Richard Wolff Answers: Is a Recession Incoming?

[@rogerhull5632]

Professor Wolff’s insight, analysis, reason and clarity are extraordinary. Thanks

[@peterstafford4426]

He is a brilliant con man.

[@SomeCajunDude]

@@peterstafford4426 Only a fool could think a public intellectual sharing his expert experience and knowledge on KZbin was a "con."

[@peterstafford4426]

@@SomeCajunDude What experience has he had? What knowledge does he have? He is totally full of crap. He markets books with his youtube BS. We might go into a recession. We also might not. Predicting a coin flip is not 'brilliant'. Its luck.

[@tuckerbugeater]

@@SomeCajunDude He's spreading populist fear because his friends have already laid out the plan for us.

[@StoicTrader-]

@@peterstafford4426 He literally gave 2 examples of what could be done to combat inflation without raising interest rates lmao. Not very smart huh kiddo?

[@Ianpact]

Thank you, Prof. Wolff and Jen.

[@hughquigley5337]

Very informative. Thanks Dr. Wolff!

[@melaniedennis9540]

In my opinion we are already in a recession & headed toward a depression

[@qudizzle1]

By what metrics?

[@ShinobiXRevived]

@@qudizzle1 The media and the government only admits that a "recession" has started when the rich start to lose money in stocks and businesses. When GDP stagnates or decreases. Workers have been losing money for a very long time now. Nobody cares when working people lose money, that's never declared as a problem. By metrics of inflation and wages have been stagnant for over 50 years.

[@richardscathouse]

Not that gravity cares a whit about your opinion. #Nature

[@foodchewer]

What is the definition of a depression?

[@thalesnemo2841]

@@foodchewer A recession is when your neighbor is laid off ! A depression is when you are laid off!

[@thezfunk]

I have some ration tokens and stamps that I have collected from WWII. My Grandfather had a local grocery store and dealt with the rationing during WWII. It did an excellent job at allowing everyone to get something without getting taken advantage of. There was some black market stuff going on but it was very hard. He couldn't buy staples for the store without turning in the ration stamps/tokens that he got from customers. There was accountability all the way up. We could take the same concept and make it electronic if it comes to that.

[@antimattv]

Oh no! Are you one of those disgusting socialists! Dear me! It the Boogeyman! I hate how true that joke is. It just goes to show how deeply ingrained the cold war era propaganda has been. I apologize but it seemed poignant. I fully agree with your comment by the way.

[@jmitterii2]

This type of planning should have been made. The pure greed blinded them into the stupidity of not doing this. And the farcical notion that maximum capacity was what it stated in various surveys... well that should now be abundantly clear their max capacity and therefore capacity utilization is completely wrong. Imperialism, colonialism, globalism whatever buzz your nether region token word you want to call it, was no free lunch. Such exploiting of peoples forcing them in to sweat shops and other low wage servitude under various tyrannical regimes or just ineffectual or sanctioned to death via various factions of oligarchs hellbent on control of that particular nation's government via economic sabotage and turning supply chains into costly resource hogging (transportation costs), and fragile pretzel making under the idiocy that the comparative advantage was authentic. When it was mostly inauthentic comparative advantage: in that it was via subsidies on inputs, operation facilities, spill over costs, etc. by the tyrannical or destitute nation allowing the exploiter to sell at a loss, artificial lower wages with tyrannized and/or destitute labor. The free lunch of turning transportation costs and pretending they didn't exist due to the "savings" in those subsidies was a farce. And the fragility was very real... resentment of various nations against other nations, subjected labor to harsh wages and treatment by employer and/or government, oligarch factions, to that of major potential and then effect disruptions of critical goods and services. M. Friedman liked to say there is no free lunch, and how tragic unintended consequences of any planning in economies. He didn't take in account that there is absolutely no free lunch in any market, and the before mentioned imperialism/colonialism/globalism whatever setup you want to call it, it's no new, and it always leads to resentment and fragility in supply and demand side when there is lack of planning or any planning at all. Reasons that you have the unintended consequence of various nations that lack sewer treatment plants in urban or especially rural areas. Without calling out any of these nations out, essentially all those nations that lack such fundamental basic need like a functioning sewer system, is primarily due to the fact they have absolutely no planning to ensure development requires such services and how to go about building and funding such natural monopolistic services that have no baring whatsoever on price mechanism or competitive market principles (being a natural monopoly). No planning, they get, instead of modern or most modern sewage system, a hole in the ground to dump their fecal matter. The consequences are real of no planning. No most modern sewage or septic system means worse standard of living, increase illnesses due to e coli and other problems when human waste isn't dealt with correctly, modern hygiene becomes near impossible to assist in health and more people sick and less productive and less happy lives. Planning in an economy is always important. Leaving it up to the stupidity of a market is like taking an otherwise helpful tool, say a hammer, very efficient at hammering nails home into a medium or flipping the hammer head around and ripping nails out, but it cannot build on its home furniture or house or an electronic device or anything else. Leaving it up to the market to do all your planning is like leaving it up to the hammer to build a house... it cannot plan for you how to build that house... swinging that damn thing around might even hit someone or something destroying or otherwise harming the thing it smashed. It's sheer stupidity. A dogma that's so dimwitted and ridiculous that it boggles them mind that the dumbest being on earth can't see right through the sheer stupidity of that, let markets figure it all out, thesis. Markets need guidance, they need rules, they need a plan, and sometimes you forgo an auction market or market maker and market taker market out altogether. Those markets, or any market cannot plan. That's not their function. A market's function is simply to exchange something you don't need or need less of, for something you need or need more of. That's it. They're not some panacea or predictor of anything. They're susceptible to fear of missing out, panic, manipulation, and pure unadulterated stupidity. And pretending that the harm they cause when they implode and cause misery a self correcting magical thing, is like allowing a toddler to stick their finger in a blender with it turning on, once their finger is chopped off, and forever mangled or gone, that experience is self correcting, they'll learn never to stick their finger in a blender again. Sure. But one could have taught the toddler before hand and perhaps their fingers and hands would never have gotten destroyed or mangled. Perhaps placing the blender somewhere the toddler could not reach or get into would have saved the Toddler the misery of losing their fingers and/or hand or hands. Self correcting my ass. This is double talk. Relabeling unintended consequences into a bogus glass half full stupidity to slap lipstick on a pig of their dogma when markets on their own with minimal rules if any, or lack or any planning wrought. And the irony is rich. As they often despair in their wild imaginings of various possible results form unintended consequences from any market rule making or planning... oh the tragedies that could happen if you make this rule or put a plan together for this and that, oh the horrors. But when the market without much or any planning or rules falls apart and causes misery for all, it's just part of the glorious process of markets that will eventually "self correct". It's not the results of that dirty scary unforeseen unintended consequence of not making enough or any rules or enough or any plans. Oh no, that was the market teaching the toddler not to stick his little hand in the blender. Will the little guy do that again? Of course not, he's learned his little lesson with his mutilated or missing little hand as a reminder. How wonderful.

