Podcast Summary

Podcast: Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff
Episode: Economic Update: Fighting Rightist Economics
Date: January 18, 2016
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Michael Johnson (Grassroots Economic Organizing)
Theme: How right-wing economic policies impact public services, labor, and alternative economic organization, with an interview on the realities and lessons of worker cooperatives.

Episode Overview

Richard D. Wolff’s episode, “Fighting Rightist Economics,” critically examines the impacts of right-wing economic policies—ranging from public sector austerity to anti-union laws—on society’s most vital institutions. The episode gives special attention to current “pushbacks” against these policies, spotlighting labor actions in the UK and Detroit, the Flint water crisis, and legal threats to unions. The second half features a detailed interview with Michael Johnson about the history, challenges, and successes of worker cooperatives in the Connecticut River Valley.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Spotlight on Resistance to Right-Wing Economic Policies (00:20–29:40)

1. Junior Doctors’ Strike in the UK (00:40)

• UK junior doctors strike against David Cameron’s Conservative government, resisting efforts to undermine and potentially privatize the National Health Service (NHS).
• Wolff argues the Conservative strategy is to “hobble, cripple and undermine a public service in order to get the public angry at it,” thus justifying privatization.
• Quote:

  "They will not go along. They are proud and able to go out on strike and say, we are not going to allow you to get away with the destruction of something that has served so many of Britain's citizens for so long so successfully." (03:22)

2. Detroit Teachers’ Sick-Out (05:30)

• Detroit public school teachers organize “sick-outs” to expose dangerous, neglected school conditions resulting from underfunding and political abandonment.
• Major media attention raised public awareness of systemic issues (“media pay attention, the public becomes aware in a way it can't any other way”).
• Quote:

  "That takes courage, that takes sacrifice and that deserves the honor that I want to bestow by giving them a shout out the way I did with the junior doctors in England." (08:04)

3. The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis (09:10)

• Cost-saving “austerity” led officials to switch Flint’s water supply from Detroit’s safe source to the polluted Flint River, resulting in a lead contamination crisis.
• Wolff exposes “austerity” as shifting “the burden of a dysfunctional economic system on those least responsible for its dysfunction”—with children as victims in Flint.
• Quote:

  "Now they're told they have to suffer medical expenses for the rest of their lives. This is not a story, folks. This is about right wing economic thinking prevailing from the corporation on over to the political leadership that does its bidding so often and so readily." (12:55)

4. Supreme Court Challenge to Union Agency Fees (14:00)

• Ongoing Supreme Court case aims to dismantle “agency fees,” undercutting unions by allowing non-members to benefit from union negotiations without contributing financially.
• Wolff contextualizes the move within a broader, decades-long anti-union strategy dating back to the Taft-Hartley Act (1947).
• Quote:

  "This hobbles, of course, the union, weakens the union, makes it less able to struggle with the employer. In the end, this will hurt the people who don't pay either because they won't get the benefit." (17:48)

5. Voters Right to Know Initiative in California (23:20)

• Initiative aims to provide transparency about financial interests in political campaigns; reflects broader resistance to corporate power in politics.

Hidden Subsidies for Religious Institutions in the US (24:45–29:40)

Wolff addresses listener questions about government subsidies for religious organizations, detailing three key mechanisms:

1. Exemption from taxes on investments:
   Religious institutions pay no income tax on dividends/interest from stocks and bonds.
2. Property tax exemptions:
   Churches, temples, etc. receive municipal and state services—police, fire, utilities—without paying property taxes.
3. Charitable donation tax deductions:
   Donors can deduct religious institution gifts from their taxable income, shifting the collective tax burden onto others.

• Quote:

  "If the separation of church and state means really anything, how is it possible that the state subsidizes churches? Are you really comfortable with that?" (28:36)

Interview: Building Worker Cooperatives with Michael Johnson (29:40–56:29)

Introduction to Michael Johnson (29:56)

• Johnson is a leader in cooperative/solidarity economics, co-author of Building Cooperative Power, and co-founder of the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops (VAWC) [32:10].

