Economic Update: DSA Revives Socialism in U.S. Politics

[0:20] Welcome friends to another edition of Economic Update, a weekly program devoted to the economic [0:27] dimensions of our lives and those of our children. I'm your host Richard Wolff. Before we get started [0:35] I wanted to thank all of you for being part of the Democracy at Work community and for supporting [0:40] the work that we do. It makes this show and all the activities we engage in possible each week. [0:47] If you haven't already please consider signing up for our weekly newsletter by going to our website [0:54] democracyatwork.info. You will receive weekly updates on the events and promotions and activities [1:03] we organize and run often to help reach as many people as possible. I also want to encourage each [1:11] of you to check out our Substack at democracyatwork.substack.com and there you'll find [1:18] other kinds of materials articles by the growing community of contributors to Democracy at Work [1:25] including myself and you won't find them anywhere else. Lastly I want to remind you that time is [1:32] running out to get a signed copy of my new book Understanding Capitalism with a personalized message [1:39] from me. This fundraising effort is coming to a close in the upcoming weeks to make room for a new book we [1:46] are publishing on the development of a uniquely American Marxism and my involvement in that effort [1:53] throughout my life. Our updates today will cover a number of topics particularly students in the United [2:04] States, unions in the United States, and a particularly troublesome activity of our government as though [2:11] we didn't already have enough of those. And then it is my pleasure to invite you to stay with us for the [2:19] second half when we will be interviewing political science professor Wilmer Leon talking about the [2:27] development and growth of socialism in America right now. Okay let's jump right in. The Trump administration [2:36] this last July issued new rules governing international students. They all add up to more evidence that we [2:47] are turning to an economic nationalism in the United States. Turning away from free trade, turning away from [2:56] free movement of people and capital across national boundaries, moving away from markets that were [3:04] actually in some sense free in order to control nearly everything. And the students are part of that [3:12] and they can teach us a lesson about it. First of all the Department of Homeland Security is cracking [3:19] down on students that stay in their view quote too long. Now the F and the J visa holders [3:28] get four years to stay here and other if they stay longer they have to get special approval and there's [3:36] a clear indication that the Department of Homeland Security won't give it or certainly won't give it [3:42] easily. Then there are President Trump's suggestions of a hundred thousand dollar fee for HB1 visa holders [3:52] plus the OPT programs. I won't go into the details. They don't matter. They are all programs for [3:58] international students and both of them Mr. Trump wants to hit with a hundred thousand dollar fee if [4:05] you want to stay in the United States after graduation. You can imagine who can afford and who can sustain [4:13] that kind of a cost. And I want you to understand why this is an economic issue. In many colleges across [4:21] America as much as 20 percent of the student body are foreign students and what you're doing here is [4:30] telling them they are not wanted, they are not appreciated, and they will not be tolerated. And [4:37] there's of course an important other issue here. Many of these visas were used by employers to get cheaper [4:45] later to basically replace a high-paid American worker with a cheap import and to make more profit as [4:53] a result. And there was no concern for the people who lost their jobs, American citizens who lost their [5:01] jobs by this ploy. Often made even worse by requiring the American to train the person coming in who will [5:12] then replace the American at a lower pay scale. The way to handle this is to say that can't happen. To [5:18] make that an illegal act. You can bring people in but you can't replace better paid Americans for hiring [5:27] them. There are 1.4 million students on student visas in this country. Not a small number. They are not [5:36] eligible for scholarships. So they are bringing money into the United States because their governments or their [5:43] parents are paying for it. This is an enormous turn against the rest of the world. Its impact will go [5:50] beyond the people who can't afford these fees. It's a message to the whole world. We're not a growing [5:57] economy anymore. We can't provide work for our people plus those who come for a better life. And so we're not [6:06] doing it anymore and we are shrinking while the rest of the world gains from all of whom the most [6:14] ambitious young people learning to be skilled workers. This is short-term wisdom and long-term [6:22] folly and we ought to think about it. But a government that wants to protect itself to the people as being [6:30] tough on foreigners you know like with the immigrants that's what this is about. Symbolism at a very high cost. [6:42] I want to turn next to a bizarre reality of the current government. According to a story last April and [6:50] April 15th of this year 2026 in the Wall Street Journal white-collar enforcement recedes under Trump. [7:00] I won't go into the details but the story is that enforcing white-collar crime that is enforcing the [7:12] prosecution of it has dropped like a stone in the last two or three years. No surprise there. But what [7:20] might be a little more surprising is that one kind of white-collar crime is being pursued. Whether it's [7:28] genuine crime or simply more of the same symbolism I'll leave to your judgment. But look who's getting [7:36] investigated and who's suffering investigation. Sean Fain the head of the largest union