768]

Exactly…. What is this 💩 he babbling on about. America overthrows a government with the help of neo Nazi fascists, Russia liberates people being murdered and oppressed by these fascists. Maybe “progressives” should focus less on Russia and more on their own lack of democracy and even more they should focus on how America dictates to every other nation what kind of economic system they must have and who will own and what will be done with the natural resources and labour surplus of every other country. Don’t ever lecture any other country and if you are how about you start with your good buddies in Saudi Arabia and Israel.

[@AxiomBlurr]

Thank you so much Prof Wolff, you are a light in my life and I sincerely appreciate you spreading this knowledge and awareness. From Australia with eternal respect.

[@TerryTappArt]

I prefer "dead billionaire" or "gunned-down billionaire" to "billionaire." It's a moral preference but I guess in a way I'm agreeing with Musk on this; "billionaire" is just too plain.

[@gos4343]

If Sanders and AOC is the best you have, then the “hope” talked about is a faint one.

[@Letkharable]

I like Tom, smart guy, but it seems like the only solution he ever proposes is voting for the Democrats again.

[@nolitetebastardescarborund9761]

Voting for Democraps ain't smart.

[@acegikm]

We need more grass roots activism, and progressives need to get involved in their local politics. After the Squad let us down, I'm convinced the system is never gonna change til the populations drastically changes some things. We should prolly still vote for the lesser of two evils president, but most the work needs to be done outside of federal politics.

[@FleetaFleegalBuckFut]

“Vote for your oppressors!” said the dude with a library in his house

[@christinepeach8213]

@@acegikm Voting for the 'lesser of 2 evils' is not a 'real' choice. Imagine that when the people vote they vote for the person who they think will do the best job. Now, we in America vote for the 'lesser of 2 evils';;; something is Wrong with that. Thank You.

[@nasaihyana]

Facts...the Dems control all three levers of power and what have done with it???

[@ZubairAhmad-yj9et]

Suppressed people have nothing to loose except their life of misery. Eliminate your suppressors from their wicked existence.

[@rettro6578]

And then what?

[@CatastrophicNewEngland]

It's like they are conducting a mass social experiment, where they are seeing how bad things can get before people snap. You see it a bit with these young people shooting up places. And instead of attempting to make a better society for everyone, their response is to really anger, divide and suppress the people even more. The solutions do not need to be violent.

[@zofiajaneczek184]

Not enough are uncomfortable yet! Things must get far worse for actual change to happen, I fear it. I don't think people are willing to unite in order for real concrete change to happen. You must be ALL in and not afraid to loose everything for ultimate change. Too many want everything but are also unwilling to part with anything. Ask someone to possibly loose their life for freedom, few will go there....

[@newforestpixie5297]

In England our Gas Electricity & Water were Nationalised until the mid 1980s when Mrs Thatcher proclaimed that de regulation would allow competition which would somehow be better for customers. Since then , one supplier announces that a price increase is necessary for some reason or other - which then gets followed by every other competing company and the exact opposite effect that we were promised is the reality. Bunch of Devils I tell you ! 😃🏴❤️

[@kevintewey1157]

Professor Chris Hedges will tell you the only real Progressive is Ralph Nader Thom Hartmann would not know a real Progressive if Ralph slapped him in the face

[@Zhicano]

I couldn't have disagreed more with Hartmans analysis. The system has always been autocratic and under Atlanticist neoliberalism that shares nothing with China and Russia. The American Reich has always been this way. Confederacy or not.

[@blvckvv999]

That's because Hartman blows

[@justgivemethetruth]

Tell it!

[@douglaskay9959]

It really doesn't matter whether they are Democrats or Republican because history proves there is very little difference, both have been warmongers and still are.

[@s0515033]

Democrats are bad, but there definitely is a real difference. Republicans are overtly evil and their endgame is to fuck you over. Democrats are milquetoast and incompetent, settling for letting the GOP to go half way to fucking you, but never fully. Democrats at least aren't in your face raging fascist.

[@chongleebnw]

"If you are hungry you're not free if you're homeless you are not free"... Exactly the main society improvement topic on-going over here since 80s on the other side of the ocean, although we probably don't share the same definitions of a few concepts but somehow the purpose is the same: for the benefit of the most people. Civil war is a much closer concept over here since it was only over about 70 years ago, so we (as a society) remember a lot about how the country slided into such a situation and how long it took to get out. The good news is, looks like you won't have that at your current position, far from it. But the problems are at such large scale that they don't go easily, never did, sometime 1 or 2 generations, sometime half a century, if the problems are really foundamental, they won't get fixed within the system. Harsh fixing or soft landing, history has its own momentum, and it all comes down to the collective wisdom of the society.

[@donnathedead7554]

Freer than the wage-slave living in his bank-owned house he'll probably never pay off.

[@carinalundstrom7684]

Wolff is outstanding, I am so impressed with his transferability, idolization has never been close to my heart but now I am trapped, Wolff has become my sainted icon❤️

[@revolutionishere]

Idolization is always an error. We need to be critical of everything someone says, even an individual we agree with or admire.

[@carinalundstrom7684]

@@revolutionishere As true as can be said😊 But a person of experienced age, enriched by knowledge-treasures and other valuables, such as being open minded ... has the critical ability. It is a difference between being open minded and downright gullible. Being open minded means assessing each new piece of evidence objectively, and trying to see the wider picture. This mean accepting possibility, but evaluating probability. It does not mean believe everything. Humor is life-affirming🌞 "Even before man got a language, humor was a part of everyday life. Anthropologists believe that laughter developed from the grunts that prehistoric people gave off, when they had fun with family members. During the Stone Age - just like today - humor was a sign of intelligence. If you could make the others in the cave laugh, you raised your own status in the herd. But humor also improved your chances of survival. If you could smile and laugh with the others, you automatically became popular in the group - and thus ran less risk of being killed, if you competed for the same food or the same woman. Humor also increased your chances of finding a partner. Then, just like today, women are often attracted to intelligent men, who can protect them and who are smart enough to see the fun in difficult situations, "says Don Nilsen, Professor of Linguistics ,USA. He has been researching humor for decades and has published the book The Language of Humor.

