Ask Prof Wolff: Capitalism and Racism
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- A patron of Economic Update asks: "Hi Professor Wolff, I was wondering if you could discuss the link between racism and capitalism in the United States and the historical context that is implicated in the racial economic disparities that exist today."
This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.
Submit your own question to be considered for a video response by Prof. Wolff on Patreon: / community .
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“A magnificent source of hope and insight.” Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist, academic, philosopher, politician, author of Talking to my daughter about the economy.
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Thank you prof. Wolff, for your service to the humanity.
Yeah without capitalism he wouldn't have a job as an economist and be living
a comfortable life complaining about it...similar to the race hustlers that have managed
to do the same thing.
@@jgalt308 idk why you're attributing his existence as an economist to capitalism and not just... society existing. lmfao. if we were a socialist society, do you think we wouldn't have economists? are you stupid?
Indeed, bravo!
@@FezzRosato Because taken in total, it's an accurate description, as is true of the "race hustlers"
and would also be true of any other economic ism, all of which arose together, and where
capitalism itself, actually arises as a definition, from its critic's, and they still get
it wrong.
However, I will actually await your historical list of economists dating as far
back as you can go...with bated breath. Take your time...
@@FezzRosato He's waiting with bated breath because he has baited you.
This is such a clear explanation! The shock absorbers.
That was the clincher...that line. Let's remember and repeat it.
Hey Guys, tomorrow is May 1st International Labor Day!
Hope everyone be happy!
Happy labor day everyone!
This year the holiday falls on a Saturday, which means here in the Czech Republic workers don't get an extra day off. The irony, huh?
@@pipster1891 Same in china. The government just moved the two weekend vacations together and added the May Fourth Youth Day to form a five-day vacation.
Actually there is zero day for May 1st.
A allusions to describe this trick of teasing monkeys since ancient times, 朝三暮四.
We have a weekend in Russia from May 1 to May 10
In 2012 I was part of a research team that analyzed reported incidences of racism (re housing, work, education, etc) in 21st century US vs 1960s US and guess what. No statistical difference was found between the two time periods. Of the four of us, two of my colleagues were sure we used the wrong test (to have arrived at this conclusion) and secretly these two went to the department chair to plead their case (for reassignment or a redo of the study). I think about this a lot. That two of four of us could not accept the truth re racism in this county, even when the evidence was presented to them in hard data, even when they had crunched the numbers themselves.
Yup there are rich blacks and poor blacks and one doesn't seem to have an effect on the other,
strange huh?
It boggles the mind how much effort people like libertarians put into ignoring the truth. It says a fair about about you though that you were able to accept the data you discovered. Thank you.
@@jgalt308 No. No it doesn't but then again I'm not a moron.
@@dinnerwithfranklin2451 Really??? You are a master of the non sequitur desperately
seeking to employ "labels" as a form of argument...while never actually managing
to make one.
One would think that the point made would be worthy of exploration as well as the fact
that race had nothing to do with the fact that all the "African slaves" were transported to
the coast and sold by other Africans of the same race.
Or that the history of humans exploiting other humans is the history of civilization
itself...when there were in fact no racial or ethnic differences involved.
This would seem to suggest that the cause of this is something that is more basic
and general in humans, and that other factors are simply an extension of
the means by which control was established in the first place...as well as the consideration
of why anyone would possibly seek such control in the first place?
It seems rather foolish to me, to pretend that "humans" are not naturally predisposed to
this behavior, when all the evidence points to the fact that they are...and that one has to
adapt to the conditions that exist...so that neither denial of this 'reality" or wishing it
weren't so...will actually produce a solution to it.
This sounds really interesting. Was the study published? Can you share if so? Thanks!
Interesting I must say. I'm looking at racism from a totally different standpoint. You taught me something prof.wolff racism is dealing with money and power
Medicare for all is the working arm of black lives matter, best regards
Read "Capitalism & Slavery" by Eric Williams.