in the United [7:44] States or one of the largest the United Auto Workers. Famous for the successful strikes he led a couple of [7:51] years ago against the big three auto companies. Famous for his proposal that all unions arrange for their [8:00] current contracts to end on the 30th of April 2028 so that mayday of that year could be a general strike [8:10] of the labor movement which this country hasn't seen for many decades. He's being investigated. He's being [8:20] worked on by the Department of Justice. Here are some of the others that the Department of Justice [8:26] has singled out at a time when it is cutting back on white-collar crime. By the way that's a polite term [8:33] white-collar crime for the crime being done by businessmen and women in this country. Governor [8:40] Gavin Newsom of California, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Act Blue, a major Democratic Party fundraising [8:49] group. And so it looks like Sean Fain and the labor movement have come under the gun. But there's a second [8:56] reason why they have come under the gun since they haven't done much of anything and certainly not in [9:03] comparison to the kinds of crime white-collars have produced in this country for decades. Well known, [9:11] we make estimates. Sean Fain did the other things that caused him to be. On December 14th, two weeks [9:23] after the UAW released a statement in which it took a position calling for an end to the Israeli war [9:31] against Palestine, he got investigated even more intensely. Wow. He had interventions from the [9:40] government urging him not to do that. And then the UAW at his most recent convention took a position [9:49] being the first major union to divest itself from Israel bonds, not to buy bonds by lending money [9:58] to Israel. Wow. This is extraordinary and it gets him under the gun. Selective criminal enforcement is [10:11] what we got and we should all be aware of it. Mr. Fain's comments. I will read you his statement. [10:20] This is what happens when you go against corporate America and their allies and I'm not going to be [10:27] intimidated or harassed out of serving our membership. Okay. Pretty much a declaration of a war between the [10:37] people running this government and the people running the major unions of this country and that will have [10:44] big economic effects. The third economic update for this morning or today, excuse me, that we have time [10:54] for is taking us back to something I've commented on once before. This is the number of people sitting [11:05] in boats in the Caribbean or in the Pacific Ocean on its border with Latin America who have been [11:13] summarily executed by the United States military on order from Trump and Hegseth. The number of those [11:23] killed is now over 200. I had earlier reported to you when they were much fewer. These people are referred [11:34] to by Secretary Hegseth or President Trump or both of them as quote unquote narco terrorists and therefore [11:44] a part of the war on drugs. As you can see most of you my hair is white and you understand I've been around [11:53] a long time. The entirety of my life from my birth in Ohio many years ago I have heard about in school, [12:02] from the mass media, from my elected officials about the war on drugs. That war is as old as I am and I know [12:14] as a citizen of New York City that I can get the exact same drugs that were available 50, 70, 30, [12:26] and 20 years ago today. In other words, the war on drugs is a war that has been lost. But don't take my word [12:38] for it. We have a recent statement by the Drug Enforcement Agency. That's an agency led by Mr. Trump [12:46] as our president that says there's been no effect on cocaine imports into the United States despite [12:56] the summary execution of the people in those boats. So let me remind you what's at stake here. [13:04] 200 plus people killed. What's their crime? Well we don't know. They weren't given a lawyer, they didn't [13:12] appear in a court, they didn't confront their accusers, and they didn't get a jury and a judge to make a [13:18] decision. Had they gone through, had they been given those legal rights, we don't know whether they [13:26] would have been guilty or not. But you might want to think about the following fact. Had they been [13:33] given those rights, had they been found guilty, they would have been given a prison sentence. [13:39] Because drug running, drug dealing is not a capital crime in the United States. We don't kill people [13:47] for that. But our leaders kill people without a trial, without a jury. Why would you do that? [13:54] Before Mr. Trump we had a Coast Guard and a Navy that would board ships suspected of doing things [14:01] like that. They would then be brought to trial and if they were found guilty punished. Ratcheting it up [14:10] to what are called extrajudicial executions. No trial, no nothing. That's the behavior of people who want [14:20] to impress the whole world that they don't follow the rules. They don't need to. They don't have to be [14:28] obliged to follow even the laws of their own country that they are claiming to protect. It is a scandal [14:39] that should be recognized as such. We've come to the end of the first half of today's program. [14:46] Please stay with us. We have a really interesting interview with Dr. Wilmer Leon in the second half. [14:57] Before we jump into the second half of today's show, I wanted to thank you for your very generous [15:04] response to our fundraising efforts this year and in particular in the last couple of months. In part [15:13] responding to that we are extending the availability of our limited edition linen covered hardcover version [15:23] of Understanding Capitalism, the book I wrote and that we have been making available now for quite a [15:30] while. If you are interested, I will be signing copies of that hardcover and they will be available to [15:39] you as they have been over the last few weeks. Just simply