Wolff Responds: Supply Chain Disruptions...a BS Excuse

In this Wolff Responds, Prof. Wolff challenges the widely used explanation for inflation: supply chain disruptions. Supply chain disruptions happen all the time and businesses deal with them on a daily basis, with specific purchasing teams whose role is entirely based on expecting and anticipating these disruptions. Instead of blaming the supply chain, we must face the harsher reality-companies are jacking up prices to make up for losses from the last two years, and the system cannot handle it. This is a systematic breakdown, a decline of the capitalist order, and it’s time to look for real, sustainable solutions.
Wolff Responds is a‪@democracyatwrk‬ production. We provide these videos free of ads. Please consider supporting our work. Visit our website democracyatwork.info/donate or join our growing Patreon community and support Global Capitalism Live Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff at / gcleu .
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[@kingtrance307]

The general problem we can’t solve… “corporate greed!”

[@mab7175]

We can't change the corporate state. And Richard Wolff certainly has no solutions.

[@ttttypes]

One of the greatest living economists Thank you Dr. Wolff, as always, for your clarity and your focus on the Working Class

[@ccpj0eyb319]

😂🤣😂

[@DoberDudeProductions]

@@ccpj0eyb319 lame troll profile lol

[@mab7175]

Richard Wolff has no viable solutions.

[@chrisrayne3274]

So great an economist that not a single successful economy runs according to his theories.

[@KarlMarxFanClub]

Perfectly communicated, so that laymen like me can easily understand what’s going on. Thank you sir.

[@joeharsch4055]

He takes some time to get used to, but he knows what he's talking about...that"s what "teachers" do!

[@user-tl5yb1jy7c]

If companies can make more money by raising prices, why didn't they do that in 2019 and retire early? LOL! you are a fool.

[@marywest6844]

@@user-tl5yb1jy7c that's ok you will be out on your ass soon. Proff is just helping the softer landing.

[@edd1EroxPwDblah]

He's lying to you lol

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@joeharsch4055 of course he knows about business. OK, he's never run one, or started one but he's had the benefit of successful business people funding their kids at college for years to pay his hefty salary. He also has broad experience of selling his books on Amazon (despite him saying how evil they are). All that must make him an expert right?

[@adventureswithlils4331]

I work in supply chain procurement for a private company. There has been a real issue getting supplies regularly. We have had to limit production due to this problem. It probably impacted out output by 2% but they impact is real. It left employees at home because we did not have enough materials. We have seen price increases as well. Our employee wages have been increased, and our raw materials increased. Ours sales dollars increased, but our overall production units dropped. But due to cost pressures the company (which it shares with the employees) is down due to input costs. The lack of consistent labor pool is what drove the supply chain crisis… nobody could produce 100% because employees have been out more frequently and longer due to the pandemic. It is real… hopefully that part is getting better but the inflation cycle seems to be in motion.

[@ants_in_my_eyes_Wilson]

Kind of ridiculous that people still dispute this shit. I talk about it on Reddit, the whole corporate greed driving this inflation thing... people incessantly clamor to make excuses for these corporations. I will never understand that tendency.

[@michaeldugger6964]

cognitive dissonance

[@DirkLarien]

dont bother with reddit it is known to be infested with propagandists

[@joeharsch4055]

Just stay the course! My dad used to say there are more assholes in the USA than asses. 👌👍

[@user-tl5yb1jy7c]

They probably laugh at you because corporations were always greedy. Nothing changed there. The proposition that free market capitalism and greed drives up prices is laughable.

[@boltstrike2787]

Probably because they've been brainwashed by right wing media to see everything else as the problem.

[@kalaperr]

I shared to my Facebook and have continued to over the years. I know it’s made a difference for those who take the time. Thank you for your support of the working class like myself. I hope one day we can live in a world with much much less exploitation of people, labor and resources. With videos like yours I am confident that a bright future is possible

[@joeharsch4055]

Cool! Me to! Wolff is a consumate teacher! 👍

[@carinalundstrom7684]

Mr. Wolff, the wisest of them all, how easily he explains the most important economic components of society in the capitalist system, worth knowing and understanding for me and many others. Mr. Wolff, the master of masters, in making visible❤️

[@joeharsch4055]

Trust me, there are tens of millions of scarcity-of-mind Americans that either don't tune in to see Wolff, or don't understand WTF he's talking about whenb they do! 🤣

[@carinalundstrom7684]

@@joeharsch4055 I know, but I don't think it is about their lack-of-mind but a poor interest in politics created by the capitalist system- the working class must be kept under the whip and need absolutely no higher education, preferably none at all- You yourself seems to go hand in hand with all these millions, simply put to understand -if the people of America listened to the wise ones, like Wolff, then America would look different, better for the people and worse for the political elite. The same in my country, Sweden follows the US political line, has always done, in the past behind the scenes in present on stage.

[@Uftonwood2]

Prof Wolff is the best President America never had.

[@enzopenzoo]

Kung!

[@imperialrolls]

Thank you, Prof. Wolf! I sincerely appreciate you.

[@mrmeow2297]

Dr. Wolff exposing the worlds' BS. Love it!

[@ccpj0eyb319]

You mean adding to it? 😂

[@astrahcat1212]

He's a phd Yale professor by the way, doesn't sound very proletariat to me.

[@mab7175]

What difference does it make. He has no viable solutions to change the status quo.

[@mab7175]

@@astrahcat1212 Professor Wolff is an academician with no feasible solutions to change the status quo. A far as I'm concerned he might as well be illiterate on this subject.

[@astrahcat1212]

​@@mab7175 The truck drivers, machinists, engineers, scientists, factory workers, etc... are the proletariat. I agree with you.