[@antimattv]

@@jmitterii2 We don't think about the inhuman "structural adjustment" policies inflicted on subjectified countries often in the imperial core. But the lack of a sewage plant is devastating. "Privatize". Some things can't be. It's a devastating ideology.

[@richardprice5978]

the soviet had that ration book longer that the usa 🇺🇸 did but they developed a problem with corruption ( or that was 🇺🇸 propaganda 🤔🤷‍♂️? ) and the SS-🇺🇸 system has had similar accusations of miss use

[@mumtazzafar1576]

Great analysis by a great man. Salute to you sir from the bottom of my heart for educating the masses.

[@yadoo8164]

@Ronald Reagan He provided solid examples on how to not ruin our economy and you still think hes a fool? You’re mentally deficient.

[@alexross5714]

This is classic Wolff at 10:50 - "[When supply is curtailed, the rich will start bidding up the price], and it will solve the problem the way markets always do: Whatever is scarce in a market ends up in the hands of the richest people. It doesn't square with any morality I'm familiar with, but we celebrate the market in this country; it is, in fact, the closest we have to a genuine, as opposed to pretend, religion."

[@rutessian]

He seems to forget that when something is bid up in price, people wanting to take advantage of those high prices show up, increasing that product or service's availability and driving its price down. Of course that would require the government to not get involved, which, rarely if ever, happens anymore.

[@e.d.r1546]

@@rutessian You forget that the world is not minecraft. To build an oil refinery for example (to drive the price of oil down) you need years and years, at the point the market doesn't even work for that, because when the refineries are built, the price already fell. Prices move infinitely faster than production. Meanwhile, people have to bear all the results of that delay, and only HOPE the market corrects itself by improving production (which a lot of times doesn't happen, because externals factors also play a part on that) All that being incredibly naive, not admitting that oil production, for example, is a monopoly that aims to control the price by curtailing competition or creating scarcity artificially.

[@rutessian]

@@e.d.r1546 I didn't forget, but I also remembered that we are not in a free market and people can't anticipate and pick up the production slack whenever they think it's appropriate. Under the previous administration the US became energy independent and was an oil exporter. This new administration declared that fossil fuels are a thing of the past and will be phased out signaling to oil producers that they shouldn't make investments in new infrastructure. In its first week it shut down the keystone pipeline and withdrew drilling licenses.

[@zapatasghost]

@@rutessian Yeah! Slavery would have just been rendered irrelevant in a modern market economy - right? No need for silly government interference. Oh, and land was never stolen from the Indigenous and given to white men for free...by the government - that was all natural and market. Right? Or whole neighborhoods were never redlined - by the government - to benefit white people and at the expense of people of color. Right? That was all just natural market forces at work - right? So now we can just hope that the market somehow will magically fix it all? By the way - can you explain when in history there was EVER a "free market?" Anywhere, much less in the U.S.?

[@rutessian]

@@zapatasghost Those things you mentioned are more nuanced than you make them out to be. But you are right: a pure free market probably never existed anywhere. But there were places close to one, the US among them.

[@aquddus1907]

When something this complicated is explained by Mr Wolf in such simple language it amazes me why this type of clarity does not exist in the media...but that is probably how it is meant to be.

[@davidlafleche1142]

Socialism always ruins the economy.

[@Hollywood041]

Yes. You are correct, it is by design. The concept is described as fairness. As a broadcaster of news you have to be fair to others' political views. As a commentor you can take one side or another, and as a guest you can present your argument for an idea. That is why good ideas about reform being expressed by a guest are almost immediately cut off by the question "but, what about...?"

[@davidlafleche1142]

@@Hollywood041 News manufacturers are totally biased and unfair. They spin "good" if THEIR guy is President; but the exact same situation they spin "bad" if the OTHER party is President.

[@bloodybonescomic]

Back in the day we had Presidents with courage and character. Even the reviled Nixon was better by far than Biden, Obama, Bush or Trump. I see increasing deterioriation. It's not a recession I'm seeing it's collapsr.