On point, as always, Prof. Wolff! You're a much needed voice of reason in these uncertain times we're living. I always look forward to watching your videos and responses.
Meesa like teacher Proffesor Wolff.
Capitalism needs victims .. FOREVER.
No wonder why there is always a war going on somewhere
I'm doing a final project for class on Bacon's Rebellion and the laws put into place afterwards really play into these ideas. Once someone told me that racism was a "natural response" to the other and there was no point in trying to end it. But if you take the time to look it's really is all about ideology. Race and Racism is like a really crappy game of make beleive that we've all been forced into playing because the people who made up the rules like the perks they gave themselves. We could literally stop at any time.
I never said that Racism was a natural response. I literally said that someone told me that but the real research shows that it's not. You are literally ranting at me for something I don't even believe in. Not only that, I'm literally a mixed ethnicity person. Both my parents are what you would consider different "races". Racism literally makes my own life worse off.
Yeah why would anyone ever want to be in control of anything that just makes absolutely no sense.
Clear, concise and understandable. Professor Wolff is not only a person of great knowledge, but a great communicator of it.
According to Blackrock "We want companies to demonstrate a robust approach to Human capital Management"
Although slavery existed since ancient times, the idea that slaves were subhuman was invented by U.S. newspapers in the mid-19th century for its King Cotton sponsors. And they also labeled the indigenous peoples this way. The U.S./ created racism.
Aren't the big sudent loans like a form of indentured servitude pressing down on minorities and Caucasians alike? Thanks, Dr Richard Wolff for your informative program.
It is worse for blacks because often they are enticed into attending institutions for which they are unprepared for because of the rigor. They end up dropping and need to pay offs loans without the degree.
Aren't the high tuition costs like a form of indentured servitude pressing down on minorities and Caucasians alike?
@@jgalt308 Agreed, tuition should be lowered. Maybe with all these virtual classes pioneered during the pandemic kids could just do their education online through five or so national institutions. Then we’d need far fewer professors.
@@katy9860 This has been possible for awhile now...but you would need to ensure
access to everyone...which would mean controlling the infrastructure of the internet
itself as a public utility...and then one would need to address the goals and methods of
education, itself...which has always been misdirected to a certain extent and certainly
not directed at serving the interests and talents of individual students an directing
them accordingly.
@@katy9860 actually not a bad idea, as a college student here in Canada the pandemic made me realize how much of the education I pay is an ineffective waste of time and money. Yes ensuring quality education is important, but if it means everyone can afford an degree instead of only a wealthy minority then I think its worth.
Prof. Wolff, you give me courage and compassion.
There is no such thing as a non-racist system or institution. I don't say that because all systems are racist, but because all people are prejudiced...and they're the problem, NOT the systems. What I'm really saying, is that there is no such thing, and can never be such a thing, as a system that cannot and will not be exploited by some at the expense of others. Those flaws can be considerably better mitigated than they currently are anywhere in the world today, and they can definitely be better dealt with when they inevitably still occur, but they cannot ever be eliminated. And that's because people will always find a way to abuse any given system or institution. Period.
.
That doesn't mean we don't do anything about it...it just means we need to focus on the real problem, which is the public, not the institutions. And, like it or not, no matter out unequal things are, the hyper-wealthy and the politicians are as much humans as any other schmuck on the street. It's not to say that they're just like us, because obviously they've got all the good cards. No, what I'm saying is, EVERYONE, in their positions, will transform into THEM.
.
Humans are the problem, not systems. And there's no such thing as a "non-prejudiced" human. It's physiologically built into the human brain. We're built to prejudge things, to have expectations, to have preconceptions that push us toward or away from certain conditions or scenarios. It's one of the "shortcuts" our brain takes to save processing power, much like with how eliminates whatever it considers "irrelevant" sensory input and fills in the resulting gaps with memories of whatever fits the apparent pattern it identifies. And all of this happens entirely subconsciously, and you cannot ever stop it or change it. Not without major surgery and/or genetic modification, anyway.