[@honestarizona4301]

As a simple plebeian, at first, I bought the "supply chain disruption" story hook, line and sinker. After turning my time and attention to learning more, I came to the realization that there is MUCH MORE to the situation than just supply chain issues. To your point, (supply chain = symptom / system = issue) my next thought is, "Is system breakdown as a result of: A. entropy OR B. intent. And IF the answer is B. intent, WHO, is driving this decision and with what expectation/anticipated result? My thoughts, Honest.

[@BarefootBard]

Yes. Most of the problems we are mired in now are down to greed. Greed is a feature of failing systems that arrived at the point of breakdown in large part due to unchecked greed. Not a fun country to be in these days.

[@paulyandle6081]

S'why I'm leaving. America has become nothing but one big 24-7 busindss deal.

[@tj7870]

greed is root of all evil!

[@ants_in_my_eyes_Wilson]

Fuck yeah Wolff responds.

[@PantsStatusZero]

So I work in Manufacturing and saw the effects of Supply Chain Disruptions firsthand. So when I read the title of this video, I made the guess that you were probably going to point out that Supply Chain Disruptions alone wouldn't account for the amount of inflation we saw. + 1 point to me. One insight though, a lot of businesses didn't know or have plans in place to deal with Supply Chain Disruptions, so there was a lot of overcorrecting on pricing. Then when things started leveling out those same companies were slow to start offering more competitive pricing (see record profits.) Your analysis is spot on.

[@GodKitty677]

"Companies are jacking up prices to make up for losses from the last two years, and the system cannot handle it." This sounds 100% what I would do after covid-19 lock downs ended if I ran a a business, I would try to recover the lost profits by price increases. With the goal of maximizing profits, I would also want wages not to increase. Thus the losses of the wealth would be passed onto the workers. Also ask for tax cuts and for no benefit inceases for the poor. You could give the poor a one off payment and pretend you are helping them. This will likely cause strikes by unions and you can use the strikes to attack the unions.

[@chrisrayne3274]

You haven't thought that through have you? If you are an evil greedy capitalist who can freeze/cut wages, why doesn't everyone do that so the time? Oh wait, is it because there is a market for labour as well as goods and services?

[@GodKitty677]

@@chrisrayne3274 Wages are far too low for most people at the bottom to live on which is why government provides benefits to increase wages so people can work and not stave to death. Remember without these workers the market would collapse. Yet the market cannot pay these people a sustainable wage and government most pay them enough from taxes. The companies that get government aid for their workers wages make billions in profits. Unions have been attacked and destroyed were I live. There is no power for the average worker. Most jobs, the wage is set by the minimum wages laws. Many jobs are zero hours or part time. This means no real retirement and no real stable income. Wages are shown in graphs as not growing for most people for a very long time. This implies that there is no real market were workers can affect wages offered by the wealthiest.

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@GodKitty677 well there's a lot there so let's chunk it out. Firstly there will always be jobs that pay the least in any system. Statistically, few stay in these jobs for long but they make sense when someone is young and unskilled and they will move onto better jobs as they skill up. You also need to remember that the less wealthy members of society buy the products these companies make so if you up the wages, you up the cost to the customer. Ref Unions, that various from place to place but in the land of Mr Wolff they are still very strong in many sectors. Just look at how difficult it is to sack a bad teacher. So difficult it hardly ever happens. Ref your other stats, it's tricky to respond without knowing which country you live in. If it's Somalia that is over thing, if it is Canada it is another. That said, I'll state for the record that, for many reasons, some moral, some practical, I do not support the idea and practice of zero hours contracts, and, in the West at least, they are a declining phenomena that is increasingly being challenged in the courts (and quite rightly).

[@GodKitty677]

@@chrisrayne3274 Many jobs that pay the least, some too little to live on. That require government benefits to work, Are 100% needed to keep the whole system going. If the wage of these workers are not sustainable, then their ability to do them is unsustainable. Meanwhile people payed the most, perform the least for the average persons benefit. The average wage in the UK is very low, if you can get paid over £28k then you are likely above average. Most people get paid below average, the last time I looked near half get paid close to minimum wage.

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@GodKitty677 you seem to have no idea how a labour market works. It is not a question of how valuable the labour (or the people who provide it) are to the organisation, hopefully they are treated with respect regardless. It is a question of how replaceable they are. The simple truth is the guy who taught himself how to manage the network that the factory depends on to make its IT systems function will earn more than the guy packing boxes in the warehouse because there is a limited supply of one and a plentiful supply of the other.

[@nodelayfordays8083]

I had the same idea that a lot of the price hiking was due to make up lost profits during the pandemic. That said, isn't still possible that other companies are feeling pressures from supply chain issues? Like the semiconductor shortage or lumber shortage, etc? Can't both things be true ?

[@irabraus9478]

If memory serves, our CONGRESS recently (finally!) approved funding to support domestic semiconductor production.

[@CoeusZeno]

You are one of my favorite humans! Thank you so much for spreading this information.

[@anarchisttechsupport6644]

Some of it depends on the sector. And yet, globally? These institutions have worked hard to cut costs by calling stockpiles "obsolete" and "risky" to warehouse.

[@kevinschmidt2210]

Just In Time JIT inventory control never did work out as planned. It always fails during the smallest bottleneck.

[@anarchisttechsupport6644]

@@kevinschmidt2210 its too bad that a newly global, futures-oriented commodities market (Real Estate) made warehousing cost-ineffective below a certain monopolistic margin.

