AskProfWolff: A Socialist Response to COVID

A patron asks: "Richard, please explain how a Socialist economy would react to the COVID19 epidemic. The businesses would be shut down the same as they are now. Thanks for a great informational source."

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[thetombaxter]

Vietnam is reportily doing very well in dealing with COVID-19

[PoliticalEconomy]

The goal of capitalism is to find a need such as a "treatment" for Covid, and then price gouge the treatment for maximum profit like Martin Shkreli

[Guitarpima]

Slavery, feudalism, and capitalism. They are the same thing. The behaviors are the same, only the names have changed.

[jaredgreathouse]

If we're going to have a profit motive, they should always be divided up on a democratic basis, with the community in mind.

[hownow]

Thanks for your input Doc ! Greatly appreciated ... 👍🏻🇺🇸

[Vhbaske]

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need!

[petercua]

Democracy = profit/business
Socialism = people

[chrisculpepper]

Can you please discuss the petro-dollar, how critical you see the current situation and speculate what happens from here?

[evandrolima]

Human nature is the opposite of what these people think. Selfishness and greed is not exclusive to humans to call it human nature because I've seen animals behave like that. So it's animal nature, and we are animals with animal instincts. The reality is that environment shapes behavior. If you feed a lion, he can be your friend. So what is human nature? Human nature is when we feel our animal instincts, stop, think and act with logic. It's when we shape the environment to fit our needs and not be shaped by it. In the end, it was human nature that got us out of slavery, it was human nature that got us out of Feudalism, it was human nature that got us out of Monarchies, and it will be human nature that will get us out of Capitalism. It's our animal nature that is preventing us from doing it. And our animal instincts are shaped and explored by the capitalist jungle.

[proflaxis]

I'm hoping for a marxist revolution in the US.
Europe and Russia will follow. Then the rest of the world.
Then we can co-operate to prevent imminent extinction by global warming.
Also the UN can work towards eliminating 3rd world poverty.
If capitalism is not defeated then the human race will be.
The Wolff against Wall Street. What an inspiration.

[PoliticalEconomy]

Coops are motivated by profit and may or may not have any allegiance to stakeholders or the community especially if the culture and ideology is liberal. Most likely in a liberal environment there will be a race to the bottom and profits will still be the main driver. Cooperative capitalism is still capitalism. Democracy at work is NOT the same as economic democracy. Economic democracy is where the stakeholders and community have a democratic say over the cooperative. The ONLY way to have a socialist society is to change the ideology and culture of society and make most corporations state owned with democracy at work but subordinate to community and regional economic democracy.

[girasegina]

Capitalism in the US would defend itself at all costs, because it is so deeply rooted. Hats off to Prof. Wolff who fights in the frontline against such modern slavery.

[williamblack]

We should just say production for use.

[leobarnat]

Listening to prof Wolff a question emerged from my mind . The co-op socialist structure isn't similar like the cast social sistem that existed in India(and I presume in other countries as well)?, and isn't that leading to inequality? The old cast structure problem was that if someone was born in a lower cast he/she had no way out from it because as an individual he/she was bound to it, and the lower cast members where wiewed like second hand members. He had to do it whether he/she liked it or not. Isn't this a problem for co-op structure as well ? What does a co-op structure does differently?

[Domi_]

I would love to hear what the coops around the world have done. Maybe some of you know something about that, have links to articals and so on.

[jasonzh]

What Prof. said socialism is hard to implement here in the u.s. How to combine and/or balance between centralized and democracy system is no easy job, while China might be a referrable example though not perfect.

[ttystikkrocks]

This is all fine and dandy but there's a big catch; where do the workers get access to capital? How do the providers of that capital earn a return on it?

[tickle]

Thinking of Profits only: send these elements to Planet Jupiter or Planet Pluto to see how do they continue making profits.