Economic Update: Capitalism & Its Self-Delusions
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- Опубликовано: 19 сен 2024
- [S12 E14] Capitalism & Its Self-Delusions
In the first half of this week's show, Wolff evaluates US capitalism as a system of production and distribution of goods and services. In the second half, he compares the evaluation with the very different self-image of dominant voices within US capitalism. His conclusion: US capitalism has peaked and finding it very difficult to face its decline.
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NEW 2021 Hardcover edition of “Understanding Marxism,” with a new, lengthy introduction by Richard Wolff is now available at: www.lulu.com/
“Marxism always was the critical shadow of capitalism. Their interactions changed them both. Now Marxism is once again stepping into the light as capitalism shakes from its own excesses and confronts decline.”
Check out all of d@w’s books: "The Sickness is the System," "Understanding Socialism," by Richard D. Wolff, and “Stuck Nation” by Bob Hennelly www.lulu.com/sp...
I am 73. I remember as a young teenage lad the pride, self-righteous enthusiasm and deep respect that I felt for America at that time. Then came a series of assassinations, the Viet Nam War, political chicanery from Watergate to Iran-Contra and the "Hostage Crisis" in Iran. I stumbled into the aftermath of NAFTA when I returned to the "Rustbelt" after doing a hitch in the U.S.Navy. I will never forget the anxious and dispirited and angry "company guys" that were thrown under the bus. They were my neighbors and family friends. Then came Iraq and Afghanistan, specious expeditionary adventures that benefitted no-one other than monied interests. At the age of 73, after all that I have observed in the past, and the insidious things happening now under our noses, I can say that I am no longer proud to call myself American. I am ashamed, embarrassed and apologetic for America's egregious arrogance on the World Stage. I once truly believed that we were better than that.
sad to say all of us who have been around a while know it has gone to crap. billionaires must go, but how?
Yeah, man. I'm italian btw
I'm sorry, man, of course noone hates (or should hate) americans for being americans, but the US government is, as you point out, not actually the expression of the people, rather it is the caste organization of the western oligarchs (gates, bezos, etc), which dresses itself as democratic, but it's not actually. Those that are "woke", in the actual sense of the term, understood this decades ago. But who knows, never say never that America can return to be actually great again! Although I'm afraid it might take a real revolution, or receive a miracle by electing a truly anti-deepstate party (maybe Sanders but I don't even know if that's much the case)
What we can do is trying to boycot the rich capitalists as much as possible, which is what I have been doing for the last +10 years (I buy least Apple, least McDonalds, least Cocacola, least Huwaei... as decently possible), and I could not feel better: this is a sort of soft revolution, guided by the actually truly democratic-pushed market forces, a true pragmatic and actually socialism-oriented real bloodless revolution: let's give the money to us, not to the rich corporate elites!
I remember in the 1970s being told by my teachers how lucky I was to be born in America. That feeling is no longer prevalent.
I am 73 too. I agree with you WITHOUT RESERVATION.
@@penelopeprill211 wait until you hear that EVERY WAR of the US its just like vietnam, all started as false flags to take something.
So nice, that Prof. Wolff keeps repeating and repeating his well reasoned messages since there are almost no other places where the obvious is stated. Helps you stay healthy. That you very much, Prof. Wolff!!
If only he used "facts" then it might be possible to accuse him of employing reason.
BTW when the essence of your argument is that "capitalism" went elsewhere, then
what remains would not be "capitalism" now, would it? Or did you miss that?
@@jgalt308
A troll, paid or neurotic, trying to annoy peaceful people.
No reasoning of yours where Prof. Wolff didn't base his statements on facts.
Nor did I myself say anything in my comment about capitalism. You think I go ask the professor?
Also nobody talked about capitalism going away and then there is emptyness.
Try again or better just listen and UNDERSTAND what is being said in the video above before you babble nonsense in here.
@@jgalt308 Your utopian "capitalism" is just that, utopia. The reality of it is that it leads to what we have now.
@@veronicaprass654 Your gift for "imagination" is less than impressive as is your
non-sequitur and irrelevant response...here try again!
"When the essence of your argument is that "capitalism" went elsewhere, then
what remains would not be "capitalism" now, would it? Or did you miss that?"
The US is a Capitalist Oligarchy , the democracy part is more in the past. It's time for Socialist and Democracy .
As a mid 20-something year old, I have a great deal of appreciation for older folk who aren’t afraid to address empire for what it is. Brilliant update Dr. Wolff
It’s colonialization and exploitation.
I worked in a hospital for 28 years and my last year and a half were a living hell. My hours we’re cut drastically and many staff were laid off and fired, the obese CEO and BOD stripped our hospital to barebones . The worst part was I had no say or control over my $120 paychecks. The BOD had no concern for my financial stress or my time or anyone in the hospital. Retired early and moved overseas 3.5. Good riddance, hoping they all burn alive in hell, great to be free
So where did you move? So many options.
Excellent podisode brother Wolff .... the effect of our last 200 years of Empires
has impacted our planet in such profound sense on every level that it will take
a miraculous effort on every level working as one to overcome &~
Plastics and the Microbiome has defeated capitalism and many other forms of governance
@@AudioPervert1 Capitalism as a new form of government, interesting.
So…. basically never gonna happen. Can’t even get people to work together to get off gasoline even when a better alternative exists in terms of efficiency, reliability and production costs.
Change will come, and more and more people realize this. I figure it will get worse, but then better.
Inverted totalitarianism is different from classical forms of totalitarianism. It does not find its expression in a demagogue or charismatic leader but in the faceless anonymity of the corporate state. Our inverted totalitarianism pays outward fealty to the facade of electoral politics, the Constitution, civil liberties, freedom of the press, the independence of the judiciary, and the iconography, traditions and language of American patriotism, but it has effectively seized all of the mechanisms of power to render the citizen impotent.
---sheldon wolin, democracy inc
Absolutely perfect description.
Thank you for the reminder. And Chris Hedges has often invoked the scholarship of S. Wolin as almost prescient in terms of how the US turned out by the 21st Century.
Thank you so much. Being an engineer and NOT a student of political theory, (in fact I generally hate such people, for the utter garbage they sell society) I normally run from such people and any of their advocates. Its taken only a few minutes of looking through other quotes to see mister Wolin is a great thinker who has seen through the smoke and mirrors. Most interestingly (and unlike so many others) he seems to like pointing out historical facts from Athenian and Roman societies which oddly I studied in college as humanities options.
