Economy in Crisis: Fantasies, Realities, Possibilities
Richard Wolff, Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York.
Our economy's crises since 2008 continue. Millions face ever deeper income and wealth inequalities, ecological dangers, politics corrupted by money. We are living through the worst economic decline since capitalism's great 1930s depression. Reforms enacted then failed to prevent today's crises. A real solution requires more than reforms. We must change how we organize our enterprises (offices, factories, and stores). We can run them democratically, not dependent on state subsidies, taxbreaks and loopholes. Each employee can have an equal vote on what the enterprise does, how, and where, and what is done with the profits all help to produce. As Prof. Wolff explains, democratic enterprises - long overdue but already visible in worker cooperatives across the country - offer our best way out of today's economic crises.
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Speaker Bio
Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York. Wolff’s recent work has concentrated on analyzing the causes and alternative solutions to the global economic crisis. His groundbreaking book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism inspired the creation of Democracy at Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to showing how and why to make democratic workplaces real. Wolff is also the author of Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. He hosts the weekly hour-long radio program "Economic Update," which is syndicated on public radio stations nationwide, and he writes regularly for The Guardian and Truthout.org. Wolff appears frequently on television and radio to discuss his work, with recent guest spots including "Real Time with Bill Maher," "Moyers & Company," "Charlie Rose," "Up with Chris Hayes," and "Democracy Now!." He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities.