Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff
Episode: "Economic Lessons from 2015"
Date: December 20, 2015
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Overview
In this episode, Richard D. Wolff looks back at key economic lessons and events from 2015. He analyzes decisions by central banks, highlights rising inequality and social unrest in the U.S., reflects on the Greek crisis and its global repercussions, and lays out systemic critiques of capitalism with illustrative cases from the energy, banking, auto, and gun industries. The focus remains on empowering listeners to think critically about the structure and fate of the economic system as the year closes.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates
[02:00–09:00]
- The Federal Reserve (Fed), led by Janet Yellen, raised interest rates for the first time since the 2008 crisis.
- Wolff critiques the move, highlighting its likely impact on ordinary Americans: increased costs for borrowing (credit cards, loans, mortgages, and student debt).
- Fed's rationale: Curb potential inflation after years of pumping money into the financial system.
- Reality check:
- Wolff emphasizes that lower unemployment figures are misleading, mainly occurring because people stopped looking for work, not because jobs returned.
- The majority of Americans still experience a "depressed economy" and rising indebtedness.
Quote:
"If you're wondering whether in a time of economic difficulty, it's a good idea to solve economic problems by making the daily life of most people harder. You're asking the right question."
— Richard Wolff [07:45]
Social Inequality and Unemployment – New Haven Protest
[09:00–14:30]
- Recounts hundreds marching for jobs in New Haven, CT, targeting Yale New Haven Hospital—the region's largest and highly profitable employer.
- Over 130 protesters arrested; protest supported by the city Mayor and Connecticut Governor.
- Stark local unemployment:
- 17% among African Americans
- 18% among Latino Americans
Quote:
"You have the richest entity in the New Haven area giving its finger to the mass of people suffering very bad unemployment, the rich getting richer, and the mass of people in trouble."
— Richard Wolff [12:45]
Peter Drucker on "Running Things Like a Business"
[14:30–17:00]
- Wolff cites Peter Drucker's classic management text, refuting the political cliché that government, church, or school should be "run like a business."
- Drucker's words (from The Practice of Management, 1954):
- Marketing defines a business; non-business organizations should never be run as if they were businesses.
- Wolff digresses on political candidates and leaders misunderstanding this principle.
Quote:
"It would be a terrible mistake, according to Peter Drucker, to run something that isn't a business in the manner of something that is a business. And you heard it here."
— Richard Wolff [16:30]
The Gun Business and American Anxiety
[17:00–22:50]
- Cites Bloomberg article ("Walmart, Guns and Santa, It's Christmas Time in America").
- Gun sales, which hovered between 0.5–1.5 million/year before 2006, surged to 4–5 million/year since the 2008 economic collapse.
- Wolff connects rising sales to post-crash fear, middle-class decline, and predatory marketing ("Buy a gun to protect your way of life").
- Walmart identified as the leading seller.
- Memorable scene: Child-sized rifles marketed as "My First Rifle" are juxtaposed with a camouflage Santa.
Quote (via Bloomberg):
"On the box is emblazoned My First Rifle. And in her shopping cart is a blowup camouflage-clad Santa Claus. It's Christmas time in America."
— Richard Wolff quoting Bloomberg [21:30]
The Oil Price Collapse
[22:50–27:45]
- Oil prices plunged from ~$100 to $40 per barrel within a year.
- Canadian and U.S. energy sectors and banks suffer as oversupply (especially from North American shale) meets steady demand.
- Oil giants and banks made disastrous investment decisions, ignoring basic supply/demand economics and assuming OPEC producers would cut output.
- Calls the situation an "argument for democratically organizing energy policy," not leaving it to profit-driven elites.
Quote:
"Leaving huge decisions about something as fundamental as the energy supply...in the hands of private profit-driven elites...is much too important to be left in their hands."
— Richard Wolff [26:55]
"Blame China" Fallacy and Global Slowdown
[27:45–34:15]
- Listeners ask about the narrative blaming China for global slowdown.
- Wolff rebuts: China remains the world's fastest-growing major economy (6.9% in 2015, vs. the U.S.'s 2%).
- Chinese exports fueled by Western consumer demand for decades; when Western workers' real wages stopped rising and debt-fueled consumption crashed in 2008, global demand stalled.
- Root cause: Weakness and inequality in advanced capitalist economies, not China per se.
Quote:
"Blaming China is childish and ignorant. ... It's a capitalist system that works this way. China, like every other particular part, is caught up in that system."
— Richard Wolff [33:50]
The Greek Crisis and the Political Legacy of 2015
[30:25–43:30]
- Greece forced by European Union (esp. Germany) to privatize national assets (e.g., airports) in exchange for a bailout.
- Recap of 2008's fallout, EU's limited solidarity, and Greece's "knuckling under" after Syriza's rise and referendum.