Please don't hold it against me that I hadn't heard of him, but I come from a different path.
Here's another of his quotes from the same book that immediately struct me as the privatisation of Australia is such a hot topic for me.
“The strategy followed by privatization’s advocates is, first, to discredit welfare functions as “socialism” and then either to sell those functions to a private bidder or to privatize a particular program. A traditional governmental function, such as education, is in process of being redefined, from a promise to make education accessible to all to an investment opportunity for venture capital.”
― Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated:
And this one which when put into the context of "Citizens United" and the current makeup of the ultra pro-corporate SCOTUS is chilling.
"When power is organized in the form of an economy based upon private capital and the division of labor, then ipso facto the lives of most persons will be directed by others. Dependence is thus institutionalized as inequalities of reward and, consequently, of power.”
― Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated:
Wolin is brilliant.
The Bigget Pipedream about Capitalism is that everyone can become Wealthy. When the already Ultra Wealthy make sure that never happens.
No one ever said everyone can become wealthy.
Its corporatocrisy or mercantilism not capitalism causing that. Its more akin to economic fascism.
@@peterstafford4426 Remember that whole American Dream thing? Ya work hard play by the rules you'll succeed thing...Yeah a majority of people would probably equate that to being Wealthy.
@@user-em6ie2be7x No one said everyone would be wealthy. There is good money in going on youtube and attacking capitalism when you have books to sell on Amazon.
@@peterstafford4426 Well everyone doesn't get wealthy under capitalism. Just about everyone creates wealth in a capitalist society. Then the rich get to keep what everyone else creates. So everyone works to get the wealth... but capitalism is so corrupt that everyone doesn't get wealthy.
Professor, I love and admire your perspectives. I would like to make one small correction. It was NOT the pandemic itself that was so horrible. It was the political RESPONSE that made it hurt so many.
Politicians making economic decisions.
Thank you Professor Wolff for lessons in Economics. It never hurts to learn more.
Thank you, Professor.
Mr Wolff, I appreciate you very much, greetings from Argentina
Thank you Prof. Wolff. Sometimes I feel like I am going crazy-senile, or that I have lost grasp on reality. Then i hear your cogent analysis of present-day, real-world circumstances and I breathe easier for a while. Until Marjorie Taylor Greene or Ted Cruz or Nancy Pelosi opens their mouths! AAAaaaarrrrggghhh!
The professor's sarcasm is A+ 😂
As is his ignorance.
@@jgalt308 it's called a disagreement, you are dogmatic.
@@Redactedlllllllllllll Well if you missed the numerous historical errors and dates in this
episode...to what cause would you attribute your failure to recognize and correct them?
@@jgalt308 just curious, whereabouts are you from? I can appreciate the passion, you're not the normal commenter, you own a business? Are you a pretty well off person? You are like my antithesis, I can't imagine how a person could love capitalism so much despite all the costs it accumulates over time.
@@Redactedlllllllllllll As stated elsewhere: Its, not an ideology, it's a fact of life as well as an empirical definition,
and anything else would be slavery. Of course, if you disagree that I am not entitled to the fruits of my
own labor and intellect and that you can establish that you have some reasonable claim to them,
then make your case!
As for my personal path and circumstance, they are irrelevant, as I have lived in accordance with
my understanding of the process, refusing to be exploited and avoiding doing harm whenever possible.
I have accepted the responsibility for my choices and have no expectation of assistance from
others and do not ask for it...nor will I be compelled to be responsible for others unless I choose
to do so.
I doubt I am your antithesis in any respect, I have simply made it my business to understand
the process of living and acted accordingly, if you have taken another approach or felt
you were compelled to, that may explain why you believe we have a radically different understanding
of reality. Or it may be that you are imposing your meaning or my words, despite the fact that
I have taken great pains, to explain my meaning in the use of them.
"The Master said....If names are not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language is not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success........Therefor a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately. What the superior man requires, is just that in his words, there may be nothing incorrect."
"The Master said,.....Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men."
Confucius 551 -479 B.C.
Thank you so much for all of your hard work professor.
Thank you for helping to keep me feeling sane in this world of insanity and mainstream media liars.
I love this man 🥰
I luv ❤️ you long time too. 😶
" every economic system should be evaluated on a regular basis ... but there's too much ideological noise to allow an evaluation let alone a balanced one" Professor Richard Wolff
Propaganda. Propaganda propaganda. Worked on the Germans.
Along with too many powerful interests intent on keeping the present system as is, because it works for them.
Comrade Wolff 👍❤️
Before Wolff, and Hudson, which I credit for learning the details of the United States of America's economic system, there was a social theorist that described the sickness of the economic system in the USA. Author and Professor Erich Fromm wrote a book called "The Sane Society". He combined his knowledge of Psychoanalysis and Marx's manuscript's to describe how sick our society had become.
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Great video of professor Richard Wolff
Thanks, Professor Wolff. Excellent, as usual. I love how clearly you state these things.
Dear Mr. Wolf. I am quite amazed about the topic today. I am a lone Artist from Berlin. Sometimes I have monologues in this time to release pressure. This is exact the topic I had in my mind. I have a conversation with a neighbor who reflects the medias talking point "We have to defend our free democracy", while calling everybody, who has a different point of view on the current situation in Ukraine a Putin propagandist. I invited him to have a conversation about "What does free Democracy actually means to you?". I am looking forward to this discussion, as it is important right now to open it up. I also hold the point, that the means of production needs to be in the majority of the people in a society. I thought, it would be great to hold Neo-liberals accountable to their own preaching and let them go bankrupt next time, while bailing out the workers and doing "Treuhand" with the previous owners. Consultants can then help workers to learn Democracy on their workplace. It is stunning, that corporations and banks still can influence public opinion about privatization, that benefits mostly the "Never filled". Public goods are actually collective goods, so every citizens can privately participate in sitting on the grass in the park. I hope we will see a different form of privatization, in which more and more banks, service and production facilities are owned by the people who actually produce the wealth of a society. Thanks for your great distribution. I do not feel so alone with my opinion here :-) Best wishes
The current inflation of US dollar basically redistribute income and wealth from those who held dollar-denominated fixed income assets (such as bond holders, saving accounts holders, social-security funds, and the majority of salary earners) to those who held real-assets (such as corporations, commercial land and property owners, natural reserve owners, etc.). Most real estate owners will see their nominal property price go up but their real wealth does not really improve because their property is for personal consumption and not earning income (actually because of the property tax increase, most of home owner will see actual wealth decline in the long run). For the lower 50% and the pensioners, the trend does not look good because education and healthcare prices even outpace the already severe inflation.