[@rackett8655]

That was a great way to describe the relationship between monoply and competition. They're opposites but one always lead to the other

[@clarestucki5151]

That's ridiculous. Competition DESTROYS monopoly, by definition. You cannot have it both ways.

[@rackett8655]

@@clarestucki5151 Not really. It's the story of all mega corporations. The goal is to maximize profit and you can't do that if someone else is taking your possible buyers. So in the process of competing, you improve your production and distribution techniques to sell more goods, open up new stores or merge or aquire others, hire more workers to win. Your original competitors who couldn't keep up will be forced to close down and/or be bought out, giving you a monopoly on the good or service. Competition led to monopoly

[@donnathedead7554]

@@clarestucki5151 I can empathize with your confusion. Maybe it makes more sense to say, the goal of capitalism is monopoly. Keep in mind that the world capitalism was invented by Marx and this is how he defined it, in a nutshell. You are using an alternative definition of capitalism = free market. This is a phase of capitalism the system itself does not sustain. The true goal of communism (also invented by Marx) was a sustained free-market (fair competition).

[@benangel3268]

@Donna Thedead As I understand it Karl Marx wanted a system where the people doing the hard work received the profits.

[@benangel3268]

@Clare Stucki The people who hate competition most are the capitalists themselves. By knocking out the completion they gain customers. They can buy out companies that are better at innovation, another that is better at technology and another that is tops at design. By merging with other companies they can expand to other places, increase their custom base, economise their costs, increase their prices and maximise their profits.

[@Vienticus]

Everyone talks about the country splitting, but no one asks the question: if we split, who keeps the constitution and all the rights within? Answer: No one. Now you know why all the division is being sown.

[@sylviam6535]

The right will keep the Bill of Rights. The left will do away with it, as they have been trying to do for years now, if not for decades.

[@cdeist1]

Bigger concern: what happens to the Nukes.

[@markstuckey6225]

Much as I admire Mr. Hartmann, I think it a bit rich (pun intended) that he accuses the Russian Federation of being authoritarian and then goes on to list the intrenched authoritarianism of the USA typified by money controlling elections. A simple example: in the USA you can be evicted on the whim of your landlord, in Russia evictions are illegal (except for criminal conduct); if your apartment block is to be destroyed and a new built to replace it, this can only be done if a majority of residents vote for it, if your apartment block is to be replaced it must be replaced by one of a higher standard, _at no rent increase_ USAians think that they aren't living under a tyrant when all the time they are one illness away from financial catastrophe. Democracy is the people having a say on their conditions of living, not once every four years deciding (from a very limited group of incompetents, determined by a tyrannical _elite_ ) who your leader will be. USA has a very distorted view of freedom, democracy, wealth, purpose etc. Its citizens are badly educated, technically and morally. Mr. Hartmann described it perfectly at 23:30 when he described USA religion as what's in it for me (pie in the sky and wealth now) rather than following the example of costly way of life espoused by the religions founder.

[@peternyc]

@Mark Stuckey, You hit the nail on the head. He's a rodent dressed as a human.

[@markstuckey6225]

@@peternyc I don't believe that for a moment; I think he's a decent, honest man who shows great insight despite growing up in USA. I am sorry I gave you that impression.

[@peternyc]

@@markstuckey6225 I apologize for attaching my anger to your comment. If you want me to delete it, I will. But first, I’ll explain. I use to be a liberal Democrat, like you I suppose. When I saw how the Democratic Party always let the Republicans bully them, I was depressed. Same story, year after year. The D’s never fought for regular people, yet always had high rhetoric and lofty ideals. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2009 that I really understood what was happening when Obama announced who would be in his cabinet: former Clinton administration members Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Obama had the fate of American people in his hand. He was set to be the next FDR, yet it was clear he never intended to fight for us. He was elected to be the clean up man for Wall Street. His speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 was fake. His campaign in 2008 and 2012 was fake. After learning that all those years of feeling suspicious of the Democratic Party were well founded, I realized the actual enemy wasn’t the Republicans. They are who they have always been - laissez faire capitalists in the tradition of 19th century England. For them people give assets value. They are pro capital and want labor to be as close to free as possible. The GOP is as evil as they have ever been. They haven’t changed one bit. The reason that the Republicans have dominated politics for so long is that the Democrats let them. It’s really that simple. The Republicans give Democrats plausible deniability. Thom Hartman is a cheerleader for the Democratic Party, just as Bernie is. They sheepdog. I refuse to place my hopes in people who are going to stab me in the back. Luckily for me, people in America are waking up to the good cop/bad cop game of red vs blue. Don’t put your faith in heroes and leaders. They are all liars. We need bottom up grass roots organizing across party lines. It’s class war, not culture war.

[@lynnwood7205]

Oligarchies seek to limit competition.

[@dennisyoung4631]

If not eliminate it…

[@austinp.5024]

So does capitalism. That's why oligarchs are the only winners of capitalism. Because they are the ones who thought up that system. Rigged

[@goodwifeweaver]

I think Thom has decent intentions, but fail to see the value of interviewing an individual who is clearly invested in the idea that Russia is remotely to blame for our situation. Not to mention his consistent take that our only option in the end is to vote for corrupt neoliberals. Unless you were going to push back against all that. We need urgency, not more of the crap that got us here.

[@MutualistSoc]

In this country. It's easier to get a gun. Than a living and sustainable job.

[@angelamoore8161]

Applause 👏

[@donnathedead7554]

True. That gunman in Uvalde had thousands in guns and ammo but no job and his family wasn't well-off so how did he get all that? I want to know where he bought it and where he got all that money for it.

[@CatastrophicNewEngland]

@@donnathedead7554 CV19 stimulus checks & those massive unemployment bonuses?

[@donnathedead7554]

@@CatastrophicNewEngland He was 18 and never had a job that would allow him to collect unemployment. CV19 stimulus was only given to business owners and households with children. He was neither. Media claims he purchased the guns legally. Perhaps he did, but the money for the guns had to involve some shady, if not criminal activity.

[@CatastrophicNewEngland]

@@donnathedead7554 I was just guessing. Maybe he was working under the table so Uncle Sam wouldn't garnish his wages? I'm pretty certain there were 2 stimulus checks given to every adult citizen, you just had to return a form to the IRS.

