Articles
Whose Recovery? What Double Dip?
The graph shows that what "recovered" were corporate profits that had fallen from the crisis's beginning in late 2007 until they hit bottom late in 2008. After that, corporate profits "recovered" and rose to mid-2010 lifting the stock market with them. After the EPI graph ends around April 2010, this recovery of corporate profits and stock prices stalled and now threatens to turn down again.
Housing Crisis, System Failure
This capitalist crisis resembles a certain kind of serious disease. Different symptoms keep flaring up at different locations. It began with sub-prime mortgages in residential housing. Then, sequential flare-ups hit the private banking system, forced millions out of their jobs and homes, drastically cut world trade, and undermined the public services and national debts of several European countries. Meanwhile, another symptom festered in the credit freeze crippling so much private borrowing.
Report On Jobs
Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 131,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. Federal government employment fell, as 143,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment edged up by 71,000. US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, August 6, 2010.
Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson: Europe Under the Crunch on Grit TV
Published on July 31, 2010VIDEO
We've heard plenty about the recession in the U.S., but what about the rest of the world? Countries across Europe have faced budget crunches and conservative governments are using the crisis as an excuse to roll back the social safety net that most have enjoyed for decades.
Interview with Richard Wolff: The United States and the Global Capitalist Crisis
Interview done by Ian J. Seda-Irizarry, graduate student and instructor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Originally published in the Puerto Rican weekly newspaper Claridad (July 29th- August 4th, 2010).
Ian Seda (IS): Many economists are claiming that the “Great Recession” is finally over given a rebound in GDP growth in the US. What is your take on these types of analyzes?
Critique of 'Financial Reform' Bill and of Republican Opposition
President Barack Obama had harsh words for "unscrupulous" lenders and others he said had taken risks that endangered the economy. He says that the newly signed bill was aimed at curbing abuses and excesses on Wall Street and stopping taxpayer bailouts of failing companies. Richard Wolff says that the reform doesn't do anything and this is nothing but theatre for the public which is unfortunate because nothing will have been learned.
Russia Today - TV
Law and Disorder Radio Show
From Law and Disorder: "We are very pleased to have with us Professor Rick Wolff to update us on where we’re in this ongoing global capitalist crisis. Austerity has appeared in the titles of many recent articles on the global capitalist crisis. What is it? Rick Wolff writes in his article titled Austerity: Why and for Whom? the efforts to broaden the recovery beyond one year have failed and that failure has cost Washington trillions in borrowed funds from lenders. Those lenders now demand guarantees that those loans will be repaid to them with interest.
Economic Recovery for the Few
Where is this elusive recovery? The banks, some say, have "recovered." Yet they remain dependent on Washington, they do not make the loans needed for a general recovery, and many medium and small banks keep collapsing. The stock market shows no recovery. The Dow index was 14,000 in late 2007 when capitalism hit the fan, and it is around 10,000 now. The Nasdaq market index was 2800 then and is 2300 now. Everywhere else -- unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, depressed housing market, and so on -- no recovery in sight.
Talk Radio on KBOO Community Radio Interview
Host Per Fagereng interviews Professor Wolff, author of the book "Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It." He recently wrote the piece "Austerity: Why and for Whom?"
The Regulation and Reform Dilemma
With financial reform now newly passed, politicians who supported it go into overdrive to exaggerate its likely effects. Their cultivated enthusiasms culminate in the same promises made by every president and congressperson after similar reforms were enacted in the wake of earlier capitalist crises. “This reform,” they all insist, “will prevent crises in the future.” That promise has been broken every time as our current global capitalist crisis proves yet again.
