Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Addiction, Capitalism and 12 Steps

Date: July 6, 2017
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Dr. Harriet Fraad

Episode Overview

In this compelling episode, Richard D. Wolff examines the intersection of capitalism, economic instability and inequality, and the contemporary epidemic of addiction in American society. He is joined by Dr. Harriet Fraad, a mental health counselor, to discuss how economic systems foster addiction and how the 12 Step model offers a striking, collective, and anti-capitalist remedy to the problem. Together, they explore both systemic causes of addiction and the profound success of non-capitalist, community-based recovery programs.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Economic Updates: Systemic Pressures and Instability

• Record Car Loan Periods and Debt (02:15–08:52)

  • Americans are taking out the longest car loans in history (average 69.3 months/$31,000), often paying more than the car's value during much of the loan term.
  • Economic "recovery" is shown to be a mirage: job statistics mask increased debt, precarious employment, and unsustainable consumer patterns.
  • Comparison with Canada, which is experiencing record car sales, further highlights the unique economic dysfunction in the U.S.
  • Notable Quote:

    "We are in a situation where it's becoming so difficult to pay for a car that ... we've now had six months of declining automobile sales. People simply can't afford to buy cars the way they did."
    — Richard Wolff (07:38)

• Airline "Service" and Profit-Driven Inconvenience (08:52–10:49)

  • Wolff recounts a personal travel ordeal, using United Airlines as an example of corporations prioritizing cost-cutting over customer service—fewer employees, longer waits, worse experiences.
  • Notable Quote:

    "Their profits at our expense. I and the other people flying had our lives disrupted... Profit first. You last."
    — Richard Wolff (09:38)

• G20 and Austerity (10:49–18:22)

  • G20 Summit is met with protests due to public anger over austerity — the deliberate cutting of social programs, public jobs, and safety nets in the wake of the 2008 crisis.
  • Wolff critiques austerity, arguing it was less about economic necessity and more a calculated rollback of gains made by workers since the Great Depression and New Deal.
  • Increasing inequality, children in poverty, and job insecurity are direct results.
  • Notable Quote:

    "...the anger at the G20 is not just that they are the countries who embody the capitalism that brought us to crisis. It’s even more that they have used it to further an agenda of taking away from the mass of people to enrich a minority."
    — Richard Wolff (15:18)

• Minimum Wage Debate: History Repeats (21:19–28:07)

  • Reviews the familiar arguments around raising the minimum wage—“job losses” vs. necessity for dignity—and relates this to the historic fight to abolish child labor.
  • Argues that the employer’s “right” to pay poverty wages or fire workers is an unacceptable choice foisted upon people by capitalism.
  • Memorable Analogy:

    "This is like being accosted in a dark alley by a person who says, 'I'm going to give you freedom of choice. You can either have me stab you and take your money or hit you over the head with a hammer and take your money.' A rational person says, I don't like the choice."
    — Richard Wolff (25:58)

Capitalism, Inequality, and the Roots of Addiction

How Capitalism Fuels Addiction

(with Dr. Harriet Fraad, starting at 31:00)

• Economic Instability & Social Disconnection (31:00–36:20)

  • Addiction is epidemic in America—largest cause of accidental death is opioid overdose.
  • Extreme inequality fosters widespread loneliness and shame, both among the privileged (who must justify their distance from the poor) and among the impoverished (who internalize failure).
  • The isolation and humiliation of poverty (e.g., food insecurity, lack of adequate clothing) breed a sense of inferiority and disconnection, which is a powerful risk factor for addiction.
  • Notable Quote:

    "That isolation breeds addiction at both ends ... Connection is the basis of all the 12 step programs. And connection is a basis of mental health."
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (35:13)

• Coping with Precarity: Why Addiction ‘Works’ Temporarily (36:20–38:24)

  • Drugs and addictive behaviors provide short-term relief, numbness, and predictability amidst economic insecurity.
  • For the poor: substances can dull shame and inadequacy; for the rich: they can mitigate existential loneliness and a lack of fulfillment.
  • Notable Quote:

    "You can count on the drug ... It’s something solid in a shaking universe of both economic precarity and personal shaking, which are very closely related."
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (37:29)

• Capitalism Profits and Suffers from Addiction (38:29–41:47)

  • Legal and illegal drug industries are highly profitable, but addiction undermines workplace productivity and increases crime.
  • Despite the substantial social costs—including absenteeism and theft—profit incentives prevent meaningful resolution.
  • Prohibition increases the illicit drug market and crime, as seen by contrasts like Portugal's legalization policies.
  • Notable Quote:

    "The system never looks at the social costs. They look at the profits to the top. They don’t look at the social costs from those profits anywhere. That's capitalism."
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (41:28)

The 12 Step Model: A Non-Capitalist Solution

• Why 12 Step Programs Succeed Where Others Fail (42:39–46:35)

  • The most successful long-term addiction recovery efforts in the U.S. are the 12 Step Programs (Alcoholics Anonymous and its derivatives).
  • These programs are accessible, free, self-sustained, anti-hierarchical, and reject capitalist values of profit, competitiveness, and ego.
  • The core tenets are unity, candor, personal and collective growth—no one profits, everyone participates as an equal.
  • Notable Quote:

    "Ironically enough, [12-step programs] are the refuge in the capitalist system. Because they utterly reject capitalist values ... The first [tradition] is our common welfare should come first. Personal recovery depends on unity."
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (44:38)

• Types and Breadth of 12 Step Programs (43:18–46:35)

  • Three categories:
    1. For addictive substances (alcohol, narcotics, food).
    2. For addictive behaviors (gambling, sex addiction, workaholism, etc.).
    3. For recovery from the impact of others’ addictions or abuse (codependency, child abuse, etc.).
  • Everything, from running meetings to providing coffee, is a collective, egalitarian effort.