[@beksinski]

Agreed. It's like Rome. They get successively worse. And the public gets worse with them... which is definitely connected. Instead of seeing citizenship as an exercise in cooperation and service its all about getting revenge. I think it largely began with Reagan... he had manifestly disastrous policies designed for short term gain that actually crashed our economy. And his speeches were utterly vapid, populist cliche peppered with easily discernible lies like 'there is no russian word for freedom' and other such pandering nonsense. Trump could stand there and insult the wife of his debate opponent, in repeated debates and the crowd would laugh and cheer. And worse... the person whose wife was attacked would reliably fall in line and support Trump anyway. That, for me, was the nail in the coffin. Not simply for Trump as a person but for the whole project of civility and respect in a political arena. It was thrown in the trash at that moment.

[@rabokarabekian409]

Recall Tricky Dick presiding over wage and price controls, and the chaotic retreat from Nam? Oh indeed, a single man dominates everything when it's a great man (sic), just as all out fictional stories tell us. They are never the front for hordes of people in the background (sic). Computerization of international investing has made no difference since Nixon either. Oh, and international investing has no effect on the might and power of the US standing independently from the rest of Earth? How do you propose the US CIC gets the rest of the planet to do it all his way?

[@richardscathouse]

I still believe Nixon was the last honest President. #Framed

[@JEEDUHCHRI]

@@richardscathouse keep lying to yourself.

[@robertrstevens]

OH, that is harsh. But True!

[@owretchedman]

Predicting recessions in a capitalist system is like predicting snow in Anartica.

[@zainmudassir2964]

Antarctica and it's melting just like the bloated US economy

[@derekhunter7632]

it's in meltdown?

[@p.chuckmoralesesquire3965]

basically perpetually living in one now

[@tuckerbugeater]

How do you predict starvation in a communist system?

[@owretchedman]

@@tuckerbugeater It's debatable that any communist systems remain. Maybe Cuba. No one is starving in Norway or Sweden tho.

[@patricialongo5870]

Nixon was just a tad to the left of Elizabeth Warren when he talked of inflation eating up wage increases and putting an end to windfall profits with price controls.

[@patricialongo5870]

@@ItsOgre the Dems didn't and do not want to criticize Nixon for his war crimes, the Cambodian Bombings, aka the Secret Bombings.

[@bbrahbboul2748]

I would take Nixon over any Democrat right now. He was far to the left then today's Democrats.

[@zissou6928]

Imagine the MAGA meltdown if Biden did that today

[@juliamihasastrology4427]

Yeah and when he did that it caused serious economic issues. Price fixing is stupid.

[@bbrahbboul2748]

@@juliamihasastrology4427 correlation doesn't mean causation. That model was also implemented for decades in certain economies allowing much comfortable standards of living Americans can only dream of . Ask any American in DC bubble about universal health care and they will tell you how terrible it is . While 60 thousands of Americans die each year for lack of health care . So ofcourse they will tell you that caping prices is a terrible idea. Because it cuts into thier profits.

[@fernandoesteban2345]

I agree, Private corporate profit is the real religion of America.

[@jamestitus472]

Always has been. Read Enchantments of Mammon

[@apophisxo4480]

As it should be....

[@lamodernista]

The United Corporations of America...

[@apophisxo4480]

@@lamodernista The private businesses that employ all of us didn't put un into the $30 trillion worth of debt, they didn't invade the Ukraine or allow China into the WTO....WE did all of that! Our shortsighted representatives on either side of the isle. So worried about looking good for the next election cycle, too busy spending money and cutting taxes with out paying for the shortfalls, that they bankrupted our future. It's the fault of the small businesses, it's the greedy and shortsighted politicians! What a disgrace!!!

[@Hollywood041]

"Greed is good." (I do not subscribe to that belief)

[@Manormouse-04]

A good episode.

[@scottiejohnson2639]

Why can’t we do what south Ireland 🇮🇪 has done with their healthcare system? Why can’t we have a genuine care of our environment as Norway 🇳🇴 and south Ireland has?

[@umalaurenbowman7276]

Because to do that, one thing is needed: political will on the part of the leaders. And we don't have that. It is well known too that in the US, profit trumps any other considerations

[@smilesfordays8946]

My household is already in a recession. There is no reserve cash or investments. There is a food shortage with no food on the kitchen shelves. There is a 80 percent unemployment rate. The hunger pangs and lack of basic supplies has turned I to social unrest with daily shouting matches between me, my wife and uncle Louie.

[@1Surge]

You are beyond recession and civil unrest you are entering collapse system and entering civil war. Heads will roll.

[@richardscathouse]

I've been on a knife-edge for the last twenty years, since my injury at work . I'm used to it.

[@eddiekulp1241]

So what , make more money

[@johnmitchell8925]

Richard Wolff can explain things even I can understand , that's why I enjoy listening to him

[@coffeealmost8303]

I don't :(

[@rutessian]

@@coffeealmost8303 Try Thomas Sowell, then.

[@markjohnson5276]

I bought my MX 5 for cash. 34 K. In America your automatically investigated if you spend more than 10 K in cash on something. That's the government opinion of their citizenry. You have to be a crook to have money. The dealers said to me. The NSA requires me to ask you if your a drug dealer or terrorist. I said to him. Why don't you ask me if I'm a politician because that was the third category that came to my mind. True story.

[@willdehne1]

Interesting. I assume you had $34 K laying around to pay for the MX 5? I imagine that raised questions. Drug money or ??????. I bought a Lexus for cash but I never seen the cash. It was transferred from my managed investments to the dealer. No questions came up. I agree that we need some control where money comes from. Legit or otherwise.

[@cbbcbb6803]

Thank you. Very good explanation.

[@MILGEO]

I was only a teenager when that so called surprise wage/price freeze occurred.I remember well going to McDonald's as we often did when I noticed that the prices were at least 30% higher than always. I asked the stall why that was and they told me that they didn't know! That night Nixon announced the surprise wage/price freeze so obviously the news of the freeze was leaked out in advance to those that Nixon thought should get the warning! Very sleazy way to operate IMO! ☹

[@Hollywood041]

Businesses always get info early, but not as early as the Reps and Sens. The people are the last to know.

