Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: No Matter Who Wins
Date: November 5, 2020

Main Theme

In this episode, Richard D. Wolff dissects the economic and systemic realities facing the United States as it heads into a presidential election. He argues that, regardless of who wins the presidency—Trump or Biden—the core capitalist structure, the growing power imbalance favoring big business, rising inequality, and political stagnation will persist. He details how the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated pre-existing crises, emphasizing the bipartisan nature of these problems and the absence of substantive alternatives within the American political system.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Corporate Mergers Amid Crisis

• [00:10–03:00]
  Wolff begins with the purchase of Dunkin (formerly Dunkin’ Donuts) by Inspire Brands for $11.3 billion, which already owns Baskin Robbins, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, Jimmy John's and more.
  • Insight: The pandemic is an opportunity for large corporations to get even larger, often by absorbing struggling companies.
  • Quote: "It is an opportunity not being wasted by the capitalist class in this society. Yeah, big businesses are getting bigger and small and medium businesses are being wiped out in record numbers." (Wolff, 02:19)
  • Government policy, under both the Trump administration and Democrats, failed to protect small and medium businesses, exacerbating consolidation.

2. Capitalism on Life Support

• [03:00–08:00]
  Wolff critiques the U.S. private capitalist system, claiming it now subsists only due to unprecedented government and Federal Reserve intervention.
  • The Federal Reserve supplies effectively free money to corporations in trouble.
  • The government borrows and spends at record levels, sustaining businesses and the economy, not via market functioning but through artificial stimulus.
  • Quote: "Think of private capitalism as a 3/4 dead enterprise. It can't live anymore. It's run out of gas, it's run out of energy." (Wolff, 03:15)
  • "Zombie corporations" proliferate—companies that survive only by borrowing to service debt, not through real profits.
  • Quote: "The hottest new term in high tech economics is... the zombie corporation." (Wolff, 07:02)
  • Both parties enable this life-support system, and the ultimate cost is extreme inequality.
  • Quote: "The 50 richest billionaires in America have made out like bandits over the last six or seven months. Covid is good news for them." (Wolff, 09:05)

3. Eviction Crisis and Housing Inequality

• [12:00–17:00]
  Wolff warns of an impending “eviction tsunami,” framing it as the worst crisis for renters since the 1940s.
  • Millions are behind on rent because the moratorium delays payment but does not cancel it.
  • The moratorium is inconsistently enforced, and landlords can find workarounds.
  • Quote: "Many millions of Americans have accumulated rent because the moratorium delays the rent you have to pay in effect, but it doesn't erase it." (Wolff, 13:36)
  • He recommends Matthew Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.
  • The U.S. system creates chronic housing instability, with 3.7 million evictions annually, far higher than European countries.
  • Quote: "An economic system that doesn't pay people enough to buy their own housing is a system that isn't working." (Wolff, 16:49)

4. No Matter Who Wins: What Won’t Change

• [18:00–41:00]
  Wolff’s second half focuses on core systemic features that will persist regardless of whether Trump or Biden wins.

a. Entrenched Capitalist Structure

• Both parties—and candidates—are committed to the current capitalist organization.
• Power remains in the hands of a small economic elite (owners, boards, major shareholders).
• Quote: "No matter who wins, what will not change is the capitalist organization of the U.S. economy." (Wolff, 18:41)

b. Theatrical Politics and Supreme Court as Example

• The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett is cited as political theater; opposition was "pro forma."
• Quote: "Because in the end, Amy Coney Barrett is just another justice for whom capitalism is the beginning and the end. ... That's what both parties want." (Wolff, 20:48)

c. Chronic Instability and Crisis

• The fundamental instability of capitalism (recurrent crises every 4–7 years) persists without acknowledgment or preparation from either party.
• Quote: "If you live with a roommate as unstable as capitalism you would have moved out long ago." (Wolff, 28:55)

d. Unraveling the New Deal

• The New Deal’s key supports (Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, public jobs programs) are being eroded by bipartisan policy, not protected or expanded.
• Quote: "You just roll back the New Deal more slowly and pretty soon there'll be no New Deal left to roll back any further." (Wolff, 35:38)
• Neither party considers tried-and-tested solutions from the 1930s, such as public jobs programs.

e. Lack of Political Choice

• Political "choice" in the U.S. is limited to two virtually indistinguishable parties when it comes to core economic issues.
• Alternative parties are sidelined or persecuted.
• Quote: "We don't allow two companies to monopolize an industry without raising a question. But we allow the two parties to manipulate and monopolize from here to tomorrow. You don't have any choice." (Wolff, 39:35)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On government support of failing capitalism:
  "The federal government is not an intrusion. The federal government is the only thing that keeps private capitalism from a complete bust." (Wolff, 07:35)

• On the bipartisan maintenance of inequality:
  "We with our taxes are funding the government that is making all that possible... That money is helping to sustain the ... policies that make the United States even more unequal than it was before these twin crises hit." (Wolff, 10:06)

• On the illusory nature of American choice:
  "When it comes to politics, two is the magic number in our society. Only two. ... We don't want choice, apparently not in the unimportant thing like politics." (Wolff, 37:45)

• On enduring political denial:
  "The most profound reality ... is that the system we have, which is performing so badly for such a vast majority of the people, gets 100% pass. There's no critique of capitalism in the airing of the political party debates. ... That's called denial folks." (Wolff, 42:00)

Segment Timestamps

• [00:10] — Introduction, context on timing of recording
• [00:50] — Corporate mergers and crisis: Dunkin–Inspire Brands deal
• [03:00] — "Capitalism on life support": Federal Reserve, Treasury, zombie corporations
• [12:00] — The coming eviction tsunami; housing inequality; Matthew Desmond recommendation
• [18:00] — Second half: "No Matter Who Wins"—systemic continuity explained
  • [18:41] — Structure of U.S. capitalism, both parties complicit
  • [20:48] — Supreme Court and political theater
  • [24:00] — Instability: history of recession & crisis cycles
  • [31:00] — Undoing the New Deal, lack of new public jobs programs
  • [36:00] — The narrowing of political choice; two-party system monopoly
  • [41:00] — Closing reflections

Summary

Richard D. Wolff’s episode "No Matter Who Wins" delivers a sweeping—often scathing—critique of the American economic and political system, arguing that neither election outcome will challenge the core features of U.S. capitalism or bring meaningful choice and stability to the majority of Americans. Both parties are portrayed as protectors of a system marred by instability, inequality, and a lack of genuine democracy, with government interventions serving to preserve a deeply flawed status quo. Wolff calls for awareness of this denial and the need to imagine real alternatives.