Podcast

Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Democracy at Work, Richard D. Wolff

Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a weekly nationally syndicated program produced by Democracy at Work and hosted by Richard D. Wolff. The program explores complex economic issues and empowers listeners with information to analyze not only their own financial situation but the economy at large. Beyond focusing a critical eye on the economic dimensions of everyday life - wages, jobs, taxes, debts, interest rates, prices, and profits - the program also explores systemic solutions to our economy's problems including alternative ways to organize production and distribution of the goods and services we all depend on.

Episodes

Causes & Consequences of the Iran War

05 May 2026 · 29 min

The d@w Team Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a DemocracyatWork.info Inc. production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads and rely on viewer support to continue doing so. You can support our work by joining our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork Or you can go to our website: https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate Every donation counts and helps...
Marx's Relevance for Today

28 Apr 2026 · 31 min

In response to questions about Marx's relevance today, this program explains how Marx's criticism of capitalism was unique (more micro-focused than macro-focused analysis). It shows how Marx's critique of capitalism differs from his critique of slave and feudal class systems, on the one hand, and from post-capitalist ("socialist" or "communist") class systems, on the other. Marx's analysis is show...
Born Sick in the USA: Improving The Health of a Nation

21 Apr 2026 · 32 min

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on the 3 major teachers' unions struggling with the LA Unified School District, rising electricity costs in the U.S., and corrupt utility commissions, and on the extreme redistribution of wealth from the lower 99% to the richest 1% in the U.S. from 1990 to 2025. The second half of today's show features an interview with p...
Economic Implications of the U.S. War on Iran

14 Apr 2026 · 31 min

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the 3800 Colorado meatpackers on strike before diving into a presentation on how the war on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the production and transportation of oil and gas sufficiently to drive up oil and gas prices globally, while also raising the prices of fertilizer and plastic and, via rising diesel fuel price...
The Great U.S. Pension Crisis

07 Apr 2026 · 32 min

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff presents updates on European turmoil that include how the French municipal elections are revealing Macron's weaknesses, Germany's opposition of the war on Iran, the UK waffling on Iran and helping the U.S., and Europe's deepening subordination to the U.S. and China as economic giants in today's world economy—especially in advanced technolo...
Criticizing Pro-Capitalist Ideology

31 Mar 2026 · 31 min

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the flaws in the argument that profit is an appropriate, just return to the risk taken by a capitalist who invests. The critique focuses on (1) what it means that a capitalist can withhold means of production from production, and (2) how workers, their families, and communities also take risks in any productive enterprise yet get no profits,...
Economic Update: The Reality, Hype, and Danger of A.I.

24 Mar 2026 · 31 min

On this episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on job losses in February 2026 in the U.S. economy, how California unions are actively protecting immigrant workers from ICE, capitalist crashes and politics (1929 vs. today), and Europe's economic dead end. In the second half, Professor Wolff interviews journalist-critic (and Bernie Sanders' speechwriter) Richard RJ Eskow about...