• 12 Step as Model of Anti-Capitalist Community (46:35–50:59)

  • No one employs or profits from another, no egos or hierarchies—just mutual aid and service.

  • These groups provide what capitalism withholds: care, unity, dignity, and connection.

  • Notable Quotes:

    “So people look to a 12 step program that costs no money and involves no money, and involves no hierarchy, and involves no greed, and involves no ego to calm the damage that they’ve suffered.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (47:25)

    "It is remarkable because people, in their search for comfort and kindness, have to look for an antidote to the capitalist competition and cruelty and humiliation and money system in which they live."
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad (49:24)

• Potential Lessons for Wider Social Change (49:58–50:59)

  • The principles underlying 12 step programs—collectivity, equality, mutual support—suggest a template for broader political and social revolution.

Beyond the Personal: The Limits and Potential of 12 Step Programs

• The 13th Step: Acknowledging Social Causes (52:13–55:29)

  • While individual responsibility is a core tenet of recovery, 12 Step programs usually avoid critiquing the social/structural causes of addiction—arguably for pragmatic reasons (to secure meeting spaces, maintain political neutrality).
  • Dr. Fraad proposes a “13th Step”: examining the social, economic, and political forces—such as the alcohol lobby, pharmaceutical advertising, and capitalist hierarchies—that fuel addiction.
  • Notable Quote:

    "You shouldn’t cop out on the part you yourself play, but you also shouldn’t cop out on the part that the society plays in all of this. Because a solution then would require not only changing yourself, but changing this society."
    — Richard Wolff (54:46)

• Final Reflections (56:27–end)

  • The collective experience and insights from 12 Step programs offer valuable lessons for building a healthier, fairer society—both for the addicted and for all suffering under the isolating, unequal structures of modern capitalism.

Notable Quotes

Richard Wolff

• "Profit first. You last." – (09:38)
• "The anger at the G20 is not just that they are the countries who embody the capitalism that brought us to crisis. It's even more that they have used it to further an agenda of taking away from the mass of people to enrich a minority." – (15:18)
• "This is like being accosted in a dark alley by a person who says, 'I'm going to give you freedom of choice. ...' A rational person says, I don't like the choice." – (25:58)
• "It is extraordinary that the salvation of an addiction within a capitalist system. Turns to the negation of capitalism as its way out." – (47:29)
• "You shouldn’t cop out on the part you yourself play, but you also shouldn’t cop out on the part that the society plays in all of this. Because a solution then would require not only changing yourself, but changing this society." – (54:46)

Dr. Harriet Fraad

• "That isolation breeds addiction at both ends ... Connection is the basis of all the 12 step programs. And connection is a basis of mental health." – (35:13)
• "The system never looks at the social costs. They look at the profits to the top." – (41:28)
• "Ironically enough, [12-step programs] are the refuge in the capitalist system. Because they utterly reject capitalist values." – (44:38)
• "It is remarkable because people, in their search for comfort and kindness, have to look for an antidote to the capitalist competition and cruelty and humiliation and money system in which they live." – (49:24)
• "There needs to be a 13th step. What are the social conditions and social forces that have led to the addiction?" – (53:07)

Important Timestamps

• 02:15 – Car loan debt and economic “recovery”
• 08:52 – Airline industry as a microcosm of profit-first mentality
• 10:49 – G20 Summit and austerity’s legacy
• 21:19 – Minimum wage debate and historical echoes
• 31:00 – Dr. Harriet Fraad on capitalism and the epidemic of addiction
• 36:20 – How precarity and isolation drive substance use
• 42:39 – The success and ethos of 12 Step programs
• 49:58 – Political implications of collective recovery models
• 53:07 – The case for addressing systemic social causes in recovery

Tone and Style

The discussion is critical, engaged, and urgent, challenging listeners to rethink issues of addiction, community, and the economic foundations of modern life. Both Wolff and Fraad blend analytical rigor with a deep empathy for those suffering under economic and social structures, emphasizing not personal failure but the need for collective solutions, dignity, and transformative change.

Summary Conclusion

This episode of Economic Update forcefully argues that addiction epidemics are not simply personal failings but symptoms of a deeply unequal and isolating economic order. The widespread success of 12 Step programs, which embody cooperative, anti-capitalist principles, offers both a model for individual recovery—and, potentially, a blueprint for reconstructing society in the interests of collective care, equality, and genuine well-being.