send an email to us at info [15:49] at democracyatwork.info and put in the subject line limited edition. We will send you all the information [16:00] you need to order and receive your signed copy of Understanding Capitalism in its hardback. [16:10] And thank you again for your kind attention to the fundraising dimension of what we do. [16:17] Welcome back, friends, to the second half of today's Economic Update. I'm very happy to bring to [16:24] our microphones and our cameras Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III who hosts a remarkable podcast called Inside the [16:36] Issues with Wilmer Leon on Sirius XM Radio channel 126. He is a political scientist who concentrates on [16:47] black politics, American government, and public policy. For 11 years he taught political science at Howard [16:55] University in Washington, D.C. He teaches now at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. In [17:04] addition, Dr. Leon is a nationally broadcast radio talk show host who appears on news programs as a [17:13] commentator literally globally around the world. So first of all, welcome Dr. Leon to this program. [17:22] It's an honor. It's a pleasure. Thank you so much for the invitation. [17:26] All right. I want your wisdom and I think our audience will be very interested, as they already [17:32] are, in the phenomena of the DSA, of the Democratic Socialists of America. And let me ask you kind of [17:40] the big question right at the beginning. Do the recent victories, and I'm not here talking just about [17:47] Ocasio-Cortez and not even just about Zoran Mamdani in New York City, but the people that Mamdani [17:55] endorsed and Ocasio endorsed who are popping up all over the United States, does this represent a [18:03] significant change in your mind in American politics? That's a great question because I've heard [18:11] this issue framed in that manner on a number of programs. And I don't believe that the recent [18:17] victories of those who have aligned themselves with some of the principles of the Democratic Socialists [18:23] marks a significant change in U.S. politics. I believe the victories demonstrate what I believe [18:31] Otto von Bismarck called politics as the art of the possible. And this to me is what has so many [18:40] Democrats shaking in their boots. I think what now a lot of people are coming to understand is that [18:49] substantive change can actually happen, but we know what is the third law of motion to every action, [18:57] there is an equal and opposite reaction. And so there's a great pushback that I think we're [19:03] experiencing as it relates to the successes that we've seen in Washington, D.C., in New York, and in [19:11] Colorado. I mean, look at the issues that the Democratic Socialist candidates focused on. [19:18] Dissatisfaction with the status quo. Anger over the Israelis' treatment of the Palestinians. [19:27] Huge concerns about the growing affordability crisis. Very simple, what they call kitchen table issues, [19:35] which the Democratic Party has told us many times that they are standing behind and supporting, [19:42] but for some reason, substantive change has yet to be realized. So I think another element of this is [19:50] that the Democratic Socialists heavily have relied on grassroots fundraising using small dollar [19:58] amount contributions from a large number of constituents, along with public campaign matching [20:08] funds. So there's a great possibility here, but I think the reality in terms of substantive change [20:18] has yet to be realized. All right, here's a way of getting at it through another question. As a [20:26] specialist in American politics, do you think that the terms socialist, the label socialist, or for that [20:34] matter communist, this used to be understood politically as a kiss of death. If you got stuck with that [20:44] label, whether it was valid or not, you were going to suffer. It was a negative for you, whether true or not. [20:55] Has that changed? Can we say that the term socialist, at least, is no longer playing that role that it [21:05] played throughout the Cold War? As a footnote, I noticed that Mr. Trump, in his more recent [21:13] attacks on Mamdani, has had to go and call him a communist rather than a socialist, and that gave [21:20] me the hint to pose this question to you. I believe that in the 30s, in the 40s, in the 50s, yes, [21:31] that terminology, socialist and communist, that did disqualify not only candidates, but it even [21:39] disqualified hardworking Americans from being able to find gainful employment. And that's one of the [21:48] reasons why my most recent piece is entitled, It's the Message, Not the Messenger. Dr. Du Bois told us in [21:58] 1956, he said, there is but one evil party with two names. It will be elected despite all I can say or do. [22:07] He said there is no third party. And he went on to say anyone who advocates a third party will be [22:16] called a communist. And to your point, that's exactly the playbook that President Trump turned to as the [22:25] the country started to realize a success with the platform presented by those that are aligning [22:33] themselves with the democratic socialists. So now, you know, folks are looking at their bank accounts. [22:42] They're looking at the grift from the Trump administration. They're looking at the price of [22:47] tomatoes. And they're saying, look, I don't care what you call it. The reality is, I'm suffering. [22:55] Just as Lockheed Martin has received a almost 59 billion dollar contract to expedite the production of [23:08] the PAC three Patriot interceptor missiles, almost 59 billion dollars. And they're trying to cut my [23:17] social security benefits. And so people are saying, make sense of this, because [23:26] they're having trouble squaring this circle. And also, I believe that that what is contributing to [23:31] this greatly as well is the is the advent of social media, because now with the advent of social media, [23:41] it's