History and Structure of Worker Co-ops in the Connecticut River Valley (32:07)

• Cooperatives in the Valley date to the 19th century, growing especially since the 1970s.
• The VAWC pools resources to help launch and convert businesses into worker-owned enterprises.
• Quote:

  "It is a co-op led process of cooperative development so that all of the worker co-ops…contribute part of their surplus to a cooperative development fund." (33:00)

Case Study: Collective Copies / Leveller’s Press (33:57)

• Formed in 1982 by workers denied fair wages/conditions, who resurrected a failed press by pre-selling printing services to customers ($1,000 for $1,100 in printing), securing initial capital.
• Expanded to multiple locations/publication ventures and weathered market/digital changes via collective decision-making and income solidarity.
• During crises, instead of layoffs, workers cut income equally to avoid firings.
• Quote:

  "They pulled on their solidarity, you know, to hold it. And that kind of solidarity manifests throughout… That's the core of their success. And it's what capitalists don't really… they don't get it." (40:40)

The Cooperative Advantage and Internal Challenges (43:04)

• Emotional investment (“skin in the game”) drives co-op success and productivity; democratic culture gives members a new sense of control and responsibility in their work.
• Adapting to non-hierarchical structures is challenging due to prevailing employer/employee mindsets; there is a continuous “learning process” in becoming true worker-owners.
• Quote:

  "We are saturated with the culture that we grow up in… If you're going to go work, what are you? You're going to be either an employer or you're going to be employee. This kind of thinking permeates the cooperative." (44:20)

Scale, Democracy, and Decision-Making (46:44)

• Large cooperative size can threaten true democracy; societies may need to re-examine workplace size for authentic worker participation and fulfillment.
• Debate and transparency essential, but so is the ability to really listen and understand differing perspectives in group decision-making.

Further Case: TESA – Toolbox for Education and Social Action (50:23)

• Young co-op producing educational resources/games (e.g., Co-Opoly) fostered through remarkable inter-cooperation—two-thirds of initial funding paid to other worker co-ops, and most capital raised within the cooperative ecosystem.
• Emphasizes the power of cooperative networks for regional and movement-wide resilience.

Lessons from International Co-ops: Mondragon, Emilia-Romagna (53:04)

• The success of large-scale cooperative sectors depends on supportive social/cultural infrastructure developed over generations.
• US context lacks this tradition, necessitating deliberate strategies in education and culture-building for cooperativism.
• Quote:

  "You have to create the conditions for this. And in the United States, how do you get the traction for that is very, very challenging. And we need to do a lot of thinking about how to develop the culture." (55:15)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On privatization as sabotage:

  "The tried and true mechanism of the right: hobble, cripple and undermine a public service... use the public's anger at the service as an excuse to get rid of it altogether." — Richard D. Wolff (02:24)

• On union agency fees:

  "They want to go back and give a complete freeloader status... so they get the benefits and they bear none of the costs." — Richard D. Wolff (16:20)

• On collective solidarity during economic crisis:

  "Instead of saying, okay, we got to cut two or three people out, they cut everyone's salary... so no one had to leave." — Michael Johnson (40:00)

• On workplace democracy and scale:

  "If we value that process, then that's more important to us than getting 27 more widgets produced... In a capitalist system, you don't get to make that decision because profit is driving the people." — Richard D. Wolff (47:08)

• On the US context for cooperatives:

  "You have to create the conditions for this. And in the United States... how do you get the traction for that is very, very challenging." — Michael Johnson (55:15)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:40 – Strikes by junior doctors in UK, defense of NHS
• 05:30 – Detroit teachers’ sick-outs against public school deterioration
• 09:10 – The Flint water crisis and austerity’s human costs
• 14:00 – Supreme Court case on union agency fees (the Friedrichs case)
• 23:20 – Voters Right to Know Initiative in California
• 24:45 – Detailed breakdown: hidden subsidies to religious institutions
• 29:40 – Michael Johnson interview: worker co-ops, history, lessons
• 33:57 – The Collective Copies case study
• 46:44 – Discussion: decision-making, scale, and internal dynamics of co-ops
• 50:23 – TESA/Co-Opoly and inter-cooperation
• 53:04 – Lessons from Mondragon and the challenges of US cooperative culture

Useful for Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode offers both a trenchant critique of ongoing rightist attacks on public goods, labor, and community, and an inspiring glimpse of alternative modes of economic organization. Through news analysis and case study, Wolff and Johnson make clear that cooperatives not only survive but can thrive and innovate, despite cultural and systemic obstacles. Both the failures of austerity and the successes of cooperation are made accessible, urgent, and actionable.

For more on worker cooperatives or to get involved:

• Geo.coop (Grassroots Economic Organizing)
• democracyatwork.info