The Costs of Capitalism's Crisis: Who Will Pay?

Economics Professor Richard Wolff details the problems of capitalism and urges our recognizing its obsolescence and replacing it with institutions that truly serve the people.
Talk at Church of All Souls in New York City, January 24, 2012.

Camera, audio: Joe Friendly

And now, a little surprise, my Plan for Peaceful Revolution.

Here's a New York City citizen's effort to put in clear and simple terms a next step for Occupy, a plan to achieve the fundamental changes we need to create a rational, moral order,

The People need to begin considering a peaceful revolution along these lines:
Whereas the US Government has become terminally corrupt with bribery ruling Washington, and in the service of the rich has turned against its people and in violation of treaties it has signed and in violation of international law has made war against and invaded so many countries, has shamed us before the world by engaging in torture, has taken steps like NDAA toward fascism, and our economic system is failing,

Therefore, the American people will ceremoniously withdraw their consent from the current government in Washington and instead give a new group of leaders their consent to conduct government after this group has launched national and local thinking sessions, on the internet, live-streaming from the job site and the neighborhood, what's wrong and how to make it right, to save the planet and promote planetary prosperity so humanity thrives, how to create a fair, just, wise, sustainable economic system that cherishes human dignity, fosters both community and individuality.

We recognize that commercialism/capitalism is a mentality so lacking in morality that it should no longer be the basis of our economic order. We give new meaning to money in our lives. We come to realize the need to rescue our culture from commercialism, that it is an irresponsible, pathological, degenerative force, that has degraded us, urged a preoccupation with appearances, a status system based on wealth and looks, not inner workings of mind and heart, failed to encourage and bring out the good in human nature, caring about people.

We face squarely the complicity of our commercial media in the corruption, how they have fooled us with lies and tricks, hid the truth from us. As a whole people we begin to wake up to a destructive US foreign policy, hearing from victims the sad and shameful truth about US wrongdoing country by country. The US has been a monster unto the world, not a force for freedom and democracy as it has claimed.

We the people must alas wake up and be a positive force in the world and restore good will!

Joe Friendly's currently Proposed Candidates for Government-in-waiting to conduct a national discussion about what's wrong and what The People can wisely choose as an alternative:

Mumia Abu-Jamal
Michael Albert
Michelle Alexander
Stanley Aronowitz
Ed Asner
Bob Avakian
Joan Baez
Ben Barber
Brian Becker
Harry Belefonte
Medea Benjamin
Phyllis Bennis
Danniel Berrigan
Frida Berrigan
William Blum
Heidi Boghosian
Robert Borosage
Roy Bourgeois
Robert Bowman
Barbara Boxer
Ellen H. Brown
John Burroughs
Jackie Cabasso
Noam Chomsky
Ward Churchill
Ramsey Clark
John Conyers
Angela Davis
Lamis Deek
Phil Donohue
Barbara Ehrenreich
Daniel Ellsberg
Herman Ferguson
Johanna Fernandez
Sara Flounders
Laura Flanders
Margaret Flowers
Jane Franklin
Joe Friendly
Bruce Gagnon
James K. Galbraith
Joseph Gerson
Danny Glover
Fred Goldstein
Amy Goodman
Juan Gonzalez
David Graeber
Mike Gravel
Glen Greenwald
Robert Greenwald
Michael Greger
David Ray Griffin
Deirdre Griswold
Teresa Gutierez
James Hansen
Thom Hartman
William Hartung
Tom Hayden
Chris Hedges
Doug Henwood
Sander Hicks
Jim Hightower
Larry Holmes
Connie Hogarth
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Max Keiser
Kathy Kelly
Robert Knight
Paul Krugman
Dennis Kucinich
Lyndon LaRouche
Barbara Lee
Brian Lehrer
Michael Lerner
Laurence Lessig
Leonard Lopate
Jeff Mackler
Ray McGovern
Bill McKibben
Mark Crispin Miller
Michael Moore
Monica Moorehead
Bill Moyers
Susan Metz
Ethan Nadelman
Jerrold Nadler
Rosie O'Donnell
Keith Olberman
Ed Ott
Michael Parenti
Christian Parenti
Robert Parry
Leonard Peltier
Sean Penn
Dan Perkins
John Perkins
Peter Phillips
William Rivers Pitt
Miles Rapoport
Michael Ratner
Robert Reich
Jeremy Rifkin
David Rovics
Bernie Sanders
Lydia Sargeant
Jeremy Scahill
Danny Schechter
Jonathan Schell
Pete Seeger
Assata Shakur
Charlie Sheen
Robert Scheer
Norman Siegel
Alice Slater
George Soros
Joseph Stiglitz
Brenda Stokely
Lisa Sullivan
David Swanson
Sunsara Taylor
Garry Trudeau
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Jesse Ventura
Dahlia Wasfi
Harvey Wasserman
Maxine Waters
Cora Weiss
Peter Weiss
Cornel West
Tim Wise
Sherry Wolf
Richard Wolff
Ann Wright

(I have not contacted these folks as of Feb 7, 2012)

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[noprofitmaximierung]

Worker Owned Enterprises. Communal ownership of the means of production, and workers' control over what to produce, how to produce, where to produce, and what to do with the profits. Communism.

[noprofitmaximierung]

@noprofitmaximierung Co-ops.

[SandCmpbll]

@witt19800 I know. But at least we saw it. I'm spreading the news.

[alauc]

1945. died faschism. 1989.socialism, 2012. will capitalism.

[kajmobile]

Capitalism should be replaced with DEMOCRACY

That means all business should be publicly financed and income is allocated according to a national plan where differences are limited to only what is necessary to get people to do hard work

Limiting inequality would enable us to pay every worker from $115,000 to $460,000 per year for working JUST 20 HOURS per week

It will make everyone wealthy and eliminate nearly every social problem we have

email me if u want more info and sources on this idea

[blortner]

@noprofitmaximierung Communism was given a bad name by the USSR, but if one claims to be Christian (and I don't) they ought to realize that Jesus was a pure communist/socialist.

[doglessliberal]

@noprofitmaximierung You're describing socialism, actually. Communism would be Marx's ideal classless, stateless society where there are no countries but only a global worldwide community. They're not the same thing.

[probrojeffro]

It's pretty simple. Competitive currency and local co-ops connected by a world wide web. Any monopoly, as you know, fails the majority. Only the govt. controls issuance of currency. As the Fed manipulates credit and the govt.'s tax and spend creates hyper-inflation we spin out of control. The current dominant money system is a debt-growth based system which will never be satisfied. We need a more people focused, people preserving system. Competitive currency eliminates unemployment & inflation.

[nashitf]

Divide the money taken from the 1% of the rich and divide it equally.

1- Abolish the rental system

2- agri-land be divided @12-15 acres of land

3- Industrial reforms by giving shares to the workers

4- Banking system reforms

5- A comparative payroll for all. The maximum Salary should not exceed double the amount of the lowest paid employee in any institution.

6- Free education and free health for all.

7- The corruption money be brought back and divide among the poor class

[truc111]

Economic empowerment to all who has access to capital and to the ones that labors to generate the profits.

[witt19800]

This video should have a million views.

[bangerrangtheband]

The IWW is a union on the forefront in this struggle for workplace and industrial democracy. It's not afraid to call out capitalism for what it is and to walk the walk. Fire your bosses! :)