[@oldsesalt8496]

Actually, monopolies CAN reduce the cost of producing things. At the same time, they can (and do) increase the cost of you buying them.

[@miketheyunggod2534]

Not all the time. No many people care if someone has a monopoly on pigs feet.

[@jimcarrington6744]

Monopolies do not usually create competition.

[@oldsesalt8496]

@@jimcarrington6744 But they do create economy of scale. They just don't pass on the lower costs.

[@jimcarrington6744]

@@oldsesalt8496 Agreed, and they do not create jobs, as only the consumer does that.

[@IosuamacaMhadaidh]

Voting for Democrats out of fear has led us here to begin with, Tom is insane.

[@transsylvanian9100]

In a bourgeois dictatorship, voting is merely a theatric ritual performed every two to four years to choose which side of the same coin gets to enforce the interests of capital.

[@peace7394]

The American people were robbed and fooled by Democratic Party politicians. It was related to their cunning work in Ukraine. with WEAPONS from America and NATO.... THE NEO NAZI KYIV regime did not hesitate to destroy VILLAGES and TOWNS in EASTERN UKRAINE.... Neo Nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime have been carrying out massacres of EASTERN UKRAINIAN PEOPLE / RUSSIAN SPEAKERS since 2014. At least pre-arrival of the special military operation of the Russian federation, the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime had committed GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING against 15000 people of EASTERN UKRAINE / RUSSIAN SPEAKERS. From the testimony and confessions of the people of Mariupol, Donestk, Luhanks and others, collected by independent journalists from various countries we can know that THE NEO NAZI TERRORISTS OF THE KYIV REGIME have increasingly gone crazy about killing Ukrainians speaking Russian speakers and also destroying various facilities and houses that exist in cities and villages inhabited by Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Since 2014 various attempts at negotiations to get THE NEO NAZI TERRORISTS OF THE KYIV REGIME to stop GENOCIDE against the Russian-speaking Ukrainian people have been pursued. But the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime backed by politicians of the American Democratic party and NATO have never stopped killing. February 2022 in the end the russian federation provided assistance to the fighters of Donetsk, Luhanks, Mariupol and other urban cities to FREE them from the abominations and cunning of the neo-nazi terrorists of the Kyiv regime. To understand the existing conflicts. It is mandatory that you learn slowly by listening to some documentaries and reports of humanitarian journalists. Of course, you can also compare it to manipulative reportage carried out by American media corporations and NATO. By comparing you will be able to judge which is right and which is wrong... HUMANITY is the MAIN VALUE.... THE PEOPLE WERE FOOLED AND FORCED TO SUPPORT Neo Nazi Ukraine. U.S. Democrats designed THE DESTRUCTION OF UKRAINE. Buy and install Ukrainian politicians to be in the control of American politics. Making provocations through the work of secret agents in the events of Maidan 2014. Raising neo-nazi groups and then including them in Ukrainian military units to find out the beginnings of the UKRAINIAN CONFLICT and the growth of Ukrainian Neo Nazis who then for 8 years COMMITTED GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING against the people of eastern Ukraine (russian language) More than 15,000 eastern Ukrainians have been killed by Ukrainian neo-nazis. Please learn UKRAINE ON FIRE by Oliver Stone (USA) kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnzGnoF9q8Z3i9U Compare with this sub video Ukrainian neo-nazi child training camp by The Guardian. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJqliaCYoNycidk INSIDE A WHITE SUPREMACIST MILITIA IN UKRAINE by TIME kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKqcYmN8fJlpeZY Coverage BBC NEWS 7 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5Oadp6AeZVrm5Y Coverage DEMOCRACY NOW 8 years ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIC3qKyGatOiZpo The provocation of black American groups by carrying out hidden shootings of the people can be seen on BBC NEWSNIGHT in the coverage 7 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3vLe2meoNhjgMk NEO-NAZI THREAT can be seen in BBC NEWSNIGHT coverage 8 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4SloGOXoMp3g7s Because of the brutality of ukrainian neo-nazis, the people of eastern Ukraine are victims. This coverage was made by the BBC 8 years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoKqd42bq8Sbbck There are many documentaries of independent journalists since 8 years ago that can be studied. From there we will be able to know how American and NATO politicians must be held accountable for the overlap of UKRAINIAN NEO NAZIS in the crimes of ethnic cleansing or genocide against the people of eastern Ukraine. For a daily report on the state of eastern Ukraine you can see in the reportage of independent journalists such as PATRICK LANCASTER (USA) on the KZbin channel. Or.... Eva K Bartlett (Canada), Graham Phillips (UK), VN Rangeloni (Italy), Ruben Gisbert (Spain), John Mark Dougan (USA) Their reprotase is on their respective youtube channels And.... Cristelle (FRANCE) On youtube channel : Donbass Insiders .................. May the civilians of western Ukraine and from the east soon find peace. And rotten politicians and fascist mobs must be eradicated for a better future for Ukraine. Mark Bartalmai (German) Title : ukraine agony the concealed war Made in 2014 And I really appreciate LIVRE NOIR (FRANCE) journalistic work. And I also advise all of us to look intellectually at the work ANNE LAURE BONNEL. I suggest you learn a little from the discussion on The Duran (KZbin) and The New Atlas. And... Richard Medhrutst (UK) Jackson Hinkle (USA) Scott Ritter (USA) Gonzalo Lira (Kharkov Ukraina) The Hill (USA) Redacted (USA)

[@leanysealvarado7499]

@@transsylvanian9100 💯

[@ryanosterman2651]

At this point the only hope we have is to take over the Democratic Party from within. We basically live in a capitalist vanguard party system.

[@transsylvanian9100]

@@ryanosterman2651 Never gonna happen. The Democratic Party is where progressive politics goes to die. Anyone attempting to "change it from within" is co-opted and made part of the swamp. Happened to the so-called "Squad" who all voted in unison to fund a proxy war (in which the US is arming literal neonazis btw) with $40 billion dollars. Traitors to the working class the lot of them and they wouldn't even force a Med4All vote.