[@STScott-qo4pw]

@@kevinschmidt2210 no shit. i drive truck long-haul. how many times over the past 25 yrs do i pick up a load and on my merry way to a consignee and within the hour despatch is on the phone asking where am I, apparently forgetting how to use the truck's satellite tracking. this calling continues throughout the trip "if you don't stop playing games (?!) there's a factory gonna have to send people home!" as if despatch gives a shit. then the yard mgr calls, then head office. no one seems to take into account hours of service that i can legally drive before i can get something to eat, a shower, sleep. in the pre-ELD days we were always pressured/threatened into falsifying paper log books. now, they can't be falsified. you get 11 hours driving in a 14 hr window and that's it - driver gets 10 hrs to rest. Law. Don't believe me - talk to ANY state trooper. shippers, receivers, carriers collude to put it all on the truck drivers. Trains? sooner or later there must be a truck involved no matter what. what JIT never took into consideration is climate. I am professional enough a truck driver to know when to pull the rig off the road and hunker down to deal with tornadoes, flash flooding, rain (maybe an hour on the side of the road waiting for it to lessen), and snow/ice. I also know when to slow down and el tougho shitto to the company and its customers. I am not driving 75 ft of vehicle that bends in the upper quarter on anyone's road in 6 inches of heavy wet snow. SLIIIIIDE. screw your economy: I want to get home alive. no load is worth a life. this is the biggest reason elon musk and every other corporate turd in Murica are doing their best to perfect self-driving trucks: no whinyassed crybaby drivers needing food, water, sleep, getting ill... it's a real drag having to deal with human beings, y'know. Will be interesting to see how self-driving trucks cope with blizzards and black ice. JIT takes NONE of the above into account. It was built for a machines-only operation.

[@kiwitrainguy]

Your comment needs more likes so here are some more:👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍@@STScott-qo4pw

[@nancyhirsch7768]

Thanks for pointing out the truth again. Now I have another concise explanation to share.

[@browk2512]

I am genuinely shocked by this video. I am someone who owns several of Professor Wolff's books, and has had much of my personal beliefs largely influenced by his work. Richard appears to be living in a different universe here. The world he describes is certainly not the one I am living in. Nowhere do I see the major body of mainstream economics pointing to this inflation as a result of supply chain disruptions. I see them blaming it on some kind of imagined improvement in the lives of workers. Mainstream economists everywhere are saying the bounceback of employment and rise of union friendly sentiment among workers are to blame for this crisis, not to mention the small amount of leverage granted to workers during the pandemic with our small individual stimulus packages. In reality, it WAS some very real supply chain disruptions that inevitably occurred when we shut down large sections of the global economy that caused some initial raising of prices. From here, the pre-inflation fearmongering created by those same economists is what gave most major corporations the ability to raise prices and have something to point to. This is not some kind of esoteric understanding, but one held broadly amongst leftists. This has accurately been the leftist response to central bank led interest rates everywhere; that it misses the cause of this inflation altogether. Raising interest rates can only lower levels of employment and wellbeing for the working class, a group that is already the main group suffering from this inflation, and NOT the cause. Corporations are choosing to sacrifice their poorest customers by believing that their remaining customers who can somehow afford this price gouging will pay an even larger amount of their incomes on their products. To conclude: the early pandemic shutdowns created inevitable supply chain disruptions which caused some prices to rise in a few industries. Economists pretended that this was caused by government stimulus and a rise in the popularity of unions, which gave corporations a perfect excuse to make more money and blame the people and forces that impede them the most. Professor Wolff here creates some kind of false reality where mainstream economists and right wing forces are pointing to supply chain disruptions as the major cause for current inflation. This is not a reality I see anywhere.

[@andybaldman]

Paragraphs. Learn to use them.

[@browk2512]

@@andybaldman probably a good idea

[@jeremybohannon4915]

Spot on. This guy takes any situation as a reason to critize capitalism. It's definitely a supply chain issue, it's very obvious. Yes there is corporate greed but it's not some conspiracy between every company in existence right now to fabricate a lie.

[@andybaldman]

@@jeremybohannon4915 It doesn't have to be a lie to be true, or to be greed. Corporations that are capitalist seek to maximize capital. So they will take every opportunity to do so. They just won't be public about it. But I see it at my own company.

[@bmwm5628]

I'm a financial idiot, but watching your interview on NPR this morning, 07/27/22, really explained how corrupt our government and system truly is. Well done Sir. And thank you.

[@chrisrayne3274]

Don't worry, Wolff is a financial idiot too so you'll get along just fine ...

[@pieterv.7158]

A great economist, a wonderful teacher and a good antidote to today's gibberish.

[@wayneplaisted9245]

People say they are not spending or buying anything they don't need even Amazon and Walmart says sales were down so how does that work. Supply shortage or shopper shortage.

[@kevinschmidt2210]

Actually, it is a billionaire and oligarchy surplus. Guillotines are advised. lol

[@BBBarua]

COVID19 really hurt the businesses. The quickest way to boost profitability is to pull your prices as hard as possible to achieve that. And the same time, companies can point supply chain to justify their price hike This is the best time to "Blame & Gain" ! :)

[@kevinschmidt2210]

COVID really hurt the small businesses. Big businesses got bailed out with over five TRILLION dollars, with no strings attached, which is the root cause of our current double digit inflation.

[@paulyandle6081]

Only they end up fucking Their consumer market. Stupid and unjustifiable. Probably learned at The Harvard Business School....

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@kevinschmidt2210 But they still raise the price anyway because it's profitable and they got an excuse for it. It's not like people can refuse to buy because sometimes it's essential products or looking for another supplier because they might already claimed 90% of the market already.

[@dannyboy8850]

I am not too sure this video can explain computer chips shortage has been going on for the last 3 years. Maybe professor Wolff can do a video just to address this particular issue in computer chip shortage.🤞🤞🤞

[@tomnanD3]

Thank you for what you do, Prof. Wolff.

[@davevallee7945]

Already shared it professor Wolff. Thank you.

