Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Profits, Families and Sex
Date: August 5, 2016
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Dr. Harriet Fraad

Episode Overview

This episode of Economic Update explores how profit-driven decisions by corporations have reshaped major elements of American society—particularly jobs, families, and intimate relationships. Host Richard D. Wolff dissects economic news and trends, then welcomes Dr. Harriet Fraad, a mental health counselor, to analyze how these economic shifts impact personal lives, gender dynamics, and sexuality. The conversation traces the connections between automation, offshoring, declining job security, shifting family structures, and changes in sexual norms—shedding light on an often overlooked dimension of contemporary capitalism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

[00:35] News Stories & Economic Updates

Volkswagen Scandal and Corporate Profit Tactics

• VW's Ongoing Troubles: After being exposed for cheating emissions tests to boost profits, VW was caught writing off lavish parties as business expenses to reduce tax obligations.
  • Quote:

    "Thirty top managers, $14,000 for a beer contest... that's not a quantity of beer that you drink, that's a quantity of beer that you bathe in."
    — Richard D. Wolff [03:18]

• Commentary:
  Highlighting antisocial corporate behaviors—polluting for profit and exploiting tax codes—Wolff frames these as endemic to profit-centered capitalism.

Bankers Jailed in Ireland

• For the first time post-2008, senior bankers in Ireland were jailed for their role in the financial collapse.
  • Names: Dennis Casey, Willie McAteer, John Bowe.
  • Quote:

    "Dishonest, deceitful, and corrupt."
    — Richard D. Wolff [07:40]

• Systemic Failure: Wolff argues that jailing individuals doesn't address systemic issues that incentivize such behavior.

Revolving Door Between Politics and Finance

• Wolff presents a pattern: powerful politicians repeatedly move into lucrative banking roles, and vice versa.
  • Examples:
    • Jose Manuel Barroso (from EU Commission to Goldman Sachs)
    • Mervyn King (Bank of England to Citigroup)
    • David Cameron giving government honors to aides
    • Tony Blair, John Major, Gordon Brown all moving to major banks
    • US examples: Jacob Lew, Robert Rubin, Ben Bernanke
  • Quote:

    "If you get the feeling that the people at the top are busy taking care of themselves while you have an ever harder time economically, well then you figured it out."
    — Richard D. Wolff [13:14]

Looming Pension Crisis

• Cities, states, and the federal government are grossly underfunding pension obligations—setting up a future crisis for retirees and taxpayers.
• Key explainers:
  • Pensions were often granted instead of wage increases to avoid immediate tax hikes.
  • Many public pensions are alarmingly underfunded—for example, Chicago Police at 27%, Kentucky’s public system at 22%.
  • Quote:

    "Pensions are a volcano about to blow in this country."
    — Richard D. Wolff [24:46]

• Critique of Politicians: Wolff exposes the false narrative blaming public workers/unions—pointing instead to politicians’ unwillingness to tax corporations and the wealthy, which led to chronic underfunding.

Yale Controversy: Race, Labor, and Institutional History

• Story of Corey Menefee, fired then reinstated after breaking a stained glass window depicting enslaved people at Yale’s Calhoun College.
  • Outrage arose due to the racist imagery and the college being named after John Calhoun, a pro-slavery politician.
  • Yale refused to change the name, citing the need to "confront history."
  • Quote:

    "You can remember slavery and Yale's relationship to it 27 different ways... but keeping the name of a big supporter of slavery? You must be kidding."
    — Richard D. Wolff [28:30]

• Analysis: Wolff is critical of how institutions claim to confront injustice while maintaining symbols of oppression.

[29:28] Discussion with Dr. Harriet Fraad: Profits, Families, and Sex

[30:25] Historical Backdrop: Corporate Downsizing and its Social Fallout

• 1970s Corporate Decisions:
  • Automation (esp. computers) and offshoring decimated well-paid, secure jobs—especially for white men.
  • Result: The economic foundation of the traditional American family crumbled.
• Women Entering the Workforce:
  • Women's liberation and economic necessity drove more women to work outside the home.
  • This shift destabilized old gender roles and dependencies.
    • Quote:

      "Good jobs, with security, with benefits, with good wages... disappeared in huge numbers, leaving those white American men without the jobs, the incomes, the security that they had come to expect as their due."
      — Richard D. Wolff [33:10]

[34:01] Psychological and Domestic Consequences

• Dr. Fraad's Perspective:
  • Men, unable to provide, felt "unmanned" and often demanded more domestically and emotionally from wives—who were now also economically active outside the home.
  • The average unemployed man does less housework than his fully employed wife.
  • Increased strain led to spikes in divorce rates (from 1 in 4 to over 1 in 2 marriages).
    • Quote:

      "The average unemployed man does less housework than his fully employed wife."
      — Harriet Fraad [35:06]

  • Marriage becomes a "luxury" for the wealthy; many now simply avoid it.
  • Majority of divorces now initiated by women, often due to frustration with men's increased demands and lack of stability.
    • Quote:

      "It is women now who are rejecting marriage. The majority of divorces are initiated by women."
      — Harriet Fraad [37:23]

[38:18] The Unintended Social Cost of Corporate Decisions

• Profit Motive Ignores Collateral Damage:
  • Corporate decisions for profits didn’t consider effects on communities or families.
    • Quote:

      "Had we taken into account... what it would mean to the larger society, many of those decisions would have been completely different, but they weren't."
      — Richard D. Wolff [38:32]

[39:13] Gender, Isolation, and Social Turmoil

• Men suffer emotionally—loss of traditional roles leaves them adrift; primary emotional supports were often wives.
• Women adapt more readily, often having broader support networks.
• Link found between male isolation, unemployment, and violence (including mass shootings).
  • Quote:

    "All of them had either an unemployment... or a rejection from a sex partner or both... men are in a terrible situation."
    — Harriet Fraad [40:14]

• Heightened vulnerability among white, blue-collar men feeds into political movements like Trumpism, with blame directed toward women and minorities.