[@basfinnis]

It’s the same here in the UK. Get people polarised and fighting each other rather than tackling the big companies and establishments.

[@Inspector-Chisholm]

And what's your answer to that? Cancel the side you don't like?

[@sherriinolywa]

Yeah. Not a fan of Hartmann.

[@matthewingerson]

Thom? Progressive? If by progressive, you mean: 'Thom, the capitulator to the right-wing Democrat-party which capitulates to the right-wing Repubocrat-party, both of which parties are bought, owned, bribed, and controlled by wealthy-class right-wingers." I suppose if that's what you mean, then, sure, Thom's "progressive." *winkwinknudgenudge (I doubt that Wolff really finds Thom to be "progressive" -- perhaps progressive in word but center-right in action.)

[@blrrich1051]

Nothing like waking up to an excellent video from the Dr. Monday is off to a great start.

[@GradiusGhost1]

Fantastic as always, but I was dying of laughter when he started talking about the rotisserie chickenomics with that condemning tone.

[@belladonna8425]

Rotisserie Chickenomics😂😂 Definitely rolls off the tongue a lot better than neo-feudalism.

[@AlternativeMediaJointCenter]

Dear Richard, I have followed Tom since 2015 until 2020 and am following you since 5 years ago. I know many comrades who follow you and even translated your articles to Persian. I couldn't disagree more with dear Tom about his view of Democracy vs Authoritarianism: - we live in a much bigger world than only US - world order affects US as US affects the whole world to the worst during last 77 years and the new emerging multipolar order will make US to decline even more for every week. We are in the middle of most consequential transition in mankind history. - Liberal democracy is almost dead and to differentiate Trumpism from D party and not seeing the Establishment regime has been our biggest failure during the last decade! Real Democracy comes, as you teach us, from grassroots organizations, participatory democracy is socialistic democracy in which common Prosperity is the very first priority! - And I believe our first priority as socialists is to dissolve NATO and pass US hegemony in the world. Thank you for all very good job you and other comrades do🙏💐 Good luck

[@michael511128]

I moved China from California since 1997. Business has been good and so the prolonged stay. 25 years later all thing reversed. 1997 Beijing was a city of 12 million, 8 million locals and 4 million inbound labour, 1.2 million bicycles, combination of Motorola brick phones, Nokia sandwich phones and pagers. Salary for an senior engineer was 200 dollars a month. Only a rare breed of people owned cars. 25 years later, China split the Forbes billionaire list with the US almost down the middle, topped the US in Fortune 500 companies. Every third Mercedes made in Germany comes to China. For a decade their students occupy as the largest foreign group in every Ivy League and top university in the world. Silicon Valley employs 100,000 Chinese graduates. They used to like it in California like every one else but now the majority of new graduates seek to return to China for better jobs and opportunities. Trump and Covid captured the attention of foreign expats in like us, by the way there are some 80,000 Americans in China among a million foreigners, to compare things that we haven’t thought of much before. China does not have racism, shootings, looting, border camps, gang lands, legal drugs and weed, strikes, mass evictions, live in tents, live under bridge, double digit inflation, 17 million? hungry children, million Covid deaths. Wuhan Covid started in January and ended in May. Then for 20 months China had zero cases almost entirely. For a few months we didn’t even need to wear masks. They have done it again to even the Omicron, Shanghai is already back to normal. Foreign mothers with kids have to worry about not getting their new visas and have to leave this sanctuary. Watching KZbin discussion on US politics from our position is a little like Martians watching what human do with gold bars, as per the famous joke of Warren Buffet’s.

[@justgivemethetruth]

And you still do not know how to spell Thom?

[@suzanneharris8339]

Prof. Wolff, thanks for reminding us that The 🌰 Onion is still a thing. .And still spot on

[@nolitetebastardescarborund9761]

Yeah, better than Hartmann.

[@zalamander8]

Good labor developments as long as Unions can remain free of corporate control.

[@espositomatthew]

"Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary" -Karl Marx

[@empofxeno]

Nobody wants to take your gum -Joe Biden

[@dennisyoung4631]

Orwell says much the same. *”A disarmed populace is far more susceptible to coercion,* hence one of the first things the current leadership did long ago was make the possession of *anything that could be used as a weapon* a matter of summary execution, this done in public by means of the most cruel and vicious torture they could manage so as to terrorize the populace into becoming slaves.” Original Fiction.

[@iansanford6544]

Note that, much like the Founding Fathers, 'arms and ammunition' were a different concept back then from today - Marx's 1850s world still had not experienced repeating rifles, machine guns, tanks, jets or rocket artillery. He was concerned with tyranny from the government, and wanted the populace to be able to match the governments' power of the day, massed line infantry with muskets or rifles. Marx was not expecting every household have its own Anti-tank gun, every community to own a tank, every town to own a fighter jet. In their day, an 'active shooter incident' took at minimum for a well trained shooter 20 seconds between shots, whereas these days it's 20 seconds between emptying your extra-capacity mags and loading the next banana into your AR. As such, "defending yourself against the guv'mint" is such a ridiculous and worthless position that it has no merit. The tools, bearing no other capacity than to harm, aught not be so overwhelmingly abundant that these killing events just keep happening apace thrice daily.

[@john.premose]

That’s rubbish. Don’t quote people who are dead. I’m more interested in the living family of all those dead kids. Marx is not a deity and he’s not infallible and he never lived in 21st century America

[@rettro6578]

@@iansanford6544 The Taliban and Viet Cong would like a word about this notion that the US fights guerilla warfare well. It would be chaos and implode the US economy. The ruling elite would think twice before unleashing the American military on US soil.

[@0ld.Richard]

Left or right, oligarchy is oligarchy. All struggle is class struggle. The real battle is between we the 99% vesus the 1%, no matter how they label themselves.

[@henrim9348]

The 1% have put in place a system the prints money automatically for them. There is fewer of them. They can pay some of the 99 percent to divide them.

[@boristabareag3598]

I will never forget Tom Hartman´s "The Big Picture" on RT America. As matter of fact, I will never forget RT America, the best (the only real) news service in USA for a decade.