[@cristianodesade680]

Great work Richard....man I am missing your input on RT America News, just as I miss RT America itself.

[@kathleenshannon8284]

Keep it up Wolff.......great pressntation again.

[@Ianpact]

Thank you, Prof. Wolff.

[@randomhuman5636]

Mr. Wolff: Thank you, informative and thought-provoking, as always. Several thoughts after another episode I heard but cannot now find-in any case, a recent one where you talk about the rising powerhouse economic block of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)-as you explain, an emerging behemoth and new economic pole and competitor to the declining old guard block of the US, Europe, and Japan), also the episode in which you talk about Marx’s surplus theory and, lastly, where you provide an update on the elections and recent political shift in France. Now my comments: First, regarding BRICS, what you say is right on-but can you please talk some time soon about how global capital (formally based in the US and West, but which of course has no master other than profit, which has no allegiance to any particular country or people, and which knows no borders), this global capital can hardly be so foolish and blind as to NOT see how the US, Europe, and Japan are spent, overextended, decadent economies in decline, while the upper hand, on many fronts, is now had by these more dynamic, new emerging markets and economies, BRICS, yes, but also, in aggregate, many other smaller, perhaps, yet similar and, by no means, collectively or individually themselves inconsequential economies (Mexico, for example, among many others). Rather, please talk about how global capital is, in fact, creating hothouse conditions and an unlevel playing field (entiely to its own advantage) in other parts of the world-with things like the disastrous Ukraine war, abandoning or, at least, pivoting from the US, Europe, and Japan, and now pouring itself in a BIG way into the other emerging economies and markets. Second, regarding Marx’s surplus theory, it makes sense but, I think, made more sense in Marx’s day. What’s different now is that the workers that produce the “surplus” wealth are typically now either a) humans in other counties, with the surplus going not only to the capitalists, unfairly as in Marx’s day, but also unfairly to countries that no longer produce (i.e., have outsourced everything), or b) the “workers” producing the “surplus” are in fact not people at all, but rather computers or robots and other technologies owned by capitalists, with the human workers unable to produce nearly as much, nearly as quickly, or to compete and, thus, falling steadily further and further behind. This makes a proletarian uprising by a mass of human workers likely either a) to happen someplace else (by workers on some exploited country over seas), or b) not to happen at all (since machines and robots don’t much revolt, though they are quite good at concentrating obscene wealth in a few hands as never before, and eliminating human jobs and workers). Also, the “surplus” produced increasingly by robots and computers COULD, in theory, be shared in by all-but, of course, there is no current economic incentive why it should, since a handful of multi-billionaires and corporations and banks and stock brokers own everything, including the government, so why would they EVER share? Lastly, regarding the broken US economic and political system, unfortunately for me and others stuck here, what I see is that Americans, in general, are SO clueless, and divided against each other, and asleep, and manipulated, misinformed, hoodwinked, and deluded, whereas the American political and economic and political system is SO far gone, that I’m afraid the death spiral is going to continue and accelerate, and it is all going to get FAR worse before it gets any better. So let’s all get ready: The best is behind us, and what’s to come is NOT going to be pleasant or pretty.

[@cosmicmusicreynolds3266]

great knowledge, truth instead of capitalist excuses

[@stacyaugust331]

Yes this country is conning all of us.

[@dddpvt]

Prof Wolffe...you are too modest. The reason for the success of you programe Is You and the way You express your message.

[@nthperson]

There is also a systemic cause of supply problems: the incentive to hoard assets in anticipation of future higher market prices. This is somewhat difficult for assets with a short shelf live, that is, for assets that depreciate in usefulness in a relatively short amount of time. Hoarding is much easier where land and natural resources are concerned. Land under most circumstances does not depreciate. Nor do natural resources not yet removed from the earth. This type of hoarding would not be possible if an annual tax was imposed on owners of natural assets equal to the potential annual rental value of the land held. Economic theory tells us that land prices would then fall close to zero. Owners of land would then have a strong financial reason to develop the land held to its highest, best legal use or sell to someone who would.

[@austinwebb9110]

Not here to dispute anything just make a point. The problem with the "alternative supplier" argument is that for many components there is only 1 supplier e.g. the chip manufacturer in Taiwan was a single source of many automotive chips. So fundamentally the combination of the previously mentioned example across many industries and Just In Time inventory systems creates a monstrous supply chain issue. I recently just visited a factory that shut down last year which was 1/4 textile mills that made military uniforms. Now that it is gone, there are only three of those left in the U.S. - not exactly relevant but it's another example of real supply chain issues. The JIT model does not encourage surplus or warehousing of products, instead they are made when an order is placed. It works great for non-critical resources but this model has been adopted all over the global economy which does create a huge risk of supply chain issues.

[@kualalumpur2006]

That's the kind of speech we need. ... not the flock leading arrogance.

[@shufa172]

You make a lot of sense!

[@markrussell4682]

This became inevitable the day some Econ professor first formulated the phrase "Just In Time".

[@chrisrayne3274]

Oh, so you keep six months groceries in your cupboard do you?

[@ImGumby711]

@@chrisrayne3274 strawman much?

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@ImGumby711 you need to research the difference between a pointed rebuttal and strawmanning. You just turned the already limited discussion into amateur hour.

[@brettdavidson3866]

Thank you Dr wolf big fan

[@desi_anarch]

Learnt a lot from this

[@yj9032]

Excellent

[@skywolf2012]

Here because of Secular talk,,gr8 stuff because I always thought that

[@jarichards99utube]

Yes, we are definitely in a MAJOR Price-Gouging-Opportunity for our Corporate Dominated System. But - Richard left out ONE ADDITIONAL Significant PROBLEM... That is the "Just In Time" ("High Efficiency".. Lol ) Business model built into our so called 'Global Economy' : ( -StayWell Everyone

[@keithrodgers1030]

JTL more like”just too late” lol !!!

