Don't Believe Everything You Read: Was the 2023 Economy Really As Wonderful As the Capitalists Say?
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the lies economists tell us—like the "soft landing" they're claiming the economy had in 2023, when workers nationwide are experiencing sky high prices and low wages. What lies will we need to look out for in 2024?
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Establishment economists are celebrating the so-called soft landing of the economy in |
| 0:06.7 | 2023 without a recession. |
| 0:09.2 | But for so many working people, the narrative that everyone is doing great is just a cruel joke |
| 0:14.5 | as it remains as hard as ever to make ends meet. |
| 0:18.4 | We need a new system. |
| 0:20.4 | We need a new society. We need a new society. |
| 0:22.3 | We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible |
| 0:25.2 | even a few weeks ago, |
| 0:26.6 | but is not only realizable, |
| 0:29.4 | but an imperative necessity. |
| 0:57.5 | Thank you. We're very excited to have Professor Richard Wolfe join us for a regular weekly segment where we discuss the biggest stories relating to the economy, the state of the working class, |
| 1:01.4 | and the crimes of big business. |
| 1:03.3 | I'm Walter Smolerick, filling in for Brian Becker. |
| 1:05.9 | The Socialist Program brings new content several days a week thanks to the support of our patrons |
| 1:09.7 | at patreon.com slash the Socialist Program. We appreciate all of your support and encourage you to become a patron today if you enjoy listening to the show. Richard Wolfe is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books. The latest being The Sickness is the System. When Capitalism fails to save us from |
| 1:28.4 | pandemics or itself, you can check out all of his work at R.D.Wolf.com. Well, Professor Wolf, |
| 1:36.8 | this is our first interview of the new year of 2024. Happy New Year to you. The mainstream economists, you know, all of the business press outlets, |
| 1:48.0 | Wall Street Journal, CNBC, they think it will be a very happy new year. |
| 1:52.4 | They're feeling very optimistic. |
| 1:54.1 | They're celebrating. |
| 1:55.5 | They're saying that, you know, essentially we dodged a bullet in 2023. |
| 1:58.9 | 2020 was an excellent year because there is no recession and, in fact, there was a soft landing. |
... |
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