My Ivy League education went from 2 grand per year to 50 grand per year over a period of 50 years. The cost multiplied 25 times over that period. Not percent. Times. This is robbery.
@@marybusch6182 just work harder, pull yourself up by your bootstraps !
The US was competing with USSR in terms of which being a better example to the world.
They needed to prove that they could treat their people better than each other.
It was the most socialist period of the US, when people from all social classes bring able to enjoy the outcome of economic growth. It was the period when the majority of US citizens being able to afford a house, a car, and a dog with one person working in the family.
After the collapse of USSR, there was no need to keep an equal country anymore, since the US didn't have to prove anything and everything was under its control, especially after it faking a testimony to intervine Iraq invasion.
Occupying Wall Street was the first time when a large group of US citizens realized something went wrong, but it was too late already.
We originally called the defense department the war department until at some point it was changed to department of defense
And the last time that anything was "defended" in the United States was 1814.
16:52 “[The Soviet Union] imploded and disappeared in 1989.”
No, it didn’t. The Soviet Union existed until December 1991.
21:43 “England calls their thing ‘the War Department.’”
Well, not since 1964, when the functions of the War Office, the department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army, were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Facile
Maybe they called it the war department when they were actually at war.
@@marygard4608 Well, it was called either the War Department (officially or unofficially) on and off from 1794 till 1857 or the War Office from 1857 to 1964 (all according to Wikipedia). So they _did_ call it the “War Department” when they were actually at war but also when they weren’t.
@@jeff__w Even during the invasion of The Falklands?
@@marygard4608 That was well after 1964 when the War Office was merged into the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Free education, health care system and inexpensive housing are keys to a successful political system, whether it is capitalistic or socialistic or a combination of both. America need to focus on solving problems at home first before wasting money in war s and endless conflicts. Let the 99% rules!
I’d like to see a wealth tax of 3% for sending our troops to combat. On all assets including stocks and bonds annually for the duration.
Professor Wolff 👍👍👍Thank you very much!
Plausible Deniability: Having the ability to deny any involvement in illegal or unethical activities, because there is no clear evidence to prove involvement. But the circumstantial evidence shows that humans have failed on so many levels. There's no getting away from accountability. "And there is not a creation that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account (Hebrews 4:13)."
Love it. Nothing new under the sun. How many times have we heard about accidents and misunderstanding which are just plain frauds.
Russia is being excluded from the world economy - or at least that's the idea - even after bending over backwards to accommodate the WTO rules, taking part in the G7 and G20, opening its markets to foreign capital investment, its resources to foreign exploitation...all to no avail. It's still being excluded. Just like the USSR was after 1917. The USSR had to deal with that reality and responded with the sort of economic structure that has since become the archetype in our minds of what socialism is and must be. In reality, it was what was produced in the circumstances of the USSR at that time.
Something similar will happen again. Not in the same way, because of China, the advanced nature of Russian society etc. But it will still be much more state-controlled and non-capitalist than it has been.
Poot'n has been helping himself to Russia's wealth. How else could a person who has virtually never worked in the private sector own a one hundred million plus yacht? Poot'n only care about Poot'ns wealth.
@@_John_Tyree_ Sure, ever since the USSR was destroyed, people like Putin have been helping themselves to the country's wealth. That's what our leaders do too. But they don't mention that, just concentrate on the evil Putin.
It's also worth pointing out that while Putin has not appeared in the Panama or Pandora Papers, Zelensky has. In his time as president, just three years, he has amassed huge wealth of about 1.2 billion. Where did that come from?
00) u3
Can you look into a crystal ball Professor Wolff? Houses in my California neighborhood went from the $450k range to $650k range over the past two years (pre-/ post-pandemic). Will they keep sky-rocketing higher or will they come back down to maybe $550k?
Always enjoy hearing your viewpoints, Professor Wolff. In an age of deliberate obfuscation by political operators, it's good to see things so concisely and clearly outlined.
But on a point of pedantry, we have had the Ministry of Defence here in the UK since 1947. Prior to that, we had the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Aviation, and an early form of the Defence Ministry. They were rationalised into the Ministry of Defence by Clement Attlee's post-war government.
Such an interesting discussion on the differences between the DOD and Dept of War. Eye-opening when paired with how capitalism shuns true democratic functions.
Thank you very much for the insight!
Thank you Prof Wolff :)
Great job as alway's. Keep the truth alive for humanity and the planet and to wake up humanity. ❤ ❤ ❤
As a farm boy I saw the crops we produced goto market for cheap sales didn't equal the work we put in but the knowledge I earned to repeat to feed myself and family priceless. The GDP of my small town Saginaw Michigan in the 70s was General motors when they left under Reagan and Bush administration if the mid 80s no more GDP and small businesses closed forever the mall closed the movie theatre closed modern life destroyed semi sports hockey baseball basketball gone. Fast food's and hotel stayed to cater to truck drivers and schools with lunch food contracts. $3.35 a hour and my job competition was ex general motors working who's unemployment benefits ran out .I had no choice as a 19yr old but to leave.i left for 24yrs to find it got worse and the same no growth no GDP returned as powerful as gm now it's retirement home's hospitals attorney at law and church's taking from retired gm worker's on the stairway to heaven. I came back working 2 job's both minimum wage just to make rent.and when 2020 came with covid and shit down all the 2 GDP on the hospital side and fast food side were talking food pantry lines 3 blocks long apartments empty hotels cheap motels full.price gouging and unemployment benefits ran out 3 month's later. I went back to my farming days as a boy plant grow harvest freeze can cook and eat.gping back to the day's of trade among each other door to door and leave the high cost groceries and gas travel prices out the loop it's been that way going on year 3.
Well, you can thank FDR for fiat money and an illegitimate unconstitutional government,
without which the U.S. would still be the dominant economic productive economy it was.
