Economic Update – May 15, 2026
Economics Professor Richard D. Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, locally and globally. The program explores alternative ways to organize, markets, and government policies.
Economic Update
10:00 AM Pacific Time: Fridays
Economics Professor Richard D. Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, locally and globally. The program explores government policies, alternative ways to organize, and markets.
Economic Update – May 8, 2026
Economics Professor Richard D. Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, locally and globally. The program explores alternative ways to organize, markets, and government policies.
Born Sick in the USA: Improving The Health of a Nation
This week’s Economic Update focuses on 3 major teachers unions struggling with LA Unified School District, the rising US electricity costs and the corrupted utility commissions that run the power utilities, as well as looking at from 1990 to 2025 there was extreme US redistribution of wealth from lower 99% to richest 1%. Interview with public … Continued
Economic Implications of the U.S. War on Iran
This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the 3800 Colorado meatpackers on strike before diving into a presentation on how the war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the production and transportation of oil and gas sufficiently to drive up oil and gas prices globally, while also raising … Continued
The Great US Pension Crisis
This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the declines of Europe: French municipal elections show Macron weakness, Germany rejects war on Iran, UK waffles on Iran and helping US, tribute to Trump deepens Europe’s subordination to US and China as economic giants in today’s world economy, especially in advanced technical areas. In the second … Continued
Criticizing Pro-Capitalist Ideology
This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the flaws in the argument that profit is an appropriate, just return to the risk taken by a capitalist who invests. The critique focuses on (1) what it means that a capitalist can withhold means of production from production, and (2) how workers, their families, and communities … Continued
The Reality, Hype, and Danger of A.I.
On this episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on job losses in February 2026 in the U.S. economy, how California unions are actively protecting immigrant workers from ICE, capitalist crashes and politics (1929 vs. today), and Europe’s economic dead end. In the second half, Professor Wolff interviews journalist-critic (and Bernie Sanders’ speechwriter) Richard … Continued
Trump’s Tariff Policies: A Critique
This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff explains how and why Trump’s tariff policies add uncertainties to global trade that undermine the very benefits he promised tariffs would bring. He also explains why the United States has never truly been a democracy, but rather an authoritarian society whose current shift is from a polite authoritarianism … Continued
The US Housing Crisis Today
On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the history of highly successful government-built and-operated housing launched in 1918, the gains won by UAW workers in the first contract at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, TN, and the story of the three-year strike by the Newspaper Guild against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which was … Continued
Economic Update – March 6, 2026
Economics Professor Richard D. Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, locally and globally. The program explores alternative ways to organize, markets, and government policies.