Welcome friends to another edition of economic update a weekly program devoted
to the economic dimensions of our lives jobs incomes debts our own those of our
kids. I'm your host Richard Wolff I've been a
professor of economics all my adult life and I hope that that has prepared me
well to offer you these insights into what's been going on in our economy over
the last week or two I begin with a story horrible story in a way about the
arrest and charging of five doctors in New York City for taking kickbacks from
the producer of a medication that they were paid to prescribe rather more than
they might otherwise have done the reason this gets a lot of attention is
because the medication in question is fentanyl one of the most dangerous of
the opioids that are currently accounting for overdose deaths in the
many tens of thousands across the United States each year Arizona based iNSYS
therapeutics is the company and it markets something called subsys a spray
form of the opioid fentanyl effectively what the New York Times reported last
week was that the company paid doctor's quote speaking fees they called them a
sham the New York Times did speaking fees which went up and were granted in
proportion to the number of prescriptions that the doctors wrote of
course this is what you get with profit-making companies in the medicine
business in order to make profit the company needs to sell as much medicine
as possible since this is a prescription medicine it means that has to get the
doctors to write the prescriptions so suddenly doctors are
whisked off to lovely resorts where they can speak to one another all of this
being paid for with or without fees by a company that makes it clear to the
doctors what all of this is for this is normal in the medical business which it
is a business and happens with lots of medications all the time but when you're
dealing with a killer of the sort of fentanyl you can get in trouble and
that's what happened imagine with me as we think about this what it would be if
we made medications medicines not for profit that is we didn't have them be a
business driven by the notion let's make more money which is the guiding notion
of capitalist business we might then have medications produced by
organizations that had on them doctors and medical professionals on the one
hand and the consuming public that takes the medications on the other and that
together they would make a decision about what medicines to use what
medicines to prescribe based on the science and the need without the
intrusion of the profit and let me drive the point home because medicine
companies like to justify the enormous profits they earn even enormous in
relationship to other capitalist businesses they justify it often by
saying well we have to charge these high prices and make these big profits in
order to pay for the research that produces medicines well two things one
often that we search is to be blunt bogus it's not research on a new
medicine it's often research on how you can make a medicine different enough
from an existing powerhouse drug so that you can get a patent for it it's a
little bit different and yet you can sell it as a competitor this isn't
developing a new medicine this is developing a profit-making
strategy calling that research and development is an attempt to fool the
public into thinking they have to pay these wild prices for medications in
order to get medicines produced would be a far better and cheaper over
arrangement to let universities and research outfits have government or
other kinds of funding to produce new medications for those diseases we need
most rather than letting the profit motive dictate it's a wonderful example
of what the costs of capitalism are my next update has to do with a little
statistic between 2009 and 2016 roughly the presidency of Obama the federal
government's deficits fell straight line down across those years this is sort of
interesting because Democrats are usually accused of being budget-busting
deficit creators whereas Obama wasn't it's doubly interesting because Obama
was president a president at a time of enormous economic stress when you would
think the government tries to help out and might legitimately be thought to run
a deficit but instead Obama's government ran fewer and fewer deficits next point
with mr. Trump the deficits are going back up and they are predicted to go
sharply up over the next several years what's the significance of declining
deficits with a Democrat and rising deficits with a Republican well if you
read the mass media you'd get the idea oh isn't it odd that the one party
that's normally against deficits is now running them and the party that normally
says it's okay is now cutting them that would be to make a big mistake that kind
of analysis because what it does is it takes seriously the debate about more or
less deficits the reasons the Republicans can smoothly and easily
shift from one position to another and likewise the Democrat
is because it doesn't really matter all that much that's not what these policies
are about and that's not what these political parties are doing what the job
of both parties is is to manage capitalism to make it run as smoothly as
possible the difference between the Republicans and Democrats is the
Republicans want to run it boldface idli for the people who run the society the
richest the most secure and they really pander to them the Democrats pander to
the same folks but they know the system is more secure if those at the top share
at least a little with the rest of the population to avoid the whole game
coming to a screeching halt neither of them deals with the
capitalist system other than to support it to encourage it to preserve it and to
keep it going which is why we don't have any solution
to the problems of capitalism the fundamental instability of the system
it's cycles it's bouncing up and down such as it did so catastrophically in
2008 and likewise we have no resolution to the problem of the growing inequality
that capitalism breeds of course both the Republicans and Democrats say they
are for stability and they are for less inequality but because they don't deal
with the system they both preside over worsening situations in both areas so
let's not worry about the details of up-and-down deficits we have bigger fish
to fry and bigger problems to solve my next update has to do with what happens
if you leave the control of harm caused by capitalist enterprises to them to
solve if you ask them to police themselves to curb their excesses to
prevent the harm here's what you get ingenious solutions and quotation marks
that have the peculiar problem of saving the profits of the company