I was born in Saginaw, Michigan
I grew up in a house on Saginaw Bay
My dad was a poor, hard-working Saginaw fisherman
Too many times he came home with too little pay
-- Lefty Frizzell
@@marcosmith2501 yeah I know the song just like sold my soul to the company store.climate change is killing us too much water the return of cold weather in late April ruining the spring crops
GREAT TALKING POINTS PROFESSOR WOLFF AS USUAL SIR 💪🏾💯👍🏾❤️🌄
Professor Wolff is a rock star and the leader of the new school.....
👨🏫👉👨🏼🎤
If ever there is ever a ticket with him and Professor Cornel West I will be voting..... with Chris Hedges as Secretary of State 🤯
There is a prog-metal band from Germany called Prof Wolfff (3 fs)
Red salute to Professor Richard Wolff
Wish him good health with struggle
Wtf is THAT supposed to mean...?
Freedom is not delusional
Are you really free??? Or are you brainwashed that you are free???
Thank you, professor!
To earn a billion dollars would take the equivalent of 40 yrs of 50 hr weeks at $16,000/hr. No billionerror earns that amount of money, they un-earn it, as in unearned income (money made off of assets, not labor).
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge in such an interesting and easy to understand way.
Another great episode of Economic Update, Professor. ❤❤
Respect … thank you very much
Thank you prof. ነመስግነካ ዓለም ናፊቃ ዘላ ከምአኹም ዘአመሰለ እያ
The US is creating conflicts and coercing other nations to join its ventures. So far US started the Ukraine / Russia conflict to indirectly profit from arm and oil marketing. It aims to downgrade Russia but is making its allies' economic downgrade too. In fact Euro will never be the same if this conflict continue as wanted by USA.
Dear Gwizo, I beg you, do not lump the majority of US citizens into "US creates conflicts". I implore you, articulate the ONE PERCENT US CAPITALISTS, or US INDUSTRIAL MILITARY COMPLEX, or US CORRUPTED GOVERNMENT.....I am an ordinary u.s. citizen who is NOT represented by billionaire-policy. It is an important strategy for identifying & DEFEATING the REAL enemies - the very few WEALTH HOARDERS who exploit the majority and falsely misrepresent peace-loving citizen-workers.
Superb presentation.
I agree wholeheartedly. But what about the freedom and democracy part? I'm for much better distribution and production also. But a terriffic standard of living is useless if you cannot have some control over who governs you and how! If you cannot speak truth and disseminate it you end up with a socialist kleptocracy that is no better than a capitalist one. So, when discussing the benefits of socialism it must be coupled with a great system of elections, and that also means open support of candidates that arrise from the grass roots. That means we must have control over our production and the profit therefrom, but we also need central support for worker owned enterprises without undue and harsh direction and appropriation. We need to be able to control our politicians without having to bow low to their power. Power must be controlled and all of the freedoms guaranteed in the First Ammendment of our Constitution have to be guaranteed too and more that were not considered when we were a less technological society. What we need in addition to control of the means of production is a better democracy to better control privilege and authority. We need an alert and sophisticated citizenry too. We need a better way and it is achievable but only with tremendous participation of our citizens on every level. Citizenship comes with privileges but also duties which must be taken seriously or it all comes apart and elites fill in be places where the populace has faltered. It's all up to us.
I agree that American capitalism is faltering. There is a huge imbalance in our economy. Wealth and power flow into fewer and fewer hands. But the same is true in every capitalist system, even those that guarantee a decent standard of living like the Scandinavian countries. That upward flow of privilege and money is intrinsic to capitalism, even when coupled with elements of socialism. But American capitalism isn't going down without a fight. It is going down with a horrible internal fight against its own citizens and increasing autocratic control of people and information. Our kind of extreme capitalism is also going to fight for its survival abroad. It is going to be a kind of catastrophe but an inevitable one.
This was a better if incomplete discussion, a system analysis if you will, of the end stages of capitalism. But it stopped short of a systems analysis of a solution. I am solution oriented, not just criticism oriented. Let's have more solutions that we can work toward as the society we know and dislike crumbles about us. The question is what will take American capitalism's place. Do we settle for better production and distribution of wealth with a big dollop of repression on top? Do we have real democracy in all parts of our production and distribution and in our politics too? Will we have a mixed economy with more democracy like Scandinavian countries or one with less democracy like China? Will we have an oligarchy with less and less democracy? These are the real questions we must confront as the United States gets weaker and less democratic and economically unjust.
agreed
socialism yes but with democracy: basically north europe is the most reality example of it
thank God relatively the european states are a mix of socialism and capitalism, which is optimal, (let's look up the very high wellness stats and the rest especially in the north EU), but there's also democracy (with all its global capitalist flaws and tendencies, we have to improve on that)
I like your comments, you do are the awaken american, not the horsepoops of BLM, LGBT, that's just mass - distraction weapons for the cheap minds to keep them busy on horizontal fights harmless to the governments (govs that are vassals of the global capitalists profit stealing top classes), away from the vertical fights, away from organizing the work force horizontally against the oligarchs and the rich caps
I recommend that we continue to have a critical mind, not passively asleep and succubus to propaganda of all kinds
@@ancomarzio8190 As it happens, I wholeheartedly support Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ people in their fight for equality in our society. It is possible to be a socialist AND gay, trans, black or all of, or none of the above. Socialism is a system of controlling production, distribution and profit. Democracy is a way of giving people control over those to whom they have freely given authority and assuring that people have a say, a vote, in how their lives are lived. Being LGBTQ is a combination of nature and choice. It's personal and none of your business at all, just as it is none of your business when women are pregnant or chose not to be pregnant. That's a personal decision. Your religion is your problem. I don't want any part if it and if you are happy with it I have no business interfering with your practice of it, but don't force your religion or its restrictions on me. My personal decisions are just as valid as yours and I promise not to try to make an atheist out of you. That's called RESPECT!
So if you do not want to be any of the various Ls, Gs, Bs, Ts or Qs that others think are are in their own best interest, just don't do that and don't put them down either. If you don't want an abortion, don't have one or don't make anyone pregnant but DEFINITELY get your opinions out of other people's lives. If you prefer to live in the country do it but others do not and leave them alone. If you are a bigot, live your bigoted life but the rest of us will go on doing what we think is correct and we will not allow your bigotry to impose itself on our lives. That's never going to happen without a fight. When it comes to serving the public, to restricting someone's rights and access to society WITH ALL OF ITS BENEFITS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, well, you crawl back into your cave because you may not impose your narrow attitude on me and on others like me who try very hard to be as accepting and uncritical of differences between people as possible.