[@yourseatatthetable]

What I'd like to know is: When the Fed raises interest rates, who gets the extra interest paid in? I mean, who's finically benefiting from higher intrest rates? The Government? The banks? Both?

[@Stupidityindex]

6:30 This is why we have insurrections. Two parties policy remain the same. Same obscene military spending by the same people who vote for endless waring as their jobs program. Revolving door government proves the state is too dangerous to tolerate.

[@rutessian]

What insurrections?

[@richardscathouse]

It's probably too late.

[@elblee]

A superpower country in a recession is actually self-make. With 30 trillion in debts, overspending on the military, stimulus checks, pandemic, proxy war in Ukraine, trade war, sanctions, and corruption had made this country into an unavoidable recession.

[@Hollywood041]

You are not incorrect in elaborating that there are a multitude of factors. However, debt for what? infrastructure, education, or war on the other side of the planet to keep fuel prices down during one presidency; Defense spending is too high due to contracts (corruption)/war readiness (Cold War strategy); stimulus by it's nature is necessary; trade war is dumb, yes; and I cannot really argue the economic burden of supporting UKR and sanctioning RUS, but I will argue you on the necessity of it for national defense re 70years of US foreign policy (-20yrs of GWOT, which had no purpose or goal).

[@DrRussPhd]

Is a recession coming? It is already here. The Fed has to raise rates faster to stifle inflation otherwise this will drag on too long and drift into stagflation. Powell used to work for Goldman Sachs so he is no hurry to crash the markets, giving his buddies time to fleece retail traders some more.

[@drakekoefoed1642]

but raising interest rates will cause a crash, so goldman sachs knows to grab now.

[@voxomnes9537]

We're not dealing with problems of stagflation.

[@crazymulgogi]

Could you explain how raising interest rates would stifle inflation?

[@VincentTroia]

@@crazymulgogi higher interest rates mean higher borrowing costs, meaning people will eventually start spending less. The demand for goods and services will then drop, which will cause inflation to fall.

[@VincentTroia]

they don’t have to raise interest rates, they can do a number of other safer things, like reinstate anti trust laws to curb monopolization, thus curbing price gouging, they could tax back money from corporations and wealthy individuals, or they could make a serious push to end the war in ukraine through peace talks, not dumb sanctions that aren’t working, etc. most of the inflation today is caused by price gouging as economists and academics like richard wolff, bob pollin, dean baker, and matt stoller have all explained.

[@GhostOnTheHalfShell]

In short, interest rates are more inflation but paid to finance and the creditor class. We pay the bill.

[@drakekoefoed1642]

wage and price controls can easily keep wages from going up. prices can weasel a lot of ways, with reducing quality, selling the same thing only somehow there is less, really, like watered down or various other ways to cut corners. the meat industry can just sell more fat. supply and demand does not work now and never did. inequality is worse in usa than ever, and worse than most countries ever. that will not change.

[@hannibalkemet9824]

Yeah, but rent prices and gas will not go up. The human body can really be healthy with just 80% water and 20% food

[@gxulien]

I remember seeing a local news spot on Nixon's price controls. There were panning shots of a grocery meat department. I could tell it meant an emergency. I was 7.

[@mervnicholson7108]

What stands out in Professor Wolff’s analysis is that there is no discussion of what to do. It is assumed automatically that raising interest rates will fix inflation. No discussion. Decision made. This absence of democratic decision-making is marked when you consider that other solutions have in fact been undertaken in the past and furnish guidance for possible alternatives. No doubt the solutions tried in the past (FDR, Nixon) weren’t perfect-but how can ruining the lives of millions of people by inflating interest rates today (and further enriching the ruling class rich) be called a rational solution? it is just further evidence of the madness of the capitalist system.

[@NotShowingOff]

The individual narcissism will destroy the country.

[@philfortner1805]

Fun fact is that virtually all businesses operate using loans. Rates go up, their price of product goes up, your price goes up. Wages are risen, stimulus is added, inflation goes nowhere. These prices are the new normal until the entire monetary system collapses.

[@graemegladman]

You are absolutely right. One other thing you forgot to mention was interest rate rises for Government Debt, and how raising interest rates will inevitably lead to increased taxes. Inflation is like a giant vortex sucking everything up in its path.

[@jaywhite1241]

Interest rates were a tool to control traditional inflation... i.e. demand exceed supplies... what is important to understand with traditional inflation is that it was consumer driven i.e. they had discretionary money to spend... the current inflation is driven only on the supply side of the equation. Consumers dont have discretionary money to spend and they only buying what they need. Nobody is trying to get a loan to get groceries!

[@rutessian]

No, but there are companies that operate on debt, misallocating resources and they will go bankrupt with interest rate increases. Also similarly operated companies won't be able to exist. You won't see companies operating for 10+ years on debt. That's why profit is important. It means that company offers more to society than it takes out.

[@ZamaniSahib]

This man needs to go viral.

[@richardscathouse]

Cancer already is

[@robertrstevens]

I remember the ration books during WW 2. As a child I, of course, noticed this especially with CANDY. People had to use their candy stamps in order to get, for example, chocolate candy. And no more than that was to be had. I also remember that the chocolate candy during that time was Prime! It came in big oblong chunks of chocolate, but it was Delicious!

[@fanboy-industries]

Rationing goods during WWII didnt stop inflation. There was massive, massive inflation right after the war.

