Interview with Noted Economist, Richard Wolff: Part Three

Let us support that, let us support the enterprises that already exist in America as co-ops. There are thousands of them. Let us expand those not only for the sake of those businesses and the folks they serve, but in order to create a country with a real freedom of choice, so Americans can see in their neighbourhoods, cities and towns the difference between the old traditional capitalist enterprise and the new cooperative democratic enterprise. Let young people choose to work in one or the other. Let people talk about their different experiences and let there finally be a choice for which way we want America to go. If the capitalists and those who support capitalism are half as confident as they pretend to be, they should have nothing to fear from a real honest competition with an alternative system that has something to offer.

Before we finish, briefly talk about your Democracy at Work initiative, Professor Wolff. What is it about? And how can the youth get involved to help spread the word about this movement?

Well, I think that the best thing to do, is to go to the website we have been running for about a year. It is called demoracyatwork.info. There you will see what we are trying to build, which is a social movement in America for the conversion of businesses from a capitalist to a democratic form of organization where workers are interested in doing that; for the creation of new businesses from the get-go that will be organized in that way and for the expansion of the many businesses in America that are already organized in this way and have been for years. You can also sign up for a free newsletter to bring all this information to you every month.

We want to use this website to inform people about all of this, and give them detailed video, audio and written articles about all the questions they should have about this alternative to capitalism.

If you are interested in the theoretical economics that lies behind all of this, in the sense of the arguments for it [and] the economic history, readers can go to my website where all of my work is gathered at rdwolff.com.

Both of these websites are available to you 24 hours a day at absolutely no charge. I also have a weekly radio program that runs on Saturdays for an hour on WBAI.org in New York that is now carried on stations nationwide. [Konstantine’s note: It can also be easily accessed via rdwolff.com]. This coming weekend, [22^nd of March], I will be doing my second interview with Bill Moyers on national television; [this interview] is devoted to the kind of democratic cooperative enterprise that we have just been discussing. There you will find me responding to both Bill Moyers’ questions and to the questions posed by the millions of Americans who tune in to his program.

[This] is a growing movement in the United States and there are ways to find out about it. Two-thousand-and-twelve was declared by the United Nations to be “the year of the co-op,” so this is something that is happening on a global scale and represents a recognition that whatever you think about capitalism – its strengths, its weaknesses and its current crisis – there is no need to believe that it is the only way to go and there is good reason to believe that there are better options and they certainly should be explored at a time when capitalism can no longer claim to be ‘delivering the goods,’ because for most people right now, it is delivering the ‘bads.’

To listen to this interview in its entirety, please click here: https://mega.co.nz/#!G8RhGTLS!KBwpKD4mnCn3uxCXMiXUk2aUWVd0_9YN3YCll2ocOZo

Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York. With frequent co-author, Stephen Resnick, he has published many books and articles on economic theory, economic history, and alternative economic theories. Their latest is Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian and Marxian (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012). Wolff’s recent work (books, articles, speeches, and interviews) critically analyzes capitalism’s severe global crisis since 2007. That work and proposals for solutions are gathered at rdwolff.com and democracyatwork.info.

Konstantine Roccas is an observer of local and international affairs and governance, but also writes about anything else that piques his ire. He enjoys a half kilo of Greek yogurt daily. He writes for the Arbitrage Magazine. More of his work can be found at myriadtruths.blogspot.caand he can be followed on Twitter @KosteeRoccas.