I hope you got that you have stepped on a few toes and you have no right to do that at all. A better way does not mean your way. It means live and let live as much as is possible without causing pain or embarrassment to anyone but let everyone prosper and thrive.
When you talk of production, do you also count the weapon's production too?
Economic History lesson 101
Strange that they don't seem to be teaching that anywhere...and where they do
it's called "indocrination".
Thank you the great economist.
Great points if Biden and Trump have the opportunity to listen to professor Wolff.
Biden and Trump don't care and don't want to know --- they belong to the privileged class.
Can you do an episode around the predicted economic recession next year?
It here now
Richard Wolff (paraphrased): "Russia didn't have socialism. It had state capitalism. Stalin claimed that it was socialism because it would have been very problematic to say 'after all of your sacrifices, we now have state capitalism.' He is why people say 'socialism is when the state does stuff, and the more stuff the state does, the more socialister it is. When the state does a lot more, well, that's communism.'"
Also Richard Wolff (paraphrased): "Russia and China had socialism. Russia stopped having socialism when the USSR collapsed. China is more capitalist than socialist now."
This is one of the great inconsistencies that Wolff brings to the discourse. He knows that Russia and China were never socialist. He's said so. But he also says the opposite, which I don't doubt he does to dumb down and abbreviate the discussion for the masses who have never studied the subject. That inconsistency, though, makes socialists/communists look dishonest or like they don't know what they're talking about when they say "that's not socialism/communism." I've had it pointed out that he "consistently" agrees that they didn't have socialism/communism, but the problem is that he does that in books and longer lectures, NOT in the short segments like this one that most people will be exposed to. He's probably consistent in his books, but his shows consistently give the opposite message.
For us socialists trying to promote the socialism that we want, rather than the caricature of socialism that capitalists point to (even though those systems provided better for the people, and the US capitalist/empire actively worked to undermine and destroy them, making it obvious that "socialism" in that caricature didn't fail, but rather that capitalism and US empire can't abide fair or honest competition and must eliminate all alternatives to their hegemony, regardless of the cost), Wolff is a bad advocate for socialism. The kind of socialism we want is based on democracy first and foremost. Not the caricature of democracy that is a republic, but actual democracy, where the average person actively participates in most discussions and any decision-making. Not voting for someone to make their decisions for them, but doing it themselves. That can't happen if people are desperate to survive because of bad economic conditions and social atomization, which means that to build democracy, you first need to de-atomize society, starting at the bottom. Building mutual aid networks and getting local communities (neighborhoods, blocks, even just apartment complexes) to regularly come together to discuss issues are the first steps towards building a real bottom-up democracy. They're steps that many socialists overlook in their rush to have a revolution, which is why most revolutions result in merely changing who is in charge, rather than changing the social and political norms to any great degree.
For more on what socialists actually advocate for as the socialism they want, I suggest listening to someone who is far more consistent on the topic. Mexie is a youtuber who does a lot of consistent advocacy for what I described. Here are two:
ruclips.net/video/vVQSKciU4uY/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/oS5uHe6zlak/видео.html
Left Reckoning is another youtube channel that is really consistent on what it advocates for, and how it discusses socialism/communism.
What is state capitalism according to you? Apparently, just going from what people say, it was what existed in the USSR in the 1930s.
Yet how could the USSR be 'state capitalist'. THERE WERE NO CAPITALISTS IN THE USSR. There were no mechanisms to make profits, no way to invest money and get profits for individuals. Anyone employing labour had all the profits from it taxed away.
So what is 'state capitalism'? Well, according to Lenin, it is what we in the west live under: he called it 'state monopoly capitalism.' It is where the bourgeois state directs economic and social policy to increase the profits of capitalist. And that explanation actually makes sense.
I've never understood the problem with Soviet socialism poses to so many people, to the point where they imagine capitalists existed in the USSR, and that the state was designed to serve their interests.
It begs the question: if that was not socialism, what should socialism look like? And that's a question that is never answered, in my experience.
Socialism in the USSR was at its peak under Stalin. It was the most egalitarian society ever created. It made some of the most incredible achievements in industrial, social and technological development in the history of humanity.
Lenin himself said that socialism is nothing more than the next step forward from "state capitalism" under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
China today is no less socialist than it has ever been. The presence of private economic activity alone does not invalidate the socialist character of a society and economy.
The "commanding heights", the core of the Chinese economy, is made up of SOEs, State Owned Enterprises. These are the highest form of socialist economic organization as they are collectively owned and controlled by the entire working class of the nation through its vanguard, the Communist Party of China which exercises the dictatorship of the proletariat
In addition China also has countless small, medium and large companies which are essentially worker collectives. The most notable of these is Huawei, which is not that different from Mondragon in Spain.
Capitalists have NO political power in China.
@@transsylvanian9100 seriously???
Your contention that "Wolff is a bad advocate for socialism" contradicts your next sentence that "The kind of socialism we want is based on democracy first and foremost"...which is EXACTLY the kind of socialism that Wolff advocates (see his Democracy@Work site).
The USSR failed because it was NOT a democracy...it was based on a fatal flaw...top-down authoritarian hierarchy.
@@ivandafoe5451 There's no contradiction, because I'm pointing out that Wolff is claiming that it WAS socialism, which means that socialism, by his implication, includes top-down authoritarian hierarchy. It doesn't by any stretch of the imagination, but here as elsewhere he says that the USSR and China, both top-down authoritarian hierarchies, had "types" of socialism, when even their own proponents reject(ed) that claim.
Wolff DOES advocate for democracy (I've seen plenty of his videos and lectures), but his "USSR socialism" and "Chinese socialism" remarks make it harder for anyone who says "that's not socialism" to be taken seriously. INCLUDING HIMSELF, because he's said it, too. So like I said, bad advocate. Not because he doesn't advocate for democracy, but because he accepts that authoritarianism, as long as it threatens standard capitalism, is a "type of socialism" in practice.
Sharing Will Save the World
TOO MUCH IDEOLOGICAL NOISE is a nice one!
The production value of this show has finally gotten decent. Good audio, good video, nice lighting too!