.
Think of it this way...do you fully read every single book in a bookstore when you go shopping for one? No, you don't. You don't even look at the cover of every book when you go shopping for one. You eliminate whole mountain ranges of books simply by sole virtue of their genre or topic, or their authors. Hell, sometimes you exclude them based solely on price, or on not wanting to walk to the back of the store. And humans do that with absolutely every aspect of their lives, in every moment of their lives. And you can't ever change that...for two reasons.
1) Logically, because you'd never be doing anything otherwise because you'd always have to be treating everything with perfectly equal priority and potential (meaning you'd die of starvation/dehydration...or worse). You'd still fail in your endeavor because you could never accomplish the task even in a million human lifetimes.
2) Biologically, because you don't actually have any control at all over the way your brain does things. A lot of morons like to claim the "mind over matter" thing, never realizing that the "mind" is a strictly emergent phenomena resulting from the operation of the brain, and that the brain exclusively and completely controls everything about the mind, not the other way around. You do not "inhabit" your brain or body...you are not a passenger, outsider, or a "luminous being". "You" are strictly a byproduct of your brain and body. You ARE your brain and body. "You" and "it" are not disparate things.
.
Thankfully, if you learn to understand that in its most fundamental sense, and accept it, and train yourself to be aware of it and how it impacts your perception and choices, you can start to deal with things in a more practical way, and get real results. But until then, everything you all hate about society...will just keep happening...even if you "change" it. It'll just go back to this crap, or worse, because you never understood what was really wrong. You got too fixated on the symptoms of the disease, rather than on the disease itself...prioritizing the sniffles caused by the virus, over the virus itself. All the changes that all of you have proposed? It's just cough syrup. It all only alleviates symptoms, and only temporarily. Even worker co-ops.
Thank you so much for keep educating the humanity.
Thank you Professor! Great explanation!
Well said and explained, Professor! Thank you!!!
Thank you Prof. Wolf for your honest and insightful commentary.
WOW! Devastatingly TRUE!
Thanks for sharing your wisdom👍✅
Thank you very much Prof Wolff!
I’m so grateful for you professor!
This guy does a good job explaining stuff. I'm surprised big business hasn't set up a rebuttal youtube channel. As far as the current topic, the argument I've heard for companies hiring lower cost labor in other countries, women or minorities is that they are offering an "opportunity" to these folks that heretofore did not exist, Supposedly, as time goes by the labor rates will equalize. (I don't quite believe it.)
You also have forgotten prison labor
Beautiful! I saw the application of this in a lecture offered by professor Michael Sandel in moral and political philosophy at the Harvard University CZcams channel. He used the Civil War conscription dilemma.
👽♥️♥️♥️
“Pump the brakes on wage inflation”
One of my favorite quotes from the Citi-Bank memo, circa 2004
pump your shotguns, boys. they're after your beer money.
Excellent analysis.
For a sustainable capitalistic society, it must ensure a continuous flow and creation of an underclass of labor force which provides servitude to the upper class of the capital masters. The concept is traceable to the ancient times of the slave society and caste society, although today we don't call it as such.
Stratification of the capital society can be stereotyped from wealth, profession, education, cultural, religion and racial identities, People have lived thousands of years like this regardless of the man made law. However the laws of equality have created an oxymoron of what we say versus what we practice.
Today's America, like many white occupied countries, is facing a quagmire in the age of globalization. Many whites found themselves drifted into the world of underclass. The birth right superiority based on race is no longer a given. The situation is accentuated by the rise of the East headed by China. In a way, the confrontation against China can be viewed as a struggle of the West to retain the white paradigm. No doubt, the international struggle will trickle down to internal struggles within the society.
Capitalism requires the society to maintain and to replenish a caste of underclass. Who will they be? On the other hand, when the number of underclass becomes so large, it can be destabilizing, especially many must feel even more oppressed that their rights should have been born with and given..
