Richard Wolff on Crypto, Meta, and Techno-Feudalism

Economic Richard Wolff explains how the preoccupation with cryptocurrency is one symptom of the right’s success in obscuring the confrontation between capital and labor while elevating the confrontation between citizens and the state.
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[@DJDiskmachine]

Techno-feudalism is truly a horrifying concept.

[@jojoadeyemi8239]

Yea its called Uber.

[@mitchclark1532]

@@jojoadeyemi8239 The entire economy is moving that way, away from production and into rentier stuff. Ride-sharing is just a example of it’s acceleration.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

Even with all the shiny things it does not sound good to me.

[@rogersmith7396]

Its here. Deal with it.

[@elizabethbennet4791]

yes it is. especially if you are an anarcho-primitivism and just want to live off the land in a sustainable climate-friendly eco-harmonious biome. fuck these ppl tbh

[@annicures]

Earth provides enough for everyones needs. Not everyone’s greed. - Gandhi

[@alex-7578]

Wolff is like fine wine - only improving as time goes on. Always the sign of a good man.

[@megakedar]

He's like fine milk. There is little evidence apart from very idiosyncratic cases like Tyson Foods that corporations' gross margins have generally increased in 2021. They're passing on more costs, but only in line with the increases in producer prices. And in many cases, as in grocers like Kroger Corp, they are swallowing some of those increases. Kroger's gross margin was 22.1% in jan 2020 and 21.66% in the last quarter. Kraft-Heinz declined from the same period from 36.46% to 32.07%. This is economics by conspiracy theory. Most of these corporations are not free to willy nilly expand prices because of existing competition pressures. Also, many of the populist talking points Wolff regurgitates, China creditor, debt, printin' money, bubble this, bubble that, etc - he should write for zerohedge.

[@jaredharmer7047]

He knows that market pressures often force companies to swallow some costs, his point is that when the market forces DONT do that, then the nature of capitalist corporations is to lie to the public and increase margins whenever they get the chance. Which of course time has proved to be 100% true

[@DillPhobia]

@@jaredharmer7047 I have read his economics textbook. Yes, he does know businesses compete with other businesses. This is 101 level economics. Prof Wolff has a doctorate in economics and studied at Harvard and Yale. Lmao. Why do people think he doesn't know how money works?

[@mitchclark1532]

I think his prime was the mid 2010s. But aside from the vaccine issue, he’s still one of the strongest socialist voices out there today.

[@megakedar]

@@jaredharmer7047 Yeah, sure many of these consumer facing companies lied and increased their margins to the point of negative percentages. Margins have noticeably increased specific sectors, such as semiconductors, but that has a lot to do with specific market dynamics involving supply bottlenecks in the limited number of fabs worldwide. You can make that argument as a matter of principle that yes, capitalists will always seek to increase their margins, but we don't live in an economic environment currently where they are "free" to raise prices because even at this stage most companies are still swallowing costs. Wolff is positing an axiomatic truth here with little explanatory power in the contemporary environment. When the preponderance of evidence suggests that the price setting power of large firms is what is causing inflation, not merely a feed-through effect of production and material costs, then make that argument. Also, I hate to break it to Wolff, but smaller economic units like cooperatives under socialist economies like in the former USSR and Yugoslavia were the absolute worst at resource diversion, hoarding, and supply chain sabotage. They created redundancies and inefficiencies that parasited off the economies of scale of large state firms and sapped their productive capacity. It is the ultimate irony that Wolff is presenting this conspiracy theory of inflation given what he believes.

[@joeows6537]

I find the great doctor professor wolf just as brilliant at education as he is at economics. It's incredible to think what a lifetime's passion looks like. Thank you Dr Wolf

[@timursalikov5911]

This guy is such a buffoon. 1. Business are always greedy so they would have been raising prices all the time. What a coincidence that when the government printed 40% of all existing dollars in a single year “employers” come together and raise prices. 2. It only take a few extra brain cells to see that the actual input costs for producers are rising for them too at a faster rate, meaning they are actually eating most of this inflation.

[@barrycadena2501]

Wolff points out that these crypto people and conservatives are ideologically driven blind to the fact that he himself is ideologically blinded and locked into a Marxian worldview. He claims that these crypto people are right about the struggling state monetary system and criticizes their solution as like the lottery, meanwhile people have made enormous sums of financial success in it. This is because his ideology has little predictive power or actual explanatory power. Another empty sermon from the pulpit of Marxism

[@DillPhobia]

@@timursalikov5911 They cant raise prices too fast because that would throw off their favorite little unstable economic system. Not to mention it would be too obvious so the people would boycott, if they could afford it. And of course businesses raised prices after the government helped circulate money. That's what they do when more money is to be made! And no, they wouldn't dare eat the cost of inflation. They would cease to be capitalists if they didn't still make an overhead. They make us pay the cost, every time!

