Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: "Anti-Mandate is NOT Anti-Vaccine" — December 16, 2021
Host: Richard D. Wolff (Democracy at Work)
Guest: Bob Henley, investigative reporter

Episode Overview

In this episode, Richard D. Wolff delves into the concept of "obscene wealth" in America, critiquing the disproportionate accumulation of resources by billionaires and its impact on society and democracy. The episode then shifts to a conversation with investigative reporter Bob Henley, emphasizing the distinction between anti-vaccine sentiment and opposition to vaccine mandates, particularly among unionized workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Henley also analyzes recent political developments, focusing on how both mainstream politics and media misrepresent labor concerns and working-class interests.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Critique of Obscene Wealth

• Unfairness of Billionaire Wealth ([00:10–05:58])

  • Wolff critiques the notion that billionaires alone deserve outsized rewards.
  • He emphasizes the collaborative nature of invention and innovation, using Elon Musk as an example.
    • "Let me give you a metaphor... Suppose a village that's threatened by a river overflowing... They give the check for $10,000 to whom? The guy at the end of the line who stacked the sandbags... Everybody else gets nothing. ... That's a disincentive for people to do the right thing, isn't it?" — Richard Wolff [03:05]
  • Wealth distribution, like in his "village" metaphor, illustrates the skewed nature of capitalist rewards.

• Wealth Accumulation is Unnecessary for Innovation ([05:58–08:09])

  • Wolff challenges the myth that only massive financial incentives drive breakthroughs.
  • He underscores figures like Jonas Salk and Albert Einstein, who achieved greatness without vast fortunes.
    • "None of them became billionaires. None of them expected to become billionaires. None of them ever expressed regret that they weren't rewarded with billions." — Richard Wolff [05:30]
  • The system increasingly rewards business model tweaks (like Sears, Walmart, and Amazon) over genuine innovation.

• Capitalism Rewards First Movers, Not Necessarily Innovators ([06:38–08:40])

  • Success is often about being "first on the block," not about radical invention or societal benefit.
  • "You don't get to be a billionaire because you did something great for human society. You get there because you can play the game of capitalism..." — Richard Wolff [08:09]

• Obscene Wealth Undermines Democracy ([08:40–11:34])

  • Extreme concentrations of wealth allow individuals to corrupt democratic processes and tilt policies in their favor.
  • Wolff discusses estate tax history, showing how policies have shifted to benefit dynastic wealth and reduce equality.
    • "Today...the first $23.4 million, you don't pay any federal estate tax. And every dollar after that, not 77% as we once did, 40%. Wow, that's rich people making sure we don't get back the wealth they've accumulated in their life." — Richard Wolff [11:03]
  • The result is an undemocratic society where billionaires disproportionately shape what gets produced and whose needs are met.
    • "When Mr. Bezos decides he wants something, he can make millions of people go to work producing it because he has that money. We can't." — Richard Wolff [12:36]

2. Social Crisis and Policy Choices

• Neglected Social Issues ([13:00–15:00])
  • Wolff highlights the rape crisis in America: over 460,000 cases per year, exceeding COVID death rates over some periods.
  • He argues that if wealth were taxed properly, funds could be redirected toward addressing such crises.
    • "Imagine if we taxed the obscene wealthy and we used it to deal with this crisis. What a contribution we could make." — Richard Wolff [15:00]

3. Labor, Mandates, and Public Perception: Interview with Bob Henley

Anti-Mandate vs. Anti-Vaccine: Unpacking the Distinction

([16:07–19:19])

• Fragmented Response to Pandemic & Labor's Role

  • Henley critiques the federal handling of the pandemic, particularly under Trump, which pitted states and institutions against each other.
    • "Former President Trump...pit each state of the United States against each other...at a time of a once in a century public health crisis..." — Bob Henley [17:07]
  • He notes that labor unions' opposition is to mandates, not to vaccines per se—unions support vaccination but demand bargaining over terms.

• Labor Law and Vaccine Mandates

  • Under labor law, working conditions—including vaccine mandates—must be negotiated.
    • "It's important to know that under labor law, something like this that's determined condition of employment is to be negotiated." — Bob Henley [17:40]
  • Successful models, like United Airlines working with unions, achieved high voluntary vaccination rates versus coercive top-down mandates (e.g., NYC).

• Misrepresentation in Media

  • Media often conflates anti-mandate with anti-vaccine, which fractures the labor movement and benefits capital.
    • "I know of no union, none, that has opposed the vaccine as a scientific matter...What capital probably loves is this does fracture the labor movement." — Bob Henley [19:19]

Union Perspective: Protecting Members, Holding Power Accountable

([19:19–22:05])

• Unions’ Skepticism Toward Mandates and Pharma

  • Unions distrust pharma companies and state apparatus, recalling issues like the opioid epidemic.
  • Henley critiques how CDC policies put essential workers at risk during PPE shortages, ignoring union warnings.