HAPPY MAY DAY WORKERS OF THE WORLD!
Always interesting thank you. Keep up the good work.
I appreciate what you say. I would add that over and over, Black workers were brought in as scabs in American Labor history. It was to the interests of capitalists to play up racism, so that workers would not unite against the bosses. It must also be said that most unions accepted racism ans did not stand up for their Black brethern. Jobs were limited under capitalism. Strikes were usually lost. So, perhaps, they had to. Capitalism thus alienated one race against the other.
But Socialism (our alternative) provides jobs for all, so that races are brought together to construct a better society. And it worked out this way in USSR. Fault the USSR for purges and authoritarianism, but all the peoples of the USSR fought fascism (the heart and soul of racism).
In the US until the CIO in the 1930s, mainly only the IWW fought racism and was a union for all races So naturally, the Government under Wilson (a Democrat) had to suppress and destroy the IWW. The CIO did change the racism. But racism won out under FDR. He needed southern Democrat votes, so he refuses to back unions in the South. He sacrificed the Blacks for his purposes, mainly save capitalism from its own contradictions. Yes - DIVIDE AND CONQUER - the motto of the ruling class everywhere.
I would suggest a discussion of the guiding principles of the CIO. They organized auto-workers and steel-workers and rubber-workers, where the work-forces were already immigrated. Communists played a leading role. This was especially true for longshoremen, too, on West Coast.
Capitalism.and racism essentially work in tandem.
Capitalism doesn't need racism to exist but exists just fine with racism.
I honestly think automatization is something we on the left should use to our advantage.
Properly automatized industry, once you create a way of wealth redistribution that ensures no unemployed person will actually suffer due to their unemployment, will only take a burden off the shoulders of workers and increase the overall quality of life within the community.
It should, in theory, even make it easier to create said wealth redistribution, considering that you'd be massively increasing the amount of people benefitting from it.
The problem, obviously, is that capitalists abuse it for their gain; but that doesn't mean the instrument is a bad one. In a fair society, I think most jobs would preferrably be done by machines rather than workers - or at the very least those jobs that CAN be replaced by machines, as for some things you obviously need human input.
Automation does nothing but destroys jobs and leads to more unemployment, that’s not a solution to anything.
as long as labour is a commodity automation will be a threat to workers and not a boon which it is supposed to be.
Your idea is basically the marxist theory of emancipation. The ultimate liberation of human beings comes by freeing up people with less and less mandatory work to produce necessities the society needed through shared advanced means of production, the rest of the time should be used to develop more science and culture or personal interest, instead of generating profit for the capitalists.
A new thought on MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): "First there is a mountain of debt, then there's no interest, then there is". Paraphrasing Donovan's song "First There Is A Mountain" Low interest rates do not make debt disappear, "Growth" and "Low Interest Rates" are NOT eternal.
dial down the interest rate and then you can say social security will go bankrupt.
Well said, sir.
Thank you
Let us not omit the prison industrial complex in this conversation.
Absolutely but that's a production of the things he was talking about. We must understand the prison industrial complex but we also have to understand racial capitalism and imperialism to even come close to understanding the institutions in America which are all racist.
And my last question is this stimulus provided by the government what you have in mind when you say socialism?
Thx
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
I like Professor Wolff way of explaining what capitalism is all about. I would like to ask Professor why so many American capitalists went to China 30 plus years ago to manufacture things after China and the US established diplomatic relationship. Why did not they go to India to invest the same as they did in China when the Indians speak and use English as their common language and India is considered a democratic country like the US. Also the Indian laws are based on the British system transparent to the US investor compared to the Chinese laws that are unknown to the US investors. The Indian market is as large as the Chinese at that time and the Indians have lived under British culture for a long time and have helped the colonial master fighting in WW2 and in selling opium to China for profit. China during the Mao era was anti-USA imperialism and therefore not so friendly towards the US, and yet the American capitalists dare to spend money and invest in China. To me it is a mystery. Can Professor Wolff please enlighten me?