[@vitaminluke5597]

Yeah, after the rationing stopped

[@fanboy-industries]

@@vitaminluke5597 - there is a very strong parallel between the current, post Covid inflation, and the 1946 post WWII inflation. In both cases the inflation didnt occur during the event itself, but well into the economic recovery afterwards.

[@ablam8]

I have a Canadian Ration booklet. In my name. It still has a few stamps in it that Mommy never used. My parents were farmers, and we had lots to eat, even home made real ice creme on some Sundays. I am 81 now, and i think the 50's and 60's were the best family years.

[@daviddavidson7851]

Mr. Wolf is wrong about this, though. Nixon inevitably failed to stop inflation. He put a dent in it and brought it down, but, it went back up and through twop other presidential cycles into the 80s it was finally brought down by Paul Volkner and it was tigher monetary policy that did it. i respect Mr wolf greatly but he is wrong here.

[@stevenweiss2148]

yes paul volker ended the inflation. Proof? CDs paying 12%

[@Hollywood041]

Inflation is a constant. The rate is what is "controlled". To say two other presidencies is disingenuous, as if the world does not exist and happenings occurred elsewhere. VOLCKER policies (in conjunction with the Executive) led to the collapse of a system, high interest rates during inflation, a recession, unemployment over 10%, a mass protest involving tractors, and national indebtedness prior to recovery and an eventual deal w/JAP and GER to revalue their currencies to keep the US value afloat. The best Volcker product was the Dodd-Frank rule, re speculative trading practices, which has since been reduced by Drumpf.

[@daviddavidson7851]

@@Hollywood041 I never said they don't effect inflation. Clearly they do, but, the ultimate cause of inflation is printing money. For better or worse and the only way to fix that is to hike rates. Mr wolff is wrong here. If he wasn't then Nixon would have been able to successfully stop inflation but Jimmy Carter had to do it with Volkner who hiked rates, again, to double digets. If this wasn't true nixons actions would ahve brought inflation down to manageable levels.

[@technopriest8686]

Extraordinary

[@Pasta-B1FBA]

This is Good

[@AQuietNight]

The girls just love Richard Wolff, that golden tongue economics sweet talker. Nixon's program failed because once you lift price controls, the markets readjust to current pricing. Price controls delay the inevitable. The World War 2 rationing program didn't prevent black markets from forming and if you paid the right price you could get what you want if you had the right connections. The rich still got their milk for their kitties (so to speak). The rationing did prevent the average person from getting items they may have wanted or needed. As for corporate debt, Wolff has a point, one problem is corporations run today are run by caretakers instead of founders. The man who founded the company usually had broader interests as the business was an extension of himself. So his mission may be to make sure every person has a widget they could afford and economic growth was a way to make it happen and his business was a way of making sure economic growth happens. Today we graduate a bunch of business graduates that are trained to run any business and they tend to see a business as a method of making money while products are just the means of doing that.

[@zapatasghost]

black markets are typically riskier and pricier and so be it. Either way, a "free" market is a myth so price controls are one pretty effective, albeit imperfect, way to manage inflation just as Wolff explains. If you have an economic system that encourages a very small elite to exploit others to hoard an obscene share of resources in the first place, then, yes, you're going to have lots of black market kitty milk in the face of starving babies.

[@AQuietNight]

@@zapatasghost In pure capitalism free markets can be quite cutthroat. Consolidation has taken place in part due to foreign competition as small American companies can not deal with the likes of Chinese companies. To a degree our elites are the survivors of a tough international market. The strength of the dollar makes exports more difficult as it makes selling American made products in overseas markets difficult. Back when Reagan was president the value of the dollar dropped for a period of time. Southern textiles mills were working 2 and 3 shifts sending sheets and other textiles to Europe because the lower value dollar allowed USA made product to sell in Europe at bargain prices. Europeans were buying anything the southern mills would send over. Workers here had jobs, lots of overtime to keep the mills going and they were making good money. I have always thought the high value dollar was a millstone around American companies necks. Most economists think that is looney but busy American factories do more to build worker wealth than any government program. The Japanese have the Yen which is of lower value than the Dollar but you will see the Japanese eat very very well.

[@marywest6844]

I just want to eat, sleep, pay simple accounts, go on holiday, have a roof over my head, retire in peace, with justice and societal fairness, with a decent living arrangement. Is that too much to ask for*? Oh and after seeing the Movie of Elvis Presley, times have not changed. What that talented man had to live through. A disgrace as a child, real poverty.

[@zapatasghost]

@@AQuietNight Reagan accelerated the transfer of wealth from the working class to the ruling class. His undermining of labor power also accelerated the widening of the wealth and income gap in the U.S. Attempting to reduce the value of U.S. labor relative to dictatorships like China is a fool's errand. Besides, how well did workers in those Southern textile mills ultimately gain? I'm guessing the owners of those plants are living large while the workers are living in Southern squalor as usual. Japan has a 55% personal income tax (U.S. - 37%) and 30% corporate tax (U.S. - 21%) where they have an impenetrably collectivist (all for one/one for all) culture with a massive welfare state to include a universal health system, a state pension system, and a massive investment in public housing that no politician dares challenge, and all with a minuscule military budget. Another approach, rather than playing games with the relative value of currency (how well has that worked out for Latin America?), can be to take a hard look at and put controls on the obscene profits and shares of wealth afforded to CEO's. - that is massive drain on every economy. We can also look at policies that increase worker leverage - like universal/socialized health, stronger labor laws that ensure collective bargaining in all sectors of the economy, investments in the welfare state, education, etc.

[@zapatasghost]

@@marywest6844 Don't we all? wait, unless you're pumped full of American propaganda that has us all trying to be little Trumps...