[@jarichards99utube]

@@keithrodgers1030 😁😂🤣 Yes...!

[@kevinjackson4933]

This guy adores the sound of his own voice.

[@charlesgotshall3383]

You know, Karl Marx is historically famous, but no one knows of his sister, Anya. She was famous for inventing the “starter pistol”. The one they use before every race. Anya Marx. (I’ll see myself out.)

[@Rainbirdman1]

Do we have a system, or do we label issues as systemic? Different approaches to each. Very good discussion.

[@williaml5223]

Professor Wolff - I hadn't heard this argument before and it's very interesting. However, don't you think inflation is probably just as, if-not- more, caused by the US Fed and other central banks printing so many new dollars to prop up the stock market and corporations? Here in Australia, the Federal Government paid locked-down peoples' wages for months (a good move in my view) and gave corporations massive hand-outs - even the ones whose business models were actually advantaged by the lock-downs. Would love to hear your view.

[@keithrodgers1030]

The two or three suppliers feeding a business went along time ago (1997). The single source strategy was implemented to drive volume up & unit price down. Every business is single sourcing now. If sales volumes go down then the overhead absorption rate gets spread over fewer sales so prices go up. I agree capitalism died in 2009, it’s been on QE financial life support and now pandemic financial support ever since. A massive loss of consumer consumption is finishing it off. The gravy train has stopped , hmm no it’s come off the tracks.

[@kiwitrainguy]

I work for an importer & wholesaler and we have multiple suppliers. One of our suppliers wants us to buy only from them but my employer always turns them down. If we bought only from one supplier that would be suicide for the business. Might be different if you are a manufacturer but then it depends on what you are making and what materials you need.

[@td7074]

Thats why amazon, loblaw, costc.... report record profit in the last few consecutive yrs.

[@paulwolinsky1538]

Rick, you've got only a partial explanation of "supply chain" issues. It is probably a much better explanation IMHO, to see these problems as being manipulated by corporations themselves as catch-all excuses for what they themselves have created. That's the only explanation that makes sense to me, after, and in light of, complicated, sophisticated supply-chain algorithms which we know exist controlling supplies. We need only remember a few years or maybe a decade ago when advertisements for college-level professional programs in "supply-chain" management were being offered on the web and elsewhere. It doesn't take much imagination, nor does it strain credulity in a cut-throat Capitalist business environment to believe that supply chain problems or issues have been "baked in" to increase profits along with the inflation they are a part of.

[@1RastaWarrior]

"Then I will wander godlike and victorious through the ruins of the world. And, giving my words an active force, I will feel equal to the creator." Karl Marx

[@MasterSage1010]

I've watched now two of your lectures and they are very interesting. I'd like to know what you think of The World Economic Forum and their idea of remaking the world economy into a stakeholder economy. To me a laymen it sounds like the wealthy and powerful collaborating to subjugate the working class.

[@erobos111]

Solid points made here; in particular about the job description of the purchasing manager. The wall st parasite class are forever oleaginous, self serving sociopaths.

[@jghk5866]

What do you think of the food/fertilizer processing plant fires in the US?

[@anthonytwohill9726]

Not coincidental.

[@derekm6699]

What about the geopolitics of future water wars & countries such as the USA disregarding the diminishing fresh water supply from pollution, corporate greed & waste as well as allowing for the near total privatization of water rights causing unrest around the world?

[@newfireidk6065]

Despite not being a patron, I have a question that I would like Mr Wolff to answer What is the difference between common ownership and workplace democracy and which one is more viable than the other ?

[@joeharsch4055]

My favorite treacher, born on APRIL FIRST, 1942, and seven months older than me! hahahaha

[@jamesmorton7881]

Dear Dr. Wolff: Does the FED Velocity of M2 indicate sudden economic slow down that started in 2020 AND remain much depressed same lowest level. (consumer spending changed radically)

[@docholiday8029]

With respect. What is your solution? I am a new subscriber.

[@philobailey5627]

Agreed

[@marywest6844]

Just saw the most fantastic doco. Called Century of the self. How elitist has everybody by manipulation techniques of marketing and psychology. Purposeful to get the control over others, for self enrichment of elites . Consumerism.

[@jabo5894]

they did have record profits over the past 2 years.

[@MaxxHydr0]

Predictive analytics is designed to avoid significant system delays

[@kevinschmidt2210]

Obviously, it does not work as promised.

[@MrIzzyDizzy]

The supply chain is a real problem. the ships are stacked up off the coast of California. The reason they are not being unloaded very fast is truckers are vastly under compensated these days. its basically a gig job now. with extreme expenses. in the big trucking companies are more like uber u must buy your own truck or if they are real employees they are paid very poorly. . Im sure there are many false claims of problems so as to price gouge. But you should looking into trucking industry in California - it is on the verge of collapse.

[@freedomlandcanada230]

agreed. Once again, this man doesn't know how business works. He also thinks printing trillions of dollars had nothing to do with inflation

[@astrahcat1212]

Independent contracting is also made almost impossible in Cali cause of gov.

[@astrahcat1212]

@@freedomlandcanada230 he's a Yale prof man he's working g for the federal reserves private shareholder trillionaire families, but you're not supposed to figure that out. Even Mao Zhedong was a Yale man, and even the Bolshavek revolutionaries were led by a se ret trillionaire class. They changed their names and led the USSR revolution, the bolsheviks ran the majority gov in the USSR.

[@zoyashore7934]

Please come due an episode on Revolutionary Blackout Network!

