Wolff Responds: Water, A Basic Human Need

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In this Wolff Responds, Prof. Wolff talks about the devastating water crisis afflicting people globally. Specifically, he highlights the recent disasters in Jackson, Mississippi, Flint, Michigan, Pakistan and Ukraine. Access to safe, clean drinking water is a basic necessity and human right, and yet, it is one that continues to be denied to the poorest communities. Wolff argues that the capitalist system, with its endless pursuit of profits, places the burden on the most vulnerable. Government policies favor the wealthy corporations and enable human suffering that is largely avoidable.
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Learn more about the tragedy in Jackson, MI: Support the people of Jackson in our critical time of need. We are asking all of our friends, comrades, and fellow cooperators to join us in the effort. Please donate generously at cooperationjackson.org/donate. Spread the word to your family and friends and encourage them to donate.
If you or your organization are able to deliver pallets of water, we welcome that as well. Please contact us at [e-mail] to coordinate or call 601.355.7224
Donate - Cooperation Jackson: cooperationjackson.org/donate...
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[@thekingoffailure9967]

Literally every living thing we've ever found requires water to survive

[@blogintonblakley2708]

Jimmy Dore just did a piece on Saudi Arabia buying huge amounts of water around Phoenix AZ. To grow food for their cattle... overseas. Because they've used all their own water. As a result, residents in Phoenix are now having to ration water. Gosh I wonder why the people in Phoenix voted to give their water away.

[@TerriMRoberts]

Thank you for covering this issue, Richard! It boggles me (I mean, I understand the mechanics, it's the decision-making to not fix it that boggles) how in this day and age we can still have unsafe water supplies, when it is such a fundamental right.

[@cpc9563]

Not to be flippant, but is it really that surprising when the ruling elite won't give everyone free healthcare?

[@Itsmespiv4192]

@Indigo Rodent Hmmm this is one of the reason why people think that the state of things are not a product of the system but nature (god)

[@reasonerenlightened2456]

​ I think we need a politician that will lower the cost of living for all while increasing wages of all. Does such politician exist? Speaking of sustainable Growth, If there is a society where dignified existence costs 33.33k per year while every citizen is given 100k per year to spend as they wish then such society will grow much faster than a society where the dignified existence costs 33.33k but nobody is giving anything to anybody without adding conditions...like do as told if you want that 33.33k per year.

[@LauraKamienski]

I work for a small town water and sewer authority. The authority was first organized because the town council was unable to secure funds to build an EPA required new sewer plant. The water plant had already been abandoned in favor of pumping water from a huge corporation American Water, which has branches in every state I believe. So we pay AW for the water and then distribute it to the town. Bottom line is that, just like healthcare, the oligarchy doesn't care if people have water and don't consider it a right. Like everything else the trend is to privatize water and sewer. AW has been trying to buy up every system in the area, but so far we've been able to avoid selling. The other piece of it is that when local governments go for funds to improve or replace infrastructure there is little else besides loans to do it. That means in the end corporations and banks through loans and bond issues are profiting from the infrastructure that then has to be paid by the working class people of small towns like this one.

[@misterhill5598]

Thank you Prof Wolff.

[@DerekSpeareDSD]

why it is somehow accepted that clean, safe water is treated as a commodity is bizarre to me.

[@nimblep4531]

Because it's finite and takes effort to either purify or collect then distribute, so it needs a price for the market to know it's worth, hence a commodity.

[@Itsmespiv4192]

Because in a market economy i don't solve problems but i sell you a temporary solution

[@nimblep4531]

@@Itsmespiv4192 yeah in a market economy your water is temporarily satisfied, wow engage the brain.

[@Itsmespiv4192]

@@nimblep4531 The market is a science i'm so smart

[@nimblep4531]

@@Itsmespiv4192 you're watching Wolff, don't give yourself too much credit.

[@epicbluerat9999]

Ahead of the game in calling out these injustices as always Wolfee!!