Truly Sir you are the epitome of a Humanist. I call it Humaniplanetary.
Dare I say it, Class struggle !! Even more true now than when it was first uttered.
@democracyatwrk the important question is whether racism has become its own thing that would still survive were capitalism to somehow end. I've heard white people who self describe as socialist say racist things. So racism might persist even if capitalism doesn't.
I have a couple questions
For racism to exist, you need at least 2 human races, but we are the sole surviving race. Unfounded discrimination on the basis of skin color and/or ethnicity, yes, that is abundant.
In Labor We Trust happy Labor Day
Equal distribution of poverty, or unequal distribution of wealth?
How awesome it was watching Professor Wolff wipe the floor with Destiny. I was getting mad at first felt like He was assaulting my Grandpa.
Wolff has touched on the basic economics , very funny to find China not only being exploited during the last few decades and now USA is biting the China hands that feed the elites or top guns !
It was nice.
I was so shocked he did that as it’s obvious destiny has bad faith and no interest in engaging with reality but then I realized He was doing a public service trying to reach destiny’s audience. He is doing everything he can to reach people with the truth.
@@lorettagreen6794 check out socialism 4 all .Dude has a great critique video on entire debate. It was good. Really good
correction :should read "there is still systemic discrimination in the United States ,but it is against the poor"
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The true answer is that there still is some systemic racism in the Unites States . But it is against the poor,not aganst the black race or any other race.
Hey, I know some great shock absorbers. The rich!
capitalism, bigotry, plutocracy and racism.
✊🚩 *MAY DAY* 🚩✊
International Workers Day.
*_"You must be aware that the reward for labour, and quantity of labour, are quite disparate things"._*
*-Karl Marx* _from_ *_"Theory of Surplus Value"._*
Wishes from the land where May Day is popular on a different count, though it was the same land (USA)workers achieved & commemorate on this day, their 8hours working day
👍💐
Yabut all Americans were the shock & awe absorbers
Respectfully - Professor Wolfe's approach shares a problematic starting point with Marx. Labor is assumed to be the basis, and the structure is framed as a division between the haves and have-nots. When examining capitalism from this perspective, it is understandable that Professor Wolfe concludes that race is merely one of the ways capitalism maximizes profits. However, I believe Professor Wolfe overlooks the significance of Primitive Accumulation (Marx) - following Marx he places it last in his explanation. In fact he does not even go there. Not even David Harvey's concept of accumulation by dispossession. By considering these factors, Professor Wolfe would arrive at an analysis that compels him to recognize race as a constitutive element of capitalism. In essence, capitalism relies on racism to exist. It is important not to limit this understanding to the relationship between Black and White individuals. Capitalism's origins lie in the expansion of accumulation, which begins with violence, slavery etc. Race is employed to justify violence, domination, and the process of accumulation, thereby making capitalism possible. Consequently, just like gender, race cannot be simply seen as victims of capitalism; rather, they are integral components that enable the functioning of capitalism as a system
As the economy digresses opportunists ratchet up their solicitations. The ethical tolerance drops and deceptions spread like a pandemic.
As customers, we become more suspicious about any offer no matter who makes them. How can institutions of the Government address these fundamental issues?
Why would you expect the "cause" of the problem to be the "solution" to it?
I think other countries which are predominantly capitalistic do not have the "shock absorber" class the Prof describes, simply because they don’t have the demographics for it. So, it seems unlikely to be a necessary aspect of capitalism. Still, the prof is tops - amazing ability to communicate complex political & historical issues to non-Harvard grads like me.
Tribe, religion, caste system. Same thing.
*Wtf is wrong with all of you. Go to Thomas Sowell*
How does an open border help socialism?
Women" forced" into the paid workforce is an interesting phrase. It suggests that for women jobs should be optional. So tell me, if a woman doesn't want to work who should support her financially?
