May 15 2012
Economist Richard Wolff Challenges Us to ‘Occupy the Economy’
Recent elections in Europe were widely seen as a referendum against austerity measures, which had been adopted by governments to quell the fiscal crisis. Greece, where mass protests propelled a number of parties to be represented in their Parliament, has yet to form a government. In fact, the on-going failure to form a government in Greece is being blamed for the Euro’s new low. In France, the newly elected Francois Hollande was formally named President in a ceremony today. Hollande is France’s first Socialist president in 17 years – he heads to Germany in his first act as President, to debate Chancellor Angela Merkel over using austerity as a way out of the financial crisis.
Just days after the elections in France and Greece on May 6th, acclaimed economist Richard Wolff addressed the Brecht Forum in New York, analyzing the European elections and their financial recession in the context of the US situation. Richard Wolff is a Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He has also taught at Yale and the University of Paris, and has recently begun hosting a weekly hour-long radio program Economic Update on WBAI, 99.5 FM.
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One Response to “Economist Richard Wolff Challenges Us to ‘Occupy the Economy’”
Yes, but more importantly, Richard Wolff’s latest educational and critical review of capitalism, “Can We Afford Capitalism” (on Link TV) is fabulous and incredibly valuable to all Americans who now really need to understand the ‘political economy’ — or as he might say the ‘economic politics’ that is killing us.
However, I would add for those willing to look even a level deeper, that capitalism is merely the latest vehicle, the last technique, the most modern lever through which Empire, and ’empire-thinking’ elites, have always controlled societies, countries, and now in this post-nation-state world, the entire globe.
Empire and ’empire-thinking’ elite need to be properly diagnosed as the hidden cancerous tumor, that is simply using the mechanism and system of ‘capitalism’ to parasitically control the world — whereas in the past Empires, and empire pretentious phonies and “quessers” (as Kurt Vonnegut called them) used earlier techniques like claiming to speak from gods, having the divine right of Kings, understanding nature, predicting the future, controlling bigger armies, and other elitist crap to control their earlier societies — now such dangerous fools have ‘capitalism’, and its money control over politics, to use as their sledge-hammer of Empire control.
Best luck and love to the “Occupy Empire” educational and revolutionary movement.
Liberty, democracy, equality, and justice
Over
Violent/Vichy
Empire,
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine