713 - NO MORE BULLSHIT! (Economy Edition) feat. Richard Wolff (3/9/23)

Youth is wasted on the young

ploob

Ah you got me I’m a moron, maybe a smart guy like you could explain why inflation isnt as bad in america vs Europe, corporations less greedy here?

This take looking real good now that statistics from Europe are coming out showing that roughly 50% of their inflation is from corporate profits 😅. Typical neoliberal economics brained people inadvertently propagating the ideology of the system they supposedly don't like because they think it makes them seem smart

Steven Medge

If you listened 18 mins in he talks about that. It serves everyone if they listen to an hour and 20 min discussion on a complex subject rather than commenting immediately after they come across something that wrinkles their nose.

ac1dP1nk

Strictly baller behaviour

ac1dP1nk

Isn’t that the point? You have to guess at what he is saying and craft meaning that is not in any way there. Seems to prove the point of the quality of his intent and delivery. It sucks.

Prick Commenter

I think that you both might be oversimplifying the egg scenario, him maybe out of laziness, and you to win an argument. Maybe eggs was a poor example, as we all know that the avian flu has disrupted the supply chain, but what I took from his example was what I took from the entire "bullshit" yelling piece, and that was to question why these things are happening in the first place. Was the 52 million birds lost in this outbreak enough to justify the price of eggs rising by 137 percent? Were there egg producers that had flocks unaffected by the avian flu? Did they raise their prices? Do we accept that a system of 'supply and demand' is enough to justify these price increases, or do we start to entertain the idea that someone, somewhere is raising prices to profit? I guess I interpreted it as a way of saying "we look at this system from the viewpoint that these are unchangeable laws, like the laws of physics, when we should be looking at it from the viewpoint of a system governed by laws written by those that profit from those laws."

the children yearn for the posting mines of fyad

G Goldhar

Is there just a substantial share of Chapo listeners who are simply never fucking happy with anything? Good grief you don’t have to suck this guy off but maybe entertain the thought that Wolff offers a valuable alternative to the brainless noise that makes up the majority of media/political discourse on economic. Plus he’s funny. What do you want for your 35 cents, live forever?

Rohmer Simpson

still not listening to this episode because I think it's way funnier to read the comments without context. I hope he actually did say that, that would be an incredibly funny thing to think

etienne

I’ve listened to this 3 times just because of the way this guy says “BULLSHIT”

Rohmer Simpson

The 70s saw a lot of inflation. Nixon didn't "stop it" in 1971. Not even close.

Fitz Weiss

Sure thing - my biggest issues are with his understanding of inflation and that he shares the foreign policy takes of John mearsheimer. On inflation, Wolff characterizes it purely as businesses gouging customers for no real reason - i think he made a joke about the egg market being tight. The thing is that literally happened - avian flu killed a ton of chickens and fucked the supply of eggs. Wolff completely ignores the impact of exogenous shocks on inflation, saying something about purchasing managers getting fired if they can’t keep prices down - but there’s not much a purchasing manager can do to prevent gas prices from skyrocketing due to Russia invading Ukraine, not much they can do when a shortage of garage doors makes it impossible to complete new housing. There are definitely cases where firms are using inflation as an excuse to gouge people, but it’s not everything. Wolff is correct to point out that raising rates is a cruel attempt to fix inflation by feeding poor people into the meat grinder, but price controls won’t fix underlying supply chain bottlenecks. The answer probably lies in more state investment in critical industries. As for the foreign policy takes - something’s gone wrong when you end up on the side of psycho Cold War realists like maersheimer. The realists try to balance the interests of “great powers,” which amounts to staying out of conflicts that are outside of a power’s sphere of influence. Back when Kissinger advocated for this worldview, actual marxists criticized it for being a dressed up justification for regional powers to do imperialism, which is exactly what we’re seeing now. Realism is great if you’re considered a great power, but if you’re a smaller power you can end up in a spot where the world sits around and watches while an invading power levels cities and slaughters civilians unhindered. Insane that a lot of tankies are aligning with the hard right out of a reflexive “US bad” sentiment

Links for the people you mentioned we should listen to?

Khemith

Why is this behind the paywall? It should be free.

Gis

Could you elaborate on what facts/history Wolff is wrong about?

I love this man. I want him saying bullshit to be my ringtone for work calls

Darbi Simmons

Shut the fuck up

ex-cantaloupe

Totally. Wolff has a knack for cutting through the bullshit, and they covered a lot of ground that I'd love to share with some bullshit vulnerable peers.

Riverbank Frank

You’re paying for chapo too you fucking moron you’re the exact same

Fuck off nerd

Hampus Bystrom

If you’re impressed by Wolff I can guarantee you’re a college sophomore at most

Damn, I bet you look like the comic book guy typing this.

Justin Mills Webb

Next time can you bring on someone who is competent? like veb or pearkes or someone who cares about getting basic facts right about history or economics

I'd just like to add I think there would be some real value in unlocking this one so people can share it.

John Griffiths

please unlock!!!!

Reece Coren

Free the Wolffe!!! Bunch of champagne socialists.

I really think this one should be unlocked

Tanya Finder

I appreciated Wolff defining inflation and deflation as simply the price movements they are. Our media has a tendency to make simple concepts complicated in order to distract and fill space.

Alex

Unlock this episode!