Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Social Movement for Economic Democracy

Date: May 9, 2019
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Rebecca Lurie (Director, Community and Worker Ownership Project, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies)

Episode Overview

This episode examines the deepening crisis of wealth inequality, corporate privilege, and recent labor strikes before turning to hopeful signs of a growing movement for economic democracy and cooperative ownership. Richard Wolff is joined in the second half by Rebecca Lurie, who shares insights from her work and a recent conference dedicated to economic democracy and worker cooperatives. Together, they discuss practical steps, the challenges of shifting power, and the growing excitement and real-world experimentation in cooperative models in the US and beyond.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Exposing Corporate Tax Avoidance (00:10–06:00)

• Major Findings: Wolff discusses a new study exposing how the 2017 GOP tax cut enabled 60 of the Fortune 500 companies—including Amazon, General Motors, Chevron, and Delta—to pay zero federal tax in 2018, despite collectively earning $79 billion.
• Refunds to Corporations: Many of these companies received tax refunds totaling $4.3 billion—taxpayer money returned to already profitable corporations.
• Impact: Ordinary citizens end up paying for these corporate privileges either via higher taxes or reduced public services as a result of lost revenue.

  "This is a perverse tax code. It gives to the richest while taking from everybody else. It ought to make you angry." — Richard D. Wolff (02:37)

• Calls for Reform: Wolff notes past efforts to require minimum taxes for individuals weren't applied to corporations, showing systemic bias.

2. General Motors: Profits and Job Destruction (06:00–09:30)

• Executive Pay vs. Worker Layoffs: GM’s CEO Mary Barra earned $20.9 million in 2018—a year in which GM posted $11 billion in profits but nonetheless closed plants and fired thousands.
• Perverse Priorities: The system channels wealth to shareholders and top executives while disregarding communities and workers devastated by decisions made in corporate boardrooms:

  "Their responsibility is the profit for their shareholders and the big salaries for their executives. And they take care of their priorities. Just as we are left with the wreckage of that system of priorities." — Wolff (08:02)

• Proposed Alternatives: Wolff calls for regulations requiring corporations to compensate communities suffering from layoffs—drawing analogies to everyday legal responsibility for harm.

3. Notre Dame Fire and Charitable Fakery (09:30–13:48)

• Elite Philanthropy as Tax Avoidance: In response to the Notre Dame fire, France’s richest families rapidly pledged nearly $1 billion, but French law allows them to deduct up to 66% of donations from taxes, meaning public funds will cover much of the restoration—despite government claims of austerity for the public.

  "You said there was no money, but you found it quickly and you found it for people who don’t need it, for people who are already crazy rich." — Wolff (12:55)

• Public Outrage: The Yellow Vest movement immediately highlighted this hypocrisy, exposing political manipulation and deep-seated social anger.

4. Labor Unrest and the Rise of Strikes (13:48–15:52)

• Strike Wave: Wolff highlights the Stop & Shop supermarket strike (31,000 workers, NE US), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra strike, and the near-strike by NY State nurses, noting a resurgence of labor militancy unseen since the 1980s.
• Lessons Learned: Strikes succeed through solidarity and militancy, as shown by successful contract settlements following collective action.

  "Militancy and unity is the way forward. A lesson other workers, and indeed the whole social movement community might want to learn." — Wolff (15:18)

5. The Economic Democracy Movement: Conversation with Rebecca Lurie (15:52–28:27)

Who is Rebecca Lurie?

Director of the Community and Worker Ownership Project at CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies—a key organizer in the push for cooperative models and economic democracy.

Highlights from the CUNY Economic Democracy Conference (15:52–17:41)

• Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The conference blended academia and policy-makers with practitioners for a "praxis"-driven approach.
• Focus Areas: Worker cooperatives, land trusts, democratic management of nonprofits, finance, and broader cooperative economy themes.

Is Economic Democracy Catching On? (17:41–18:41)

• Growing Awareness: Lurie attributes rising interest in part to widespread frustration and visible injustices.

  "Something’s not right and they’re hungry to figure out how can we make compassion our new currency." — Rebecca Lurie (18:22)

Examples and Energy from the Movement (18:41–20:40)

• Broader Than Worker Co-ops: Cooperative principles are being explored in schools, nonprofits, even financial and land arrangements.