[@DillPhobia]

@@barrycadena2501 It's not Marxism, it's reality! Here's a Marxist prediction: people under capitalism are essentially forced to pursue the dollar, rich or poor, greedy or not. Accurate? Or is that wrong? Study Marx, and his class analysis of capitalism. You'll see he's objectively not wrong.

[@barrycadena2501]

@@DillPhobia Yeah, no: he promotes himself as one of the few, for a number of reasons, Marxist economist. He explicitly states he’s jealous of the right winger ideology which is critical of the government’s financial policies and mishaps with the monetary system, and then tries in vain to drag it black to class conflict of employees vs employers; a basic Hegelian dialectic and the basis of Conflict Theories. It’s not reality, both are ideological models of realities and despite Marxism’s sharp criticism it’s incomplete as it lacks predictive and explanatory power. As for you claim that capitalist will always chase dollars. Kind of, but why? To understand why you have to go back beyond the paradigms of capitalism as it’s known, beyond Marxism, beyond Hegel, beyond feudalism. Watch a survival show, man vs wild for example. Watch that show where there’s no money, markets, capital. Even then there’s still economic principles at play: Labor, opportunity cost. You success in those scenarios directly depends on your efforts, choices, and a bit of luck. That’s reality, not the socialist utopia of Marxism that he simultaneously promoted and criticized. It’s a feature of reality. Now as to why there’s always some form of capitalism, you really have to understand the Functions of Money. Money or Capital is a technology that’s been used for thousands of years because it functions. Shell money, Mesopotamian shekels, etc are all manifestations of this technology and problems it addresses.

[@C3yl0]

I realized everything he pointed out while taking macroeconomics at the university level. It is all designed to play on people's cognitive abilities.

[@wesleywhitley8105]

But when u apply those macroeconomics in the real world outside of papers that academics read then u will find that all of those theories don't add up

[@milovannucci2405]

Qq

[@barrycadena2501]

Did you learn about the functions of money and monetary systems before fiat currency, before Smith, Marx, and Hegel? Shell money, Mesopotamian shekels? Mercantilism?

[@billiamc1969]

I learned all that stuff when I opened my first business at 19

[@elizabethbennet4791]

@@wesleywhitley8105 No, the "REal world" is fraught with personal biases and emotions and invisible or sudden variables. Theory and research are better indicators of Truth. A real-world realization does not obviate a theory or principle, only adds to it based on particular variables.

[@timmybear4449]

Yup, the recent scapegoat has been "supply chain shortages".

[@msolomonii9825]

necrotic-stage capitalism.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

And the workers. Workers are always to blame somehow according to them

[@rogersmith7396]

Its always the government. Destroying sound government policy is what has gotten us to this point.

[@rogersmith7396]

@@dinnerwithfranklin2451 Too lazy, too greedy, too short, too tall, too black, too white. Too educated, too uneducated. Insert your favored nonsense here.

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

@@rogersmith7396 Exactly right

[@NeverCryWolf64]

Wow. Dr. Wolff's explanation of inflation creating "supply chain issues" was wonderful. It is so simple, but I never thought of it. Thanks!

[@rossplendent]

This is an excellent analysis, although there is something still missing that I'd like to add on, which is the financialization of the economy. These corporations are not JUST offshoring jobs and increasing prices out of short-sighted greed: that greed has become institutionalized by investment firms driving speculative growth. Wealth growth is no longer as closely tethered to the traditional capitalist model of using profits to fuel productive expansion. Rather, the majority of wealth growth is driven by a continuous stream of investments, based on the *presumption* of future growth. These corporations need to juke their stats to entice further investment, which provides massive wealth growth to give them the power to make further short-term gains. They repeat this cycle of speculation for as long as they can until the disappearing consumer base eventually precipitates a collapse in bottom line, since no one is buying these goods and services at inflated prices with their lower wages. Infinite profit growth stalls, investments pull out, and the corporation is left with nothing but debt and raw assets that it cannot turn into actual production, so the company folds. Repeat this across the entire western market, and you get a collapse even more precipitous than the Great Depression.

[@HigherHeartWarriorChannel]

When Richard Wolfe talks about economics, I find myself enraptured and awe of how he takes such complex or convoluted narratives and breaks them down to the most simple and digestible bites. I mean it’s in a way beautiful, even though I feel a rage within me towards the systems and those in power and control of those systems, his delivery, emphasis and emotion that I feel with every word is just amazing. Thank you for having him on and thank you/R.I.P. to Michael Brooks for bringing this great teacher to my attention!

[@Alsatiagent]

This too, was well put.

