Capitalism Hits the Fan

I received an interesting promotion from the Media Education Foundation in this morning’s email for a DVD made by University of Massachusetts’ economics professor Richard Wolff, titled Capitalism Hits the Fan. The MEF website provides a brief video introduction to Professor Wolff’s DVD’d presentation, a full-length, but video-hampered preview, and the following written description:

With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today’s economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government “bailouts,” stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis, in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes. Richly illustrated with motion graphics, this is a superb introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand, and react to, the unraveling economic crisis.

It seems to me that educators might better introduce the study of economics to their students based on a timely and relevant presentation such as Wolff’s, than on a more abstract, textbook-101 introduction. By watching the full-length preview, I’ve gained an overarching view of how the American and other economies have stumbled into the unsustainable mess they’re in.

Main Street Recovery Program

OurFuture.org describes the Main Street Recovery Program document it produced (see below) in these terms:

The Obama administration has promised to boldly tackle today’s economic crisis. To help make that promise a reality, we present this Main Street Recovery Program, and call for independent support from economists, public officials and citizens everywhere who fight on behalf of the every day Americans suffering the worst of this crisis.

Progressive economists and organization leaders drafted this Main Street Recovery Program to meet urgent needs unaddressed by efforts to shore up Wall Street financial institutions. This program calls for a substantial, strategic, and sustained effort to not only address the impact the of current recession on the real economy but to reshape the economy for the 21st century.

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