• Requirements for Change: Transparency and democratic decision-making are crucial, but require unlearning hierarchical patterns—challenging racism, sexism, and classism within organizations.

  "To be more democratic, they have to undo the hierarchical thinking that capitalism has given us." — Lurie (19:47)

Emotional & Practical Dimensions (20:40–21:34)

• Head, Heart & Hands: Combining feeling and practical knowledge is essential to building lasting change.

Global Connections: Mondragon, Italy, the Commons (21:34–23:48)

• Learning Internationally: The US movement draws inspiration from Mondragon (Spain), Emilia Romagna (Italy), and literature like Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s "Collective Courage," which highlights Black cooperative history.

• Commons-Based Organizing: Building public stewardship of resources, not just resisting privatization.

  "We need to have a different sense of control of what’s in the public, what belongs to us in the commons." — Lurie (22:46)

Transformative Power of Workplace Democracy (23:48–25:28)

• Personal Liberation: Democratic workplaces empower individuals beyond the economic—combating alienation and hierarchical thinking.

  "It’s like a liberation. It’s like a whole different part of your life going to work from what it was before." — Wolff (24:22)

Social Movements & A Broader “We” (25:28–25:58)

• Power of Collective Action: Lurie references Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street as examples of shifting from "I" to "we"—prioritizing marginalized voices and solidarity.

The Future: From Grassroots to Policy (26:19–28:27)

• Vision: More circles, less hierarchy; participatory budgeting as a practical step; policy and education supporting cooperative enterprise.

  "When you say, 'Here’s a million dollars... and [people] have to figure out how to spend it together,' you are putting into practice what I refer to as the transparency with the resources and the democratic decision making." — Lurie (27:04)

• Political Engagement: Growing number of politicians—and ordinary citizens—adopting economic democracy as a cause.

• Educational Goals: Advocating for formal academic programs in economic democracy and cooperative management.

  "Let’s make that one of our goals." — Lurie (28:25)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• "This is a perverse tax code. It gives to the richest while taking from everybody else. It ought to make you angry." — Wolff (02:37)
• "Their responsibility is the profit for their shareholders and the big salaries for their executives. ... We are left with the wreckage of that system of priorities." — Wolff (08:02)
• "You said there was no money, but you found it quickly and you found it for people who don’t need it, for people who are already crazy rich." — Wolff (12:55)
• "Militancy and unity is the way forward. A lesson other workers, and indeed the whole social movement community might want to learn." — Wolff (15:18)
• "Something’s not right and they’re hungry to figure out how can we make compassion our new currency." — Lurie (18:22)
• "To be more democratic, they have to undo the hierarchical thinking that capitalism has given us." — Lurie (19:47)
• "It’s like a liberation. It’s like a whole different part of your life going to work from what it was before." — Wolff (24:22)

Important Timestamps

• 00:10 – 06:00: Corporate tax avoidance under 2017 tax law
• 06:00 – 09:30: GM’s profits, layoffs, and the problem with executive pay
• 09:30 – 13:48: Notre Dame fire, elite philanthropy, and tax deduction controversy
• 13:48 – 15:52: Recent labor strikes and lessons in solidarity
• 15:52 – 17:41: Introduction to Rebecca Lurie and the CUNY economic democracy conference
• 17:41 – 20:40: Grassroots cooperative efforts and democratic workplace innovation
• 21:34 – 23:48: Connections to global cooperative efforts and the commons
• 23:48 – 25:28: The personal impact and challenges of shifting to workplace democracy
• 26:19 – 28:27: Hopes for the future: participatory budgeting, policy support, education

Conclusion

Wolff and Lurie’s conversation captures a moment of hope and possibility amid deepening economic crisis and frustration. They make clear that the call for economic democracy—a system where people have real power in their workplaces and communities—has moved from theory to active experimentation, energized both by necessity and by a new sense of collective possibility. From corporate tax scandals to workplace strikes and the organizing of new cooperative forms, the episode urges listeners to challenge old hierarchies and envision truly democratic alternatives for the economy.