Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Economic Crisis, Fascism & History

Date: July 29, 2016

Episode Overview

In this episode, economist and host Richard D. Wolff weaves together contemporary economic crises, political responses, and historical lessons—specifically the rise of fascism during times of economic breakdown. The first half features Wolff’s signature economic analysis: from extreme wealth inequality to notable labor union strategies and progressive taxation. In the second half, Wolff interviews historian Adam Hochschild, focusing on Americans in the Spanish Civil War as both a historical case study in the fight against fascism and a parallel to current events illuminating how societies choose to respond to economic collapse.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Extreme Global Inequality & Scandal in India

• [00:54–07:41]

• Wolff responds to a listener’s critique that US and Europe dominate his inequality focus.
• Highlights the scandal around Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose wife receives massive state security at public expense while millions live in deep poverty.
• Describes the Ambani family’s 27-story home, worth $2 billion with 600 servants, in contrast to widespread poverty in India.

Notable Quote:
“Wealth and poverty as extreme as it gets. And this time in India, where if anything, one has to wonder about the tolerability of it even more perhaps than in the West.”
— Richard Wolff [07:19]

2. Poverty Ignored at American Party Conventions

• [07:41–15:16]

• Both Democrats and Republicans held conventions in deeply impoverished American cities (Cleveland and Philadelphia) without acknowledging local poverty.
• Philadelphia’s poverty rate: 27% overall, and the highest rate of "deep poverty" in any US city.
• Cites book "$2 a Day" detailing that 3 million children live in “deep poverty”—less than half the federal poverty line.
• Contrasts political focus on the wealthiest 1% (post-Occupy) to the “other 1%”—those in deepest poverty.

Notable Quote:
“If the 1% at the top deserve our attention and our social criticism, then the least we could do is apply the same to that other 1%.”
— Richard Wolff [09:47]

3. Signs of a (Potentially) Revitalized Labor Movement

• [15:16–26:26]

- American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

• Marched in Minneapolis against police brutality after Philando Castile’s killing.
• Connected community investment and living conditions to educational outcomes.

Notable Quote:
“To be a teacher who cares about education brings you necessarily into becoming an advocate for social change when the society as it’s constituted makes their job next to impossible.”
— Richard Wolff [17:45]

- Canadian Union of Postal Workers

• Proposed postal banking and community-focused initiatives (support for elderly/ill, environmental projects) as an alternative to layoffs and cutbacks.
• Critiques the dominance and abuses of private banking.

- UK’s Labour Party & Jeremy Corbyn

• Parallels with Bernie Sanders: insurgent, leftist leadership supported by unions and young people.
• Labour Party divides between Corbyn's supporters and right-leaning MPs post-Brexit are noted as historically significant.

Notable Quote:
“Because what is happening over there is not so different from what is happening here. It’s not a coincidence that we have Bernie and they have Jeremy.”
— Richard Wolff [24:29]

4. Other Economic Updates

• [26:26–29:05]

• Starbucks: Accused by employees of reducing hours and unfair scheduling; company responds by relaxing dress/hair color policies.
• 100th Anniversary of the Estate Tax: Once intended for wealth redistribution and funding WWI, now so diluted it applies to just 0.2% of estates, accounting for only 0.6% of federal tax revenue.

Notable Quote:
“We’ve gutted it. That’s the simple story. We’ve gotten rid of it. ... It’s a tax that targets those most able to pay the tax ... But even that little bit was too much for those at the top.”
— Richard Wolff [28:30]

INTERVIEW: Adam Hochschild on the Spanish Civil War, Fascism, & Present Parallels

• [30:50–57:28]

1. Background on the Spanish Civil War

• [33:22–38:40]

• Spain, troubled by massive inequality and illiteracy, became a democracy in 1931.
• Elected left-liberal coalition in 1936 ousted by Franco's violent uprising, supported by Hitler and Mussolini.
• Western democracies (US, UK, France) refused to aid Spain’s government; only the Soviet Union sold them arms, extracting political concessions.
• Nearly 40,000 international volunteers, including ~2,800 Americans (“the Lincoln Brigade”) joined to fight fascism; over 750 Americans died—a rate exceeding US casualties from both World Wars.