[@tupacamaru9627]

RIP RT news

[@s0515033]

RT was literally a foreign state media dressed up for a western audience....The best domestic news is actually PBS.

[@boristabareag3598]

@@s0515033 RT America did offered a platform to real journalists as Chris Hedges or Tom Hartmann, and honorable americans as Jesse Ventura otherwise banned anywhere else. PBS is as shity as any other USA warmonger propaganda outlet.

[@reverenceforall]

Billionaires are abhorrent, ya hear that Elon?

[@rogersmith7396]

They are just misunderstood sweethearts.

[@djames693]

The Union: "Want this, want that" Corporation: "Can't do guys. Or we will bankrupt"

[@kevintewey1157]

I guess defending capitalism, subconsciously or not, includes being nicer to people than they deserve. why are we not asking our friends family and Associates where they get their information from ? if it is supported by billionaire propaganda or if it is independent and viewer supported?

[@kellykizer6718]

We live in a national and international oligarchy with controlled opposition and useful idiot's on all side's. Coke or Pepsi it's all Cola. Audi Vide Tace.

[@jeff__w]

3:49 “The Onion headline covering the shooting of the schoolchildren in Texas went like this: ‘“There is no way to prevent this,” says the only nation where this regularly happens.’” Prof. Wolff misses the forest for the trees a bit. That was the _21st time_ that headline appeared in _The Onion_ up to that time-the headline was first written back in 2014-and, on the day that piece was posted (25 May), _The Onion_ posted _all_ 21 pieces on its front page. Since that day, _The Onion_ has posted a story with that identical headline three more times (for shootings in Tulsa, Chattanooga, and Philadelphia).

[@justmenotyou3151]

Ready made headline. Bet they'll use that several more times.

[@vivalaleta]

@@justmenotyou3151 Because they're making a point that it still applies.

[@justmenotyou3151]

@@vivalaleta and there will be a whole lot more shootings. That's the unfortunate reality and that was my point.

[@vivalaleta]

@@justmenotyou3151 It's difficult to perceive the trees in a forest of moronic comments. Forgive me.

[@stephenyang2844]

Mr. Hartman's bookshelves look wellstocked; I like to believe they demonstrate amount and quality of knowledge in Mr. Hartman.

[@antonijobakija6553]

Here we go again - Russia's collusion. 🤣🤣🤣

[@gloriouse4458]

YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS 💗

[@pattirockgarden4423]

Love Pro Wolff!

[@jacobjorgenson9285]

Man, a civil war with 350 MILLION firearms and 15 BILLION bullets in private hands….., hope the internet stays open so we can get some EPIC footage !!!!!

[@davidluckens3479]

I live about 20 miles from EKU,which is one of the major employers in the area-folks who live in the chronically poverty stricken eastern and southeastern areas of Ky.People commute long distances to EKU,as there are few private sector gigs in the area.These employees are proud of their work ethic,and grateful for the opportunity to support their families,The administration's "raise" is an insult to these hardworking people.Its an expression of the banal economic cruelty prof Wolff discussed with RJ Escow on the latter's show,Its small wonder the EKU employees are looking at the union option.

[@singingway]

I highly recommend David Pepper's book Laboratories of Autocracy, which shows how the anti-democracy forces are concentrating their long game on our Statehouses, winning legislation and taking over the levers of power, such as courts and gerrymandered districts.

[@Oldienow]

Describing California.

[@zehrajafri9252]

Great job as alway's. Keep the truth alive for humanity and the planet and to wake up the masses. ❤ ❤ 💛 💛 💚 💚

[@celestejones6315]

Oh, hey!! I was flooded with memories of hundreds of us working really hard to unionize on my campus in Eastern KY back in 2013 when you mentioned just the fact that campuses are trying to, but then I got excited when you outright gave a shout-out to those of us in KY too, so thank you. But now I'm especially excited with that happening at EKU, because I didn't know that was happening for one, but my brother who's ten years younger than me plans to attend as a freshman there this fall. I really hope they succeed better than we could...

[@celestejones6315]

Also, you hit the nail on the head in describing KY's political and economical landscape and history, Mr. Wolff. Thank you for talking about it in this episode.

[@ewalker1057]

Lowering the cost doesn't mean lower prices. One of the costs of goods sold is labor. Thus its cost (wages) also go lower. Lower cost means higher profits.

[@guytouquet]

is there a billionaire who isn't using his billions to get more money? Is it moral to want more of something when you already have enough?

[@MutualistSoc]

Only a sociopathic psychopath would want to go from being a Millionaire to becoming a Billionaire. There is a decent gap between the two. And you have to seriously go deep in with the exploitation of workers and consumers to get to Billionaire status.

[@oldsesalt8496]

The Onion has a way of cutting to the chase. It is the best fake/real/funny news around. My favorite Onion headline was on January 20th, 2001. "America's Long Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Comes to an End." (Bush was inaugurated.) 2nd favorite was after 9/11. "Twin Towers Fall. America Briefly Feels Affection for New York."

[@chazbennett8676]

Honestly, the only person thats let me down more than Thom Hartman is Bernie Sanders. Both refuse to blame the Dems.

[@rusco2001ify]

always like your updates and interviews

[@philosophicsblog]

Love the Tom Hartmann. Thanks, professor.

[@frankcolumbus3330]

What progressive movement there is none.

[@winglo1697]

With guns and other weapons available freely, wars are what the gun manufacturers desires. Bottom line? The mighty dollars!

[@cherylcardran1776]

People of great wealth and power refuse to accept the fact that with wealth and power come responsibility to use them for the common good.

[@petersepall2590]

Swimming in the shallow end with "keep voting Democrat" Thom Hartman.

[@ZealothPL]

What else are you going to do? It's actually easier to infiltrate an existing party than its to make a viable 3rd party...

[@alfmeister13]

I used to like Hartman years ago but when he said on his show 'I think Hillary Clinton would be a very good President' he lost me for good.

[@petersepall2590]

@@ZealothPL Except the infiltration isn't happening because everybody who gets elected to that gets co-opted by the wealthy donors of the party. A third party is probably the only solution and the more people realize that the more that it will become possible.

[@petersepall2590]

@@alfmeister13 Yes me too. He's either dangerously naive or more concerned with his social connections and income than with being honest about the political situation, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

[@s0515033]

@@alfmeister13 Had she been president we wouldn't have a supreme court we got now. So, she could have been shit and still been better than what we got. All the Hillary hate lead to abortion getting canned, migrant worker rights being revoked, and a slew of other insanely conservative decisions that will ruin your life for decades to come. Baghdad bob and crazy Amy the Handmaid's Tale would not be on the bench. We are objectively worse off because Hillary lost. And yes, Hillary is not good. But I will always take less good vs actual evil.

[@edmundprice5276]

Here is an idea, how about certain monopolies being state owned

[@SolidAir54321]

Agree. I think any of the basic things that people need to live, such as health insurance, utilities, etc. should be run by the government. All non-essentials can be private companies.

[@davepetrovich9851]

"state owned monopolies" We would first have to agree upon the definition of "State"

[@edmundprice5276]

@@davepetrovich9851 As in the international version of the word, not just a subdivision of the american government

[@akeleven]

In Russia abortion is legal ( insurance pays) but they also have two years family paid leave, child care and free health care. Our greatest enemy has better health care coverage than we do.

[@biometronome7010]

The concentration of capital is what gives capitalists power to continue the trickle-up trend and capture various elements of the state. This is like a giant knot that needs to be undone. If we want to reduce capitalism and democratize our industries, we first have to deal with monopolies which are the main rot; making all sorts scandals much easier and concentrating capital on turbo. I think breaking monopolies and reducing consolidation practices are the important step to reducing wealth concentration. Or else I'm not sure exactly what it means to overcome capitalism in the US.

[@ZealothPL]

Literally getting rid of a system in which owning capital gives you control over others lives. That's what "overcoming capitalism" means. Anything else is subject to rollbacks that the non-owners are almost incapable of stopping

[@biometronome7010]

@@ZealothPL and how do you propose we do that?

[@coolmodelguy6304]

@@biometronome7010 - Easy. Place controls on personal wealth accumulation. Solves so may problems with one simple action.

[@biometronome7010]

@@coolmodelguy6304 But who decides what to do with the leftover money? How do we decide who the fed finances?

[@coolmodelguy6304]

@@biometronome7010 - Realistically for what I suggest to happen, voters need greater awareness of wealth and its power. Aggregated wealth is far more powerful than our economy and our politics, it has been "rigged" that way purposefully for centuries, so that awareness is dampened as a self protection measure. For the moment, let us pretend that the voters did elect politicians who could get the job done by placing controls on personal wealth accumulation. The real question then becomes, how much wealth is too much? My answer is that personal wealth becomes a threat to society when that wealth is large enough to tip political scales of any size, local to national. If such a political transformation was achieved, the resulting democratic processes would allocate where the "leftover money" should be applied. "The rise to power of great wealth" It is the power of great wealth that utilizes "Divide and Conquer" in order to protect itself. Is it not past time to focus on our actual nemesis, the great wealth? That overwhelming anxiety the society suffers from is caused by "great wealth", which is, for all intents and purposes, the un-elected government that is really in control of our lives.

[@sonopro1]

Someone thought out loud: Either I pay some people to do nothing, they possibly become lazy and therefore without real ambition, inactive. But, if we deprive them of the bare minimum, they necessarily become in search of that minimum, possibly envious and therefore possibly active in a very bad way. In fact, it is these that make our environment potentially so violent. So let's think about it... By sharing the wealth of a country, we have some lazy, subsidized and mostly harmless people. Or, on the contrary, we have envious people, possibly more and more violent, especially those who do not have the minimum to survive. What kind of societal environment do you want for you and your descendants. The predators of power will do the opposite of common sense! It is up to us to protect ourselves and our community !

[@Sandra-ps1lw]

Dear Prof Wolf. Hope this msg finds you feeling vibrant. Thank you for your content and passionate messages ❣️

[@ronaldreagan-ik6hz]

how do you listen to a hypocrite like wolff? he hates america, hates capitalism. meanwhile he chooses to live here, and he chooses to use capitalism to gain personal wealth. coward

[@willeisinga2089]

USA has Energy monopolies. High Prices low quality. Grid Monopoly, Utility Monopoly, LNG Monopoly, and only 2 political parties have Political Monopoly. When there is competition sanctions will protect USA Monopoly and Politics.

[@alanssshh]

well said

[@bertanelson8062]

Glad to hear of worker's unions on college campuses. Please see sessions of The People's Summit for Democracy recently held in Los Angeles in partial answer to failed Summit of Americas by USA gov't. Break Through News has videoed the sessions.

[@consciouseffortmedia]

Prof Wolff I just want you to know that your message is reaching and inspiring the right people. Thank you for this priceless information and thank you for your consistent efforts.

[@lynnwood7205]

For overall reference. In 1964 the Federal Minimum Wage was $1 an hour. The $1 Federal Reserve Note was then backed by 1/35 of a fine troy oz of gold. (American citizens could not redeem dollars for gold but foreign nations could) That amount of gold is now priced at about $52. Or: The value the $1 Federal Reserve Note holds today is less than 2¢ of the value that Note held in 1964.

[@LONEWOLF..314-S-T-L]