and not doing all that well on solving the problem
I'm gonna give you the starkest example cigarettes I'm assuming you all know as
the world does that here in the United States we went through years and years
of litigation and programs that demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt
that tobacco companies knew that their product was dangerous causing lung
cancer and so on and fizzy m'a knew it produced it anyway advertised it anyway
and that the only way to deal with it was to really come down hard on them
punish them find them enormous amounts of money require them to put warning
labels on cigarette packs not advertise not be near a school you get the idea
and the companies were told you should deal with this problem on top of it but
a large amount of discretion was left in those company's hands so guess what a
recent article in the British newspaper The Guardian shows that around the world
not in the United States and not in the number of the countries that have done
like the United States come down on the cigarette companies where they're in
danger of being exposed for what I'm about to tell you but in countries where
the government is weaker where there hasn't been that kind of campaign there
is massive marketing of cigarettes especially to children and that's what
the Guardian went around the world to document and did a really fine piece of
work this last week here are some of the things the cigarette companies have done
and here for example is where their research and development is focused
massive ads and store placements where children shop in or near candy stores in
its extraordinary the research there's a vast program of marketing single
cigarettes because children don't have enough money to buy a pack so it's a big
expansion of the sale of cigarettes by the individual piece
one that caught me unawares colorful branding cigarette papers in various
colors mimicking children themes and here's the one that really knocked me
multi-flavored cigarettes that's right cigarettes that have been infused with
chocolate and strawberry and vanilla every one of the major cigarette
companies talks about their commitment for children and not advertising to them
but the reality exposed by the Guardian shows that if you leave the solution of
the harm done by capitalist enterprises to them they will avoid dealing with the
problem while they protect their profits let me give you a second example also
drawn from the cigarette industry one of those things it touts as its great step
forward was the development of e-cigarettes or vapor or vaping
cigarettes but a recent study released this last week at the Dartmouth College
Norton cottons Cancer Center shows that the number of people weaned off of
cigarettes and shifting to the vaping cigarettes is much much smaller than the
number particularly of young people who are hooked onto cigarette smoking by
smoking those cigarettes those vapor cigarettes the evidence suggests that
the vapor cigarettes are less dangerous for you that's a good step but of course
by hooking large numbers of people on the e-cigarette you continue to sell
that back oh which is what the company makes its money on what a bizarre notion
leaving the control of the harm done by profit-making capitalists in their hands
to solve. Before moving on to the other updates for today, I want to remind you
we maintain two websites. They are available 24/7, no charge whatsoever. We
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patreon.com/economicupdate, for the TV version. Let me repeat those
two websites in case you didn't note them down: rdwolff with two Fs dot com,
and democracyatwork.info. Our next economic update has to do with a huge
case coming up before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this has
to do with the decision of the Federal Communications Commission to abolish net
neutrality the requirement that the internet make available at the same rate
to everybody the service the access to the internet that we all now require and
use on a daily basis this decision if you like to get rid of net neutrality
has produced a tremendous battle between two groups of capitalists those who
stand to make money by being able to charge if that neutrality is indeed
affirmed as God no longer there that would mean that the court says that what
the FCC did is legal they can do that they can get rid of the neutrality vs
companies that are gonna lose money let me give you an idea of the people who
are pushing to get rid of net neutrality because
they want to charge and guess who they want to charge you and me here they are
just a partial list ATT Verizon t-mobile Sprint okay
Comcast charter Cox and Altice these are the internet providers that are in the
association's putting pushing to get rid of net neutrality on the other side
pushing to keep it so that we can't be charged this money are the attorneys
general of 22 states in the United States but notice that's a minority of
the states in this country and a variety of consumer advocacy groups and a few
big tech companies that understand like Amazon Google Facebook Netflix and
others that making it more expensive for us to get at the internet will mean we
lose it and use it less but here's what I want to drive home here we are the
public for whom these institutions supposedly exist the internet so we can
communicate with one another better so that we can find out about important
issues better we are going to be faced with fees that are going to be fought
out between two groups of contesting capitalists makes you wonder who runs
this system the people the vast majority who need it to work for them or the very
small number of people who profit off of how the system works well the question
answers itself capitalism is a system in which profit-making enterprises are the
dominant group for the rest of us we live with the consequences while we are
excluded from participating in any meaningful way on the one hand huge
corporations with vast resources to throw into this on the other hand
consumer advocacy groups who go around having bake sales to
collect a very small amount of money which can't compete since it's all going
to be decided by one warring group of companies on one hand and another
warring on the other extraordinary way to organize an economy don't you think
next I want to turn to Germany for our update the German city of Essen, E-S-S-E-N, Essen
got into the news last week when a local food bank which serves 6,000 people per
week in this modest sized German city this food bank distributes leftover or
discarded food from restaurants and grocery stores it made the decision and