Notable Quote:
“Of those 2,800 Americans, more than 750 were killed, which was a higher death rate than the US Military suffered in either of the world wars.”
— Adam Hochschild [38:16]

2. Defining Fascist Rhetoric: Parallels to Trumpism

• [39:32–42:04]

• Hochschild identifies three fascist rhetorical hallmarks: strongman leader, scapegoating, and appeals to a “great yesterday.”
• Draws direct comparison between Franco/Hitler/Mussolini’s narratives and Trump’s “Make America Great Again.”

Notable Quote:
“For Mussolini, it was the Roman Empire. For Franco ... the glories of the old Spanish Empire ... For Hitler, it was pre-1914 Germany ... So when Trump says ‘make America great again,’ I hear the echo of that same kind of rhetoric.”
— Adam Hochschild [41:05]

3. Economic Crisis as Breeding Ground for Fascism

• [42:04–44:57]

• Wolff and Hochschild find parallels between the Great Depression’s role in fueling fascism and the post-2008 economic crisis.
• Ongoing, less visible modern distress: wages stagnant for decades, jobs insecure—fueling demand for strongmen and scapegoats.

Notable Quote:
“Today, it’s a kind of a slow motion, less visible breakdown ... for the bottom half of Americans ... real wages [have] been going steadily and slowly downward 40, 45 years now.”
— Adam Hochschild [43:41]

4. Why Democracies Failed to Aid Spanish Republic

• [44:57–48:48]

• FDR’s politics and American Catholic Church opposition to Spanish Republic (due to secular reforms, violence against clergy).
• Roosevelt’s polling showed no US public support for Spanish involvement.
• FDR later admitted: “We made a grave mistake by not selling them arms.”

— Adam Hochschild [48:36]

5. American Corporate Support for Franco: Texaco

• [48:48–53:20]

• Texaco’s CEO, Thorkild Rieber, personally supplied Franco’s forces with cheap, often illegal, oil sales and strategic info about Republican shipping.
• US government did not intervene; corporate interests conducted independent foreign policy to help fascists.

Notable Quote:
“Oil companies had their own foreign policy then, and they have their own foreign policy today.”
— Adam Hochschild [53:35]

6. Who Were the American Volunteers—and Why Did They Fight?

• [53:41–56:49]

• Volunteers spanned backgrounds: workers, students, unionists, ~90 African Americans (linked to outrage over Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia).
• Their motivation: seeing the fight against fascism in Spain as a battle for the world’s future.

Notable Quote:
“For us, it was never Franco, it was always Hitler. ... This was the only place ... where Americans in uniform were being bombed by Nazi pilots four years before ... World War II.”
— Adam Hochschild [56:35]

7. History as Teacher

• [56:49–57:28]

• Wolff closes by emphasizing the urgent need to learn from history, linking the Spanish Civil War’s lessons to the US’s current crossroads.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “Wealth and poverty as extreme as it gets.” —Wolff [07:19]
• “If the 1% at the top deserve our attention ... the least we could do is apply the same to that other 1%.” —Wolff [09:47]
• “To be a teacher who cares about education brings you necessarily into becoming an advocate for social change…” —Wolff [17:45]
• “For Mussolini, it was the Roman Empire ... for Hitler, it was pre-1914 Germany ... when Trump says ‘make America great again,’ I hear the echo of that same kind of rhetoric.” —Hochschild [41:05]
• “Oil companies had their own foreign policy then, and they have their own foreign policy today.” —Hochschild [53:35]
• “For us, it was never Franco, it was always Hitler.” —Hochschild [56:35]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Extreme inequality & the Ambanis (India): [00:54–07:41]
• US poverty ignored at conventions: [07:41–15:16]
• Labor union strategies (AFT, Canadian Post, UK Labour): [15:16–26:26]
• Estate Tax history & critique: [26:26–29:05]
• Interview intro, Spain in the 1930s recap: [33:22–38:40]
• Fascist rhetoric parallels (Trump, historical): [39:32–42:04]
• Economic breakdowns and fascism: [42:04–44:57]
• Allied democracies' inaction, FDR: [44:57–48:48]
• Texaco and Franco: [48:48–53:20]
• American volunteers’ backgrounds and motives: [53:41–56:49]
• Closing comments on learning from history: [56:49–57:28]

Summary Tone

Wolff’s analysis is critical, accessible, and concerned with justice; Hochschild’s responses are measured, historically grounded, and nuanced—both frequently blending sharp critique with a call to examine root causes and learn from history.

This detailed summary distills the episode’s layered economic and historical analysis, providing a roadmap for listeners and newcomers alike to examine the interplay between crisis, inequality, political response, and the enduring relevance of history.