Podcast Summary
Podcast: Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff
Episode: Profits, Families & Sex
Date: August 6, 2016
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Dr. Harriet Fraad
Episode Overview
This episode of Economic Update dives into the interconnectedness of economic structures—especially capitalism—and personal life, focusing on how profit-driven decisions reverberate into public policy, familial structures, and even intimate relationships and sexual norms. The first half surveys recent headlines and structural issues: corporate corruption, banker prosecution, pensions crises, and labor struggles. The second half, featuring Dr. Harriet Fraad, is a rich exploration of how the economic transformations since the 1970s have fundamentally altered American family life, gender roles, and sexual behavior.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Corporate Misconduct and the Profit Motive
[03:00] Volkswagen Scandal (VW & Audi)
- Recounts VW’s deceptive emissions cheating, tracing the motive to their drive for profit.
- Criticizes corporate write-offs, such as a $14,000 beer party, as tax avoidance that deprives society of funds for public services.
“Antisocial behavior by phony expenses that reduce the taxes you pay for the services governments provide.” — Richard Wolff [05:00]
[07:00] Banker Accountability: The Irish Example
- Highlights three senior Irish bankers going to jail for their roles in the 2008 financial crash.
- Wolff cautions that individual prosecutions do not address systemic incentives leading to such corruption.
“Putting the chief bankers in jail 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 Wolff [09:45]
[11:00] The ‘Revolving Door’ of Elites
- Details politicians and financiers moving interchangeably between top government and corporate roles.
- Examples include European politicians joining major financial institutions after public service, and vice versa, highlighting self-serving elite networks.
“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 Wolff [14:32]
2. The Coming Pension Crisis
[16:00] Public Pensions: Underfunding and Political Cowardice
- Breaks down how politicians’ refusal to tax corporations and the wealthy, coupled with over-optimistic investment assumptions, has resulted in badly underfunded public pensions.
- Provides examples: Chicago Police (27% funded), Kentucky state employees (22%), Philadelphia (44%), Arizona (49%).
“Pensions are a volcano about to blow in this country.” — Richard Wolff [22:40]
3. Labor, Race, and Protest: The Yale Window Incident
[24:00] Worker Solidarity and Race at Yale
- Chronicles the firing and rehiring of Corey Menefee, a Black Yale dining hall worker, after he broke a window depicting slaves. Community outrage leads to his reinstatement.
- Explores the symbolism of Yale refusing to rename Calhoun College, after a notorious supporter of slavery, citing “confronting history.”
“Maybe the next thing we can expect at Yale is that we’ll have a school of journalism renamed Roger Ailes School of Journalism to celebrate needing to keep an eye on sex discrimination...” — Richard Wolff [28:48]
4. Feature Discussion: Capitalism, Family, and Sex (with Dr. Harriet Fraad)
The Economic Roots of Social Transformation
[30:00] The 1970s Shift: Automation, Offshoring, and the Erosion of the ‘Family Wage’
- Mass automation and relocation of jobs gutted high-wage employment for (mostly white) men.
- Women entered the workforce out of necessity, dissolving the traditional family model and destabilizing masculinity.
“All of that was taken away. It transformed the family, it transformed the relationship between men and women.” — Richard Wolff [32:34]
Gender Roles, Marriage, and Divorce
[34:01] Evolving Household Dynamics
- White men, accustomed to a central breadwinner role and domestic support, felt “unmanned,” leading to relationship conflict.
- Women, now economic participants and less dependent, increasingly reject unequal marriages. Divorce rates soar, and marriage becomes a ‘luxury good’ for the affluent.
“It is women now who are rejecting marriage. The majority of divorces are initiated by women.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [37:40]
Emotional Fallout: Men’s Vulnerability
[39:13] Men: The Emotional Consequences
- Men’s primary emotional bonds are with their partners; women maintain broader supportive relationships.
- As marriages dissolve, men experience social and emotional isolation, contributing to societal distress and (among some) violent outbursts.
“Men are in a terrible situation... They lose the emotional connection, whereas the women have other supports.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [40:14]
Sexuality, Pornography, and the Market
[44:00] Sex Work, Porn, and Changing Sexual Norms
- Economic decline and new gender expectations fuel the growth of pornography and sex work.
- “Sugar baby” arrangements: College women fund their education through transactional relationships with wealthy men (the “Girlfriend Experience”).
