Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Economic Update is a weekly nationally syndicated radio program produced by Democracy at Work and hosted by Richard D. Wolff. The program explores complex economic issues and empowers listeners with information to analyze their own financial situation as well as the economy at large. By focusing on the economic dimensions of everyday life - wages, jobs, taxes, debts, and profits - the program explores alternative ways to organize markets and government policies.

How the U.S. tax System Worsens Inequality 02/10/2026

Venezuela: Looking Deeper 02/03/2026

The Political Bias of Conventional Economics 01/28/2026

Nine Key Events in 2025 01/20/2026

Gentrification, Boston, and Racism 01/13/2026

The U.S. As A 'Traumatized' Society 01/06/2026

Globalization from Celebration to Condemnation 12/23/2025

Globalization from Celebration to Condemnation On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides an analysis of "globalization" as a fancy slogan to hide a profit-driven, profit-boosting period (1970-2015) that saw US capitalists move factories abroad. It destroyed so many well-paid factory jobs (especially of white, male Christians) that it produced massive suffering among the affected communities. As their rage built and both Republican and Democratic politicians turned a blind eye to their suffering, right-wing politicians saw an opportunity. Find a candidate really different from the old Republican and Democratic establishments - a Trump - and have him express the rage, anger, and bitterness of those who had lost the American Dream. Trump blamed globalization, foreigners in general, immigrants in particular, liberals, and Democrats: all lumped into "globalists," a term that changed from celebration to total evil. Conveniently for the leaders of major US corporations - the people who had actually made the decisions to move production abroad and profited from that escaped from Trump's blame. Now he promises to lead them to more profits by switching back to economic nationalism. But like globalization, it will prove profitable for the same corporations now as it did before. America First will hide the suffering it imposes every bit as much as globalization did. Capitalism is the problem. The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so. You can support our work by joining our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else. We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week. We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info /episode/index/show/economicupdate/id/39520445

Marx Was Right 12/16/2025

The U.S. Military's Role in Ecological Crisis 12/09/2025

American Style Fascism 09/30/2025

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) Rises 09/23/2025

The Fight Against Money Corrupting Politics 09/16/2025

An Argument for A New Labor Party 09/12/2025

An Argument for A New Labor Party The left-wing surge of the U.S. working class during the Great Depression of the 1930s compelled the Democratic Party to prioritize serving the working class more than it had before or would again. It was called the New Deal. In response, the US employer class, angry that taxes on corporations and the rich were used to fund government programs for the people, turned to the Republican Party after World War II ended in 1945 and directed it to roll back the New Deal, reducing or eliminating all it had accomplished. Because the New Deal made the great mistake of leaving profits in the hands of employers, the employers used those profits to provide Republicans with the means to defeat the Democrats and roll back the New Deal. In response, the Democrats sought funding, finding it in the hands of many donors who had supported the Republicans. For many years, the U.S. was led by one party or the other: the GOP rolled back the New Deal faster, while the Democrats did so more slowly—one ruling class, two parties to serve it. The 2008 Great Recession ended the cozy system, as both parties had to protect the privileges of the corporations and the rich, even as the US empire and economy declined. As the mass of people suffered and neither the GOP nor the Democrats stopped it, people became desperate and elected Trump out of rage and hysteria. He did not and will not solve the fundamental problems any more than his predecessors did. For that, a genuinely new and different political party is needed — one that puts the American Working People First, the American majority. The program concludes with suggestions on how such a new party could truly transform the country and address its most pressing problems. The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so. You can support our work by joining our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else. We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week. We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info /episode/index/show/economicupdate/id/38195470