becoming much harder for the mainstream to control the narrative as people are turning to [23:49] alternative sources of media, such as this program, not only for information, but for incredible analysis. [23:58] And so it's these elements and others that are making it much, much harder for that vitriolic rhetoric [24:11] to really resonate with people, because they're trying to figure out why am I paying so much for gas [24:17] and why am I paying so much for a gallon of milk? All right. Another way to get at this. And this is very [24:23] good. You're giving me more material than I even had ready before. Do you think, from what you know [24:33] about American politics, that the future is… I don't want to use… I'll use the word bright. In other [24:43] words, the things that you got from W.E.B. Du Bois, and it was that article, by the way, that led me to [24:52] ask you to come on the program. I thought it was extraordinarily insightful, both in what you had to say [24:58] and helping us to bring back the wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois on this as on so many topics. But given what [25:08] you just said, is it reasonable to assume that we're going to see more democratic socialists of [25:15] one kind or another moving across the political landscape, responding to the very conditions you [25:22] just mentioned? Oh, I believe. Absolutely. Because one of the things that I think is very important for [25:30] people to understand, and one of the reasons why I wrote the piece, and in the piece I give a history [25:37] of the development of those politics, of democratic socialism. These things develop over time. One of [25:46] the big mistakes I think that a lot of folks tend to make is they look at a current event or a current [25:52] circumstance, even such as Donald Trump, and they believe that these things have developed in a vacuum, [25:59] and they really don't understand the broader historical context in which most of these things [26:07] develop and occur. So I say to folks all the time, Donald Trump isn't the causation, he's the culmination. [26:13] We can go all the way back to Richard Nixon and through Ronald Reagan and through Bill Clinton and [26:20] through Barack Obama to get to where we are today as it relates to Donald Trump. So when we look at the [26:30] development of the politics of democratic socialism, I tell people, I tell the African folks in the [26:35] African-American community all the time, Congressman Ronald Dellums from Oakland, California was a democratic [26:43] socialist. And this is back in the 70s. And then we can go to Bernie Sanders and we can move forward from [26:50] from Senator Bernie Sanders as a democratic socialist. These things take time to develop. They take time [26:58] to resonate. And what we're finding now is the politics that are being articulated by those in the [27:07] democratic socialist party, the realities of people's pocketbooks and the realities of these unending wars of [27:18] choice. The X and Y axis are now crossing. And people are saying, enough of this. The mythology [27:28] that of manifest destiny and the mythologies of America, the indispensable nation, [27:39] those things are now being exposed as the myths that they've always been. And what I'm trying to get [27:51] people to see in my piece, I'm not advocating that people turn to democratic socialism and become democratic [28:00] socialists. What I'm saying is success breeds success, particularly within the African-American [28:07] community. We need to look at what's happening right before our very eyes. And we need to be asking [28:15] ourselves, is there a space for us here? Are there pages from this playbook that we can take and that [28:25] we can apply to our circumstance, to our reality, because what we've been getting up to this point [28:33] isn't working? How optimistic are you that that can happen? In other words, that either in the African [28:44] American community or in the larger total population, they will be able to grow, notwithstanding [28:54] the reaction that you know and you referred to earlier? First of all, as a political scientist, [29:03] I'm an optimist. I think I have to be. Otherwise, instead of me taking the time to write the piece [29:10] and taking the time to sit and dialogue with you, I could be on the golf course. So I'm an optimist. [29:19] What people need to understand is, most recently, this whole idea of the lesser of two evils is still [29:28] evil. And that with the passage of the Citizens United case, we have to understand how much money [29:37] is being dumped into our politics. Richie Torres received $1.6 million from AIPAC. Hakeem Jeffries, [29:47] almost $900,000 from AIPAC. Gregory Meeks, $600,000 from AIPAC. When we start to understand the power that [29:57] the corporate interests are holding over our politics, we then can start to bring about change. [30:05] So you are an optimist. Always will be. Well, I share that with you. I really do. And I think [30:13] that there's more grounds for it now than I expected to see. You and I have been around for a while. We [30:21] wondered about socialism. We thought that it would come here. It has been in this country before, [30:28] that it would come back. We didn't expect, or I'll speak only for myself. I didn't expect I'd be around [30:34] to see it, but I never really doubted that it would happen. Well, you know, I would just quickly [30:40] ask the question, what is the redistribution of wealth by cutting the tax system and benefiting [30:46] the 1%? What is that other than socialism? Yes. Dr. Wilmer Leon, thank you very, very much for your time [30:55] and for your expertise. And once again, for writing that really important article on the wisdom of [31:02] W.E.B. Du Bois and its relevance today. Thank you. And to my audience, get a hold of that article. If [31:09] this subject interests you, you'll be glad you did. And I look forward as always to speaking with you again [31:16] next week.