[@ishtlutz1261]

BEAUTIFULLY SAID. & Right on to Michael Brooks RIP He sounds like he might been a cool guy. I like how you described your feelings of Richard Wolfe. I really appreciate the Reason & logic i get to hear when I listen to him. I’ll even go as far as saying that listening to him is one of the very few times I get to hear reason & logic at all anymore. I actually came down with a sense of anxiety by the ending of this video that I did not have at the beginning of the video. Since I resonated with all that you said, I thought I could ask you if you noticed the way his tone darkened from the middlem up until the end. Do you notice a sort of hostility? Like a ‘fed-up’ wits end… sort of WARNING vibe? I’ve never seen him like this before. Like a grandparent telling their grandchildren to GET OUT OF THE STREET - & not before they run into it - but when they’re already in it - & a CAR is coming….. Did you notice the look in his eyes by the very end of the video? (I actually hate how they cut him off & played that STUPID music over him talking) But I feel like.. he’s WARNING us in very late stages of it being too late. He speaks now with a certain doom - he almost sounds angry, or worried… & the look in his eyes tell me that what he sees for us is very very bad. (Anyways, I know I talk too much & I do wish I could have more of an impact & say more with less words when I speak/write like you, but, just wondering if you or anyone else noticed anything I noticed out of this video.) thanks

[@LokiBeckonswow]

great comment thx

[@KeenanPayne]

Professor Wolf is a gem

[@dalenielsen8651]

Richard Wolff for President!

[@alexus4life6969]

Love Richard's work.

[@ardien.535]

thank you Professor Wolff for teaching me things I did not know prior to watching this discussion

[@garretttedeman]

The ringer! Prof. Wolff once again bringin' it :-) Another note: Just consider for a moment how effective these mis-directions are to maximize profit as much as possible and as long as possible. ...All done, as mentioned with exquisite precision by redirecting attention to the workers, the gov't, the international system, inflation, and/or supply-chain disruptions, and so on. As Wolff says, we should probably take our hats off to just how iron-clad this picture is that they've painted to facilitate continued profit maximization. It really is a wonder.

[@MegaAlien999]

this was a brilliant watch kudos

[@carriewilliams7064]

Love prof Wolff. Can’t wait for capitalism to end.

[@rogersmith7396]

It will never end but it has to have strict controls.

[@fierce-green-fire8887]

@@rogersmith7396 “it will never end.” Really? It will last for the next billion years? Lol

[@martinko4086]

@@fierce-green-fire8887... for you it will end very soon .

[@jaybeaton9301]

Whatever it is that your want to end, it will end you with it.

[@carriewilliams7064]

@@jaybeaton9301 what I want is for the cruelty to end. Everyone deserves basic human rights when they are forcibly born. Shelter, food water. All guaranteed. All public utilities publicly owned. That’s a more leveled playing field. That’s the future if we want to survive. Greed and exploitation will kill us all. You’re not as smart as you think you are.

[@frafranildo]

Prof Wolff looks so cool in that hat.

[@patrickhenry9846]

The only thing worse than than deregulated capitalism is libertarianism. Ever man or woman for themselves and to hell with a civil society.

[@msolomonii9825]

reich-wingers luv their sick doctrine of "there is no society" law-of-the-jungle "culture".

[@chuckabbate5924]

Yup spot on. Corrosive to humanity.

[@AbrahamMeat]

Libertarianism IS deregulated capitalism.

[@patrickhenry9846]

@@AbrahamMeat EXCELLENT !

[@mitchclark1532]

Ancapistan is dystopia

[@MoparMan1320]

Two things I learned many years ago. First...."governments don't act, they react". Secondly...."the real struggle is not between left & right. That's merely distraction. If people ever realize that it's actually a struggle between up & down...we might have a fighting chance".

[@ellarweegadsden8483]

But we're told: DON'T LOOK UP"

[@unwavery]

interesting points, but blockchain isn't just currency or junk bank notes, it's a public open-source ledger that anyone can see.

[@lot110]

But it's not currency

[@drewid3876]

@@lot110 how isn’t it? What about El Salvador?

[@rubym357]

@@drewid3876 Bukele is a fucking dictator, and crypto is a ponzi scheme. In the mid-90s Albania had a very brief civil war. Why? The country sunk its money into 25 pyramid schemes. 93% Salvadoran businesses reported no Bitcoin payments in the first month despite Salvadorans having more crpto wallets than regular bank accounts. I wonder what's bound to happen...

[@drewid3876]

@@rubym357 the international banking cartels are running the biggest ponzi scheme. Explain how the Bitcoin Ponzi scheme works for me.

[@rogersmith7396]

Who wants other people up into my business?

[@jonnizzik1736]

Power to the People . . .

[@carolchase2632]

Prof. Wolff IS fantastic, reality-based in spades. Thank You all for displaying so beautifully understandably CLEAR.

[@thecatsbackyard4833]

This is a treat. I'm glad to see that this is being addressed. Professor Wolff's expression indicates to me that he's thinking to himself, God damn it Yanus. At the end of the day, I'm sure all the good people still love each other even if we frustrate each other at times.

