Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Cooperation Jackson: A Closer Look
Date: December 13, 2018

Main Theme

This episode of Economic Update centers on alternative models of economic organization, scrutinizing the failures of profit-driven capitalism and highlighting the grassroots, worker-centered initiative Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi. Host Richard D. Wolff interviews Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson’s co-founder, exploring how this cooperative federation aims to empower marginalized communities and provide a blueprint for economic democracy and eco-socialism from the ground up.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Critique of Capitalist Organization of Essentials

• Food as a Commodity ([00:39])

  • Wolff examines why vital resources like food are managed primarily as for-profit ventures rather than public goods, contrasting this with services like water and national defense, which are often kept out of capitalist markets for public interest.
  • “We permit on this planet the production of food…to be handled as a profit making, mostly capitalist enterprise…Why do we let capitalism run our food?” — Richard Wolff [01:14]

• Environmental & Social Failures in Food System ([01:50])

  • A global report is cited, revealing that food production generates more greenhouse gases than transport and fails to adequately feed and nourish billions, while simultaneously creating vast food waste.

2. Loneliness as an Economic Problem

• Work Insecurity and Social Isolation ([05:15])
  • Wolff links precarious, gig-based employment to increases in loneliness and social fragmentation, arguing these are economic outcomes with significant health costs.
  • “We are a society that calls it progress when more and more people are socially isolated and even to the point of producing serious mental and physical ailments.” — Richard Wolff [07:01]

3. Systemic Corruption in Banking

• Case Study: Deutsche Bank Raids ([07:05])
  • Wolff draws on the example of Deutsche Bank’s money laundering scandals to critique profit-driven banking, questioning why essential financial services are left to private hands.
  • “Why are we allowing profit making hustlers, excuse me, bankers, to get between the financing we need and the rest of us as a population?” — Richard Wolff [09:38]

4. Signs of Economic Downturns

• Housing Market Instability ([10:15])
  • Falling housing prices in London (and expected drops in New York and California) are discussed as early warnings of another capitalist downturn.
  • Mass protests in France and Belgium (Yellow Jacket movement) are depicted as responses to a political system failing to serve popular economic demands.

5. The Plight of Millennials

• Generational Economic Contradictions ([13:05])
  • New data shows millennials earn less and spend less than prior generations, contributing to slower economic growth—a contradiction of capitalism.

Deep Dive: Cooperation Jackson

Introduction to Cooperation Jackson

• Kali Akuno’s Background & Vision ([15:07])
  • Akuno is a lifelong activist, co-founder and director of Cooperation Jackson, a federation of worker-owned cooperatives in Jackson, Mississippi, focused on empowering working-class and oppressed communities.

What is Cooperation Jackson?

• Mission and Methods ([16:02])
  • “We are an emerging cooperative federation based in Jackson, Mississippi…We build worker owner coops and other solidarity institutions and practices…all in terms of transforming the economy on a local level.” — Kali Akuno [16:02]
  • Activities include establishing cooperatives, a community land trust (CLT), and a time bank.

Why Worker Cooperatives?

• Self-Empowerment vs. Extraction ([17:11])
  • Akuno highlights that traditional corporate “development” extracts resources and exploits labor. Instead, Cooperation Jackson builds self-sustaining jobs, emphasizing collective ownership and democratic management.
  • “Nobody’s coming to save us. What can we do ourselves with the resources and skills that we have to transform our own situation?” — Kali Akuno [17:36]
  • There’s a broader political aim: building “socialism from the bottom up” through worker co-ops as models of democratic production.

Inspirations and Global Lessons

• Mondragon Model ([19:14])
  • Both host and guest discuss the inspiration drawn from the Mondragon Corporation, a massive federation of worker co-ops in Spain, emphasizing its relevance for poor, marginalized communities elsewhere.
  • “If we wait for people to come in here and give us a job, we’ll all die of old age before it happens…So the only thing for us to do is not to wait. We’ll be our own boss, we’ll set it up.” — Quoting Mondragon’s founding story, Richard Wolff [19:50]
  • Akuno: “Mondragon has been a driving force behind a lot of our thinking…We have to adapt to our own conditions, which we’re doing. But very explicitly we draw from Mondragon, always have.” [20:30]

Reception in Jackson

• Community Response ([22:14])
  • Among Black residents (over 80% of Jackson’s population), there is “a lot of love and appreciation,” but also skepticism and a “wait and see” attitude, given longstanding disappointments with outside initiatives.
  • Among whites, response is mixed: some progressive support, but also staunch opposition from reactionaries in the state legislature, who see Cooperation Jackson’s initiatives as threats.

Racial and Class Dimensions

• Inclusive Movements ([24:39])
  • The project is rooted in Black self-determination but strives for broad, multi-ethnic, working-class solidarity—aiming to transform all of Mississippi and support all marginalized communities, including Choctaw, Chinese, and recent immigrants.
  • “How do we improve the situation for working class people regardless of their ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, creed, color, et cetera?” — Kali Akuno [25:35]

Vision for Broader Change

• Eco-Socialist Beacon ([26:49])
  • Akuno articulates the goal of sparking a bottom-up, eco-socialist transformation, responding both to economic injustice and ecological crisis.
  • “We are trying to build eco-socialism in this country from the bottom up, starting with worker co-ops and solidarity economy institutions. …We don’t have much time to avert the ecological kind of calamity that’s rapidly creeping up on us. But…we can actually do this reversal.” — Kali Akuno [26:49]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On capitalist contradictions and the food system:

  • “The cost of damage to human health and the environment is much greater than the profits made by the industry that produces and distributes the food.” — Richard Wolff [04:40]

• On worker-owned alternatives:

  • “We want to change and shift the focus and paradigm…nobody’s coming to save us.” — Kali Akuno [17:34]

• On eco-socialist urgency:

  • “We subscribe to the view that we don’t have much time to avert the ecological kind of calamity…But we believe that with some focus, energy and determination…we can actually do this reversal.” — Kali Akuno [26:54]

• On the project’s inclusiveness:

  • “We are very conscious and deliberate about working on a broad class base with cultural specificity…but the first thing we gotta do is start amongst ourselves with the knowledge that we have…and then reach out.” — Kali Akuno [25:16]

Important Segment Timestamps

• Food & Capitalism critique: [00:39 - 04:40]
• Loneliness as economic failure: [05:15 - 07:01]
• Banking corruption, Deutsche Bank: [07:05 - 09:38]
• Global protests, economic unrest: [10:15 - 13:05]
• Millennials & economic stagnation: [13:05 - 13:41]
• Introduction to Akuno & Cooperation Jackson: [15:07 - 16:02]
• Worker co-ops vs. traditional “development”: [17:11 - 18:54]
• Mondragon lesson & adaptation: [19:14 - 21:22]
• Community response nuances: [22:14 - 24:28]
• Eco-socialist vision & call to action: [26:49 - 27:38]

Summary Tone

The episode is analytical, critical, and hopeful. Wolff’s questions are incisive and grounded in systemic analysis; Akuno’s responses are candid, rooted in real-world organizing, and driven by a vision of collective, democratic transformation. Both speakers blend realism with an ambitious belief in the power of grassroots action to remake the economy.

For listeners: This episode is a must-listen for those seeking not just critiques of capitalism, but concrete models and strategies being employed by marginalized communities to build a more just, sustainable, and democratic economy. Cooperation Jackson’s story and vision exemplify practical solidarity and democratic socialism in action.