[@longw01]

It’s da Wooleff! It’s da Wooleff!

[@astrahcat1212]

Collapse of fiat system

[@johncalla2151]

It'd be great if the explanation was that easy. But when places like Shanghai are completely locked down for a month, there are going to be disruptions. Almost all sectors were fine until COVID tripped and fell out of a lab. And I'm not saying that these disruptions aren't intentional, but I doubt it comes down to some CEOs being greedy. This is more of a geopolitical, coordinated strategy. Not all wars are fought with military weapons. As for inflation, that's from the money printing. Not sure why people can't grasp this? They injected $5 trillion of new USD -- completely fabricated out of thin air -- in 2020. How do people not understand that that significantly waters down the value of the currency without changing the value of the resources the currency is used to purchase? Our country is truly doomed because even our "experts" don't understand some of the most basic economic concepts.

[@edmundcarson3662]

I love it. I agree with you. This "intellectual" is a slobby hack. I just got done listening to his gibberish on lex's podcast. He is a moron.

[@astrahcat1212]

But that's common sense. It must be greedy CEOs let's stop inflation by taking away their profits. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@Jodamo]

It's not that simple. Our money supply has always increased since forever. Increasing money supply alone does not immediately mean a spike in inflation.

[@astrahcat1212]

@@Jodamo it’s the supply chain distributions along with federal reserve expanding balance sheet over time

[@johncalla2151]

@@Jodamo There was a massive expansion during COVID. Something like $5 trillion.

[@onatone]

Could you do a video on Jerome Powell the chair of the Federal Reserve and his plan to make decrease purchasing power as he sees Americans don't want to work bc they have too much cash to a spend so they don't work. It's almost pretty laughable but also sad bc I feel this is a sign of how out of touch these ppl are.

[@zimzalabing]

Could you talk some more about government bonds? Is that how the government borrows money?

[@skywolf2012]

Monopoly without regulation..

[@405William]

Dr. Wolff, this whole video would be a lot more convincing if you somehow quantitatively showed that the COVID interruptions are not significantly greater than normal. Otherwise one can just counter with "Well typically interruptions are dealt with on a day to day basis, but never have they occurred on this scale before". If you do this in a follow up video or just reply with a link to the relevant paper(s), I will not stop after reading Vol 1. of Capital (I'm half way done), and I'll read all three just for you :*.

[@markglidden8766]

You say that buyers should have inventory and back up materials in place are you taking into account the "Just in Time inventory system" that almost all manufactures adopted, These days companies do not carry extra inventory, They actually have almost no inventory, The idea is that the materials come in house on the day they need it.

[@PedroSouza-iu5zu]

If you can, it would be interesting if you could get a better microphone, i can hear some weird sibilation, and high pitch noise in the background. If you could do something about that it would help to get the message out, as Mcluhan said, the mean is the massage

[@scottlincoln9900]

Lets all join together on jan6th to peacefully refuse to pay rent from that date out and when tax season comes, refuse to pay federal taxes and put your money where you want it. Lets all make it illegal for any political figure or any person in a seat of power, unable to own stock or their families. We should have proof of sale to show it was not moved but actually sold. They require that level of personal involvement in our life sometimes, lets make them remember WE are the landlords and They are the temporary tenants. Do your job and lead the country, not playing gambler.

[@davidluckens3479]

Thank you for this de-mystification of so much of the propaganda i learned in econ-101 back in the '60s--this video is just one example

[@olcayeroglu885]

Konuşmamızın Türkçe çevirisi yok mu hocam🙂🙂

[@1LaOriental]

Pay up, freeloaders. Time to pay back those stimulus checks!!

[@rcmrcm3370]

👍👍✊✊

[@cocorico128]

What is the solution?

[@kingtrance307]

Start prepping and buying extra food now.

[@culture-jamming-rhizome]

Everyone will have a different situation but in general I would suggest trying to minimize your reliance on the market system and not doing any mindless consuming to start. As for solving our current issues we first have to understand the root problems in society so we are not chopping off branches. I found this to be hierarchy of power structures in politics and the work place along with the property relations that support them. Anything short of of a direct democracy for the former and replacement of private property with public for the latter (read Peter Kropotkin and Murray Bookchin for ideas on this) will always decay into a society of the few dominating the many over time. As far as actions to take towards these changes I find this video a good start. kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6qvpIp9f5KZiaM

[@cocorico128]

@@culture-jamming-rhizome no private property? i feel like thats the opposite of your user icon.

[@culture-jamming-rhizome]

@@cocorico128 That is understandable considering the etymology of words in economics/politics can have almost contradictory opinions making communication difficult. capitalism views all non-government/cooperative property as private and there is no inherent limit to what an individual can own like a factory or farm. Socialism does not allow for the individual ownership of "the means of production" or private property as they would call it such as the farm or factory but allow personal property like your cloths, tv, computer, personal residence, ect.. there is a continuum here though so defining what is and is not personal is debated but I see the problem as extracting value from other peoples labor and machine output for personal profit along with rent seeking. While we still use money I see Monero as the best option being decentralized, private, minable on a CPU for relatively fair distribution. But if the world I envision emerges then money would not even be used for daily life and financial investments as they exist today would not be required to survive without worrying about how to earn a living and instead allowing people to live a lower stress life.