[44:01] Changing Sexual Morés & The Rise of Sex Work

• High rates of births outside marriage and normalized cohabitation.
• Rise of sex work, especially in forms linked to economic necessity (e.g., "Sugar Baby University").
• Pornography as a Coping Mechanism:
  • Profitable sector that offers disempowered men a substitute for lost intimacy and control—but exacerbates alienation.
    • Quote:

      "Pornography... companies can make money in the profitable sector of pornography, feeding, in a sense, this upset of white males that have been disempowered."
      — Harriet Fraad [45:10]

• Sex Work & Economic Structures:
  • "Sugar Baby" arrangements allow women to pay for education with transactional relationships.
  • The “Girlfriend Experience” (GFE) is a commodified form of pseudo-relationship.
    • Quote:

      "The most popular job in the sex trades is the GFE—the Girlfriend Experience."
      — Harriet Fraad [49:45]

[51:19] Systemic Disruption of Intimacy

• The fundamental nature of intimacy, parenthood, and emotional life is being "revolutionized" without any coordinated societal response.
  • Quote:

    "The whole relationship and relationship altogether between men and women and therefore by extension parents and children. All of this is being, and I don't want to use this word loosely, it's revolutionized."
    — Richard D. Wolff [51:19]

• Efforts to “solve” the resulting problems are individualized, but real causes are systemic.

[52:50] Missed Opportunities and Hijacked Movements

• Dr. Fraad mentions the co-optation of the women’s movement by political interests, narrowing its focus onto gender and away from class.
• She suggests that, if economic and social reforms had centered class and collective provision (childcare, healthcare, vacation), a genuinely egalitarian family structure could have emerged.

[54:19] Towards Alternatives: The Vision of Collectivity

• Bernie Sanders' campaign seen as a model for reclaiming collective action and envisioning a healthier social contract.
  • Quote:

    "They want togetherness for everybody, gays, straights, everyone together to have a connected, collective, egalitarian set of relationships... with free health care, free after school and childcare..."
    — Harriet Fraad [54:39]

[56:19] The Future—Crisis or Solidarity?

• The path depends on whether men and women unite for social change—or remain isolated and in conflict, leaving room for despair and the exploitation of misery through commodified “solutions.”
  • Quote:

    "Either men and women have to join, as they did in the Sanders campaign, or they will be at odds. Their connections will fray. Men will be in particular distress... and those people selling to despair... will be making money off of this disaster..."
    — Harriet Fraad [56:19]

Notable Quotes

• "Antisocial behavior by dumping pollution... antisocial behavior by phony expenses that reduce the taxes you pay."
  — Richard D. Wolff [05:26]
• "Jailing the bankers... leaves in place the system with the rewards it offers to bankers that will lead their replacements... to face very many of the same temptations."
  — Richard D. Wolff [09:10]
• "Pensions are a volcano about to blow in this country."
  — Richard D. Wolff [24:46]
• "Had we taken into account... what it would mean to the larger society, many of those decisions would have been completely different, but they weren't."
  — Richard D. Wolff [38:32]
• "The average unemployed man does less housework than his fully employed wife."
  — Harriet Fraad [35:06]
• "The whole relationship... between men and women and therefore by extension parents and children... It's revolutionized because also with no one taking responsibility."
  — Richard D. Wolff [51:19]

Key Timestamps

• [00:35] Volkswagen and corporate profiteering scandals
• [07:40] Irish bankers jailed
• [13:14] The revolving door of politics and banking
• [17:24] Pension funding explained; looming pension crisis
• [24:46] Stark pension fund shortfalls; Chicago PD, Kentucky’s system, etc.
• [25:55] Yale’s Calhoun College and the politics of memory
• [29:28] Introduction of Dr. Harriet Fraad; shifting economic landscape since the 1970s
• [34:01] Disempowerment and changing domestic roles; psychological impacts
• [36:43] Divorce rates, gender shifts, marriage as "luxury good"
• [38:18] Corporate profit's ignored consequences
• [40:09] Mass shootings, male isolation, and economic roots
• [44:01] Transformation of sexual norms and rise of sex work
• [49:45] The "Girlfriend Experience" and the commodification of intimacy
• [51:19] The systemic revolution of intimacy and family life
• [54:19] Bernie Sanders as model for collective reform
• [56:19] Fork in the road: crisis or collective solidarity

Conclusion

Wolff and Fraad’s discussion demonstrates how the pursuit of profit by corporations has quietly but profoundly undermined stable work, family life, and intimate relationships for millions of Americans. The fallout manifests in personal distress, gender conflict, and a reconfiguration of sexual mores, all while the system offers only profit-driven palliatives (e.g., pornography, transactional relationships). True solutions, the speakers argue, lie in collective action, a rethinking of economic priorities, and the construction of egalitarian social supports—a message pointedly connected to current and future economic and political choices.

For further exploration and more in-depth interviews, visit democracyatwork.info or rdwolff.com.