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Capitalism Hits the Fan

A lecture by Richard Wolff  (Unabridged Version)

 

Transcript

 

I take it as my task this evening to try to present a sense of what is going on in the

American economy – and around the world – since the United States plays such an

enormous role in the world economy; to give you a sense of how we got into this

situation; and give you some help, I hope, in navigating where we go from here. And if

that suggests to you that you yourself are going to have to play some sort of role, then I

have gotten my thought across – since the people who are in charge are completely

without any idea of what to do, which if you pay attention, you will notice.

 

 

3 THINGS THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IS NOT

 

This is the most severe economic crisis of capitalism in my lifetime, which means, as I look

around the room, in yours as well. And it has to be understood and approached in that

framework if it’s going to be taken seriously and if people are going to have a reasonable

shot at coming out on the other end of this process in something less than a devastated

personal, social situation.

 

So let me start by suggesting to you some things that this economic crisis is not. It’s not a

financial crisis – not withstanding that that name is used all the time. To call it a financial

crisis limits it in ways that make no sense. As you will see, this crisis comes out of the

entire economic system we have here in the United States. It didn’t start with banking. It

didn’t stay in the realm of banking, and it will not be limited at any time and in any

significant way to the credit markets or to banking or insurance companies.

 

The second thing it isn’t is temporary, or fleeting, or short. That’s a wishful thinking, a little

bit like imagining the crisis is limited to finance is wishful thinking. Let me illustrate that

with two historical parallels to keep in mind. First, we had another great crisis back in the

1930s. Let’s remember what that was like, since the current one is rightfully being

compared to that one. That one blew, or exploded, in 1929. For the next 10 years, from

1929 to 1939, two presidents, Hoover and Roosevelt, tried a variety of monetary and fiscal

policies – many looking exactly like what you see today in Washington. And they didn’t

work. And for 10 years, we could not get out of that depression. And what finally lifted us

 

2

out was not some clever policy. It was a major change in the society called World War II.

And in case you think these kinds of long lasting recessions and depressions that are

immune to policy only happened long ago, let me give you another example. In 1989,

Japan, the second most important industrial country in the world, then and now, it

encountered a downturn. Severe. And here we are 18 years later, and the Japanese have

still not emerged from that depression, even though they tried every monetary and fiscal

policy in their repertoire, which includes everything that Mr. Paulson or Mr. Bernanke have

so far tried. So the notion that this is going to be a quickie, a short-lived one, a V-shaped

or a U-shaped turn, that’s all wishful thinking.

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http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=139