[@Khemith_Demon_Hours]

Great video

[@ronalddelrosario7405]

Please. Biden rehiring a Republican Fed chair is *not* surprising. Biden might be moderate on social issues (overall -- in my opinion, he's center-right). But he's certainly a conservative fiscally. It's totally in character for him to do that.

[@richardscathouse]

Easier to manage the continuing plans from Nixon. To Carter to Reagan to Clinton to Bush to Obama to Trump to Biden. Until the Israeli resource zone known as the United States Corporation has been sucked dry and discarded. It's all in the plan!

[@anandadevi5914]

Might be??? We are IN a recession!

[@richardscathouse]

According to my neighbors in the trnts they say depression

[@gr8macaw1]

What has happened to our leaders? Incompetence and greed abounds. Where did the decent leaders go?

[@dmike3507]

I'm rather skeptical that price controls or rationing could work. I think the more fundamental change that needs to happen is producing significantly more goods here in the US, which gets around the supply chain issues. It would also create jobs. Nationalize key industries & introduce price cuts that way. Regulations can work sometimes, but generally if you leave things up to corporations they find ways to dodge them or mitigate their effects.

[@Kitten_Stomper]

It doesn't work. Price controls just mean there's shortage rather than scarcity.

[@leeporwoll2380]

Don't think that's what Prof. Wolff was suggesting. He's more about trying to think outside the box. Even says pretty much just that at the end of the vid. Not sure if you made it to the end but what's important is to never fear to read between the lines.

[@DSP_2.0]

If I remembered correctly, Reagan's wage freeze ( which was anti-american in nature) didn't get rid of inflation, it kicked the demand can down the road, creating a demand bubble to form.

[@daxiankong3249]

According to worldometer website China's COVID death is 5226 (2022, 06, 26), not 20000.

[@richardscathouse]

China realized their initial mistake over a year ago. Currently they planning to do another revise down soon. Discounting all cases proven by the debunked PCR test

[@ianthesiow3013]

Richard is spot on... TQ.

[@yannmonnier4291]

But if your loan has a fixed interest ... Don't you win?

[@richardscathouse]

Exactly

[@TheCommonS3Nse]

I keep saying, why don’t they tax the highest gains over the pandemic? If the problem is that the Fed and the government gave out too much money, and the solution is to use monetary policy to reduce the amount of cash in the system, then why not use taxation to achieve that goal? Taxing the gains made during the pandemic would take money back from the same place that it was pumped into rather than making life difficult for home owners.

[@harmoni4499]

Richard wolffe is talking so ture about the economy that is related to politician! These politicans worry more about thier seat & re-elected than people who are suffering. We need more people speaking about how corrupted these politicians are!

[@judoskeleton]

Let's use price fixing to fix the rate fixing. Makes perfect sense.

[@richardscathouse]

🤭🙄😸🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@FortheLuIz]

But the car and home will HAVE to come down in price or they won't sell them. It may not work out exactly, but asset prices will HAVE to come down.

[@rutessian]

They have been inflating asset prices for 20 years...

[@FortheLuIz]

@@rutessian Not even close to what happened in the past 2 years.

[@rutessian]

@@FortheLuIz really? I suppose that the March 2020 crash didn't happen and the FED's reaction to it (instituted a massive monetary stimulus program, cutting rates almost to zero, and unveiled plans for massive asset purchases) also didn't happen.

[@FortheLuIz]

@@rutessian You're saying asset prices have been artificially inflated for 20 years. I'm saying not even on a scale like we've seen in the past 2 years, regardless of the reason. This is a HUGE bubble and it will pop.

[@rutessian]

@@FortheLuIz it seemed like you were saying the opposite in your previous reply.

[@Hollywood041]

Wow! Rationing at times of scarcity. Not "tightening your belts" (starving).

[@GhostOnTheHalfShell]

using interest to control the velocity of money is like feeding a horse oats to control the directions of a cart it draws. Demurrage/Freigeld uses a hoarding tax for the means of exchange. It is price stable, encourages steady commerce and allows interest rates to follow market supply and demand because hoarded money is used or lost to the tax man. This means money must be put into real investment or spent on goods, services or wages. central banks can then control the quantity of money by print or burning accordingly. other measures like land value tax is needed for property, and exchanged currency treated as “saved” and poof, the redistribution of money from labor to finance is ripped apart

[@acajudi100]

A DEPRESSION due to the dishonest and Greedy politicians etc. God will deal with these heartless and evil demons stealing our tax dollars. Much respect to the people of Sri Lanka. Run those greedy leaders out of town with their gold etc that is yours. People are feed up. Happy I moved to a safe Mexican city at 79.

[@seymorefact4333]

⛔⛔ WE'VE been in a DEEP DEPRESSION since 1960! low rates, bailouts, handouts, are heroin injections that keep in a DREAM state since 1960.

[@jamespilcher5287]

That's the first time i've heard the word "ration" pronounced like that

[@danielhutchinson6604]

Inflation seems to be a buyers game early in the cycle of growth.... We all learn that in Econ 101..... After the initial burst of buying the trend is simply the unfortunate Suckers who missed the Boat, and are stuck with buying at the higher prices. Interest rates are just another added cost for the smart shopper, so they sit back and wait for the prices to drop...... But what if the prices remain so damn high that consumers stop buying? How does a Nation maintain a GDP high enough to continue to make the payments of the Debts they accumulated when the interest was low and the Dollars were flowing? The US is now facing the Debt to GDP relationship that requires the flow of funds to flow to those who bought some of the 30 year T-Notes, over 20 years ago..... As increased problems confront the effort to exploit European Consumers with LNG become a real issue for the USA, we seem to notice some actual fear that the promises of LNG providing the GDP some positive numbers seems to fade a bit? The investors who held Fossil Fuel Stock for a while might see some profits for a short period, but the entire Nation seems to pay a higher price as does the rest of the Planet.......... How does Capitalism maintain it's status as an important social structure, when the majority of the Humans on the Planet are unable to feed their Children? How Many Mediterranean Nations can claim a positive GDP? How long can European Union Consumers support the US GDP? How do you maintain a social system when it does not function for the majority of the inhabitants of the Planet?

