Economic Update: Challenging Markets and Their Results (2016.10.27)

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1. Again, professor, again and again, there is no wage gap for equal work beyond a few percent that may well be attributable to men negotiating more aggressively for wages. Dr. Warren Farrell, 3 time board member of NOW, the National Organization of Women, has debunked the wage gap repeatedly over the last several decades. What you're doing (shocking for an economist) is comparing apples and oranges. Women even in 2016 are still on average not primary breadwinners. They have a bit more luxury in choosing the jobs they take. They will opt for more flexible hours, or shorter commutes, or job satisfaction over $$$. They go into less remunerative careers, and so on.
   
   You're using numbers that dump ALL jobs and ALL wages together. When you compare identical jobs women make very close to the same as men and in the youngest, unmarried cohort, women make $1.08 for every $1.00 men make, in part an overcorrection for a falsely perceived injustice.
   
   Young men aren't stupid, and they have the internet. They readily figure this out: Your endless repetition of this falsehood is of a kind with the things that drives them from the progressive movement with which they should be natural allies. They know they are not privileged. They know they fare worse than women in nearly every area, and when they hear you repeat this falsehood, it encourages them to go elsewhere.
   
   Please stop. Do your homework, learn the facts, and just stop. Keep in mind that for the uninitiated, getting something this obvious wrong casts everything else you say under a cloud. Thanks.
   
   [ downvoted in case it helps get your attention. You make a point of asking people to engage but, as here, when they do, there isn't much engagement from your end. ]
2. The debt based monetary system has been constantly forcing wealth upwards for 5000 years. It seems to always find a way to screw over the poor. I'm very interested in alternatives to money, Richard. Any suggestions?
3. Regarding Iceland - I saw a primary source (Icelandic striker) that
   clarified for Americans it wasn't about less pay for equal work, but in
   their situation was about how women are placed in lower paying positions
   than "man jobs".
4. Hearing the second half of your report was enlightening, as it truly describes how the marketing of medical care, has help keep the less economically advantaged in the U.S. under the shadow of lower life expectancies and poorer (perhaps more expensive) service provided when you need it. I only wish more Americans knew that it is the cost of healthcare in the U.S., that remains (after a century) the number one cause of personal bankruptcies.
5. The only problem in bulk purchases of vaccines is that they have a self life, so any large purchase in this case is to have them delivered fresh over time. Plus, they're used mostly on the small early pediatric population (in the case mentioned). Hopefully our birth rates will fall as most of our problems in the world are related to human overpopulation.
6. The UPS scenario would only work if the corporate lackey, bought-off politicians would agree with the workers.
   
   Stein/Baraka 2016!!!
7. Is it always right to intervene to save as many lives as possible? I am in no way suggesting that certain human beings have no right to life or proposing it in a deserving/undeserving manner, but what are the affects of the immediate intervening choices we make on actual human systems. The majority will survive but then you have millions of children and 80 nations with other enormous problems: food, education, opportunity, economic stability, political stability etc. It is a moral question that applies to all actual human systems. In other words, it is a philosophical question. Also, it touches on the ethical concerns science.
8. +Democracy at Work
   Dr Wolff, you know women in Iceland are not paid 18% less than men for the same work. There is an earning gap, not a wage gap and you are well aware! This program is supposed to about facts and when you are dishonest in order to placate to feminists, you will lose the trust of your base. If such a gap existed, mens unemployment would soar to 50%
9. Capitalism is not bad and socialism is not good... Find the system that works best in the given category or degree without demonization of the other.
10. Just subscribed to this channel. looking forward to learning more about our economy. Thanks.
11. I guess Richard Wolff didn't see the Vaxxed Documentary yet.
12. Fantastic episode. My favourite bit was material on mergers and the description of the paper by Blonigen/Pierce. I disagree with the UNICEF example. I believe that this is more the companies segmenting the market. Is the vaccine market competitive? Is there evidence of competition driving this price? Also the Harvard professor/ticket piece was a great example but the analysis was a bit unfocused. Are you comparing 'free' markets to other 'willing participant' distribution schemes? Are you comparing it to other distribution schemes? Why not explicitly construct an alternative model and describe how it would work to put the "wealthy get everything" model in full relief?
13. The revolution won't be televised. It will be podcasted.
14. the speaker is my age so must remember 'childhood' what shall we call it , shots
15. A little supplimentary information on the $2,500 ticket. Hamilton was produced by The Public Theatre, America's largest non-profit theatre, and was developed through years of subsidized work. Innovative work in the arts happens much the same way it does in other fields; theatre makers call it "workshops," the tech industry calls it "research and development" which is highly subsidized. That's why Hamilton is so much more substantial than what we are used to from corporate Broadway musicals. So the market really, really didn't help.
16. good video
17. You'd get more traffic, if you put links in the notes when you mentioned them in the podcast.
18. This depends on who's opinion on safety and efficacy of vaccination you rely upon. Maybe they don't die of tetanus or diphtheria, but in exchange for 15 points of IQ? Is that a good deal? If people were better educated they would know ascorbates against anything is a better bet. No health cost, health benefit, you have to buy it, or find the gut bacteria to manufacture it for you.
19. I never thought of prices as being a disguised form of rationing before, that is pretty insightful.
20. On the topic of unequal pay for women why don't we just call it what it is. Unequal pay for mothers.