Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Black Friday strikes against Amazon in Germany and against Zara in Spain, the rapid decline of New School University as an example of a deepening crisis in U.S. higher education, and a new U.S. national security paper that throws Europe under the bus, further signaling the end of the U.S. empire. The second part of...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides an analysis of "globalization" as a fancy slogan to hide a profit-driven, profit-boosting period (1970-2015) that saw US capitalists move factories abroad. It destroyed so many well-paid factory jobs (especially of white, male Christians) that it produced massive suffering among the affected communities. As their rage built and bo...

This week's episode of Economic Update is an adaptation from a talk Professor Wolff gave at Yale University on December 2, 2025, to the Yale Political Union. In this presentation, he discusses the significance of the title "Marx was Right," which Yale offered, and points out that, over the last 75 years, such a topic or event would not likely have occurred on that campus. He provides a basic summa...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the internal struggle inside the U.S. Teamsters Union between O'Brien leadership and Hooker challenge group (pro- vs anti-Trump), Trump-McMahon attack on the nursing profession in the U.S., and Trump's own reduction of tariffs and thus of government revenue from tariffs. Then, Professor Wolff interviews Abby Martin abou...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the nationwide Starbucks strikes and on the results of Trump's tariffs: facts and fakery. The second part of the show features an interview with journalist and podcast host John Fugelsang about his new book: Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleeci...

On today's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers an introduction to the key economic concept of "the surplus." He explains economic structures as ways of organizing the production and social distribution of the surplus. Then he briefly applies this concept to the economies of slavery and feudalism before focusing on the role of the surplus in capitalism. Finally, we use the surplus...

The totality of today's Economic Update is devoted to exploring (1) the multiple ways that capitalism imposes class warfare on its people, and (2) how class warfare shapes the capitalist system's impact on employers and employees. Specific examples show (1) what kind of class struggle is involved in tariffs such as those imposed by Trump, (2) how inflation exemplifies class war, and (3) how unempl...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff's updates include the 60+ people killed by the U.S. military in what it claimed were "narco boats," Socialist Catherine Connolly wins the Presidency in Ireland, Canada hit with nationwide postal workers strike alongside a strike of the entire public workforce (51,000) in Alberta, Canada, and finally a new poll showing that 67% of U.S. coll...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Italian dockworker unions refusing to load or unload Israeli cargo, the broadened national general strikes in Italy demanding the end of the Italian government's support for Israel because of Gaza, and a discussion of the return of socialism into U.S. politics after 80 years. The second half to the show features an...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the impending U.S. recession, JP Morgan admits failures of the neoliberal period as it turns nationalist, and the causes of mass shootings in the U.S. In the second half of today's show, Professor Wolff interviews two young U.S. union organizers and their organizing method of "workers inquiry": Alex Pyne of the Blue Bottle Independe...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the censoring of U.S. government reports on hunger, changes in U.S. agriculture amid capitalism's decline, the special place of white, male, Christian union members in the MAGA world, and the relation of A.I. and jobs. In the second half of the show, Professor Wolff interviews UCLA Professor Ramesh Srinivasan, host of t...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the I.C.E. raid at a battery factory in Georgia, the growing inequality in the U.S. during both Trump terms, the 75 U.S. military airstrikes on Somalia in 2025, and France's mass national street actions against the Macron government's austerity policies. The second part of the episode features an interview with Christopher G Beck, t...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the non-profit reporters that are unionizing in Ohio, the Hilton Hotel workers striking in Houston, Canada's third party with radical leadership, and Canada's postal strike pits private profits of UPS, FedEx, etc, vs the nation's real postal needs. In the second half of the show, Professor Wolff interviews Kim Westcott,...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the flight attendants' union strike in Canada, polls show that U.S. Democrats are shifting leftward, with majorities favoring socialism, Nigel Farage discusses Epstein and prominent Americans, and the French people move against Macron's austerity through mass national street actions. In the second half of today's show, Professor Wol...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Vermont Public Employers who got the contractual right to act with pay to "defend democracy," Tesla's board offers Musk a $1 trillion CEO pay package, Trump and top corporate executives merge at Intel and other hi-tech corporations, quite like the mergers in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The second half of the sho...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Bernie-endorsed Independent U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine, the latest Gallup poll showing that 68% Americans are pro-union, more than 97%  of park workers at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon parks vote to unionize, ICE has so far deported half a million, while DOGE has fired a million federal workers (mostly high-...

The left-wing surge of the U.S. working class during the Great Depression of the 1930s compelled the Democratic Party to prioritize serving the working class more than it had before or would again. It was called the New Deal. In response, the US employer class, angry that taxes on corporations and the rich were used to fund government programs for the people, turned to the Republican Party after W...

Economic Update returns this week with an all-new episode of updates by Professor Wolff on:  Trump ending Housing First Spain exploring the possibility of a wealth tax Trump busting unions within government agencies Protecting yourself in a declining capitalistic system France's upcoming Sept. 10th mass movement against Macron's government  Air Canada's strike by flight attendants who defy the gov...

Economic Update returns next week to its regular schedule! This week's episode was recorded in June this year and covers topics our viewers have written to us and requested. Professor Wolff explains what deficits are and why the capitalist system enables and invites employers to cause them. He then proceeds to explain how deficits both solve specific problems of capitalism while also causing other...

In this week's episode of the "Best Of Economic Update Series," we examine a comparison between the economic failures we face today caused by the same political forces and capitalists that we have encountered before, as well as the causes and effects of economic policies proven to fail. We hope you're enjoying this "Best Of" series. We will return to regular weekly updates on Labor Day, September...

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at some of Prof. Wolff's guest interviews from years past that still echo in today's global socio-economic setting. We hope you're enjoying this "Best Of" series. We will return to regular weekly updates on Labor Day, and as always, we thank you for your attention, support, and solidarity. The d@w Team   The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D....

This week on Economic Update, we revisit two of the most viewed episodes of Economic Update. The first features Professor Wolff's analysis of the key changes driving the emergence of a new economic world order, and the second provides a look at the causes and effects of China's economic achievements. You can see both episodes in their entirety at the respective links below: Economic Update: The Em...

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at Donald Trump's first term as president through the lens of psychology with Dr. Harriet Fraad. She explains what could have led people to vote for him instead of the alternative, and provides a backdrop of the socio-economic situation facing his supporters at that time. She is followed by another interview with Professor Wolff and Dr. Arlie Hochs...

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the following about Mamdani's victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral race: (1) how it happened, who voted for him and why; (2) the varieties of socialism and the long history of "municipal socialism" in the US and overseas,  (3) possible socialist programs for a Mamdani mayoral administration; and (4) tax revenue possibilities to pay...

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on Medicare advantage and "pre-authorization" as a way to reduce Medicare payments, liberals and radicals split over Mamdani,  Trump's current budget further deepens the inequality of wealth across the US, and Mexico attends the BRICS meeting in Rio de Janeiro. In the second part of today's show, Professor Wolff interviews...