This analysis of the US economy as the second Trump era opens is worth watching, although I do find the presentation style a bit grating. Listening rather than watching was my choice.
And yes, I am aware that Richard Wolff is a Marxist, and I am not. So what? He has something interesting to say.
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You mean “I am not”, don’t you.
Yes
The Marxists have always been good at diagnosing the issues in my view; where they may fall down is with the answers. Marxism may face extinction if AI gets its way, or will it have a role in mitigating the social consequences of it? It will may well have a role in the argument over what to do with all those humans who do not have work.
But I cannot see AI cleaning our streets, painting park benches and looking after other people
Wolff is one of the better Marxists – I discovered him when I also discovered Hudson – all before I discovered you at Tax Research.
Thank you for the link.
I came across Wolff and Hudson over a decade ago and have benefited from reading Hudson. It is hard to disagree with much of what they say about the US and its policies. I do have a reservation and it is that they have a rather uncritical view of China and even Russia. They may feel they have to balance the portrayal given by the western media and politicians but I wonder how realistic they are in their assessment.
That uncritical view of Russia is apparent in this video
I do not share that approach
Richard, great link thank you. My question, although maybe too simple and naive, would be, how do we survive the decline of the American empire, which the west relies on? Reverse neoliberalism and accept that the west is not the dominant power anymore? That’s two solutions – but I think likely both need to be acted on to be successful and avoid WWIII?
Fascism of course seems to be the result of the denial that the author of this video says is a symptom of a falling empire. We know from history this will not solve our problems though.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the (likely) rich westerners started to emigrate to the BRICS in the future due to a decline of the west and the BRICS countries didn’t want them.
This video also highlights how the western billionaire neoliberals and fascist leaders need each other, to try and stay in power. Again, ironic how it was the neoliberals who have caused this huge growth in china etc are now the ones who want to keep the money within the USA
The answer is we stop playing the games of exploitation and focus on adding value.
We currently exploit using finance. We havbe tpo stop that and actualkly pay our way. This would be a massibe shock to British and US business – most of whom have profits that are questionable. There is a video coming on this.
Great – look forward to it!
Cheers
It is the liberals who also gave us modern Russia – a point not lost on Wolff, Gray and many others including myself.
This does not excuse Russia by the way, but it could all have been avoided.
Overall Wolfe’s view is spot on apart from his Russian praise. The denial he points out, similar to the child covering her eyets in fronte of the fierce dog could be applid to the ruling class’s attitude to the climate crisis as well.
There seems to be a peculiarity of American ‘Marxists’ (and some others) that they have scotoma when it comes to criticising either Russia or China, or both. Certainly those of a more neoMarxist persuasion have no blindspot with Russia, as Stalin and his heirs invented the process of hypernormalisation, the creation of a false narrative or false reality that is enforced by media and education. this is of course exactly the same process we are subject to in this country that this blog rails against: “there is no money”, “taxes pay for services”, “growth and investment come from the private sector”.
I have learned most of what I know about economics from you Richard over the last seven of eight years.[Thank you.] I know very little about Marxism but according to Wiki “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” is a slogan popularised by Karl Marx … and I like it.
Are there a few pithy Marxist maxims that had you write ‘I am not a Marxist’? Or is there something important that I should read?
It bothers me that the three major UK parties seem so wedded to ‘There is no money’. Your logic is compelling. The notion ‘It’s just like household budget,’ once examined, is obviously wrong.
Surely there are Labour, Lib-Dem and Green thinkers who support your philosophy and your rationality. Some must have read – at least looked at – the Taxing Wealth Report 2024. What constrains them?
Fundamewntally, I do not see society through a solely materialist lens, and I think Marx does. As a result I do not see it as a proletariat v capital struggle, as Marx does. Nor do I think there is a socialist nirvana when the class struggle is won. I find all those narratives too simplistic, whilst also seeing why they appeal to some. I can’t be a Marxist because we need better stories than a materialist perspective can provide.
“An exodus of capital to China”.
I have finished Fintan O’Toole’s book “We don’t know ourselves” (it is very good). Chapter 37 “America @ Home; From 1990 to 2015 the USA invested in China $51bn. Hardly an exodus. By comparison it invested $277bn in……….Ireland (source: AmCham Ireland paper). As the book noted, by 2017, US direct investment stock in Ireland was $457 bn. Point. There was no exodus of capital to China.
What the USA failed to do was invest @ home.
Mike
The investment in ireland was very largely as a conduit. In other words, the funds from the US floweed through there to elsewhere. Luxembourg shares this characteristic. No investment data on ireland is reliable as a result. That money could be in China. I have colleagues now trying to map this.
Richard
I believe the majority of what has happened in China has been domestic investment, much financed by a state deficit. Bill Mitchell reckoned 10 to 15% deficit every year since the late 1980s (so basically doing what MMT folk would suggest). Foreign investment was more the cherry on the cake, but did provide some skills and tech transfer (not so much now!). China really does show what you can do if you invest in real things like transport, education, health, etc. In the west we have preferred gambling, and exploitation of the developing world via the dollar based finance system and unfair trade arrangements (e.g. the EU blocking imports of finished chocolate and coffee while allowing raw beans).
Thanks
Good film, but as one comment above mentions, climate is not touched on . Empires falling has become a huge fascination for me since reading, as a chance airport purchase in 2005, “Collapse. How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive “, by Jared Diamond. An almost gripping read. But one of the recurring themes in his thoughts is the ruination of the environment, inequality, coupled with denial that it is happening. There are also now many podcasts available on historical civilizational ends. Plus ca change.
He didnt point out that China has been going through its own ‘ industrial revolution’ that Britain went through in 19th/early twentieth century, with massive migration from rural to urban centres – and lifted millions out of poverty doing it.
It would be natural that China’s growth rate would now slow .
He focusses almost entirely on the economy – – and must be correct showing the power of the BRICS countries relative to the G7.
He is so telling about the desperate state of US wages – with the minimum wage now a fraction of what is was in 2009… suggesting a reason for workers to reach out to Trumpian fascism as in thirties Germany. Terrifying.
With the world’s energy systems, food systems, tech/information systems dominated by a handful of global corporations and at least half the Western population getting economically squeezed , Marx’s internal contradictions seem to be maturing nicely.
I recall soon after moving to the US in the 80s to do a PhD, telling friends I felt like I’d moved from a dead empire to a dying one.