America fought a war to end slavery. It was a labor dispute. Many died. Today America is a debtor Nation 30 trillion and counting with a service economy, we don't produce anything everyone works 'performing service's for others'. So it's indentured servitude. A type of slavery.
In the Netherlands we were the richest country and the major naval power in the 17th century. At the end of that century we even invaded England with 40,000 men and 400 ships, twice the size of the Spanish Armada. It was successful and that did put our president/stadtholder William III of Orange on the UK throne. He reorganized the UK and signed the Bill of Rights, because from the Dutch Republic he knew, how to deal with parliaments. In the begin of the 18th century we had to spend too much money on the army/navy to defend our interests world wide and that caused the fast decline of our power, simply because the money for the mercenaries did run out.
We are still one of the richest people in the world, we all have good and relatively cheap medical care, everybody has a right to a minimum income; we have at least 4 weeks of holiday each year and above all we don't have to defend our national interests world wide anymore. Now our national sentiments are satisfied by soccer and ice skating. So we are a very happy and rich country, more happy than in the time of our world domination.
The current UK is in a difficult period of denial. The USA will have to go the same route as the Dutch and the English, since in the next period large Asian countries with more than a billion people will dominate the world. Get used to it and try to cooperate with India/China somewhat more like Nixon did. Do like William II|, who helped the UK with a starting capitalist democracy. Leave the fighting to India and China and be happy in a rich and peaceful USA.
America, like Lilith, if she’s not venerated, she must be feared.
21:46 i mean to be fair the uk call theirs the ministry of defense and the usa used to call it the war department for that because a bit of a .. social faux pass
There are people and families, in this country, whose wealth is so immense it can not be accurately measured ... because their wealth is spread out, invested in various areas, and not listed under their names.
People like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are "new wealth," and we can measure their level of affluence ... because all of their money is listed under THEIR names.
Still don't know what the difference between wealth and money is?
Agreed. You almost never find on the list names of bankers, oilmen, or weapon manufacturers. They hide their names behind XX funds. They control the media including the magazines. It’s their interest to expose the other guy and not themselves. Besides no one wants to be called oil billionaire or missile billionaire. People will go protest outside their front yards and throw eggs on their windshields.
America is unique in all the world in that it has all the natural resources the world has to offer within it's borders. We don't need to trade to survive and thrive. All other Nations do. America can shrug off the International bankers. Is capable of establishing a gold standard.
Since the power of the Mafia is waning it must be the right time to Free Julian Assange - start the free movement .
Greed pure and simple.
Its simple: capital punishments formed a significant part of capital of the capitalists in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. That was a time when a unit of capital- gold and silver coins were fully convertible currency the world over. Now kapeetal of kapeetalists is a peice of paper worth noting in itself but given value with capital punishment of entire countries and continents
If corporations are full persons, how can they have their own tax code?
The tax code is contained in U.S.C. Title 26...so there does not appear to be
a separate code, for corporations, nor am aware of any "person" being made liable for any tax
under it except: Employee
The term employee includes every individual performing services if the relationship between him and the person for whom he performs such services is the legal relationship of employer and employee. The term includes officers and employees, whether elected or appointed, of the United States, a State, Territory, Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision thereof, or the District of Columbia, or any agency or instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing.
Of course, if you actually believe you are an "employee" and declare that you are
one "under penalty of perjury"...( which you have ) you have now made yourself liable for said tax.
@@jgalt308 thanks, To reduce taxable profits, a corporation can deduct many of its business expenses -- money the corporation spends in the legitimate pursuit of profit. I don't get this?
@@Rustea314 Well profit is only that which remains after all expenses have been paid.
Amazon operated for years without showing a profit because it was always re-investing
all of its revenues into expanding its operations.
For a sense of scale, it took Amazon more than 14 years-58 quarters after its May 1997 initial public
offering-to make, cumulatively, as much profit as it produced in the latest quarter alone. Keep in mind
that Amazon consistently lost money for its first several years as a public company.
@@jgalt308 If Corporations are persons, we are getting ripped off.
@@Rustea314 Well you have an "illegitimate, unconstitutional government" to thank for it.
about the argument that the pie of the rich must grow faster then the pie of the poor, but combined the entire pie grows, what are actually the arguments from economist who stays to that?
I very much appreciate your succinct analysis based in research and your summarization to apply this analysis to the present.
I'm sorry, but what "research" would you be referring too?
@@jgalt308 I would be referring to the research from which (I assume) Dr. Wolff derived such numbers as the rate of increase in GDP of the USA as compared to China, among the many other claims that he puts forward throughout the video.
@@Emcee0302 The problem with that is the "assumption" that the numbers are correct...China has always
had a GDP that was near the "top" simply by virtue of its population for most of
its history...and recently it has benefited from that by being a source of cheap labor, as
do other countries with "similar" demographics, such as India.
Unfortunately, this video also suggests that "capitalism" has fled "previous empires" although
he also dates this as beginning in the 17th century...and "capitalism" doesn't really begin until
much later...and this is further confused, for if true, and capitalism has fled, Britain, Europe and
the U.S. ( and in the productive industrial sense it is ) then "capitalism" is no longer the
source of the problem for these countries.
Yet, for "Wolff" ...capitalism ( in every other video ) is his go-to villain...rendering his analysis
as completely inconsistent with the facts...yet this completely escapes the attention of his
rather insignificant audience and the even less significant audience of those willing to pay him.
@@jgalt308
I think we can put aside for the moment (although not ignore) the question of whether the assumption is well-founded or not that Dr. Wolff is presenting researched data. What I would like to instead focus on is the reasoning which is an attempt to make sense of that alleged data.
The argument is that the US GDP is increasingly less than that of China because the US is increasingly less productive of goods and services than China is. Furthermore, the reason that the US is increasingly less productive of goods and services than China is because of (a) the inherent capitalist practice of exploitation of workers: capitalists (e.g., executives and major shareholders) exert themselves minimally while collecting the disproportionately large percentage of the revenue generated by those who exert themselves maximally, and (b) Wolff’s suggestion (allegedly based on data) that the majority of this capitalist exploitation is now happening in China - no longer in the US or, more remotely in time, Britain.
Furthermore China, like the US and Britain, will temporarily continue to see a rise in consumer goods and service before its people are abandoned by those capitalists for new sources of exploitable labor and/or automation.