• Essential Workers and Institutional Failures

  • Henley recalls how the CDC instructed health workers to reuse masks, defying medical training, which unions predicted would lead to more cases and deaths.
  • "At the beginning...the CDC...told these health professionals to...wear their mask sometimes for a week at a time...the unions warned this will spread the disease..." — Bob Henley [21:06]

Democratic Process and Worker Power

([22:05–23:43])

• Wolff and Henley agree that unions should not be asked, especially in a crisis, to surrender hard-won rights to bargain over workplace safety.
  • "There's something sleazy about employers using a pandemic to kind of sneak in the ability to mandate something they should have negotiated." — Richard Wolff [22:33]

4. Political Analysis: Democrats, Elections, and Working-Class Mobilization

Dissecting the 2021 Elections

([23:43–27:28])

• Turnout, Messaging, and the 'Sleeping Giant'

  • Henley attributes Democratic losses in New Jersey and Virginia not to progressives, but to weak messages and poor mobilization of core constituencies.
    • "The failure to excite what Dr. Reverend Barber calls the sleeping giant of the tens of millions of working class Americans was the reason why it was so close." — Bob Henley [25:21]

• Failings of Party Leadership

  • Party elites blamed the progressive wing, but Henley highlights lack of connection to ordinary struggles like inflation, fuel, and food prices.
  • Visits to elite donors (e.g., Biden in Nantucket, Obama accepting millions from Bezos) send the wrong message to working-class Americans.

• Policy Dilution and Lost Opportunity

  • The Biden administration's Build Back Better plan was watered down, with essential tax measures against dynastic wealth abandoned.
    • "Remember it started at some three point some odd trillion and it was cut only when...the more progressive element of the Biden White House wanted to [impose] a dynastic wealth tax." — Bob Henley [26:20]

• Core Problem: Taxing Work Over Wealth

  • Henley and Wolff connect lack of political courage to systemic unfairness—work taxed more heavily than capital.
    • "You never got ahead because they tax work at a higher rate of taxation than idle capital. That is the central moral sin of this country." — Bob Henley [27:28]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the fallacy of billionaire "genius":
  "He's really only the last step in a long chain. There's no point in giving him a disproportionate reward when you haven't done that and you aren't about to to all the others..."
  — Richard Wolff [02:28]

• On capitalist incentives:
  "It's not something useful that makes a person a billionaire. Quite the opposite. It's capitalism as a system..."
  — Richard Wolff [05:59–06:07]

• On the labor movement and mandates:
  "I know of no union, none, that has opposed the vaccine as a scientific matter. I do know of many unions who feel that we need to be skeptical about the state apparatus..."
  — Bob Henley [19:19]

• On fractured working-class politics:
  "Actually, the failure to excite what Dr. Reverend Barber calls the sleeping giant...was the reason why it was so close."
  — Bob Henley [25:21]

• On taxing labor vs. capital:
  "They tax work at a higher rate of taxation than idle capital. That is the central moral sin of this country."
  — Bob Henley [27:28]

Important Timestamps

• 00:10–13:00: Wolff's critique of obscene wealth, innovation myths, and history of estate tax
• 13:00–15:00: Brief discussion of America's rape crisis as a policy priority
• 16:07: Introduction of guest Bob Henley
• 17:07–19:19: Distinction between anti-vaccine and anti-mandate in labor movement, failures of pandemic response
• 19:19–23:43: Unions' role in pandemic policy, historic CDC missteps, the importance of collective bargaining
• 23:43–27:28: Dissection of recent elections, Democratic Party's strategic failures, the consequences of neglecting working-class concerns

Summary Flow & Takeaways

This episode of Economic Update critically deconstructs the myths that undergird extreme wealth in America, arguing that current structures reward opportunism rather than genuine contribution. Wolff presses listeners to consider not just the inequality but the undemocratic consequences of billionaire power. In conversation with Bob Henley, the discussion drills down into the labor movement’s nuanced stance regarding vaccine mandates versus vaccines themselves, exposing media simplifications and the dangers of coercive policy making without worker participation. As the episode closes, Henley offers incisive commentary on how political missteps and elite accommodation by Democratic leaders have demobilized the very working-class base they need, exacerbating systemic economic unfairness. The episode delivers both critique and clarity, providing context for listeners seeking to understand economic, labor, and political dynamics during a turbulent period.