Oh, and by the way the wage gap myth has been debunked repeatedly.
The raison d'etre of the science of economics is to help entrepreneurs and governments achieve maximum outputs with minimum inputs. The inputs of production are defined as land, labor and capital. Wolff claims to be an economist, but he's too dumb to recognize that the need of producers to minimize the cost of inputs directly translates into reducing the amount paid for labor, so he claims that need represents a 'sin' of capitalism. As ever, the guy lets his political ideology inform his economics.
I think Prof Wolff understands the inputs thing. With respect to costs, one thing he doesn't like is that "externalities" are left out of business economics. There is a social cost, for example, when companies dump their waste into streams that then must be cleaned up by the community. There's a social cost when companies decide to move operations overseas, leaving the local community with unemployment and economic decline. His contention is that worker cooperatives would not tend to make business decisions that harm the communities in which they live. In other words, the science of economics as currently practiced is flawed in its accounting of certain kinds of costs.
@@RussCR5187 Mostly valid, but also mostly beside the point. The less the entrepreneur has to pay for any and all of his inputs, the lower is our cost to buy the stuff, and the higher is our standard of living. Econ 101, basic principle.
Americans don't know their own history very well. I don't. If they did, they would realize that everything they know is wrong. How did the USA start? The original 13 colonies were not religious communes or vacation resorts. They were business ventures, each with a specific contract with the King. The first Europeans that came to occupy North America were not from the hungry, downtrodden masses. They were instead people with connections to the aristocracy, and low-ranking members of the aristocracy. So right from the beginning the wealthy had reasons to manage and manipulate the common folk in order to maintain the status quo, and it became ongoing right through the present day. Learning the true history of our country may be a shock, but it is only the first step in the process that leads to revolution and the replacement of capitalism with democratic socialism.
You Mean "SLAVERY" Way Before Immigration. NYC/#ADOS
Do you think that the natural environment, nature is an: ethical Capitalist?
Wow, the black race is the shock absorber for capitalism. Thanks prof for clarifying what capitalism does to the black race.
LOL
I wash my hands here like Pilatu of bible👏
Lol.
I couldn't understand how they're able to avoid Precalculus.
some scripture would have been swell. ty sir.
I see 27 racist capitalists found this video...lol
If Capitalism is so bad, why is it the only surviving system? If Socialism/Communism/Anarchism works, why don't we have more countries adopting those systems??
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Racism is not a term that really represents capitalism.It doesn't care about races,it doesn't care about skin colour,the only thing it cares about is the accumulation of capital and profits.If in the 700's african people had established modern and functional institutions,there would not exist any racial prejudice about afro people,european bourgeoisie would have simply exchanged commodities and services with those countries trying to maximise their profits and so would do the african bourgeoisie as well. Capitalism so is not racist,it is PREDATORY.It doesn't exploit people because of racism but because of political power,wherever there are masses of poor people that are exploitable,that lack of insitutions to defend themselves,there capital goes, plunders and subjugates.It is not a matter of race,it is a matter of CLASS and political power.
Yeah, why would anyone do that...seek to prepare for the downturns of "cycles"? Why
do bears hibernate, squirrels store nuts or bees make honey? What stupidity?
yes but socially speaking society's racism gives a massive target for the economic system to exploit a minority that will have less sympathy, less representation and less protection because of their race. So yes capitalism is indiscriminate in that it exploits the most vulnerable no matter what but minorities are made more vulnerable by way of social phenomenons like racism, homophobia, transphobia which allows them to be exploited more, therefore reducing it to only a class struggle is ignoring that capitalism will jump on any social injustice to further it's abuses.
I think racism is a TOOL used (to negative effect) by capitalists in order to overcome some of capitalism's weaknesses (e.g., wide swings in the business cycle) and to increase profits (e.g., ready pool of lower-wage workers). Racism is also useful to the politically powerful, who practice dog-whistle politics to nurture and maintain it. First, politicians need to curry favor with the racism-oriented capitalist donor class. Second, politicians tend to use the cultural conflicts of racism (among other topics) to divert attention away from their own lies, misdeeds, neglect, scandals, failures, and so on.
