Economic Update: Deepening Crisis and African-Americans

Podcast: Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff
Date: July 18, 2016
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Rob Robinson (Co-founder, Take Back the Land; Activist, NESRI)

Episode Overview

This episode explores the worsening economic crisis in the United States, with particular attention to the systemic economic challenges faced by African Americans. Host Richard D. Wolff sets the global context with recent political developments in the UK and examines how automation, wage stagnation, and structural inequalities contribute to social unrest in the U.S., particularly in African American communities. The episode features an insightful interview with activist Rob Robinson, who discusses the connection between economic deprivation, systemic racism, and recent police violence against African Americans.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. British Politics as a Mirror: Satire and Serious Warnings

• Wolff opens by satirizing the appointment of Boris Johnson as UK Foreign Secretary, using his controversial quotes to illustrate the caliber of global leaders and what that reflects about broader capitalist societies ([02:00]–[10:00]).
  • “If the best people they can find to run the UK are bankers who choose folks like Boris Johnson … Think about it, because it tells you much more about British society, just as the candidates we field in this country tell us a lot more about our society than… anything else.” — Richard Wolff [10:00]

2. The Reality of Automation & Declining Manufacturing Jobs

• Since 1989, U.S. manufacturing output surged 69%, but employment fell by 32% in the same sector ([12:40]).
  • Wolff argues that while increased productivity should have benefited workers (shorter workweeks, more leisure), all gains were monopolized by the top 1–2%.
  • “That’s why the capitalist system has run out of gas and is now encountering opposition of the sort it never felt before.” — Richard Wolff [17:33]

3. Wage Stagnation: A Crisis for the Many

• Up to 70% of people in developed countries have seen incomes stagnate ([19:00]).
• The structure of capitalism has funneled wealth upwards, leading to widespread economic frustration and social discontent ([20:00]).
• Wolff criticizes mainstream debates (e.g., EU membership, immigration policy) as distractions from systemic economic failings.

4. Media, Consumption Pressure, and Social Torture

• A system that advertises luxury and success but fails to enable people to attain it is likened to torture ([23:00]).
  • “That is cruel. That is a kind of torture of a population.” — Richard Wolff [23:47]
• African Americans are called out as especially victimized by this “raised but unreachable bar” ([25:00]).

5. Corporate Hypocrisy and Wage Inequality: The Example of Jamie Dimon

• Critique of JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon’s public support for higher wages, while employing 18,000 workers at poverty-level pay ([25:30]).
  • “In two hours last year, Mr. Dimon made more money than 18,000 of his workers made in the entire year.” — Richard Wolff [27:15]

Interview with Rob Robinson: The Roots and Realities of Racial Economic Oppression

Segment starts [29:30]

6. Historical Context: 400 Years of Exploitation

• Robinson links current police violence to centuries of dehumanization and enslavement ([31:43]).
  • “From the time that black people were brought over here from Africa and enslaved, they were thought of as less than a human being. And that is perpetuated through the years. And it’s manifested itself in many ways through poverty…” — Rob Robinson [31:48]

7. Deindustrialization, Automation, Community Disintegration

• Manufacturing once enabled modest prosperity in African American communities; automation and offshoring have since decimated these jobs.
• Specific stories from Detroit highlight the shock of entire workforces replaced by machines ([33:30]).

8. Wage Suppression and the “Tortured Puppy”

• Wolff: 8.2 million African American workers, or 53%, earn under $15/hr ([34:35]).
  • In some states, this is over 60%.
• Robinson: “Shame on them for being surprised because they are the oppressor. But I think the economic system that we live under, capitalism as it continues, that is the way it is effective. It is only looking at the top 1%...” [36:54]

9. The Poverty–Crime–Policing Feedback Loop

• Structural poverty and inequality—combined with persistent consumerist messaging—fuel frustration, unrest, and violence ([37:18]).
• Robinson connects crime and protest to economic desperation, highlighting how government neglect and social stigma around welfare perpetuate cycles of poverty ([38:00]).

10. Human Rights vs. Civil Rights: The U.S. Double Standard

• Robinson discusses how, although the U.S. signs international human rights treaties, these rights (housing, food, work) are unenforced domestically ([39:23]).
  • “It was a dog and pony show to stand before the rest of the countries of the world and have the feathered pen and sun and do the photo op. But as far as following through with any of these obligations, I totally dismiss them because we base everything here in civil rights, which is the law.” — Rob Robinson [40:10]

11. Policing, Violence, and the Legitimization of Force

• Systemic failure to prosecute police violence, even with overwhelming evidence (e.g. cell phone videos), creates rage and further alienation ([42:44], [45:07]).
• Robinson: “Some of these cases seem too clear cut to us… In the past, you can argue in the past that, okay, we didn’t have all the evidence. Everybody has a cell phone with camera now—we’re seeing it live like never before.” [44:13]
• Discussion of militarized policing and how access to weapons, and the culture of violence, heightens fear and escalation ([46:00]).