- Austerity: Enforced depression-level unemployment, slashed salaries and pensions, fire-sale asset transfers to consortiums including German and Greek capitalists.
- Comparison to 1930s Spain: Efforts to move beyond capitalism stifled by internal/external capitalists, dictatorship follows.
- The need to honestly weigh costs vs. benefits of capitalism, the dangers of opposition movements being crushed.
Quotes:
"This is an economic system that delivers crisis to the masses, suffering to the masses, bailouts to the folks at the top, and sales of cheap public assets to boot. This is not a system that works for the majority of people."
— Richard Wolff [38:45]
"People coming up against the devastating negative dimensions of what capitalism has represented. Has capitalism raised the standard of living...Yes...Did it also create unspeakable inequality...contribute to the worst world wars this planet ever saw? Uh huh."
— Richard Wolff [41:30]
Systemic Corporate Failures: Oil, Banking, and Auto
[43:30–56:00]
Oil
- Decisions about energy left to private, profit-maximizing entities leads to catastrophic mistakes with sweeping social consequences.
Banking
- 2015 saw banks (US and global) mired in scandals: money laundering, interest-rate/FX manipulation, mortgage fraud, unethical exploitative fees.
- Calls into question whether the sector should be left in hands of profit-driven managers.
Auto Industry
- Major carmakers (GM—deadly ignition switches, Toyota—faulty airbags, VW—emissions cheating) sacrificed safety and honesty for profit.
- Regulatory agencies repeatedly failed to catch/stop malfeasance.
The Case for Democratizing Enterprise
- Wolff asserts that social control over critical industries is necessary:
- Quote: "Isn't this time to question capitalism as a way of organizing business? ... We could get a better economic system if we democratize the enterprise, ... run partly by the workers, democratically... and partly by their clients and customers who depend on them." [48:45]
- Cites the Economic Policy Institute: The wealthiest 20 Americans now hold as much wealth as the bottom 160 million.
Quote:
"Twenty people have more wealth than 160 million Americans. That's what this capitalist system does while it destroys the oil energy that we depend on, abuses the financial system we depend on and makes the cars we cannot live without dangerous and unsafe."
— Richard Wolff [55:30]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On the Fed's reputation:
"It's been eight years or so since that crash hit, and the Federal Reserve has pumped a vast amount of money to keep the stock market in good shape and to boost the profits and viability of the banks. But they haven't helped the rest of us a great deal, to say the least."
— Richard Wolff [03:15] -
On the Yale Hospital protest:
"It was so gross... that even the politicians normally doing the bidding of the corporations that run the society, even they found this one more than they could stomach."
— Richard Wolff [13:50] -
On "running things like a business":
"Mr. Drucker, the leading specialist, says it would be a terrible mistake... to run something that isn't a business in the manner of something that is a business."
— [16:30] -
On guns and Christmas:
"It's Christmas time in America."
— [21:35] -
On privatization in Greece:
"They have to come up with actions that the Europeans demand. They demand big unemployment... cutting pensions... sold off the valuable property ... giving themselves valuable public property at fire sale prices."
— [37:15] -
On systemic corporate failures:
"How many more lessons do the American people, the German people, the Japanese people, all people need to learn before they realize that leaving production in the hands of profit driven private capitalist enterprises is too dangerous, too risky for us to tolerate much more?"
— [54:15]
Timestamps for Important Segments
- [02:00] – Federal Reserve raises interest rates; critical analysis begins
- [09:00] – New Haven jobs protest and extreme inequality
- [14:30] – Peter Drucker on what is and isn’t a business
- [17:00] – The "gun business"; post-crash sales surge and Walmart’s role
- [22:50] – Oil price collapse: causes and consequences
- [27:45] – The "blame China" narrative and global economic slowdown
- [30:25] – Greek crisis: public assets, austerity, and political choices
- [43:30] – Corporate failures: oil, banking, automotive
- [55:30] – Extreme wealth concentration statistics
- [57:00] – Wrapping up: call for economic democratization
Tone and Style
Richard Wolff’s tone throughout is direct, critical, and urgent, mixing accessible economic analysis with polemical advocacy for systemic change. He moves fluidly between historical context, current events, and structural critiques, aiming to lay plain the roots of economic suffering and spark informed action among listeners.
Summary Takeaway
Richard Wolff’s 2015-end review contends that mainstream economic management (by monetary authorities, major corporations, and governments) has failed the majority—yielding increased inequality, insecurity, and social unrest while protecting and enriching elites. Relying on corporate self-interest for critical sectors—from energy and finance to automobiles—produces disaster after disaster, while opportunities for democratic, people-centered solutions (like jobs programs or workplace democracy) remain mostly unexplored. The lessons of 2015, as Wolff frames them, are urgent calls to reconsider the very organization of the economy—before its crises become impossible to ignore.