Your contention that (end-stage) capitalism is still being practiced in the US and Britain does not refute the likely thesis (Wolff would call it a 'fact') that capitalism writ-large has moved its epicenter elsewhere while it slowly chokes away the economies of the ‘provinces’ of the US and Britain, where it tenaciously lingers on.
@@Emcee0302 One can put aside many things, but in Wolff's case the problem is more
basic than that...since fundamentally one can question whether Wolff actually knows what
capitalism is, understands Marx, or has any clue regarding history or economics in
any sense?
The entire video here by Wolff emphasizes the singular point that "capitalism" left the
various empires including the U.S. He's not very good at history either, since capitalism
in the sense that it is used by Marxists after being 'coined" by Proudhon circa 1850, begins
in Britain in conjunction with industrialization enabled by the energy of coal and other
carbon-based fuels.
Marx expected capitalism to be the transitional phase to his communist utopia...overcoming the
"rentier" economy of the aristocracy. Unfortunately, he was incorrect, and the rentier sector actually
expanded to the F.I.RE sector...financialization, insurance, and real estate ( land rents being the
central component of the rentier class ) which has been explained by Michael Hudson, but which
Wolff chooses to ignore, along with the role of governments and money as a commodity in what
followed.
So my argument has always been what "capitalism" is...and simply calls attention
to the ignorance of "Marxists" and their variants, in never knowing what it was in the first place...and
since Marxism is a "criticism" of capitalism...that has constantly failed to "correct" the supposed
deficiencies attributed to it, this result should come as no surprise...after all, you can't correct
problems if you are unaware of their source, and you certainly can't correct them, if they are no longer
part of the problem you are dealing with.
Capitalism produces things, rent-seeking behavior does not...and this is the source of exploitation of
the working class by the rentier class and enabled by government...which is why the "producing" class
seeks other venues. ( as Wolff has explained at least in this video )
Now there is plenty of room for discussion of all the elements involved here by anyone who is
actually interested...but the secondary problem is: is Wolf actually making a positive contribution
toward any actual understanding. Clearly my position is that he is not...which places me at odds with
those who seek to defend him...and these exchanges are entirely unproductive because there is no factual basis
upon which to defend him.
i.e. " Your contention that (end-stage) capitalism is still being practiced in the US and Britain"...
Clearly I do not ascribe to any such "distinction" for what exists is not "capitalism", but even worse,
is that Wolff makes no such distinction either...since for him "everything is capitalism"...
This presents a conundrum as to what a productive continuation of this exchange should focus on.
Watch the water.
We can make education a national right. Revise the property tax so the owner only pays taxes on the equity in the property. Anyone holding a mortgage pays taxes on the principal. Expand this education tax to all property with a value of over 50,000. Including financial assets. If you own a car boat or plane or stocks or bonds. Those are included. As are 401k and other retirement assets. (Pensions must all be subject to income taxes so those would not be taxed and if they are corrupted somehow like they were in the 1980s. Then they are penalized/taxes at 60%.)
And I bet all the wealth is going to people who don't live here full time either.
youtube michael hudson"s " J as in junk economics " . also " super-imperialism " . we've been had .
Isn't the term "Globalization" a euphemism for Lenin's description of economic "Imperialism"?
@J Gault his only solution to distract all of you from change that will save our lives
Countries with parliaments are in fact oligarchies (few lead). In order to be a true democracy, the decisions of the Parliament should be submitted to the approval of the citizens. The democratic aspect is a side effect in societies where economies have a strong competitive aspect, where the interests of those who hold economic power in society are divergent. Thus, those with money, and implicitly with political power in society, are supervising each other so that none of them have undeserved advantages due to politics. Because of this, countries with large mineral resources, like Russia and Venezuela (their share in GDP is large), do not have democratic aspects, because a small group of people can exploit these resources in their own interest. In poor countries, the main resource exploited may even be the state budget, as they have converging interests in benefiting, in their own interest, from this resource. This is what is observed in Romania, Bulgaria, when, no matter which party comes to power, the result is the same. The solution is modern direct democracy in which every citizen can vote, whenever he wants, over the head of the parliamentarian who represents him. He can even dismiss him if most of his constituents consider that their interests are not right represented
capitalism is fine problem is the political system got corrupted over time,newer countries like european countries are less than 80 years old,USA is 230
So capitalism can't help but corrupt the political system that uses it?
I'd say that is a fundamental problem with capitalism.
It is a function of capitalism to corrupt itself, it's in its best interests to not do things for others when your bottom line is money and growth, at the expense of everything else, that's the inequality that you see today.
@@toronaldaris Impressive...you still don't know the difference between an economic system
and the government that determines it.
It is amazing to hear a man talk with so much confidence and yet say nothing of importance. It's inflammatory alright but not factual. Why do I say this, because he deals in some truths but you have to accept them based on nothing more than because "he says so" not because of facts you can verify. Why, because most all he says is not true. See, anyone can say anything and not support it with facts you can verify. I'm purposely doing exactly what he is doing just to prove the point he is saying absolutely nothing.
Also from the looks of it he will delete all negative comments.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
Two party system has failed America.
I don't think there is less socialism in China now. Socialism is a transition period, not a set of economic policies. They will differ everywhere depending on circumstance. The important things are to increase the means of production in total and make sure that no capitalist class emerges and takes control of the political power. So long as the state acts in the common interest and is clearly taking a path toward a more prosperous and equal society, sterring towards communism in fact, then it is socialism.
Well said, exactly many of us feel over here on this side. It's never easy to find a balance between having capitalism economy for growth while staying politically socialism to benefit more than just the rich & powerful.
When people want a change they will have suddenly woke up and realized that we are only still alive in the USA because we haven't started a nuclear war yet
And they will endeavor to change
Facing Socialism or barbarism
+
The problem with Marxism and Leninism is Hegel. Hegel talks about historical consciousness. I think it was Lao Tse who said:
'People speak flowery words and start nonsense.'
We must understand that an 18th and 19th century conceptualisation of what constituted consciousness of any kind is utterly laughable. They were talking out of their arses.
Class consciousness, when cast in Hegelian terms is utter tripe. Das Kapital was an attempt to retrofit the idea of so-called class consciousness with a respectable philosophy; the evolution of class relations and class conflict as a motor for change.