12. Political Paralysis and the Need for Systemic Change

• Wolff: Despite evident links between economic deprivation and social unrest, structural economic reforms (universal jobs, minimum wage, etc.) are "unthinkable" in dominant U.S. discourse ([48:23]).
• Robinson identifies the stranglehold of the two-party system, the lack of intent to fulfill international human rights, and the necessity of ground-up, grassroots reform ([50:21]).

13. Prediction: Social Unrest and a Call for a New Deal

• Robinson’s unvarnished forecast: the U.S. is “going to regress to a time that looks like the late 60s, people in the streets rioting… the police are going to come back with military equipment and then it’s all out war.” ([53:43])
• “I think the biggest thing right now is we need a New Deal… this country is suffering in a lot of ways. It’s suffering from a lack of jobs. It’s a lack of good, healthy jobs.” — Rob Robinson [55:32]
  • Suggestion that massive public investment in infrastructure and employment is urgently needed.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On British leadership and capitalist society:
  “If the best people they can find to run the UK are bankers who choose folks like Boris Johnson ... It tells you much more about British society, just as the candidates we field in this country tell us a lot more about our society than they tell us about anything else.” — Richard Wolff [10:00]

• On inequality and automation:
  “We see an economic system that is now perverting the potential of human progress and subordinating it to the maximization of profits.” — Richard Wolff [17:00]

• On the torture of unfulfilled aspiration:
  “You tell everybody, buy, buy. It’s a symbol… And then at the same time, you don’t give them the wages… That is cruel. That is a kind of torture of a population.” — Richard Wolff [23:47]

• On corporate hypocrisy:
  “In two hours last year, Mr. Dimon made more money than 18,000 of his workers made in the entire year.” — Richard Wolff [27:15]

• On the root of police violence:
  “Poverty is at the root cause of this, right? People being impoverished, not having access to a decent wage job, shipping these jobs outside of the US it's a big problem in this country. And I think that leads itself to unrest, right?” — Rob Robinson [33:00]

• On U.S. human rights hypocrisy:
  “It was a dog and pony show to stand before the rest of the countries of the world and… do the photo op. But as far as following through with any of these obligations, I totally dismiss them because we base everything here in civil rights, which is the law.” — Rob Robinson [40:10]

• On the cycle of violence and lack of justice:
  “All of a sudden you can’t get a grand jury to find any of these guys guilty of a crime. So somehow you figured out a process… Something is happening because some of these cases seem too clear cut to us.” — Rob Robinson [44:28]

• On the future — and warning:
  “My belief is we’re going to regress to a time that looks like the late 60s, people in the streets rioting. But I think it's going to take a different level because the police are going to come back with military equipment and then it’s all-out war…” — Rob Robinson [53:43]

• On what leaders must do:
  “I think the biggest thing right now is we need a New Deal... It’s suffering from a lack of jobs. It’s a lack of good, healthy jobs. It’s suffering from infrastructure problems. We have water. People are being fed poison water. So we need to rebuild a lot of this infrastructure that provides jobs.” — Rob Robinson [55:32]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:00] Satirizing British leadership; capitalism’s failures
• [12:40] Data on U.S. manufacturing — output up, employment down
• [17:00] The profit motive and why technological progress enriches only the few
• [19:00] 70% of developed countries suffer income stagnation
• [23:47] The “torture” of telling people to aspire with no means
• [25:30] The Jamie Dimon/JP Morgan illustration of wage disparity
• [29:30] Rob Robinson interview introduction
• [31:43] Robinson’s take: 400-year history of dehumanization, poverty, and policing
• [34:35] Wolff: 53% of African American workers earn less than $15/hr; state breakdowns
• [36:54] Robinson: Capitalism as an oppressor, narrative of wealth and home-ownership
• [39:23] Human rights in America: signed but not enforced
• [42:44] Police culture, militarization, and unaccountability
• [45:44] Body cameras, evidence suppression, and community control
• [48:23] Why economic system reform is the “unthinkable” topic
• [53:43] Robinson’s unvarnished prediction: civil unrest, need for a new deal

Conclusion

This episode pulls no punches: Richard Wolff and Rob Robinson paint a bleak, but honest portrait of a capitalist economy and political system that have failed the majority, and African Americans in particular. Drawing connections between deindustrialization, systemic racism, policing, and poverty, the episode offers not just critique and exposition, but a visceral warning about the consequences of ignoring the deep roots of social crisis. The call for a New Deal and movement building is left as a clear and urgent task for listeners concerned about justice and democracy.

For more: Visit democracyatwork.info and explore Rob Robinson’s work at NESRI and Take Back the Land.