Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism (City Lights Open Media)

This is a book of long interviews with Richard D. Wolff by David Barsamian.The answers and discussions are long, but the book is short. Better yet, it is amazingly comprehensive and clear.Wolff goes beyond Keynesianism--though he is perfectly familiar with it. He makes plain that FDR saved capitalism in the U.S. by (a) enacting legislation to rein in the unchecked destructiveness of capitalism, (b) enacting legislation to soften the hardships the Depression had wrought--Social Security and Unemployment Compensation, (c) forcing the 1% to pay for all this with tax hikes on wealth and corporations--he threatened the rich that if they didn't pay for this, the Unions, communists, and socialists (then very strong) would take it anyway and given them a much worse deal, and, most important, (d) direct government job-creation, since the "market" wasn't doing it.He recommends the last two (c and d) again--only this time directing direct government hiring toward green energy, weatherizing homes and offices, daycare and eldercare. But he goes way beyond this.Wolff says that it is in the nature of capitalists, since they are out to maximize profits at all costs, to fight tenaciously against any regulation or any softening of workers' plights. They have largely been successful in this, particularly in the last 30 years--lowering taxes markedly on the wealthy and on corporations, throwing out Glass-Steagall and other regulations, offshoring, union-busting, and so on--all of which have essentially brought us to the Great Recession we are in now.To combat this, he says, we not only need direct government employment to re-start demand, but we need an entire change away from the capitalist structure of business. Corporations are controlled by 15-20 people who have complete say over what everyone is paid, what will be produced, how it will be produced, where it will be done. This gives them incentives to trash workers, the environment, regulations, and even their own companies just before bailing out with golden parachutes.What is needed instead, says Wolff, is complete worker-control. Instead of a board that is detached from all production and consequences, every worker should be enlisted into the structure and control of companies. As he puts it, you go to work Mon.-Thurs. and do your job, then on Friday, you and every other worker meet in council and decide how the business shall be run.This way, an elite group does not dominate, and those who actually work and actually have to live with consequences make the decisions.In short: economic democracy.Wolff is terrific on explaining the current (crazy) tax structure, the current (woefully inadequate) minimum wage and unemployment arrangements, the wastefulness of military spending, and much else.He says that the so-called socialism of the U.S.S.R. and Mao's China were really just state capitalism, and did not allow worker control, and so replicated the same problems as capitalism.He also says--what is transparently true--that political democracy without economic democracy will fail, because economic power will buy elections.He is heartened by the Occupy Movement because it places the economy, and capitalism (a sacred cow), on the table for discussion, and because it is experimenting with actual democracy, as opposed to the sham democracy we have with bought elections.

Wolff gives a fantastic overview of how capitalism operated throughout the 20th century and what events occurred to cause the 2008 financial crisis. While the book is about 9 years old now the information he relays is still relevant and helpful to understanding capitalism. Wolff covers the periods of consistent growth that America experienced from 1820 to 1970 and explains in great detail the fundamental changes that took place in the 70s that completely transformed labor.Wolff also writes about the Great Depression and the methods Roosevelt took in order to create jobs. The factors that Wolff credits to ending the Great depression were raising taxes on the wealthy, the organization of millions of workers into unions, the creation of millions of jobs, and ensuring that people were paid a decent wage.Overall I learned so much from this book. Wolff's writing is relaxed in the sense that you definitely do not need to be an academic to understand this book. He gave great historical exposition and exposed many of the inequalities. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to researching capitalism.

This concise (under 200 pages) small book gives us a very insightful, informed description of how and why our capitalistic business and financial system has led us into a very deep social and ecological hole. It took less than 20 years from the time that Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. told us of the triumph of our U.S. free market (not REALLY free, upon examination) system (1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union) until that same system has brought ever more income and wealth disparity, along with increasing damage to the natural environment to our country, with worldwide consequences. The author does a masterful job of putting together this compelling picture while demonizing no one. Our system dehumanizes rich and poor alike, even if the rich have been doing better over the past decades while the rest of us have barely held on or have declined economically. He commendably avoids "good guy - bad guy" language while painting a clear picture of the need for system reform. Highly recommended, especially if the reader has an open mind and a willingness to question a lot of the platitudes we grew up with.

I'm OK with reading an interview style, but please correct spelling and sentence structure. Otherwise I'd rather watch it on internet. The material is what matters most, though. Wolff is telling us what we need to hear about an institution, capitalism, that needs a big overhaul. It has stopped working for us - if it ever did - and is hurting most of us. When profit is at the center of our overall values, a great deal of damage is done. Greed is not good. I like his thoughtful treatment of the subject.

This book, with its question/answer format, gives clear, concise answers about the economic mess we're in, and how to get out of it. The old methods haven't worked, and the politicians haven't helped, so this book is a breath of fresh air to a intrangible problem. Finally, someone has come up with real prescriptions and ways to get out of our morass.The easy way it answers questions and details reasons why the economy's not working for most of us, plus the options for changing it, makes this a 5 Star book.. It makes for a great read, with a good, easily understandable style of writng, I heartily recommend it for your next book.

I highly respect Richard Wolff and his ideas about reviving our moribund economy. He is a visonary thinker and a fearless economist unafraid to call out the plutocrats and the powerful by exposing how mistaken theories and policies have weakened our middle class and transferred the wealth to the 1%. The Occupy movement must be revived and this dialogue about the 99% must be reinvigorated through thinkers like Professor Wolff.

Easy to read, expansive expose of 21st century capitalism, it's ineffiencies and cruelties. Highly recommended. Wolff is always fantastic and in the question-response format offered by Barsamian he excels and expounds in lucid, enlightening detail that anyone can understand.

This was a present. My husband was very really pleased with it as he admires the author. Hasn't read yet but has skimmed and it is just what he wanted.

Very Good book and simple to read, a must have for ordinary citizen.