We grasp onto Marxist ideas because we want to believe. But Marxism is and always was, well meant ratiocinating tosh.
There is no direct link between collective relations to production and human consciousness that bypasses individual human psychology, or that overwhelms all other loyalties and experiences in order to determine human behaviour. That is merely a grand surmise.
To say that class consciousness is the motor of history is huge chutzpa on the part of Marx. And to take Marx seriously means you must ignore all that we now know about the whole of human psychology and the effect of all the rest of life experiences on a human being. For example:
their race, gender, sexuality, religious beliefs, nationality, the football team they like, the affinities they have with other people, their experiences abroad, the influence of their friends, the influence of the books they have read and the movies they have watched, their personalities, their traumas, their education.
..and it goes on and on and on. Human consciousness, geddit?
Meanwhile, the majority of us don't share the exact same relations to production anyway, we aren't organised into grand concerts of workers, ready to be militarised at the drop of Trotsky's hat. Pizza delivery boys are the dispatch riders of the proletarian revolutionary army.
This is 2022. The age of robots and loneliness, of WFH and zero hour contracts and if and when we unionise it will only be to ensure better pay and conditions - that's been the experience - not to overthrow the capitalist state and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. At best/worst we just riot and loot shops.
If people change society, it won't be because they are battalions of angry workers setting up Soviets, it will be because EDUCATED people and self-educated people dislike the status quo and band together inter-sectionally to change society for the good and not for the benefit of some new hegemonic white male dominated working class.
We can be socialists without being Marxists. In fact, to be a humane socialist you cannot be a Marxist. To a Marxist we are nearly all for the chop - just ask Pol Pot, Mao and Stalin.
arsnotoria.com/2022/01/01/editorial-what-is-humane-socialism/
I think you are misrepresenting what Prof Wolff (and many other modern Marxists and socialists) is advocating for and setting up a crummy straw man version of socialism so you can burn it down easily. I don't think any modern Marxist is asking to reestablish the Soviet Union and replicate that revolution. Nobody is saying we should emulate the Khmer Rouge or the Cultural Revolution of China. Quite the contrary. I think we can learn from those failed socialist experiments and change the approach to achieving democracy in the workplace. That's the name of Prof Wolff's channel too. It's not a coincidence.
I can only listen to you at 2x's speed.
When Otzi the Iceman emerged from an Austrian glacier after 5000 years, I thought it would be a suitable follow up lesson, to introduce my students to Climate Change. When you summarize the globalization of Capitalism, you are drawing attention to the globalization of carbon emissions and all that entails. Your next lesson should draw attention to the LIMITS of Capitalist growth in a climate constrained world. Humans are over populating the planet, over producing and over consuming. The end result is a scary IPCC carbon bubble. Any ideas on how Capitalism fixes the climate bubble?
Same was they solved love canal asbestosis lead poisoning overpriced healthcare and limited access to healthcare and poisoned us with food additives.
2 years since the pandemic hit and still a shortage of CPAP machines causing some people to die in their sleep
And the rest are just not sleeping at all.
Very convenient for the oligarchs since the "useless eaters" (as Hitler called them) will probably die of suicide or accident
(I said this also in a comment below). I'm italian.
I'm sorry, of course noone hates (or should hate) americans for being americans, but the US government (as most of the NATO and world's govs) is, as you point out, not actually the expression of the people, rather it is the caste organization of the western oligarchs (gates, bezos, etc), which dresses itself as democratic, but it's not actually (though thank God for now there's enough democracy as to be able to spread these messages)
Those that are "woke", in the actual sense of the term, understood this decades ago. But who knows, never say never, America can return to be actually great again! Although I'm afraid it might take a real revolution, or a miracle by electing a truly anti-deepstate party (if that's pragmatically enabled by it. Maybe Sanders but I don't even know if that's much the case in reality)
What we can do is trying to boycot the rich capitalists as much as possible, which is what I have been doing for the last +10 years (I buy least Apple, least McDonalds, least Cocacola, least Huwaei, least Samsung... as decently possible), I buy instead the smaller cheaper brands, and I could not feel better: this is a sort of soft revolution, guided by the actually truly democratic-pushed market forces, a true pragmatic and actually socialism-oriented real bloodless revolution, whose guide easy principle is this: let's give the money back to us, nomore to the richer and richer corporate elites! This is the way to actually pragmatically and bloodlessly "fuck the system". Tally-hoo, brothers!
Understood. Huawei boss is no billionaire. He owns 0.8% of the company stock. The rest is shared by 200,000 employees. It is indeed a socialist company privately owned. Someone who’s interest is not making big money for himself but aim for greater good.
I want to point out that its not totally surprising that Russia and China would remain competitors with the US. Capitalism is based on competition and besting your rivals, with power politics as an act of making grabs for money, power and influence in the world. Russia and China have made their societies more capitalist, so the power politics remains. Russia and China have economies that engage with their rivals, so they are competitors as well as collaborators.
how about dept of defense changing to dept of piratical military?
You seem confused... as piracy occurs at sea, and is covered in the constitution under
"letters of marque and reprisal" conducted by privateers. ( originating in Britain under
Elizabeth I )
Also, the Dept of War was not changed to "defense" until after WWII. ( and the U.S.
the government had already ceased operating under the constitution. )
Unfortunately, Wolff is not a reliable source for economics or history...but those pieces of
paper are easier to print than fake money.
When a nation records a glorious history in its own culture. Their descendants will go crazy to replicate this experience. After all, the benefits brought by the Great Voyage Age are so huge. Of course, beautification is also a must.
Professor Wolff,
200 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize.
Is there any hope to at least return this country to the capitalism we had from 1933-1981 ???
As you mentioned, even the past capitalism of the British Empire has since returned to being more equal in distribution than we are now.
-Or has it come to a point where it’s too late for America to flip that script?
You seem somewhat resigned.
Thank you for all you do.
Almost feels like I’m watching a soap opera….
👍
20:28 hehe yeah and rome only ever fought defensive wars lol :P
👍👍👍
China had far to go during it's growth when us was already on top, compare apples to apples.
What does the USA produce still?
Sports stars and movie stars and celebrities earning hundreds of millions. News anchors and lobbyists and crooked lawyers who make millions but produce nothing useful. Then there are CEOs awarding themselves billions in compensation and benefits even when shareholders lose big time. Need I say more?
Shooters looters senators