713 - NO MORE BULLSHIT! (Economy Edition) feat. Richard Wolff (3/9/23)

ploob

Youth is wasted on the young

Ah you got me I’m a moron, maybe a smart guy like you could explain why inflation isnt as bad in america vs Europe, corporations less greedy here?

Steven Medge

This take looking real good now that statistics from Europe are coming out showing that roughly 50% of their inflation is from corporate profits 😅. Typical neoliberal economics brained people inadvertently propagating the ideology of the system they supposedly don't like because they think it makes them seem smart

ac1dP1nk

If you listened 18 mins in he talks about that. It serves everyone if they listen to an hour and 20 min discussion on a complex subject rather than commenting immediately after they come across something that wrinkles their nose.

ac1dP1nk

Strictly baller behaviour

Prick Commenter

Isn’t that the point? You have to guess at what he is saying and craft meaning that is not in any way there. Seems to prove the point of the quality of his intent and delivery. It sucks.

I think that you both might be oversimplifying the egg scenario, him maybe out of laziness, and you to win an argument. Maybe eggs was a poor example, as we all know that the avian flu has disrupted the supply chain, but what I took from his example was what I took from the entire "bullshit" yelling piece, and that was to question why these things are happening in the first place. Was the 52 million birds lost in this outbreak enough to justify the price of eggs rising by 137 percent? Were there egg producers that had flocks unaffected by the avian flu? Did they raise their prices? Do we accept that a system of 'supply and demand' is enough to justify these price increases, or do we start to entertain the idea that someone, somewhere is raising prices to profit? I guess I interpreted it as a way of saying "we look at this system from the viewpoint that these are unchangeable laws, like the laws of physics, when we should be looking at it from the viewpoint of a system governed by laws written by those that profit from those laws."

G Goldhar

the children yearn for the posting mines of fyad

Rohmer Simpson

Is there just a substantial share of Chapo listeners who are simply never fucking happy with anything? Good grief you don’t have to suck this guy off but maybe entertain the thought that Wolff offers a valuable alternative to the brainless noise that makes up the majority of media/political discourse on economic. Plus he’s funny. What do you want for your 35 cents, live forever?

etienne

still not listening to this episode because I think it's way funnier to read the comments without context. I hope he actually did say that, that would be an incredibly funny thing to think

Rohmer Simpson

I’ve listened to this 3 times just because of the way this guy says “BULLSHIT”

Fitz Weiss

The 70s saw a lot of inflation. Nixon didn't "stop it" in 1971. Not even close.

Sure thing - my biggest issues are with his understanding of inflation and that he shares the foreign policy takes of John mearsheimer. On inflation, Wolff characterizes it purely as businesses gouging customers for no real reason - i think he made a joke about the egg market being tight. The thing is that literally happened - avian flu killed a ton of chickens and fucked the supply of eggs. Wolff completely ignores the impact of exogenous shocks on inflation, saying something about purchasing managers getting fired if they can’t keep prices down - but there’s not much a purchasing manager can do to prevent gas prices from skyrocketing due to Russia invading Ukraine, not much they can do when a shortage of garage doors makes it impossible to complete new housing. There are definitely cases where firms are using inflation as an excuse to gouge people, but it’s not everything. Wolff is correct to point out that raising rates is a cruel attempt to fix inflation by feeding poor people into the meat grinder, but price controls won’t fix underlying supply chain bottlenecks. The answer probably lies in more state investment in critical industries. As for the foreign policy takes - something’s gone wrong when you end up on the side of psycho Cold War realists like maersheimer. The realists try to balance the interests of “great powers,” which amounts to staying out of conflicts that are outside of a power’s sphere of influence. Back when Kissinger advocated for this worldview, actual marxists criticized it for being a dressed up justification for regional powers to do imperialism, which is exactly what we’re seeing now. Realism is great if you’re considered a great power, but if you’re a smaller power you can end up in a spot where the world sits around and watches while an invading power levels cities and slaughters civilians unhindered. Insane that a lot of tankies are aligning with the hard right out of a reflexive “US bad” sentiment

Khemith

Links for the people you mentioned we should listen to?

Gis

Why is this behind the paywall? It should be free.

Could you elaborate on what facts/history Wolff is wrong about?

Darbi Simmons

I love this man. I want him saying bullshit to be my ringtone for work calls

ex-cantaloupe

Shut the fuck up

Riverbank Frank

Totally. Wolff has a knack for cutting through the bullshit, and they covered a lot of ground that I'd love to share with some bullshit vulnerable peers.

You’re paying for chapo too you fucking moron you’re the exact same

Hampus Bystrom

Fuck off nerd

If you’re impressed by Wolff I can guarantee you’re a college sophomore at most

Justin Mills Webb

Damn, I bet you look like the comic book guy typing this.

Next time can you bring on someone who is competent? like veb or pearkes or someone who cares about getting basic facts right about history or economics

John Griffiths

I'd just like to add I think there would be some real value in unlocking this one so people can share it.

Reece Coren

please unlock!!!!

Free the Wolffe!!! Bunch of champagne socialists.

Tanya Finder

I really think this one should be unlocked

Alex

I appreciated Wolff defining inflation and deflation as simply the price movements they are. Our media has a tendency to make simple concepts complicated in order to distract and fill space.

Unlock this episode!