[@errickrichardson2520]

I love how Professor Wolf breaks down what's really going on. And how he points out the lies and what these insane capitalist are actually doing.

[@clayton7757]

Richie got that Irish trade unionist-boutta get in a bar fight look and I respect it

[@fauziachoudhry5312]

Please add big pharma and finance feudalism to the list.

[@annjuurinen6553]

I do like the words Finance Feudalism, will be using this. Thank you.

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

AS USUAL PROFESSOR WOLFF ..... GREAT TALKING POINTS SIR 💯👍🏾💪🏾❤️🌄

[@Muaahaa]

Can't speak for other industries, but in the tech sphere it is more common for product designers to determine price for products and services based on user research (such as A/B testing). For medium and small businesses I assume that bosses are also not handpicking prices. Companies just have systems in place for detecting if there is an opportunity to adjust their price.

[@moeali12345]

Thank you for the interview. Very educational and informative. No noise!

[@indyrishisingh]

It's amazing how we can't get anywhere without addressing the lack of essential "spirituality " when solving civic issues. Without the realization of the interconnectedness of things, how can we made decisions/choices that are aware of that...?

[@mozy106]

Clean air, water and soil is essential otherwise you end up with the insane asylum we have. Those is charge only care about profit and refer to mother earth as a resource. The antithesis of spirituality. Just look at the last 20 months and how most have been sold down the river with you know what.

[@rogersmith7396]

Republicans do not believe in any such thing. In their minds its a fantasy or something to be exploited from the weak.

[@wallacehowery6414]

@@rogersmith7396 indeed. God put the earth here for man to use as he sees fit, and God will provide. So let's use it all up bro!

[@crhu319]

Buddha agrees but sweet baby Jesus is stockpiling ammo.

[@tekannon7803]

Every time Professor Wolff explains about inflation, we see what it really is. What is beyond my comprehension is why Professor Wolff's explanation is nowhere to be seen, heard or talked about on any of the mainstream media or alternative media platforms. Why is this not being talked about by your Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen or the Chairman of the Fed Jerome Powell?

[@rogersmith7396]

If people reject the price hikes it will fade away. If you are Californian you will just borrow more money and put yourself in an even deeper hole expecting some one else to dig you out.

[@raymundogonzalez6450]

because politicians and their buddies are there to make promises and wait until they got to people forget and they don't fullfil those promises

[@ellarweegadsden8483]

How would Yellen, or Powell, or even Biden benefit from what Prof. Wolff have to offer? And they'd lose a lot, too! It's part and parcel of the capitalist system. A system almost all Americans support because they don't fully grasp it's significant downsides.

[@tekannon7803]

@@ellarweegadsden8483 GGGGGGGGGGGreat to hear from you. You've got a point there. The last economic system was invented 170 years ago. I came up with an idea for an economic model to replace capitalism which will be published soon on Austin Macauley Publishers, but my system is for a global solution with a world government in place.

[@basilrose]

People don't cause inflation, bosses do.

[@RussCR5187]

One could say that bosses work within an economic system that rewards short-term profit and punishes short-term losses, so jacking up prices in such a system is strongly correlated with "doing a good job". From that point of view, then, the system itself is at least partially to blame.

[@wallacehowery6414]

@@RussCR5187 that's a BS rule that econmist made up to normalize taking advantage of other people. If we say its a rule, it's justified, and hey, I guess we got to do it (buy a company, slash 90% of the workers, report a profit to your share holders. Hey, it's just business).

[@samb770]

Great interview.

[@monkerud2108]

Hey nice to see wolff again!:)

[@dragonslair951167]

Where is Richard getting the idea that employers make up about 1-2% of the population? The estimates I see on business owners put it closer to 10%.

[@BBBarua]

Whether heck in the system or system improvement, the Employers have full control over "how much" and "who" gets the information. They can simply make changes with a few clicks. This is called the digital information age, and they will dictate however they see fits fair or unfair. No one can back-check their actions. The more we go that route, the more inequality will grow in the future.

[@Solrac-Siul]

Agree or not with this view in regards crypto, one thing that he states is true, the current system is now traveling over uncharted waters or terrain and most of what by now has become traditional solutions or practices appear to not have the desired or expected outcome. This does not mean that "capitalism" is dead or on it's death bed (yet) but assuming the pace of changes continues and more pressure is put on the system we are in either already or approaching a moment of transformation.

[@rogersmith7396]

Its a system of one against all and its reached its end. The next step is military conquest, an ancient human tradition to increase wealth.

[@AcmePotatoPackingPocatello]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Outstanding !!

[@maxmercor5772]

Petroleum companies who have decades of experience looking ahead for opportunities, they suddenly forgot to scale the oil and gas production in time and that is why gas prices are rising... Professor Wolff is spot on as always, many reasonings are just made up.