GREAT TALKING POINTS PROFESSOR WOLFF AS USUAL SIR 💯👍🏾

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

Throughout the annuls of history there has never, ever, been a society on any scale where the concentration of wealth and rewards from productivity were concentrated in the hands of so few, while the majority of citizens faced conditions of stress, anxiety, uncertainty, and poverty, that did not end in widespread violence and upheaval. Never. Not once. Look it up. The closest argument anyone could make is post US Great Depression. In that the violence was almost entirely overseas. But an argument can also be made that change in the US came from that, a unity from it, economic shifts and growth from it, and programs pushed by FDR: Much more progressive taxes, WPA, etc. There is no one close to FDR in politics today. No one on the horizon. And if you think there is, I'm here to remind you the plutocratic system - the cause of the paragraph above - is rigged against that person. Because of the current political climate. Plutocrats, oligarchs, etc. The revolving door between politicians in power and those that benefit from that power (Rex Tillerson is an easy example, but both parties are guilty), and lobbyists, coupled with a constant barrage of propaganda to blame someone, anyone other than the actual source of the slow collapse of our economic system and society (plutocratic concentration of wealth through legal favoritism, corruption, bribery), be the group the blame the South, Antifa, Mexicans, immigrants, anarchists, etc. etc. As a result, I firmly believe we are on the cusp of such a civil war. The question though isn't who will fight against whom. It won't be the north/urban versus the south/rural. It will come by death of a thousand cuts, and we're starting to see it. The Buffalo and Texas shootings. Threats against Supreme Court justices. Planned attempts at kidnapping or killing politicians. Inner-city gangs and thugs now targeting wealthy people doing things like shopping, going to dinner. This is the tip of the iceberg, and I see zero indication this trend will reverse or change. In fact, every indication, especially as more and more and more people are pushed to the limits of poverty, it will get worse. Far worse. 1 in 9 people in poverty. Nearly 90% of them are actually working. 1 in 10 people facing hunger issues every single day. 1 in 20 children facing hunger every day. 1 in 5 suffer from mental health issues. 1 in 25 contemplate suicide. 1 in 6 people on Medicaid (not Medicare for the elderly. Medicaid, for the poor). Just over 60% fully employed. That's it. These numbers are actually getting worse, not better. There's no statistical trend, no indication they will get better. None. You may not see poverty, stress, anxiety in your neighborhood, but this is the "neighborhood" that's fastest growing across America. The question then becomes not "if" but "when" they are so desperate they finally snap and act out. Philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It seems we are not just forgetting it, but willfully refusing to study, or even believe it. History indicates nearly everything I wrote is true. If anyone sees otherwise, thinks I'm wrong. I'm all ears.

[@paulasmith4933]

Look at how the rich were taxed, to get us back on our feet after the depression and ww2.

[@coolmodelguy6304]

Spot on. Your "cusp of civil war" paragraph was well mapped out. The smash and grab robberies are happening more often and are well organized. When I grabbed the numbers for GDP and Total Financial Assets, then totaled the numbers, it shows why this is happening. Fact is, wealth is a huge mass compared to the economy. Wealth is larger and grows faster, without apparent support from the productive economy. As wealth grows it becomes a black hole, sucking in all wealth that is touched by a web of corporations and financial institutions. For anyone interested in the math: in 1947 Total Financial Assets was 2.88 times the size of GDP for that year. Financial assets have on average grown faster than GDP by 0.6% annually between 1947 and 2021. Financial assets are connected to stocks, which are connected to corporations, which in turn supply most of what we need to live. The need to "turn a greater profit" year over year is what brings us inflation. The only reason we did not have overt inflation for a decade was that corporations had access to almost free money, so they could boost their stock price with stock buybacks on borrowed money. That door is closed now, so corporations have turned to their customers for the "profits" that will float their stock prices. Now, Total Financial Assets are 4.95 times the size of our GDP. Last year the gains alone for financial assets was more than 66% of our GDP. There are limits. The facts you describe in your "cusp of civil war" paragraph show that entire sections of our society have been pushed beyond their limits. Sad fact is that most people do not know the real source of their woes. "The rise to power of great wealth" It is the power of great wealth that utilizes "Divide and Conquer" in order to protect itself. Is it not past time to focus on our actual nemesis, the great wealth? That overwhelming anxiety people are feeling is caused by "great wealth", which is, for all intents and purposes, the un-elected government that is really in control of our lives.

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

@@paulasmith4933 Only partly true. While on the surface one can see tax rates at the highest level at 85% or higher, the net effective (or net) rate was never that high on the ultra rich. There were fairly easy ways to get out of paying that, and the highest earners only paid a little more than they did during the Obama years. However, net corporate taxes were significantly higher, covering a much higher % of the tax revenue than today. Let's also not forget that minimum wage, and earning wages, were significantly higher. Unions and benefits from them were higher. Finally, I believe Milton Friedman's doctrine, that first appeared in the NY Times: The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits, slowly, but very dramatically changed economic teaching. I believe Professor Wolff would completely agree. Before that time there was more long-term planning, more social responsibility, patriotic in a sense, by nearly every company. After that doctrine took hold, that all went out the window and was replaced by pure profit, at all cost. Everything, every focus of nearly every company, was for shareholder return. You hear this even to this day, as it's been a primary focus of nearly every MBA program, let alone economics course, over the last 40 years. Even Larry Summers, who Wolff mentions at the start, a Democrat, despised Friedman in his youth, but once he moved into the 1% became just another neoliberal ghoul. Once quipping almost casually that, "we are now all Friedmanites."

[@michael511128]

I moved China from California since 1997. Business has been good and so the prolonged stay. 25 years later all thing reversed. 1997 Beijing was a city of 12 million, 8 million locals and 4 million inbound labour, 1.2 million bicycles, combination of Motorola brick phones, Nokia sandwich phones and pagers. Salary for an senior engineer was 200 dollars a month. Only a rare breed of people owned cars. 25 years later, China split the Forbes billionaire list with the US almost down the middle, topped the US in Fortune 500 companies. Every third Mercedes made in Germany comes to China. For a decade their students occupy as the largest foreign group in every Ivy League and top university in the world. Silicon Valley employs 100,000 Chinese graduates. They used to like it in California like every one else but now the majority of new graduates seek to return to China for better jobs and opportunities. Trump and Covid captured the attention of foreign expats in like us, by the way there are some 80,000 Americans in China among a million foreigners, to compare things that we haven’t thought of much before. China does not have racism, shootings, looting, border camps, gang lands, legal drugs and weed, strikes, mass evictions, live in tents, live under bridge, double digit inflation, 17 million? hungry children, million Covid deaths. Wuhan Covid started in January and ended in May. Then for 20 months China had zero cases almost entirely. For a few months we didn’t even need to wear masks. They have done it again to even the Omicron, Shanghai is already back to normal. Foreign mothers with kids have to worry about not getting their new visas and have to leave this sanctuary. Watching KZbin discussion on US politics from our position is a little like Martians watching what human do with gold bars, as per the famous joke of Warren Buffet’s.