[@user-zc1xn3re3j]

与其买股票不如购买资本家的劳动力，股民有没有兴趣成为资本家的雇主从而变身成为资本家？ 股票市场不如变成买卖资本家的人市。 大家一定知道买椟还珠这个成语，对吧？ 资本家让股民自觉自愿做买椟还珠这种事情。 股票像装珍珠的盒子，资本家这个大活人才是价值连城的珍珠。 企业和资本家这个大活人融为一体不可分割。 股票和资本家这个大活人融为一体不可分割。 购买资本家的劳动力必然自然而然同时得到股票和资本家这个大活人。 资本家的劳动力可以像股票一样无限分割。 为了表达清楚我的主观思想，我举个例子。 性工作者是不是劳动者？ 性工作者是否出卖自己的劳动力？ 不是某一个顾客把性工作者当作私有财产，而是所有男人共同拥有性工作者的劳动力。而且占有的份儿额不确定。 请你把资本家按照性工作者来对待。

[@jason8077]

they want all the privileges and non of the responsibilities. At least they need to get their god-damn jobs done right.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

Most companies no longer operate on the old system they operate on on time delivery they no longer have warehouses they no longer have any resilience at all really. Why did they do this? Profits that warehouse that secondary and tertiary plan costs money why bother if you can get everything delivered on demand and on time to do what you need to do? Short term profits have screwed us all because no one made a long term plan.

[@chrisrayne3274]

Fine, everyone can hold huge inventories just in case they need them and all the costs associated with that come through as a much higher price to you. Happy now?

[@darkdragonsoul99]

@@chrisrayne3274 Or lower profits for them which of course in our society means higher prices for you because no one and I mean no one is going to accept lower profits.

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@darkdragonsoul99 especially not the pension funds that many people really on for a decent income in later life.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

@@chrisrayne3274 Oh I know how reliable a pension fund is. Here's a tip if you are relying on your pension what you should do right now is start saving money because when it comes time to retire that'll have found some way to take most if not all of that pension away from you.

[@chrisrayne3274]

@@darkdragonsoul99 well, you are jumping topics here but I'll go with you. If you are saying that everyone should plan carefully for retirement and track changes to taxation etc. so you can maximize your security, then I would agree with you. I'll add that I am a bit puzzled though. If taxes are bad (i.e. public income) and profits are bad (i.e. private income) who and how do we pay for anything?

[@chrisrayne3274]

All this from a man who had no experience outside of the gravy train of academia. You can tell he has no idea of modern logistics. Has JIT fulfillment and globalised supply chains bitten us in the arse during the pandemic? Yes. Would I rather deal with some shortages and inflation as we recover than live in Venezuela or Somalia? Most definitely.

[@WalterWhite1911]

I have a humble request to make. I know a plethora of people, from all walks of life, who worship Robert Kiyosaki and consider his book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" like some kind of "bible" to be rich (and why, instead, all of us poor morons are not). I read the book *twice* and, for me, it is (in order of priority): 1) 336 pages of horse crap. 2) Filo-capitalist propaganda of the most insidious kind. 3) A slap in the face of all hard-working people who struggle to survive on a daily basis, or have a miserable life despite desperate, extreme efforts to improve their conditions. Best example from the book: Poor dad thinks: "I cannot afford to buy a car." (That's why he's poor.) Rich dad, instead, thinks: "How can I afford to buy a car?" (That's why he's rich, and probably gets a Lamborghini next month). Really? You must be freakin' kidding me. :( I would love to see a videoclip about that "iconic" book and his "guru" author, and to know your thoughts about it. Perhaps *I* am wrong, and *I* am the black sheep moron who can't understand how to stop counting pennies to get to the end of the month by "using other people's money" (another Revelation from the book). Thank you in advance, peace! :)

[@EuphoniaPooch]

Hit like ye ingrates

[@Guitarpima]

Whenever you use the word “capitalism“, I substituted with feudalism. Other than that, you are very informative.

[@kevinschmidt2210]

Feudalism is incorporated within capitalism.

[@Guitarpima]

It is the other way around. We still live in feudalism, we just call it capitalism. The behaviors are the same as feudalism. I believe this is what the former Greek finance minister is saying when he says “techno feudalism“.

[@astrahcat1212]

Corporatism is feudalism and central banks are privately held corporations with private trillionaire shareholders in Europe. 🤷‍♂️

[@kevinschmidt2210]

@@Guitarpima The two are not the same. Simplistic comparisons do not reflect reality. Kingdoms and corporations are not the same either. And where were the stock, bond and commodities markets in feudalism?

[@Guitarpima]

Kingdoms and corporations are not the same? Doesn’t the CEO of a corporation have the same power as a king? Richard Wolff said that himself. The markets have always been there. The only difference, the kingdoms have taken control. Of course, that is how feudalism works.

[@Luzt.]

Argument from authority, anecdotal evidence, narration constructed to support presupposed conclusion. RW may be (partially) right in his conclusion, yet it was by no means proved here.

[@auditpress.crypto]

🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍🤩🤩

[@kingtrance307]

WARNING 🚨 Do Not Respond to any Whats App contacts on KZbin. Hopefully your intelligent enough to figure that out.

[@jeremyrangel8138]

Yes, it's the "greedy" corporations' fault. It has nothing to do with the trillions of dollars that were created out of thin air that are now fighting over the same finite resources, does it?