[@barrycadena2501]

Oil and gas are reducing their stake and investments in production due to green policies that are aimed directly at reducing carbon pollution. California’s 2045 carbon neutrality goal for example. Why would a company waste money on production that’s not only going to not be profitable but unnecessary wasteful? We have to live with the consequences in price for that, same with the inflation which may be a result of the petro-dollar system becoming endangered by this ideologically and state sanctioned attack on that sector.

[@rogersmith7396]

Gas prices have been falling steadily here for 6 weeks. $2.64 / gal.

[@barrycadena2501]

@@rogersmith7396 Nice. Biden tapped into our national reserves. Enjoy it while it lasts

[@rogersmith7396]

@@barrycadena2501 We have zero national reserves of gasoline. Just crude oil which would have to be refined and transported each way. Plus its a negligible amount of US daily consumption. That was a political move to make it sound like he could do something. The real reason is the CAFE standards have led to a continual decline of consumption which no doubt means we are nearing over capacity and so the oil companies pricing power is reduced. Of course OPEC has cut production due to falling demand.

[@ivandafoe5451]

How about looking at those increasing gas prices this way? Saudi Arabia controls OPEC...OPEC controls the price of oil...OPEC raised the price of oil months before the recent COP26 meeting...it was attended by representatives of oil producing countries who were there to make agreements to cut oil production through legislation to combat climate change...an army of oil industry lobbyists were there to stop this from happening and they succeeded. COP26 was a failure that barely managed to produce a woefully inadequate agreement that included continuing oil production. How?...by convincing oil producers that it was in their best interests to continue receiving the financial benefits from this production while the oil prices were at an all-time high. After OPEC got what they wanted, they kept the prices high until the public attention was diverted by other issues...when the time was right, they lowered them to get everyone back into consuming the existing product and to create the need for more of it.

[@timmybear4449]

Would love for y'all to discuss Nancy Pelosi's family tree, and how she is related to Gavin Newsom. It would be interesting to hear Richard's opinion on Pelosi.

[@rogersmith7396]

Time for her to head out to the rich peoples nursing home.

[@timmybear4449]

@@rogersmith7396 agreed.

[@rogersmith7396]

@@timmybear4449 She can teach the old folks how to do stock swindles. That and fold napkins.

[@FPOAK]

Marx was right: NFTs are basically just the tendency of the rate of profit to fall manifested in GIF form

[@twistedoperator4422]

There is no "scapegoat" needed that Wolff speaks of. Just saying the words free market itself is enough to justify inflation or anything for that matter. Some people like to say things to the effect of "the market sets the prices" describing it like it's a law of nature more or less.

[@dimamatat5548]

Technofeudaism is not bad. Decentralization and technological advancement are good.

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

Decentralization isn't what's happening -- despite the hype. I think Yanis Varoufakis has some of the most concise & clear descriptions of technofeudalism out there right now. If you're interested, here's one such explanation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZnbYaanlMyLgZY

[@jessewood3196]

That's a good point. I feel like the left has to spend more time, effort, energy and prep to organize - just to have any capacity to check the destructive, reactive energy on the right (not to mention the suffocating, sleeper-hold of the lib center). They don't really have to organize it seems. We have to work harder than them for less results. *I'm NOT saying it's not worth it, just observing.

[@ellarweegadsden8483]

That's why the system is the way it is: to make it as hard as possible to change it. Hence the changing of voting laws in more than half of the states.

[@crhu319]

It's a question of tactics. Most efficient to target Christianity itself, as was the way France and Russia succeeded in their revolutions.

[@DillPhobia]

YUP. All I can say is YUP. YUUUP!

[@naturallaw1733]

can I get a Yup Yuup ! ☝

[@DillPhobia]

@@naturallaw1733 Yup Yuup!

[@saintpatrick6681]

well I saw the same trend and stocked up on sleeping bags, work gloves, tennis shoes and vitamins. how bloody obvious was it that inflation or price gouging was on the horizon. very obvious

[@Ianpact]

Thank you.

[@hiroyukihasegawa8850]

Current situation in the world shows madness of economic reason of David Harvey.

[@vivianoosthuizen8990]

The machine world's mantra... To achieve total commodification, sentimentality, difference and tradition must be eradicated in favour of seamless efficiency.

[@robinmiller5256]

Gambling and the lottery seem to be some peoples only hope of ever escaping poverty.

[@JohnnyAmerique]

I like Wolff but there’s a lot more to the current inflation than just greedy companies building up inventories. First and foremost, the supply chain disruptions are very real. Because almost every industry uses “just in time” business processes and inventory management, when certain facilities had to shut down because of covid outbreaks, this had huge ripple effects further down the supply chain, which are still not over. Second, faced with a catastrophic deflationary collapse when the pandemic hit, governments engaged in hugely expansionary fiscal and monetary policy. This both juiced up aggregate demand and increased the money supply substantially. While this is far preferable to the alternative of a new depression, inflation was a predictable consequence of the pandemic response.

