Weeks of highly publicized debates - some in Congress, more in the mass media - brought Republicans and Democrats to a budget deal. To maximize public attention, they threatened a possible government shutdown. Both parties said that large government deficits and accumulated debt were "serious problems." They agreed that solving them required only spending cuts, not revenue increases. In unison, they repeated, "we" must "learn to live within our means."

Objective economic analysis is difficult to come by in this heated political moment, with deep budget cuts that disproportionately affect the poor and working class while the top one percent of Americans continues to amass wealth at a record pace.

Professor Richard D. Wolff's academic work and public lectures warning of a crisis of capitalism preceded the current disaster. Wolff will discuss the fallout of the economic collapse and the ongoing struggle over who will bear the massive costs.

On Sunday, January 16th, 2011, Professor Wolff spoke at the Berkley Hillside Club. These four parts of the talk begin with a short introduction and end with a question and answer session that took place at the event.

Appeared in the Guardian "Comment is Free" on March 28th, 2011

When the current economic crisis hit, the Obama campaign blew away Bush and McCain by promising hope, change and a solution that would overcome this crisis and prevent future crises. Likewise, some governments in Europe came to power based on public fear reacting to the global meltdown. Ongoing crisis, mass economic pain and deepening public anger keep shifting political winds.