extraordinary interview with Richard Wolff on Democracy Now! this morning....

[mike_c]

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/28/richard_wolff_debt_showdown_is_political

JUAN GONZALEZ: And one issue that you raised, in terms of how the corporations and bank profits have recovered tremendously, but— and many of these companies are sitting on huge piles of cash, that rather than invest in new machinery or bring in new workers, they’re just sitting on their money, and presumably investing it, because they’re not going to put it in at the bank rates or CD rates, so they’re obviously investing the money that they have, rather than create those jobs.

RICHARD WOLFF: Well, even more interesting, and maybe a bit of a shock to folks who don’t follow this, what the corporations are doing when they hold back the money— because it’s not profitable for them to hire— in large part, is they lend it to the United States government to fund these deficits. The United States government refuses to tax corporations and the rich. It then runs a deficit. It spends more than it takes in, because it’s not taxing them. And here comes the punchline. It then turns around to the people it didn’t tax—corporations and the rich—and borrows the money from them, paying them interest and paying them back. If the United States wanted to stimulate our economy in an effective way—

AMY GOODMAN: Pay even tax-deductible interest.

RICHARD WOLFF: Right, also. But if the government really wanted to do something, go get the money from them, stimulate, which will help them, and if you tax them to do it, you wouldn’t have a national debt. You wouldn’t run a deficit. We’re running a deficit because the people who run this society would like us to deal with our economic problems, not by taxing those who have it, the way we used to, but instead by endlessly borrowing (from) them. And now the ultimate irony, we’ve borrowed so much as a nation from the rich and the corporations, they now are not so sure they want to continue to lend to us, because we’re so deeply in debt. And they want us instead to go stick it to poor people and sick people instead. It’s an extraordinary moment in our history as a nation.

more@link

So if I have this straight, private capital has managed to make the rules such that it is no longer taxed to run the government, but rather it lends those same dollars to the government at interest, thus creating government debt while generating further profits for private capital, that in turn generate more debt, and so on until the government is compelled to tax the poor or cut services to the needy in order to pay for the profits made by the wealthy on this whole scheme. This is downright immoral!

[nashville_brook]

1. indeed it is an amazing interview!

this thing about private capital is staggering. i think amy goodman was impressed too. this is racketeering, basically.

[mike_c]

4. after the break she said they were getting LOTS of questions...

...coming in over twitter and FB. The previous guest, Roderick Harrison, had some amazing statistics about the widening wealth gap that is especially hitting minority communities. But Wolff's comments were shocking. Now I want his new book badly.

[NightWatcher]

2. thx, downloading the podcast now

[BNJMN]

3. His new book: 'Capitalism Hits the Fan' [nt]

[EFerrari]

11. I think you can find his presentation of that material on YouTube.

It's excellent.

[BNJMN]

13. Video link: 'Capitalism Hits the Fan A Marxian View'

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7382297202053077236

Another reason Massachusetts is calling to me as a place to move. I don't see the nation get any more unified as time goes on, sadly.

[suffragette]

5. Hmm, also in indicating they don't want lend at the moment

they work to create a false crisis and concurrently push to privatize (and thereby gain access to) programs such as Social Security.

[movonne]

6. this is a powerful video,,

[hifiguy]

7. Breathtaking. That explains a LOT of why this country is

in the mess it is in. These scumbags should be given the Mussolini treatment and their families should be sold into slavery in Dubai. :grr:

[KittyWampus]

8. Yes, and this is why so many DU'ers who declared the Govt won't be allowed to default are wrong.

[Starry Messenger]

9. And people wonder why some of us think regulating capitalism is a fool's errand.

Once we make some rules, the bastards just find a way around them. It's not just immoral, it's the only way the system has ever functioned.

[Wilms]

10. ^

[Wind Dancer]

12. Thanks for posting!

It's extremely depressing.

Recommended!

[HipChick]

14. K&R...everyone needs to see this..

[Raksha]

15. I just watched the video, and you definitely have it right:

"So if I have this straight, private capital has managed to make the rules such that it is no longer taxed to run the government, but rather it lends those same dollars to the government at interest, thus creating government debt while generating further profits for private capital, that in turn generate more debt, and so on until the government is compelled to tax the poor or cut services to the needy in order to pay for the profits made by the wealthy on this whole scheme. This is downright immoral!"

Immoral, and downright surrealistic that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. But as he says, the Left in this country is nonexistent for all practical purposes. I have a feeling that's going to change in the near future.

[Kaleko]

16. A lucid explanation for the financial scam perpetrated by gov in kahoots with corporations.

Makes complete sense.