[@frevazz3364]

Companies don't have to operate in Just In Time, that was done to max profit not unlike sending manufacturing overseas, they don't have to do it that way, but it's become a short term mindset of quick profit with no thought of long term ramifications. The other piece is that certain players in the supply chain have realized that they can just keep increasing prices despite having the ability to produce more, they are intentionally withholding back from making more materials available to justify pricing increases.

[@JohnnyAmerique]

@@frevazz3364 I would agree that they didn’t have to go to JIT, but now that it’s the standard across the supply chain worldwide it’s going to be very difficult to undo. It would require concerted state policy action across all or at least the vast majority of the G20, and I just don’t see that being in the cards. I do agree that some producers are holding back on increasing output and/or building up inventories. However, this is predictable and rational firm behaviour in an inflationary environment.

[@crhu319]

Also a lot of things like meat and dairy and fossil had hidden liabilities.

[@peterjol]

almost all problems could be solved simply by making it financially worthwhile for people to start sharing the jobs we can agree we NEED people to do and working much less....no more working and doing anything FOR money but sharing the work we need.,

[@arabcadabra8863]

You are right, but that is going to take a MASSIVE deprogramming effort. It's easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled. And that is why the right is coming for our schools.

[@rogersmith7396]

Some people are content with a little, others are not content with a lot. How are you going to re engineer the human animal to one type? Any system must allow for individual variation. And in fact some are completely useless or even counter productive to society. It would be nice to get all the homeless off the street but are we going to build them mansions? Capitalism solves the problem in a brutal rationing way. Whats the replacement?

[@rogersmith7396]

@@arabcadabra8863 Unfortunately they have no intention of taxing themselves to fund them. At best they will destroy the schools entirely like they are with college at absurd costs.

[@arabcadabra8863]

@@rogersmith7396 The replacement is Communism. That is the threat, at least. If the moneyed elites do not loosen the screws, the working class will have no choice but to burn it all down. There is room for both social and private economics. It is not a zero sum game.

[@rogersmith7396]

@@arabcadabra8863 Pure communism believes in an ideal man who does'nt in fact exist. The Bolshevicks shot millions trying to find the ideal man. It would be the same anywhere.

[@wesleyreiber5643]

Prof Wolff is a genius! -Economist

[@Peorhum]

Cryptocurrency...the new tulips...as least when the tulips crashed you had a tulip, when cryptocurrency crash you have nothing.

[@martynsmith6263]

Ironic he says there is nothing new in starting a new libertarian money while spousing socialism (old as time right?) Always listen to Dr Wolf but he gets it wrong most of the time. A return to free market capitalism is needed.

[@rogersmith7396]

The latest Zuckerberg idea of people living inside their computers while idiotic to me is frightening in some aspects. It is the premis of the Matrix movies. While I think most people would see this as childish and laughable, many are already commited to escaping reality with drugs, alcohol, money, political nonsense, etc. I would fear a subclass of the population who truly can not discern reality from fantasy. MTG comes to mind.

[@annjuurinen6553]

Zuckerberg has always looked like a front man for others to me. Doesn't look like a leader at all. Not even a true geek, just merely a lawyer with a propensity for theft of intellectual property. Law can change the balance of this present system. "Who the gods will drive mad, they first make great."

[@rick-yo]

What is Prof Wolff wearing?? Throw on a gold chain and he’s ready for a 70’s party! What pants do you guys think he’s wearing…1) velvet 2) corduroys 3) leather

[@ToddWright2]

KZbin recommendation algorithm is scarily accurate at times. I would have sought this out if it didn't appear techno-magically. That is a testament to its power and the power of technology over us. On Edit: Ana's question on _inflation_ and Dr. Wolff's answer is the real value here.

[@RussCR5187]

The increasing misuse of AI should be truly terrifying to all of us. It's a kind of back door authoritarianism.

[@ivankuljis1780]

More valuable than MONEY, GOLD, DIAMONDS & LIKE is KNOWLEDGE! PEOPLE___GET SMART! 'Chief, would you believe?'

[@susana.esteves]

professor wolff always gracing us with that knowledge

[@ashokshah7631]

It is time somebody like Prof. Wolf wtites a modern Das Capital. It is heart-erenching to see young kids on their motorbikes and bicycles running around to deliver food to make a few bobs to survive while people like Musk don't have to hesitate to spends billions for twitter and space journeys. Pro CV. Wolfe should make a video to tell us how to stop this loot by a few of the many.

[@PoliticalFuturism]

Rick Wolff, coming through as always.