that's why they got the publicity to stop giving food to non German citizens
in other words your need didn't determine whether you got food your
nationality did whoa what do you say about that not exactly your Christian
values you might think but we'll put that one aside one critic of this
decision Sahra wagenknecht of the Left Party in
Germany asked quote in a country as rich as Germany are we arguing about who gets
leftover groceries and the answer is yes exactly that's what you're arguing over
and why is this happening because they've been cuts in all kinds of social
supports social services welfare programs and why is that happening in
the rich country of Germany well the answer is the same as why it's happening
in the rich countries of Scandinavia of France of Italy and for that matter
Britain the United States and so on here's the basic story capitalism has
abandoned those countries there's more profit to be made by producing in China
and India and Brazil where wages are much lower and so the capitalists have
picked up and gone over there and that means they're in
in the United States or Britain or France or Germany is much reduced if
they're gonna have to pay taxes they're gonna pay them in the countries which
are on the uptick where they're making more money where they see growth they
don't want to pay taxes in the country from which they are departing so they
don't pay taxes and they join movements and they pay for movements to cut back
on taxes so governments don't have enough money and so the good people of
Essen Germany have to exclude starving people who don't have a German
citizenship nothing was more hypocrisy a hypocrisy or more hypocritical I should
say then a Chancellor Merkel in Germany who said quote it wasn't good
to make that decision but she said the situation highlighted quote the pressure
that nonprofits are facing let's be honest which she isn't the pressure is
as capitalism moves East paying lower wages brings much more wealth to the
people who own those businesses who remain Americans British Germans and so
on they're making more profits because they're paying lower wages in China than
they used to pay in Germany they don't want to give up any of the extra wages
to deal with the consequences of moving so they're gonna take it out on the
poorest of the poor shifting the burden of capitalism's new direction by making
those at the bottom pick up the cost my next economic update also highlights
something that we've talked about on this program before it has to do with an
element and economics element of the struggle between Donald Trump on the one
hand and stormy Daniels on the other for those of you not familiar with stormy
Daniels I'm not going to discuss that since I can't imagine there are too many
of you who don't know what I'm talking about
stormy Daniels signed an agreement apparently with agents of mr. Trump
including his personal lawyer not to discuss the details of a love affair she
says she had with the president some years ago
over the last week or two mr. Trump has interned decided to sue Stormy Daniels
for 20 counts of damaging him by breaching such a nondisclosure agreement
the press picked up that the tactic here is a familiar one in American law
somebody Sue's you whether you're guilty or not to be determined but the way you
defeat them is by countersuing because then there are two kinds of
cases and the winner tends to be the one who can afford the best and the largest
law firm to do the work to win the case in other words it ceases being about
facts and justice and becomes about who's got more money a porn actress
stormy Daniels or the President of the United States you guess the outcome it's
a kind of a reminder of what the OJ Simpson case kind of showed us too
money plays an inordinate a role if you allow a capitalist system to produce
gross inequality it's naive to imagine that that inequality will not find its
way into the legal system and make the outcomes reflect the money and not the
justice of what's going on according to the Guardian newspaper particularly of
March 16th there's a new law in the United Kingdom in Britain that mandates
the reporting of the pay that is given to men versus women and two different
layers of the society particularly top executives we don't have that law in the
United States at least not yet and the results are
really interesting and I wanted to present them to you first for Great
Britain and these are the numbers for the Year 2015 and 2016 so it's very
recent listen to these numbers as to the gender difference in those years 618
thousand men in Britain earned over a hundred and forty thousand dollars a
year let me do that again six roughly six hundred thousand men earned over a
hundred and forty thousand how many women earned over a hundred and forty
thousand a hundred and seventy nine thousand do you understand
three times the number of men earn those high salaries than the number of women
let's go even higher how many men and women in England earned over 1 million
pounds that's the British currency per year that would be over 1.4 million
dollars a year 17,000 men in Britain earned that much 2000 women do in other
words all the discussion of gender equalization all the discussion of
ending gender and sex discrimination has not gone very far in capitalist Britain
and sadly this is all too typical I'm bringing you the British numbers not
because they're worse than anybody else or better but because they're typical
and we know them other countries we don't have them quite
yet on average women in Britain get 25% a quarter less than men finally on this
same point the Guardian did a calculation based as best it could on
the available statistics on how men and women do when it comes to sharing or
facing let's call it their income situations the United States ranks 13th
in other words there are 12 other countries where the ratio of men and
women is closer to equal than the United States Britain is slightly worse than
the United States but roughly the same I thought you might be interested in the
12 countries that do better that pay women closer to what they pay men less
inequality here's the list of those 12 countries starting in the most equal and
then down getting closer to the US here we go
Iceland Norway Sweden New Zealand Slovenia Denmark Finland Canada
Luxembourg Switzerland Poland and Belgium all pay people more equally for
their work we've come to the end of the first half of economic update please
stay with us for the important and interesting interview that is to follow
and please remember that after a short break we will be right back.
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