[@user-zc1xn3re3j]

像买卖奴隶一样来股市来买卖资本家吧！ ​你认为自己是不是商品？ 就是说，你是否出卖自己的劳动力？ 当你出卖自己的劳动力的时候，你有没有意识到自己变成了不折不扣的商品？ 那么，资本家是不是商品？ 所以，资本家逃避自己是不是劳动者的本质其实是资本家是否愿意和你平等？ 你是商品，然而资本家却不是商品。这是人类不平等的起源和基础。 正如奴隶主和地主一样，作为人，别人都是可以随意买卖的牲口和商品，唯独他们不可以被买卖。 他们和资本家都是市场经济疯狂的拥趸。他们达成一致共识，他们和资本家一样都不是商品。 所以，人类必须像买卖奴隶一样来股市来买卖资本家吧！ 我打算把股票市场还原成本真的人力资源市场。对于资本家来说，出卖自己的劳动力和把自己像奴隶一样卖了没有任何本质的区别。 与其买股票不如购买资本家的劳动力，股民有没有兴趣成为资本家的雇主从而变身成为资本家？ 大家一定知道买椟还珠这个成语，对吧？ 资本家让股民自觉自愿做买椟还珠这种事情。 股票像装珍珠的盒子，资本家这个大活人才是价值连城的珍珠。 企业和资本家这个大活人融为一体不可分割。 股票和资本家这个大活人融为一体不可分割。 购买资本家的劳动力必然自然而然同时得到股票和资本家这个大活人。 股票是海市蜃楼，股票是空中楼阁，就是说，股票是幻象。 对股民来说，股票就是沼泽地里的陷阱和圈套。 这是由于公司永远都被资本家（企业家）实际掌控。买卖股票并不可能获得实际上的控制权。 但是，购买资本家的劳动力就不一样了。 即使是你只拥有百万分之一的劳动力，资本家也是你的雇员，而这就涉及到了伦理和道德， 这就是所谓的“名分”。 你就是所谓的君，资本家就是所谓的臣。你就是所谓的资本家，而资本家却变成所谓的打工者了。 资本家即使百分之百的拥有所有的股票，整个公司都是属于资本家个人私有的财产。 但是，资本家其实变成了真正的傀儡，股民们才是真正的实际控制人。幕后的老板不再是资本家，股民们变成了真正的幕后老板。 就是说，哪怕资本家永远都是所谓的皇帝，而股民们却从此以后变身成为太上皇或者说是皇太后。 资本家的劳动力可以像股票一样无限分割。 为了表达清楚我的主观思想，我举个例子。 性工作者是不是劳动者？ 性工作者是否出卖自己的劳动力？ 不是某一个顾客把性工作者当作私有财产，而是所有男人共同拥有性工作者的劳动力。而且占有的份儿额不确定。 请你把资本家按照性工作者来对待。

[@r8chlletters]

Always question the assumptive pronouncements of your news agencies…this rush to inflate prices has nothing to do with the crisis in Ukraine nor the supply chain. It’s greed, pure and simple.

[@user-tl5yb1jy7c]

Correct supply change disruption is a BS excuse. The real reason is too much printed money overloading the system; shortages are what occur when the market is trying to find the new appropriate prices. The new prices will go higher until supply and demand balance.

[@user-zc1xn3re3j]

你认为资本家是不是劳动者？ 马克思认为资本家不是劳动者，你是否赞同？ 我认为资本家是邪恶的劳动者。尽管资本家是邪恶的劳动者，但是，我仍然承认资本家是劳动者。 在市场经济，是否出卖自己的劳动力不以劳动者的意志为转移。 作为劳动者，资本家不可能不出卖自己的劳动力。否则，资本家就无权要求消费者们支持劳动报酬。资本家就只能无偿劳动。资本家就挣不到一分钱。

[@user-zc1xn3re3j]

@Stephen Stainton 你懂中文吗？ 反正我不懂英语。 我不知道你有没有正确的理解我的留言？ 毫无疑问的是你的回复让我感到费解。不知道你认为资本家是不是劳动者？ 马克思认为资本家不是劳动者，你知道吗？ 你和马克思一致认为资本家不是劳动者吗？

[@mab7175]

Richard Wolff has no viable solutions will change the status quo. Then it isn't worth the time hearing him nevertheless listening. I want to get to another galaxy. I don't have a solution to get there in the forseeable future. Well, I might as well not even think about. Well, if this was an internet course for college credits. Then it would be worth the time listening. Well, I wasted enough time here. Let me look at a scientific fiction movie on KZbin. A spaceship gets to another universe faster than I change this KZbin channel.

[@MrDayinthepark]

"Supply Chain" (translation); the offshoring of jobs, to avoid relatively high American wages, compared with the poverty wages abroad.

[@ccpj0eyb319]

Wrong- it’s code for printing to much money 🖨💵

[@michaeldugger6964]

@@ccpj0eyb319 YES!!!!!!

[@kevinschmidt2210]

@@ccpj0eyb319 Wrong- it's neither. Look up the definition of "supply chain."

[@ccpj0eyb319]

@@kevinschmidt2210 🤣😂🤣 Your clueless

[@kevinschmidt2210]

"Your[sic] clueless" My clueless what? Oh, the irony!

[@jeremyrangel8138]

ROFL more hypocritical nonsense from Wolff. Hey Wolff, has the university YOU WORK FOR ever raised it tuition? So it's wrong for other businesses to profit from increasing their prices, but it's perfectly okay for Wolff to benefit from it. Yepp, standard socio-fascist logic.

[@jasondykstra2835]

Dr. Wolff your lack of understanding is mind boggling, I do not even know where to start. As someone involved in building real products we have been dealing with real supply issues, as is everyone. You state you would have multiple suppliers, which everyone has but they ALL are delayed, and if not everyone is rushing to buy what they have right now. Your other point is having inventory on hand, well if you understood economics you would know inventory ties up capital and has a cost and risk. Anyone worth their salt knows to optimize cash flow requires the minimization of inventory. Here is the deal - during the pandemic the people mining the raw materials reduced output, and the people refining materials reduced output, and the people making subsystems reduced output. To get that train rolling again takes time, this is an inherent delay caused by the market dynamics, and again if you understood economics you would know that. So you have more companies fighting for less product, driving up prices, but that is not all. On top of that the government printed money and gave it out throughout the nation, which means you have more money chasing less product. This is simple supply and demand dynamics, and if you understood economics you would know that. I suggest you stop chasing bogymen and take a course on economics 101.