[@Blender_and_Chirp]

🐐

[@ockertvanzyl5340]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@crazymulgogi]

As we know from MMT, higher interest rates *are themselves inflationary*.

[@rutessian]

MMT and astrology have the same predictive power. Higher interest rates would induce people to save money instead of spending it.

[@crazymulgogi]

@@rutessian are your spending decisions based on the interest rate?

[@rutessian]

@@crazymulgogi I don't have an adjustable rate mortgage nor do I need to take on/ refinance a loan, so no. People/companies in either situation will have their spending decisions altered by interest rates.

[@crazymulgogi]

@@rutessian alright, so your solution to inflation is recession, correct? Stop people from spending by seducing them to save (or scaring them into saving).

[@rutessian]

@@crazymulgogi I don't think there is a solution, at least one that doesn't inflict pain. High interest rates would work if the government had small deficits and low debt. It means higher interest rates will lead to cutting services and/or increased taxes. If they don't do it or only increase interest rates anemically, it won't decrease inflation and might lead to a dollar collapse. Dick's proposals create their own set of problems - shortages, black markets, and won't really fix inflation. As far as I can tell best case scenario is the US going though a depression for a few years to a decade, worst case the dollar collapses and with it, the US.

[@DK-zu6tt]

Our Corporations are rolling in record profits AND rolling in huge debt

[@cheapcharlieredhorse2286]

They are punishing hard working people and rewarding the banks.

[@vincentrockel1149]

Because of the partisan political environment, especially on the Supreme Court l don't think any policy that would benefit the working class will be allowed to interfere with the neo-liberal agenda set by the oligarchy.

[@dalisabe62]

It is a non-ending cycle of insult added to injury. The major problem in all this is the fact that we have no government of the people, by the people, for the people. What we have is a traitor government that works for the wealthy elite. Our tax system and corporate culture is a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich with huge industries preying on the tax system. Banks, central and branch are manipulation machines of the economy. Corporations are platforms for the plantation system, which never died out. If you complain about the injustice, be assured that it could only be worse, so better hustle your way around and cope. No administration and no lawmaker will side with the people. Long gone are the days when national governments were the guardian of the citizens. Today, we have a global conglomerate that serves owners and financiers. The worst thing to expect next is sweeping anger and frustration that could break out in civil war or dangerous political division.

[@AGirlofYesterday]

Yes but anger and frustration need to grow until they bubble over into some kind of a revolution. This current system is unsustainable. When the govt no longer serves the majority of the people (and ours does not), drastic overhaul is required. Unfortunately, the poor & struggling millions are too caught up in in-fighting over stupid red vs blue to unite in a people's movement that could really shake things up.

[@richardscathouse]

We never did. #FollowtheMoney

[@c.k2778]

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[@theodorerossi7998]

Interesting, could you possibly share more hints or ideas. What are the sectors you engage in?.

[@c.k2778]

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[@c.k2778]

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[@theodorerossi7998]

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[@avataz]

Imminent? Its already here

[@acajudi100]

God knows all, and he will punish the greedy and evil big time! Kill bodies and release souls, that will haunt you forever. Do not kill from the unborn on up.

[@peterstafford4426]

Its a coin flip. If he is 'right' people with think his prediction of the outcome of a coin flip means he knows something. He knows nothing.

[@marywest6844]

The Corporations non compus mentis now.

[@richardscathouse]

The adults have long since left the room 🤭

[@melaniedennis9540]

We need to change our whole economic system point blank

[@richardscathouse]

In process. Enjoy the decline.

[@suebastian1242]

Any chance you could talk about the relationship between the private equity syndicates and the recession?

[@gilbertlajom2150]

But what about the sky rocket home prices it will stay high and affordability will be impossible….

[@mrbardel4363]

to big to fail banks in 2010 are now 50 % bigger . and debt is bigger than ever ... good luck ... i am not afraind of recesion . i am already broke .... but i am afraid of world war 3 . it will become a reality .

[@2CheekyRabbits]

Don’t waste your precious moments being afraid. I refuse to give in to that. Everything may go to shit, but I deliberately choose to see the beauty and wonder in all that surrounds me. Chin up!

[@richardscathouse]

Too big to JAIL banks.

[@lokitus]

Don't believe the Chinese COVID numbers. Or their GDP numbers. Come to think of it, better not to mention their numbers, lest you ruin a very good line of reasoning.

[@reggieventer8528]

Y

[@thehunterofdeath2180]

OMG they killing my pocket OMG fruits is very expressive 2 peach $ 6 dollar I live on disability check SSDI I can't eat healthy is very expressive rent is crazy in New York my check is gone 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@jimjohnson4147]

We've been in a recession for a while, but its going to get far worse.

[@allanmarks2150]

Greetings from Guatemala, Wolff says - sociaal division in times of war is not good. But isn't social division exactly the policy of the Democrat party. And if anyone hasn't noticed - the US is now, along with NATO, fighting a war against Russia.

[@richardscathouse]

When has the US not been at war??? Changes nothing.

