Mar 31, 2026
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, thereby invalidating the justification of profit as a
reward for risk. In the second half, he shows that technical
innovations such as AI do not cause unemployment; rather, the
capitalist system does. An example is offered of how AI could be
installed to advantage every enterprise's majority—its
employees—rather than profit its employers (a minority in
enterprises).
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 us provide a larger audience with the information they need to better understand the events around the world they can't get anywhere else. We want to thank our devoted community of supporters who help make this show and others we produce possible each week. We kindly ask you to also support the work we do by encouraging others to subscribe to our YouTube channel and website: www.democracyatwork.info