[@toi_techno]

great

[@Wisemuse]

Listening to Wolf talk is awesome! How can someone so educated and smart be so stupid? Prices are not set by employers. If they were everything would cost $1Mil. Historically, government(s) have been the cause of inflation. Usually through wars which cause shortages. In the case of Socialist countries (Venezuela being the most recent, 700% inflation) it is caused by mismanaging supply side issues, monetary policies, etc. Of course, lately in the US printing/borrowing money to buy votes is our current cause. It is important for government not to interfere with prices, because pricing controls distribution. You will cause shortages if you mess with it. Socialism is more a religion than an economic philosophy, you have be able to ignore 140 years of disasters and continue to believe. BTW: prices and labor rates are set markets not business owners.

[@geoffreynhill2833]

He's great, isn't he? 😉

[@ernestweber5207]

Bingo!

[@kulturfreund6631]

Inflation is a money supply that surpasses the supply of goods and services. Rising prices are a symptom/result of it, not the inflation itself.

[@gallectee6032]

Wow, I've never heard it from this perspective.

[@greg-op2jh]

I wish that we could connect to everyone's phone on a live stream. And every American watches this....

[@lepidoptera9337]

Americans are watching enough bullshit, already. Why do you want them to watch even more bullshit?

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

COOL ASS HAT PROFESSOR WOLFF 💯👍🏾

[@woolfulrebellion]

Surprised that Kasparian and Richard Wolff are on the same program.....

[@DanDeLeoninthefield]

1:30 Wolff is describing people whom I like to call, "knee jerk righties".

[@rogersmith7396]

Having a knee jerk is a hell of a lot easier than thinking. As Jethro Bodine said "I tried thinking once, It hurt".

[@muscovyducks]

go Wolff

[@ahmad_serendipity]

Just one thing please ! , Someone please tell me that Professor Wolff did NOT actually praise the Federal Reserve act ! , Or sponsor its founders argument for establishing it !

[@AJ-gc5mp]

Welp I’m poor and of the left so I am going to keep making $ on crypto. I’d love to get out there and be of the revolution but I’ve got mouths to feed. What else can a simple worker do to get ahead?

[@felicetanka]

Freedom comes with responsibilities or else our societal soul will suffer.

[@captain_context9991]

Richard Wolff is great. But he also goes on Jimmy Dore and a couple of other shows where they openly ridicule and laugh at TYT.

[@RussCR5187]

So maybe those folks need to hear his message most urgently.

[@jamesconkle9158]

Didn’t hear much about the metaverse but appreciate the reframing of inflation. The crypto enthusiasm has grown so much within the past year with perceived inflation when in reality it’s so close to the lottery or gambling for most people

[@ReneSalasDesign]

I think there needs to be a more nuanced conversation on the state of the current system that is driving people to take higher risks, from the nature of volatility in a new emerging asset class. They aren't really connected even tho the former utilizes the latter to express their frustrations. I'd even say that the volatility is a bi product of current state of desperation. If people were more secure in their finances, the markets would not swing as wildly.

[@jamesconkle9158]

@@ReneSalasDesign Agreed. I’m reading the Corrosion of Character that was written in the late 90s but seemed to gain even more relevancy over the past few years. I just finished the chapter on risk and while I’m not good as summarizing these concepts it point out that for those with the desire to grow capital need to be comfortable taking risks where outcomes are incalculable. In doing so they loose the ability to conduct a stable and self reflective life. And the pressure scales down to any worker as we downsized the corporation structure we’re scaling up the pressure on the individual.

[@cinemaipswich4636]

Why does it feel like Zukerberg wants to immerse us in an electric dream? Does he want us to enter his virtual world and become addicted moreso than we are now, regarding the internet? Perhaps his favorite movie is "The Matrix"? I think his female partner is much more astute than he is.

[@huss4realz]

Nando, what's that video from Yannis??!!!! LINK IT!!!!!

[@JimJamJuicy]

“Govern me harder Daddy” Richard Wollf Had to go and read some Murray Rothbard to purge myself of this crap and lies

[@dingfeldersmurfalot4560]

I like Wolff, but if he thinks crypto is just gambling and a lottery, his understanding is limited and also begs the question: Compared to what?

[@lepidoptera9337]

That bitcoin is a scam is an absolute statement. It's also absolutely true. :-)

[@theodore8178]

Well git inventory. The capitalists have been using git inventory for decades... Gas and shipping prices have gone up since covid. And they have been price gouging instead of eating the losses.

[@nortonkelly8460]

Techno-feudalism is 1 way of describing what WEF is trying to bring about, but they are doing it with the governments and China included, it's going to end all rights for people, I want to know what Richard Wolff things in terms not just in worker's rights, but human rights and civil rights, what Authority to tell people and individuals to do this or that, does the state or corporation have

[@sustaingainz7856]

Is this why it’s said the ussr didn’t have inflation?