[@proy7248]

OMG… I’m Chinese. Born and raised in Beijing. Authentic Chinese. My American friends, we really don’t care what you do in your country. We don’t give a shit if you’re a “democracy” or not. You do you. Stop mentioning us in every argument you make. Not everything is about you. This guy is considered “progressive” in your country?

[@donnathedead7554]

Not sure which one you're asking about. Wolf is progressive but, like most on the internet, falls into the trap of thinking he has to defend every so-called progressive thing there is. He's also pretty pro-Chinese government based on the fact that they call themselves communist even though he knows they aren't really. Hartman is.... just a buzzword junky, like a lefty version of Trump.

[@proy7248]

@@donnathedead7554 respect dr. Wolf a great deal. Not because he’s “pro China”. He doesn’t hold typical western bias and respects facts. It’s the other guy.

[@orionallen]

Great job but it did not leave me feeling hopeful for the future. We have many dark days ahead.

[@rogersmith7396]

People will not like authoritatianism as much as is thought. Pot smokers, drunks, any one with a contrary opinion, and even gun owners will feel the boot of government on their necks. Authoritatians never let people own guns. Its a direct threat to their power. Throw in right wing Christian morality and you will have a popular uprising.

[@Joe00Cool187]

I'd consider it an honor to intern for either of these men!

[@etHero]

Without realizing it, my mouse was over another video of his on he side bar. So it started silently playing out. And as Richard tilted his head to the left, so did mini Richard. and as big Richard moved his head down, again, so did mini Richard. He is like an NPC where his talking animation is just looped

[@carycunningham9510]

We may have had monopolies all along, but those monopolies have not had the record profits they do now. I agree the system is the problem, but in a country where legalized bribery and a deadly healthcare racket garner nary a peep, I don't think it's wrong to point out the inaction and corruption in the current system either. Oh, and btw, there may be a wee bit of a barrier to entry to becoming a competitive transnational energy conglomerate, especially in the short-run. Especially when the government is for sale.

[@jgalt308]

By what measure are you determining these record profits?

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

@@jgalt308 the literaly record profits companies that are price gouging are reporting why won't you folks learn the stuff you pretend to have an opinion on?

[@carycunningham9510]

@@jgalt308 By what they report. Bloomberg did an article on it. And there are others. Not going to argue it with you, if you don't agree, fine, we just disagree.

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

@@carycunningham9510 it's not fine to concede when he's just spamming lies this is why we are losing

[@carycunningham9510]

@@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis Not conceding, I just don't have to convince him, we can agree to disagree. I have done more than my share of dancing for 14+ posts with a spammer. No one pays attention to that anyway.

[@PonyTrotsky]

Actually, I'm kind of surprised Wolff would interview Hartmann, who always feels a day late and a dollar short on pretty much everything. Do we really need more blather about the Republicans being "fascist" and Donald Trump being the end of the world? This isn't "the Left." It's just more middlebrow pablum.

[@mrmeow2297]

"Do we really need more blather about the Republicans being "fascist" and Donald Trump being the end of the world? This isn't "the Left." It's just more middlebrow pablum." => Yes. Yes we do. Republicans are morons at the end of the day.

[@alan2102X]

Shill for the DP.

[@TheAmericanAmerican]

Curious that you would put fascist in quotes when referring to the current GOP 🤔 But then again, you are subbed to Dimmy Dore so guess we can just skip the all the BS and assume that you don't think for yourself and just regurgitate what some jack-off "comedian" screams into his microphone 🤣 Seriously though, as a former Jimmy fan from 2015, forget about that grifting POS and move on to smarter content creators. I called his grift to the right-wing dipshits 6 years ago and he's done nothing but proved me right.

[@lsowner10]

Sounds more like you are a trumplican here to troll!

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

you sound incredibly uninformed and reactionary

[@Jamal-Ahmed786]

In monopoly price increases can be capped by government

[@jsmandrake]

most excellent in content & tempo perfect for Thanksgiving conversation among family & friends

[@bonepyre]

RW just let a guest blame Russia and China for the US's problems unchallenged, two countries that actually have control of their business sector. Disappointing.

[@mrmeow2297]

No. Disappointing is your lack of attention. Have you even watched the video?

[@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

Russia soent a decades and helped turmp get elected specifically to cause chaos and folks like you want to ignore it to suit your ridicuoous perspectivs

[@emanuelneagu14]

Kinda true, although not confronting literally every single one of the stupid ideas that you hear can be a strategy to make people listen to you more to stuff easier to prove or more important to be understood. In this case, RW does unfortunately have some uninformed takes on those two countries.

[@tinatang1]

Can you discuss the part played by the Military Industrial Complex of the US? Can the US economy survive if the MIL is trimmed down?

[@georgefurman4371]

The truth already was exposed by many . The facts already proved it. The world's market capitalist economy depends on the gargantuan military budget periodic boost of funds to be injected into the economy of war. 60% of all the tax payers available are for that purpose. And more when needed. Capitalism collapses without war.

[@rogersmith7396]

Hell yes. Bid out contracts world wide and cut those profits down to size. It may be necessary to intentionally bankrupt part of it to save us.

[@Spock_Rogers]

Beat the guns into plowshares.

[@AllenOoflynn]

Richard Wolff said the increased unionisation in the US in inspiring in the US , it is also inspiring to me here in the UK , I imagine it's inspiring through out the world 🤗

[@Naim6300]

I've been saying this over 10 years ago it will be a civil Warrior

[@Guitarpima]

At seven minutes when you give the ratio of the Kentucky state legislature, it would be nice to know what the voting records were. Meaning, I bet there were far more democratic votes than Republican.

[@paulasmith4933]

Yes I want to know that too. Plus rate other states. Kansas!

[@brandonfoster8163]

Sometimes it’s easier to get a gun then full time job!

[@rogersmith7396]

Or service at McDonalds.

[@lawrenceralph7481]

We been through this many times before 1770s, 1840s, 1890s, 1910s, 1930s, 1970s. All readjustments.

[@westernciviccapital3075]

Yellow Vest Proverb: Anyone punching down on regular folks while billionaires still walk the Earth needs to be slapped. 😐

[@ashtangaxashtangapranayama8526]

Bruh u turnt 😂😂