@@RussCR5187 I know what you mean but we must not be idiots who repeat slogans . Capitalism is a system constituted by economic categories (capital, commodity production,markets,wage labour,prices,etc),this system has its own dynamics that transcend every human prejudice racism included,profits doesn't care but of profits. Is not capitalism that is racist,are the politicians who use racism to divide the proletariat, it's the working aristocracy who is racist because it feels that immigrants put a pressure on their conditions, not capitalism that is a dynamic system of things and social relationships into motion.
@@umbertocantoro1786 I believe capitalism is a system consisting of the hardware (i.e., the basic economic categories you mentioned) PLUS a superimposed set of rules, policies, and procedures (i.e., the operating system, which evolves over time). The operating system can be designed to either suppress or encourage certain human traits by creating boundaries of behavior.
Let's take the human trait of greed. I believe the current operating system does not do a good enough job of keeping a check on human greed. This is evidenced, for example, by the huge income and wealth gaps we have today. In practical terms, I think of capitalism as coming in different flavors. The U.S. had a different flavor in the years after WW-2. There was no such income or wealth gap. In other words, the operating system determines HOW the system cares about the accumulation of capital and profits.
The difference in implementation flavors is primarily encapsulated in the operating system, which is to me an integral part of a capitalism you can actually talk about in meaningful terms. Therefore, from this point of view, capitalism can, but does not necessarily, transcend the human trait of greed.
If you pay lower wages to a black person, he'll get job skills and move on to a higher paying job. If you refuse to hire good workers who are black, your competition will and beat you. Successful racist businessman is an oxymoron.
Automation frees up labor to do other things. Should we still use ditch digging men rather than backhoes?
Incorrect and superficial analysis. What sort of job skills can you get on a semi skilled, dead end job, which even a robot can perform? You wrongly assume that being hired on a low wage will give your employer an incentive to train you with higher skills which you can then later use to get a better job. Maybe you may get additional skills ... but it may take you 10 or 20 years of slavery to get there. Normally when your employer obliges himself to train you to get higher skills, you no longer have a job... you're offered a career. Vast majority of low wage workers cannot even dream of a career. Any racist businessman can build a successful business if most of his customers or clients or staff on the shop floor are racists. Or if he services a community with strong racist prejudice. There is also a big difference between service jobs dealing directly with people, and working on production line where people contact is rare or very limited. Your argument only holds when a businessman needs to hire process workers.
@@justinalexich4111 These days a person who shows up consistently and is emotionally stable is fought over. Also, they aren't trained and promoted out of kindness, but because the higher responsibility is desperately needed. People these days are so dysfunctional that anyone of any race who shows up and acts normal will quickly be offered more responsibility and more money in a matter of months. He might choose not to take it, but it will be offered.
I'm a business owner. One thing I have learned is that market forces dictate my decisions, and if I were to try and favor one race or sex or sexual orientation or whatever, I'd have a very bad time.
Just from my perspective, affirmative action is totally unnecessary. Market forces are blind to everything but merit.
@@Rob1066- ...Prof Wolff and myself would strongly disagree with you that the so called "market forces" have anything to do with merit. In all Western countries it is NOT important "what you know" but "who you know". You know that already if you happen to be a small businessman. That is exactly what Prof Wolff had often said in his lectures and in his shows. The idea that "merit" determines what kind of job you get is a part of neoliberal ideology that they teach kids at school and colleges today in order to justify exploitation of various ethnic minorities. So called "responsibility" required of a job seeker is never clearly defined in practice. Responsibility only works one way. One is called "responsible" when a worker inspires trust in the eyes of his employer. Or when the same worker increases profit and earnings to his boss. Then someone is called "responsible" because a worker appears a useful servant to his capitalist master. Regardless of the working conditions and pay that he or she is forced to accept.