[@quantum5085]

Dear Dr. Wolff Earth, Water,Air, Fire Are essential for all beings to be alive. Zardoosht has explained that thousands of years ago. They are not basic, they are ESSENTIAL. Thank you

[@misterhill5598]

To add salt to injury, the lobbyists allowed Saudi Investor to buy huge amount of farm lands near rivers and body of underground waters. The Saudi have been secretly and not so secretly extracting underground waters to water their crops, and to send back to Saudi Arabia. Of course, the regulations have all been removed so the Saudi can do whatever they please at no cost. P

[@thecook8964]

If you buy the land you get the water rights

[@williamblack4097]

With each passing day I become more anti-capitalist.

[@rwolff6530]

William, move to a socialist country and let us know how that works out for you.

[@Itsmespiv4192]

@@rwolff6530 Socialist country like ?

[@polygraphliedetector]

Thank you for sharing your perspectives. They're greatly appreciated.

[@williamkarngar7507]

Thanks!

[@RichardDWolff]

Thank you for your generous gift!

[@TheVcasf]

Thank you

[@alanfabela8432]

In Mexico we're suffering a water crisis right now. Great companies consume the major part of the water in the country.

[@markhumble7608]

Richard the only way to make changes you should nominate for US presidency in 2024,I guarantee you will win.

[@Soundofsilver2007]

The oligarchs would NEVER give him a chance.

[@bonniej0]

We do have the technology to strain the salt water out of the sea for cleaning drinking water. I've watched a family that sailed for like 7 years using water from the ocean and planting their own food on the boat without stopping anywhere they've been living self-sufficiently.

[@bonniej0]

@mohammedusman3726 we will all be funded within a few weeks

[@vn6084]

Water and power

[@CogitoErgoSum777]

live stream got cut off … !?

[@Jarjarjar21]

How to cut the sociopaths and psychopaths from power?

[@misterhill5598]

Sounds like a vicious cycle path. The noble path would be: "how to build good leaders and how to keep good leaders." Power is both an enabler and a measuring stick.

[@Jarjarjar21]

@@misterhill5598 first the guillotine! Then the noble path...lol

[@andrewmitchell2626]

Dr. Wolff, I am in the poor peoples category for student loan debt, studying to be a Doctor in Business Administration, and has financed my kids college educations with parent student loan debt. Could you do a more inclusive and detailed video on the US Student Loan debt problem? Maybe discuss how corporations cherry pick talent to fit the capitalist models where the most qualified candidates by education and experience experience a dichotomy in the hiring process to acquire only experience for the most inexpensive real wage. Thank you.

[@francescos7361]

Trees too

[@user-zc1xn3re3j]

国家是不是财富？ 国家属于谁所有？ 如果人类否认国家是财富，那么外星人可以把国家据为己有吗？ 作为物质财富和精神财富的和谐统一体，人类可以直接建立国家的共产主义吗？

[@zenaidacamba3891]

Almost 5$,1.5L of drinking water????

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Beer: another potable essential.

[@joelgray8176]

The Wolff is a don

[@bluzcompany2293]

Aron Brockovich...

[@normtran7501]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼😀😀😀

[@bernatkarem1059]

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[@edwardthompson8982]

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[@lucagiovanni658]

Investing in cryptocurrencies offers the possibility of obtaining exponential returns with potentially low risk.

[@marcolorenzo4851]

I tried to invest in the digital asset market, but got confused. I'm not aware of it.

[@bernatkarem1059]

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[@bernatkarem1059]

She is very active on > Telegram < with the username below

[@milesobrien2694]

*All living things, from tiny cyanobacteria to giant blue whales , need water to survive*

[@thekingoffailure9967]

How do you manage to stress every single word in a sentence? It's hard to follow

[@Khannea]

The great emigration wave will soon start where the young will start leaving the US for western europe, fleeing horrible rightwing politics, guns, crime, lousy education standards, racial divisions, rampant racism, the rollback of womens rights, the drug epidemic, the maga insanity, police brutality, the withering wages, insane corporatism, religious madness, sick youth culture, ridiculous work hours, horrific medical care costs, homeless people everywhere, decaying infrastructure, bizarre bureaucracy, weird boomers, gun culture, complete lack of government investments, mass corruption, grotesque environmental disasters, etc. etc. etc. The Netherland will glady take these talented young workers off your hands.

[@francescos7361]

I agree communist and fascist like water and ocean but we have water yet.

[@michaelsamuel7365]

My solution for resolving the lack of pipeborne water to all homes and for farm use is for governments to increase its revenue-earning sources by bottling water for sale to the general public; taking control of the housing market by constructing affordable, readily-available housing units; offering motor vehicle insurance; hvving a banking facility to truly serve the masses..

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

Can all in left YT please start educating people about both: (1) the difference between right-authoritarian vs. right-libertarian; & (2) the difference between left-authoritarian vs left-libertarian? It’s long overdue. People aren’t cattle or sheep: They will understand if we educate them. Though we need to educate (& learn) about all the nuance.

[@Rossion64]

Right authoritarian is neoliberalism enforced by dictatorship, military and police state. Pinochet's Chile is often the given example. Right libertarianism is total freedom of private capital which entails a swift decent into neo feudalism and right authoritarianism. Left authoritarianism is generally viewed as a police and military controlled socialist society, which given military and economic imperialism is often the only way socialist societies can survive in the unipolar (and ending) American world hegemony. Left libertarianism is a kind of anarchic idealistic society.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@Rossion64 Some of this is true. Your claim that right libertarianism entails neo feudalism is false to my knowledge. Please allow me to share good info to clarify things here. So please read the next few comments carefully:

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@Rossion64 First off, ggl the main terms I used and you’ll find the info to research this. You’ll find excellent sites that distinguish the four corners, and they list main texts from each of the four separate corners

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@Rossion64 I’ll educate here some about right libertarianism, as I’m leftist and it’s important to teach other leftists to distinguish right authoritarianism(fscsm) from right libertarianism (anarcho-capitalism): Adam Smith was probably the first right libertarian (late 1700s). There’s also Gustave de Molinari’s Production of Security, written in 1849, a very significant right libertarian work. There’s Ludwig von Mises in early 1900s followed by the economists he influenced. And finally, all of it was influenced by the individualist anarchist writers from throughout the 1800s, mainly Americans.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@Rossion64 *In researching these distinctions on the right, this is the most important question to guide leftists in their learning* : How do you distinguish economic fascism from economic capitalism?? We live in economic fascism now. We are nowhere near *neither* free-market capitalism _nor_ socialism. _Actually_ reading the true right libertarians is how you learn this. And therefore how one _actually_ & substantially & practically helps the working class by Praxis. Instead of the empty talk without effective practice of mainstream “leftists”.

[@petestanton1945]

No, J GALT sez the problem is Prof W's speaking fees.

[@cameo1013]

It's not capitalism, it's industry.

[@lightningfirst689]

I've played Minecraft, so I know from experience that drinking water is actually a choice. You can go your whole life without ever drinking it. Punching trees, on the other hand, is an absolute necessity.

[@nimblep4531]

Says one capitalist professor millionaire, playing you all for fools.

[@gtcstorm40]

you lost me when you supported forced vaccination.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

I thought he didn’t support that. When did he say he did?

[@Rossion64]

@@user-wl2xl5hm7k he didn't, as far as I know.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@Rossion64 Same here as far I as I know. Wolff staunchly opposed forced vaccination

[@robertkalinic335]

Idk man, pandemics are not cool.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

@@robertkalinic335 Forced vaccination is much less cooler. Because it’s imposed by force from people

[@Rossion64]

Thank you