Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Launching a New University

Release Date: September 20, 2018
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Michael Pelias

Episode Overview

In this episode, Richard D. Wolff reflects on the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, critically examining the lack of reform and deepening economic inequality. The main feature is an in-depth conversation with philosopher Michael Pelias about the founding of a new left-oriented university in New York City—an educational initiative seeking to counteract the corporatization and credentialization of higher education. The discussion explores what’s missing in current academia, what this new institution aspires to achieve, and how it fits into a wider movement for progressive, transformative education.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Lessons (and Lack Thereof) After Lehman Brothers [00:10–15:31]

• 10th Anniversary of Lehman Collapse

• Wolff recalls the shock of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, marking it as the beginning of the 2008 global crisis.
• He critiques the hypocrisy of major bank leaders who, after years of advocating minimal government involvement, pleaded for bailouts when their own institutions failed.
• The “record-breaking bailout,” he argues, prioritized banks and corporations while ordinary people faced “austerity”—a policy known by its true name in Europe, barely disguised as “prudent fiscal policy” in the US.

"We had the most enormous bailout of our financial system... when the government was finished spending wild amounts of money to bail out the banks, it turned around and told the rest of us... they couldn't spend money on us. And so they imposed on us something called austerity.” — Wolff [03:58]

• Inequality Worsened

• The post-crisis period improved fortunes for "the rich" while most people saw cutbacks.
• The core system was left unchanged: banks considered “too big to fail” became even larger, and systemic instability hasn't been addressed.

"Very little learned, nothing changed... If you don't learn from history, you will be condemned to repeat it.” — Wolff [07:39]

• Predictions of Another Crash

• JP Morgan’s recent report predicts the next crisis in 2020. Wolff highlights the cyclical, unreformed nature of capitalist crashes.

2. Funding Socialist Programs—A Practical Breakdown [09:17–15:38]

• Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and the $40 Trillion Question

• Wolff responds to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s challenge on how to fund large-scale social programs.
• He breaks down unemployment and under-utilized productive capacity:
  • 10% or more of the workforce willing and able to work but not employed.
  • 22% of US productive capacity standing idle.
• By matching unused workers to unused capacity, he estimates a 10% GDP boost ($2T/year for 10 years = $20T), covering half of such programs' proposed costs.

"Don't tell the socialist the money isn’t there. Capitalism can’t raise the money to solve these problems. Socialism can.” — Wolff [14:36]

• Encourages a welcoming approach to immigration for further economic boost.

3. Colin Kaepernick, Nike, and Capitalism’s Calculations [15:39–16:27]

• Reflects on Nike featuring Colin Kaepernick in its advertising.
• Notes Nike’s accurate calculation: aligning with younger, more socially-conscious consumers boosted sales and stock prices.
• Critiques this as a capitalist way to obscure ongoing labor exploitation in their supply chain.

"Colin Kaepernick used them and they used him. And that's how capitalism works and that's how change is actually going to come.” — Wolff [16:20]

4. Launching A New University: Conversation with Michael Pelias [16:28–28:32]

● The Genesis of a Left University [16:30–19:24]

• Pelias: For a decade, a group including Wolff, Stanley Aronowitz, and others have been offering independent courses and developing a manifesto for left education.
• Aims to “supplant traditional learning that is not really going on in the schools anymore,” moving beyond “credentializing machines” toward education “that really matters.”
• New courses begin fall 2018, focusing on materialism, philosophy, political economy, and critical reading of Marx’s Capital.

“The idea now is to really form a left university... We would offer a real curriculum for what we would call sloganeering, an education that really matters.” — Pelias [17:51]

● What Went Wrong In Higher Education? [19:24–21:31]

• Pelias: A critical turning point 30–35 years ago saw a “massive shift away from the humanities and a liberal arts education.”
• Universities became corporate-style, focused on producing workers—“education as a ticket to a job,” not as a public good.
• Fears skills in thinking, reading, writing, and historical memory are at risk.

“Institutions of higher learning are now run like corporations, no longer as sites for learning...” — Pelias [20:38]

● The Vision: Center for Learning, Dialogue, and Historical Memory [23:17–24:16]

• Pelias: Hopes to create a political space—a “center”—for idea exchange, not just movement building.
• Recalls the loss of “historical memory,” especially around progressive and left ideas, as a key crisis to address.

“To me, the crucial and the most significant crisis we're facing is memory, really historical memory at this point...” — Pelias [23:49]

● Inspirations: LSE, Frankfurt School, & Gramsci’s Organic Intellectuals [24:16–25:32]

• Wolff: Compares this initiative to the founding of the London School of Economics and the Frankfurt School, which offered independent, critical thought against dominant institutions.
• Pelias: Embraces the role as an alternative space for real learning and dialogue, transmitting the tradition of the organic intellectual.

● Practical Details: How to Join and What It Costs [26:24–28:34]

• Welcoming both students and teachers; contact info and specifics about the nascent curriculum at radicalimagination.institute.
• Courses affordable, e.g., “Marx, Marxism and philosophy” ten-week course for $150, far less than traditional universities.
• Committed to accessible education, not debt-driven models.

"...A $5 an hour ticket is entry. And then, of course, if the person can't [pay], you know..." — Pelias [28:20]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the bank bailouts:
  "All these leaders of all these big banks discovered by early October of 2008 that they were bankrupt and couldn't function. So they all got in their limousines or their airplanes and went to Washington, begging the government... to save them." — Wolff [02:24]
• On the new university:
  "We're going to be doing all kinds of various things. But what I'm excited about is building a curriculum... based on the best of the Frankfurt School, the best of the London School of Economics, the best of the organic intellectual, as Antonio Gramsci termed." — Pelias [27:25]

Important Timestamps

• 00:10–07:39: Retrospective on Lehman Brothers, bailouts, and austerity
• 09:17–15:38: Funding socialist programs; critique of mainstream economic thinking
• 15:39–16:27: The politics of Nike’s Kaepernick campaign
• 16:30–19:24: Origins and aims of the new left university
• 19:24–21:31: Diagnosing the crisis in higher education
• 23:17–24:16: The need for a “center” of critical learning
• 26:24–28:34: How to get involved, cost, and accessibility

Conclusion

This episode offers both sweeping economic critique and inspiration for activism, particularly in the realm of education. Richard D. Wolff traces the failures of the post-2008 order to deliver for ordinary people and introduces a bold intellectual project: a leftist alternative university. The conversation with Michael Pelias shares how this initiative aims to restore critical, holistic education and counteract the commodification of learning, inviting listeners to join a new movement to reclaim what education and citizenship can mean.

For more on the new university, see: radicalimagination.institute