Ask Prof Wolff

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I have a question regarding Robots and AI. What happens to using the workplace instead of the state when there are no jobs for 80 percent of the people, no place to organize or combine? Without the state as the primary control of a situation, when there are no jobs for most people... where do we go?"

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "The strategy of d@w regarding changing society is, as far as I understand, to build a movement bottom up from cooperatives to network of cooperatives. I live in France and there was an important person, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who favored that approach. He was in strong opposition to Marx's more aggressive approach and had some influence in the ideas of the participants in the adventure of the french commune. It would be interesting to know what your opinion/idea is regarding his philosophy. I mention this because a french left intellectual called Michel Onfray (he is quite popular) is for Proudhon's bottom up approach and strongly against a centrist approach through the state (Melanchon and the rest of the so called left). Onfray mentioned the workers co-op LIP which seems to have been killed by both left and right. He says that the co-op approach of LIP is strongly in sync with Proudhon."

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "The Australian people have just voted to remove the authoritarian conservative government, which recorded its worst election result in 70 years. The Greens (our main left-of-centre option in Aus) recorded it's highest vote in its 30-year history and will hold the balance of power in the Senate. With the combined third-party vote now roughly equal to either major party, many are now realizing for the first time that there is an alternative to the two-party elite consensus. For many young people this is the first win for the left they have ever experienced and their energy this week is inspiring. I do fear, however, that the elite backlash (particularly given our right-wing media bias) will be severe over the next three years. Many of us here would greatly appreciate your advice on how a movement can withstand that push-back and continue to offer optimism."

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I see so many young people that are highly qualified and educated and hard working yet they struggle to find work in their respective fields. Could there be a greater underlying economic or systemic issue behind all this and if so, what are some good solutions?"

A Supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "In co-op format, the people who run the business naturally have different skills and contributions to their organization so there would be expectation that each person to be compensated based on his/her work value. How is this issue handled?"

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Dear Professor Wolff, can you speak about the advisability of cutting gas taxes in Indiana to alleviate the effects of inflation?"

A Supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "The concept of the productive worker being both employer and employee in all areas is brilliant and necessary to overcome the injustice of the potentially dangerous and egregious financial disparity between that of the upper earning and the lower earning citizens. However, not all such businesses will succeed. How is this scenario resolved?"

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Can you talk about the economics of planned parenthood and abortion? (http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/DonohueLevittTheImpactOfLegalized2001.pdf)"

A Supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "Is there anything the Biden administration can do to decrease the rate of inflation significantly, even though it is worldwide? Is there any approach to price controls that could really work?"

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "How rigged is the stock market against working people? How does the stock market create more inequality?"

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "Do you think that it might be worthwhile disambiguating the differences (and general confusion) among assets, capital, and capitalism as defined by Thomas Picketty in 'Capitalism in the 21st Century' vs Marx?"