[@craigwilson1144]

Professor Richard Wolf this presentation is one of your very best since it addresses inflation which is not only costing older people's retirement savings but with rising interest rates it's forcing tens of millions of the working poor into debt peonage as they have to use their credit cards to borrow money at higher interest rates to feed their families, pay the exorbitantly expensive rent, gas, food and utilities in a race to the disparaging condition of permanent indentured servitude. Thank you for sharing the facts regarding several different economic policies republican and democratic presidents have successfully implemented to counter inflation that didn't require raising interest rates. Firstly, FDR staved off inflation by means of issuing ration chips and in 1971 Nixon issued an executive order demanding wage and price controls which effectively ended inflation. You said you found it bizarre that neither congress, Biden or Fed Chair Powell even attempted an alternative inflationary policy, when history reveals the central bank and the treasury have implemented more effective options in the past that didn't require forcing the working class to pay the cost and endure a recession that will cause further lay offs and untenable suffering among working families. The working class had nothing to do with quantitative easing, stock buy backs and played no roll in the development of finance capitalism's global sovereign debt crisis.

[@faithinverity8523]

When the price of energy goes up, inflation occurs. Period. We MUST rebuild our electrical grid and build more nuclear power plants. And we must stop using automobiles the way we do. these things should’ve happened fifty years ago. Want to blame someone for today’s economy? Blame those who stood in the way of that.

[@imthebestdirector]

Nobody knows.

[@dazpatreg]

"rayshin books"

[@theresasanders8251]

WHEN did we get out of the 2008 Recession? Looks like a 2nd GREAT DEPRESSION 2 ME!

[@rutessian]

You didn't get out the 2001 recession. You just used the air from one bubble to inflate the next and then the next..

[@richardscathouse]

So says the boys and girls in the tents

[@waldwassermann]

"Up and down we go so not to be alone." - Wald Wassermann, Physicist

[@TheMandanga]

Nixon was based?

[@vivalaleta]

Even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice a day.

[@JCT1926]

America was more based in general at that time

[@TheNoblot]

Having a problem with the Father the Holly Goth is not the same as Jesús the cross / Remember the Roman empire & his successor 💱🛡️⚔️

[@TheIamtheoneandonly1]

Could it be that we’re heading for a period of‘stagflation’ in which recession combines with inflation as in the mid-late 1970s? I concede that this current situations causes are different though. Just saying.

[@miltonwelch4177]

Yep. In many ways.

[@richardscathouse]

I try to avoid word salad! It just leads to indigestion 🤮🤮🤮😈

[@davidwalker2781]

Maybe invest in: Healthcare, Utilities, and Consumer Staples.... i believe those are "Defensive" sectors.

[@richardscathouse]

Fuck gambling, I've never and never expected to win at the casinos

[@markjohnson5276]

18 wheeler trucks aren't rolling at this time. The freeways are empty of them. That means things aren't getting to the stores. The Titanic is starting to settle but people aren't aware yet. No rush for the boats yet.

[@saramuhumphries9225]

👍💐

[@juliamihasastrology4427]

Wait is this guy advocating for price fixing? Didn't that screw up the economy under Nixon?

[@nateisawesome766]

I disagree with a lot of what was said in this video. A recession is inevitable unless the fed tries to keep interest rates low by accelerating the growth of the monetary base. However in trying to do this, it risks a run on the dollar as capitalists start buying gold in a desperate attempt to preserve their wealth. This leads to soaring inflation in the form of dollar-depreciation inflation. Any attempt to try to keep interest rates low during the boom phase of the industrial cycle will lead to this. And the remedy would be an even higher rate of interest to meet the higher demand for gold, causing an even deeper recession. If the fed keeps refusing to allow interest rates to rise to meet the supply and demand of gold, hyperinflation soon develops, which would bring an end to the dollar system and the American empire and capitalism as a whole. This is the fundamental law that governs the capitalist system that Marx outlined; the law that non-commodity money is impossible. Dollars can never take the role of money, they must ultimately adhere to the supply and demand of the money commodity (in this case, gold) that governs the capitalist system otherwise capitalism will inevitably collapse sooner.

[@davehendricks4824]

Because you’re the expert!😂😂😂

[@nateisawesome766]

@@davehendricks4824 no I just used what Marx wrote in Kapital to derive my conclusions

[@martinhartecfc]

I like Richard Wolff but taking the Chinese figures at face value just makes me doubt everything else he says and the current implementation of "dynamic zero" is terrifying so I wouldn't be holding that up as an example to follow.

[@merovingian688]

Modern monetary theory has failed.

[@richardscathouse]

Day one

[@Mechaneer]

I like Wolf's perspective on the labor markets, but he couldn't be more wrong about interest rates. The *only* reason we are experiencing such high and sustained inflation in the first place is the Fed failed to raise rates much sooner. They should have started rigorously raising rates a year ago. The only thing prolonging raising rates and tightening accomplishes is lengthening and magnifying the inevitable suffering caused by it into a full blown recession. Now, it is already too late. A recession is already happening, and the only question left is will it lead to an even deeper *depression* due to the Fed failing to tighten adequately over the remainder of this year.

[@stevenweiss2148]

good for us savers. the silver lining

[@philfortner1805]

Price control create shortages and you cannot enforce price limits on foreign good, which is all of them. Even made in the USA goods commonly use materials from other countries. See the problem?

[@freedomworks3976]

The Wolf of Wall Street

[@jeremyrangel8138]

He wants to throw business owners in jail for raising their prices? And he doesn't realize who the real fascists are?

[@JCT1926]

Fascism is not 1 single policy, bud.

[@jeremyrangel8138]

@@JCT1926 rofl okay guy. So you support the government putting people in jail for raising their prices?

[@conmereth]

@@JCT1926 Don't be so naive, fascism is clearly when the government is mean to capitalists

[@rutessian]

@@JCT1926 No, but that is a policy typical of a fascist system.

[@richardscathouse]

And never will. He's reached peak senility.🤭