Economic Update: Review of 2024: The U.S. Economy Not So Great

[EU S15 E1] Review of 2024: The U.S. Economy Not So Great

In this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the "catalog" of 2024's economic problem areas: (1) Slow growth relative to China/BRICS; (2) the war in Ukraine; (3) the crises in Gaza and the greater Middle East; (4) Biden & Trump tariffs policy; (5) scapegoating immigrants; (6) corporations disinterest in climate change and DEI initiatives; (7) rising U.S. labor militancy and public support,' (8) rise of violence; (9) social security benefit increases' failure keep up with inflation.

In conclusion: American economic strengths are legacies of the United States' economic past. Now its problems take center stage.

If you haven't already, please subscribe to our channel, follow us on social media and of course be sure to sign up on our website:

As always, we thank you for your attention, support, and solidarity.

Or you can go to our website:

Every donation counts and helps us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else.

[AdamGreene]

The normal state of the U.S. economy is actually very bad. Because of this it goes into convulsive spasms fighting to grow any way it can out of desperation. Tricks, gimmicks, rule changes try to stimulate the economy and prevent it from falling but they only bring temporary relief to people since, when you factor in inflation we are declining.

[justinsullivan]

If you're in the 1%, the year has been great. For the rest of us, it's abysmal.

[kelvinthehuman]

Thank you, Dr. Wolff, from being such a brilliant and clear speaker who always stands for the best interest not only of the humble and hard-working American people, but of the whole world. Dominicans thank you warmly in the Dominican Republic.

[fenixrising]

I work 60 hours/week and I'm barely affording the lowest rent in my town. I'm one car problem away from homelessness.
The peasants are coming with their pitchforks.

[luizamorim]

Listening to Prof Wolff's analysis is a breath of fresh air among so much rubbish thrown at us by the corporate media! Long live Prof Wolff❤

[marieberberich]

I was just on another website where people were spewing the mantra about "working hard"and that the U.S. was on its way back up." There was a time in my life, in the 1990's, where I waa working 3 jobs simultaneously. I worked for GE Capital when Jack Welch was running the show. It was an hour commute each way. I was being paid $7.50/hour. I put in a 40 hour workweek, 10 hour days. That freed up other days for other work. On the days I wasn't at GE, I worked as a medical transcriber at a medical practice. There, I was paid $6.50/hour. Then, at 3am, I went out to deliver newspapers. Bad weather, snow, it didn't matter. Sick, didn't matter.

No one can say I wasn't working hard. But all my hard work, in the end, didn't matter. I left GE. They moved operations to Ohio and asked me to come but I didn't want to leave New York State, where I had always lived. I went on to work in a larger medical practice in radiology and from there to pathology. I began to lose hours. No one wanted full timers. Too expensive. In the end, it turned out that medical practices were just waiting for technology to progress to the point where the doc could talk directly to the computer. They didn't need live operators. Fact is, it is always important to have another set of eyes and ears. But practices no longer wanted to pay. (Oddly, Japan always paid their transcribers well and had doctors available to answer quedtions. In the U.S. we were viewed as mere clerks and not the highly skilled people we actually were; they did not want to pay us what we were worth.)

From there they switched their attention, their relentless quest for ever increasing productivity, to the doctors. They installed in their homes radiology dictation software. Give the doc time to get home and they will have them up dictating the rest of the night. Now I was pretty close with many of the docs I transcribed for. We were a team. They told me what was going on. In the end, many retired early. No one signs up to be abused by an employer.

Then, of course, there are hospitals. One bright light who did a masters in economics decided that patients, nurses and doctors were all units of production. No longer human, or barely hanging on to their humanity.

In the 1970's, you never heard of "working hard" the way you do now. It was assumed you would always do your best. But now, it is as if you have to justify your existence. More and more is required. I am also now hearing that hospitals expect all their medical professionals to keep up with ever increasing patient loads with decreased staff. Hospitals learned during the pandemic that more productivity could be wrenched out of nurses, M.D.'s, nurses aides going forward. I had gone to nursing school, graduated cum laude with a bachelor's in nursing but was never able to fimd work because I was too old. (This a result of a Supreme Court decision that placed proof of age discrimination on the plaintiff - something I didn't know at the time.) I had gone to a private Catholic college. They never told me no one would hire me because I wasn't 20. (Seems that the Catholics can lie faster than a horse can trot, when it suits them.) The mantra was always there was a nursing shortage. They wanted my tuition money, which was $33, 000.

Nowadays, you don't hear about nursing shortages anymore; that is because hospitals are permanently understaffed because that is the way CEOs want it. This is why you are always told to bring a family member to advocate for you. Because they don't have sufficient staff, with sufficient time, to do it themselves. Problem with non-professional advocates is that they don't know what to look out for - leaving everyone at risk.

[jillfryer]

Prof Wolff has just done the best quickest (5 minutes?) objective summary of links of crime, criminality and the economics of our little west world I've heard. Its encouraging to see a lifetime of someone's work continue getting sharper and clearer. Till one fine day everyone will get it.

[austinbar]

America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In December alone, credit card debt went up 36% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun..

[davidluckens]

Thanks, Prof Wolff-Happy, healthy,and prosperous new year to you, your family, friends and colleagues, straight ahead.

[adnaancassiem]

Just loves how this man puts things into perspective and I am from South Africa.

[shellih]

Successful economies don't need tariffs and blockades.

[gwen]

I always appreciate how concise and simple you make your talking points. You're an excellent teacher and I hope more people see your work in the coming year

[DystopianDIY]

The cruel irony of the US economy’s race to the bottom is that the average worker has to go for the cheapest product because their real wages are so low. If more money was put into the hands of the common worker, they could go out and spend a bit more money for a superior product instead of pinching every penny.

However, since large corporations and hedge funds seem determined to keep the working class running on a perpetual treadmill of debt, subscriptions, and rent, we don’t have the surplus income to purchase superior products or reward genuine innovation.

These large corporations seem to forget that they cannot sell products to a broke population. They might try to hold their market share hostage with all sorts of anti-consumer practices, but if they bleed us completely dry, there won’t be a market at all.

[cesarnunez]

Thank you so much Professor for your help and your bright light instruction.

[Qettesh]

Thank you Dr Wolf for telling the truth. If only everyone who made policy agreed, oh what a country we could be!

[jessejames]

Thank you for your work 😊 you are very much appreciated. I learn from you what no one else seems to talk about and makes perfect economic sense. Why is everyone blind to this ?

[mollner]

Thanks and a Happy New Year from Vienna!

[David-icr]

Richard David Wolff (born April 1, 1942) is an American Marxian economist known for his work on economic methodology and class analysis. He is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs of the New School. Wolff has also taught economics at Yale University, City University of New York, University of Utah, University of Paris I (Sorbonne), and The Brecht Forum in New York City.

[conradwiebe]

Love that the intro is a sample from 'Moment Of Clarity'. It's very fitting for this channel.

[YorubaRemixed]

Great stuff from Richard Wolff. Alternative media is growing rapidly!