[@richardouvrier3078]

NFTs are an example of crises inherent to libertarian capitalism.

[@Indiestv]

I find it sad how many people miss the whole point of Crypto. True the majority of crypto is about making lots of money quick but that doesn't change what is slowly unfolding through the inovation that is going on in the Crypto space. This is going to make the internet look like a corner shop compared Amazon

[@clarke4552]

Can we get a cut that doesn't include Kasparian?

[@ar_no_]

My man really did not do his homework

[@cesrrr01]

the music at the end is way too loud

[@marcusimpresario7724]

~ This is terrible! Under this crazy Capitalist system we have ordinary bakers deciding what the price of bread should be! These Baker people are ignorant! They've never studied Economics! They can charge whatever they want! Much better to have a centralized government bureaucracy under a professor of Economics, like Richard Wolff. He and his thousands of professional economists will then determine what the price of everything should be! ~

[@naturallaw1733]

more Wolff in thee Economy, yes!🐺

[@rogersmith7396]

The bakers are paid by the hour. Wall Street tells their corporate overlords what to charge. Free market has probably never existed but it sure as hell does not exist now.

[@nicklockard]

There are fixes for this: fix the voting to be approval voting (you pick all the people you think could do the job well, in accordance with your values and priorities) instead of first-past-the-post voting. When you do that, political parties lose all power, and their stranglehold over democracy and unfettered capitalism dies with it. IT'S THE VOTING!!!!

[@brucebirch2790]

Agree with what a few others have pointed out. Wolff, many of whose views and analyses I find convincing, would benefit from researching Blockchain. The fact that many are currently playing the crypto market like a casino, can obscure the potential of decentralised finance to subvert and undermine capitalism.

[@rogersmith7396]

I would get rid of cash now. I doubt having a national currency as the world currency is a good thing. However untill you can actually buy all goods and services with an electronic currency its just a scam. Your savings needs to be stable. Maybe it will all work out in the future but the future is not here now.

[@kh9242]

What kills me is that a 20 year old can go to Vegas and max out a credit card gambling, the government and regulators don't care. If a 20 year old is broke and goes to a payday lender to get money to make it through the week the government and regulators don't care. If that same 20 year old wants to dump out of the current fiat based economy by going into crypto all of a sudden they want to "protect the consumer" and regulate the shit out of crypto. I don't want to hear about how I should be protected as a consumer given what happened to us in 2008! Where TF was all that "consumer protection" back then? Given a choice between fiat boom and bust and crypto market volatility I choose Crypto. Cryptofuturisem is the only path to freedom.

[@rohanthetrojan3175]

@@rogersmith7396 this is the worse time to save money, the cpi is in some level highly deceptive especially how it doesn’t take into account certain purchases that have sky rocketed, for example red meat like steaks is something throughout the years that has become a luxury and many others. By some estimates inflation is actually 14 percent. This is time if u can to buy up hard assets.

[@rogersmith7396]

@@rohanthetrojan3175 I expect people who are paying two and three times what something like a house is worth will end up getting blasted. No sympathy.

[@dannywindham3295]

And Wallah the Federal Reserve

[@koohanpaik-mander7567]

Sorry, but Ana Kasparian has demonstrated a callowness I cannot watch. Maybe she's changed since TYT, but i haven't the patience to find out. Good bye.

[@mightyone3737]

It's worth noting that it wasn't actually wildly more profitable to build new factories in poorer nations, there was a very real desire to weaken the American working class. Workers had to be paid still, and those workers were considerably less effective (limited education/experience makes a difference, as does living in actual poverty long term), but it was seen as a real benefit if non-American workers were given more power, and American workers, the most influential workers in the world, lost power long term. It certainly helped kill unions and any illusions of workers' rights in America, and those developing nation workers could be openly abused, AKA they were gaining money, not rights, another step in the right direction, because if those formerly impoverished workers could start buying more crap themselves, that would mean more consumers.

[@SolSystemDiplomat]

2:28 seconds in and I’ve got to hope this Wolff dude explains something correctly. Holy off the mark this first section was.

[@marcoortiz8046]

Is Ana necessary?

[@theodore8178]

Crypto is extremely volatile. Thats easy play for day and swing traders. Big short term risk for people who don't know how to gamble for a living. "Hodling" not trading but holding btc eth or bch has been nothing but massive economic gains for hodlers.

[@annjuurinen6553]

There are few true gamblers who are able to sustain their wins. Instability leads to annihilation. I think of the current runup as being a cross between the Dutch investments in tulip bulbs and a Ponzi scheme. Of course money is imaginary, it is an agreement we make with each other.

[@zac491]

Those private money issuers in the old days where not using open source blockchain tech... If you don't understand what that means, your opinion has little value in this argument about money issuance.