Ask Prof Wolff: Can Capitalism Be Reformed?

this is Richard Wolff from democracy at work responding to another ask Prof wolf question from one of democracy at Works supporters Jonathan by name and Jonathan asks about what is sometimes called Collective capitalism associated with the work of g means among others it's also associated with what is sometimes referred to as Eastern capitalism and what it means is a kind of capitalism because of course capitalism like every other system has many variations that differ from country to country area to area and so on but these Eastern capitalisms are sometimes referred to as places where capitalism is quite different from say what it is in the west particularly in the United States or the United Kingdom and the difference has to do with certain kinds of what we usually call social welfare guaranteed employment is sometimes part of this a guarantee of basic government services that are just a part of society and guaranteed in other words workers have a more secure situation in these kinds of capitalism than they would in a kind of profit maximizing is the number one objective sort of capitalism and what Jonathan wants to know is would American workers for example be attracted to a different capitalism not so much necessary a socialism that goes beyond the capitalism but a capitalism that had more of these Eastern or Collective or worker supportive qualities in the west these ideas also exist in Europe for example there's a phrase commonly used called capitalism with a human face and this is usually referring to the social welfare states of places like Scandinavia or Germany or France or Italy where you have a nationalized health insurance given to everybody whether you're working or not where you have all kinds of subsidies for workers from the government all kinds of job guarantees all kinds of vacation time guarantees that are not common in the United Kingdom or the United States So my answer first of all to Jonathan is yes we know American workers could be attracted to it because they were the greatest moment of this kind of capitalism being turned to here in the United States was what we call the New Deal the Great Depression of the 1930s shook the American working class remember the unemployment rate went to 25 in 1933. one out of four workers without a job every American Family shaken to its Foundations at least financially and in the response we made a collective capitalism quite like that Eastern or Collective model we created Social Security we had never had that before guarantee if you're 65 years of age or older whatever you've done in your life the government's going to give you a pension for the rest of your life if you become unemployed through no fault of your own the government will give you an unemployment check we never had that before in America either a minimum wage was created in 1930s we never had that before and government jobs by the millions were created to give unemployed people the dignity and the income of a job so we've had it American workers have been attracted to it so far I'm with Jonathan answering yes but is it an appropriate solution which is also buried in Jonathan's question there I would have to say no and make it in an emphatic no and in the time remaining to me in this conversation I want to explain why Collective capitalism has other names stakeholder capitalism capitalism with a conscience capitalism with the human face non-crony capitalism real capitalism I mean people have been struggling with different kinds of capitalism for a long time here's the problem even if the working class and that's who has to do it each time even if the working class is successful in fighting for these sorts of supports guaranteed jobs social services that are needed vacation time that is needed paternal and maternal leaves that are needed all of that if and when workers fight for that here's the first thing that happens capitalists the employers don't want it they try to stop it they try to block it just like they try to stop and block unions because unions are a step in the direction of these kinds of capitalism and they have been everywhere so the capitalists stop it if they can't stop it they delay it if they can't delay it and it passes and becomes part of the law and the regulations then their next step is to evade it to weaken those laws to get those Laws repealed what's my point here it's really simple even if the working class at enormous cost over long periods of struggle wins a better capitalism but it leaves in place the capitalist system employers with all the power workers without it well then guess what the employers are going to do they're going to try to undo the very reforms that made for these better capitalisms and we are living right now you and I here in the United States at least in the literal experience of that the last 40 years have been systematically devoted to undoing the New Deal of the 1930s we had public jobs to take care of unemployed people we don't have that anymore we've had a minimum wage which was supposed to be there as a minimum the last time it was raised was in 2009 we've had an inflation of excess of 25 since then but we haven't budged that minimum wage in fact it's not there anymore as a minimum and unemployment insurance is being hampered at every turn Social Security is being picked that limited underfunded everything that you get after years of struggle can be and will be undone because the employer has the incentive to do that to boost their profits and they have their profits because those go into their hands to realize what they're incentivized to do so my answer is yes workers can be drawn to that but a growing number of workers will answer differently and they'll say we've been there as a working class we've done that we're not going to do that again we yeah we'll fight for the better kind of system but we're going to change the system too we cannot leave in place a small group of employers who have the incentive and the means to undo ever everything we have struggled for that's why a more basic change Beyond capitalism is the better way to go if conversations like these strike you as useful please be a partner with us share them show them to other people that's the point that's what our reach is designed to achieve and we ask also if you'd like to know about all the different things we do partnering with whatever those of them interest you go to our website join our mailing list that way you'll be informed regularly of what we do and we will not overload you with emails we promise and of course if you can help defray some of the costs of what we do that would be appreciated as well thank you

Channel: Democracy At Work

Views: 11,894

Keywords: Richard Wolff, democracy, work, labor, economy, economics, inequality, justice, capitalism, capital, income, wages, poverty, yt:cc=on, wealth, Marxism, collective capitalism, capitalism with a human face, G. Means, guaranteed employment, social security, FDR, the New Deal, minimum wage, reform

Id: zWjBN9fdYx8

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 26 2023