@@justinalexich4111 yeah it's funny what people who never left the ivory tower believe. It's not much to do with reality.
@@Rob1066-... Good!...since you know what "reality" is... why you even bother to watch Prof Wolff's shows?... Most people in business are like you... they are mentally lazy, they know all the answers, for them learning process is finished by the time they get out of their teens... and they love to live and work in their programmed bubble.
This literally never happens in the real world
You’re attributing a principle that existed long before the inception of the concept of capitalism to capitalism. Every society and economic system we have ever witnessed has prejudices, but by equating this to a perpetual economic state, YOU are contributing to it. Blacks are second class citizens? The longer people like you push this narrative, the longer people will continue to think they have no option but to be second class. Everyone has a chance in this system same as everyone else but you’re quite literally speaking the opposite into existence- we’re moving backwards. Perhaps you could present ANY statistics supporting your idea that blacks in America absorb the brunt of economic downturn under capitalism? You’re conflating so much together with race to create and build upon a fake issue and the racial divide in this country. I can’t even take your videos seriously anymore.
Benjamin Davis... You nailed it!
“Everyone has a chance in this system”
What makes you believe this? According to what study?
@@LyonHeart888 Then why are there rich successful blacks and by what means
did that achieve this result...and after having done so, why are the rest of their
race still poor...and this is also true for every other "race" here...
It would seem rather contradictory to cite something as the cause of one result,
yet ignore it altogether for the other.
This also applies to "capitalism" without making any attempt to distinguish the
various elements of it...to actually determine which if any, are things which are problematic
from those that are positive and actually beneficial.
One might compare such certainty regarding these questions as the equivalent of
someone armed with only a hammer, which makes every problem by necessity a nail.
As a line from "Absence of Malice" suggests..."You don't come by truth that easily. "
or another observation...that "It's not hard to do the right thing, it's hard to know what the right thing is."
But I guess most people can't be bothered to take the time or make the effort...
or it is simply inconvenient and will not produce the result they want or need to be true.
@@LyonHeart888 any citizen of the United States is able to achieve success in their own life. I’m not saying millionaire, but to live a moderately comfortable life and enjoy luxuries. There are so many ways to equip yourself with skills necessary to live in this way but people are either blissfully unaware of or completely unwilling to do them to be successful. The “I don’t even have a chance” mentality is very harmful to this because it automatically eliminates all of these viable options for people. You can take loans for trade school, attend community college, join the military temporarily to learn job skills, work an apprenticeship, or create your own business in a variety of fields. These are options people DO NOT have in most of the world- and that’s just some of them. Arguably minorities in this country have even greater access to some of these things because of the large number of equal opportunity scholarships and grants that are available to them.
Theres plenty of evidence and statistical support for racism against AA. You just cant accept the facts.
Anyone with a lick of sense can see how disingenuous the guy is. All grievance, no analysis, and completely devoid of solutions... except to send him money. I'd sooner contribute to a televangelist.
Why are you talking down to us? Talking slow.
This dude is a joke.
hahahahahaha Mr wolf your understanding of economics is terrible. More people have been pulled out of poverty and into middle classs because of capitalism. Socialism has caused the opposite. Can't have a middle class if everyone is collectivly poor and own nothing. Now you're thinking Mr wolff. Please migrate to to any socialist country and let me know how it goes. Just dying to see if you will put your money where your mouth is.
You are falling for the myth of infinite growth. The only reason why it seems like it works is because the waste and killing that happens in order to maintain it at the current rate is not happening in our back yard.
When it does we do hear about it but it is quickly forgotten.
I am not saying that living with less will be as fun but the current system is not sustainable and is quickly reaching its limits. The longer it goes without an adjustment the longer it will take to recover. That is if we have the resources that will be needed for a population that is growing exponentially.
touch grass
OMG you are SO brilliant!…..NOT
Your conscience is dirty and guilty