“Capitalism has transformed sex... If you don’t want to come out of college with a load of debt... you are now given an opportunity to bargain sexuality.” — Richard Wolff [48:19], [48:44]
- Pornography becomes a profitable substitute for meaningful relationships, and children’s first exposure to sex is often through porn, without emotional context.
“Sex has been divorced from connection and emotion. A disastrous thing.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [45:35]
The Systemic Root and Possible Alternatives
[51:53] Beyond Blame: The Structural Problem
- Attempts to address these issues at a personal level are futile while the root economic forces go unchallenged.
“No one pointing the finger at the economic decisions that are crucial to this story. And so everybody trying to find a way to solve it on an intimate, personal level, which you can’t do because the forces are too large.” — Richard Wolff [51:38]
Vision for Change: Egalitarian Family and Politics
[53:00] A Different Model
- Dr. Fraad urges collaboration between men and women for collective well-being: public investment in childcare, healthcare, paid leave—unlocking time and connection for all.
- Notes how class consciousness was erased from the women’s movement, undermining broader change.
“Men and women together could have worked together to have it all, to be able to work, to have good childcare and after school care and summer care for their children, to have paid vacations.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [53:00]
- Young people’s support for Bernie Sanders reflects hope for this collective vision.
“They want togetherness for everybody, gays, straights, everyone together to have a connected, collective, egalitarian set of relationships.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [53:27]
Final Perspectives
[56:19] The Fork in the Road
- Dr. Fraad warns of two futures: Either renewed solidarity and systemic change, or deepening isolation and misery, with private industry profiting off social breakdown.
“Either men and women have to join... or they will be at odds. Their connections will fray. Men will be in particular distress... those people selling to despair in pornography, in weapons sales... will be making money off of this disaster.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [56:19]
Notable Quotes & Timestamps
- “Antisocial behavior by phony expenses that reduce the taxes you pay for the services governments provide.” — Richard Wolff [05:00]
- “Putting the chief bankers in jail 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 Wolff [09:45]
- “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 Wolff [14:32]
- “Pensions are a volcano about to blow in this country.” — Richard Wolff [22:40]
- “It is women now who are rejecting marriage. The majority of divorces are initiated by women.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [37:40]
- “Men are in a terrible situation... They lose the emotional connection, whereas the women have other supports.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [40:14]
- “Sex has been divorced from connection and emotion. A disastrous thing.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [45:35]
- “No one pointing the finger at the economic decisions that are crucial to this story. And so everybody trying to find a way to solve it on an intimate, personal level, which you can’t do because the forces are too large.” — Richard Wolff [51:38]
- “Either men and women have to join... or they will be at odds. Their connections will fray. Men will be in particular distress... those people selling to despair in pornography, in weapons sales... will be making money off of this disaster.” — Dr. Harriet Fraad [56:19]
Important Segments & Timestamps
| Timestamp | Segment Description | | -----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:00–07:00| Volkswagen/Audi scandal, corporate tax avoidance | | 07:00–11:00| Irish bankers jailed, structural vs. individual accountability | | 11:00–16:00| Revolving door: politicians–corporate leaders interchange | | 16:00–24:00| Pension crisis, underfunding, political cowardice | | 24:00–29:00| Yale window incident, race, labor, university symbolism | | 30:00–34:00| 1970s economic transformations: automation, offshoring, impact on families | | 34:01–39:13| Gender roles, rise of divorce, emotional fallout | | 39:13–47:14| Changing sexual norms, pornography, sex work, transactional relationships | | 47:14–53:27| Structural changes to family, vision for new collective social contracts | | 56:19–57:14| Future prospects: solidarity vs. isolation, closing reflections |
Tone & Style
Richard Wolff’s delivery is pointed, critical, and direct—using wit and sharp analysis to make economic lessons tangible. Dr. Fraad’s style is thoughtful, empathetic, and deeply informed by her clinical experience, blending sociological and psychological analysis. Both consistently tie back systemic issues to individual experiences.
Summary Takeaway
This episode makes clear that economic decisions—especially those geared solely toward profit—reverberate through every layer of society, eroding trusted institutions, destabilizing family and gender norms, and even reshaping our most intimate lives. Piecemeal ‘solutions’ or blaming individuals fall short: only collective awareness and structural change—encompassing both gender and class—can mend the fraying social fabric.