This is true democracy. Publication of high quality education accesibable to us all. Thanks a lot

That graph about corporate profit margins really needs an update, not because the information you show is bad in any way, but to also show the insane price gouging corporations engaged in in 2020-2022 as demonstrated by the explosion in their profit margins, and I think it might tie nicely back in to your conversation regarding if it's okay for the genie to make people at the top richer and leave everyone else the same.

Thank you sir Can't believe I can access this knowledge on my phone despite living in far and way different world than USA. Amazing professor and lecture. Love from Somalia 🇸🇴.

Thank you Robert Reich for being a voice of sanity at a time when insanity is highly rewarded

Thanks so much Robert for providing free access to this course. I'm a 64 y/o Australian baby boomer and love that you are informing both the current generation of young adults - and anyone else who wants to partake. (I'm also providing my 35 y/o daughter w what I consider key points as she's time poor). Baby-boomers, if they're aware enough, are able to see what's happened through the rear view mirror with the context of living through the times you 're discussing. Listening to your presentation made me understand that there is a generation or two who has not experienced anything other than the current paradigms. Thank you for making it your mission to show what has been and is still going on. As the course progresses I imagine we will be reviewing new (or maybe old ;-) possibilities. I'm so enjoying being in the classroom again 🙂

Very stimulating. I am an 81-year-old (yes, dob 1942, life did exist pre 1946) wife of a former university teacher of labour economics (at LSE) and exposed to bits of this over the years (I used to claim to be an economist by osmosis). Am very much impressed with your lectures, for their content, style and thoughtful delivery. Am also a fellow Substack writer (The Granny Who Stands on her Head).

This man has always been just an awesome humanitarian!

This is so powerful! Thank you for allowing us all to audit your class.

This is the fight going on recently in congress over investments and ESG.. it's stakeholder capitalism vs shareholder capitalism

What a privilege being able to listen to your college lectures. Thank you for your wisdom and teaching. It helps me understand and think.

I really liked the $1000 game. Neither A nor B get anything unless B agrees to A's offer. A is dependant on B. But, as A is offered the money, it's easy for A to think it is their money - it's easy to forget that they can only access that money if B says yes. It's easy not to see the value B brings to the interaction. A can easily think anything they give B is a bonus to B. This has the potential to devalue the role of B. It really shows the social contract. We are dependant on eachother.

Love that you share this with the world. Am a Berkeley grad...but by far seeing much more top tier on line content from MIT OCW...so well done.

As a small business person myself, (and a psychology major - one of my degrees) I have observed this behavior of saying and doing two different things. Even small business owners do not always support each other financially. I am happy to say that I always made a conscience effort to buy small. My first business was a photo studio for about 20 years. Once you're an owner you see things from a different perspective. That's when I always bought as local as possible. I can say that the local community also had poor wages. Florida income is skewed because of the high and low income brackets. It was true that many people might want to pay but didn't. Some could but still didn't. It's an interesting behavior to "vote" with your dollars for something we don't want?

I’m in my 50’s and the word “economy” used to mean something to me. If the economy was “strong,” it was good news for everyone. These days, when I here the word, “economy,” it means nothing to me. It has no relevancy to me. If the economy is strong, I get no benefit. So, I think to myself, when I hear that word, “Who’s economy???” Edited to add: Maybe this is why when the news media speaks of the GDP and economy, it kinda pisses me off. Not only is it a valuable waste of airtime that only has relevancy to the 1%, but it is like rubbing dirt in the faces of those trying to improve their situation in a system that does NOT honor social compacts, except in extremely rare cases which they love to crow from the rooftops.

This course should be taught in all schools across the country.

Makes me rethink the story about CEOs that gives up their salary to help their workers during hard times. It also confirms more about the CEOs that didn't even bother to do so.

Thank you professor. Economics 101 disturbed me greatly back when I was in college as it was completely devoid of basic human behavior & psychology. It's good to hear being used.

Another aspect of the consumerist, rather than citizen, mindset is the appeal to convenience. Many people shop online (and use self checkout) because it's presumably more convenient than shopping in person. Of course, it becomes a cycle, because large chains have offered fewer of their offerings in their retail establishments, forcing customers to go online to access them, and on and on. Using self checkout is even more of a situation, as it's often not as convenient and timesaving for customers as many want to think--but it sure hoovers up more profits to the corporations installing them. Of course, many retailers are also making it more difficult to shop in person without using self checkout, so the monetarily extractive cycle continues.

Thank you, Prof. Reich. What I like about this parti:ular class, and perhaps the Class. overall, it the empwowerment of the individual. I had never shopped at Walmart until I was fully handicapped, had to give up driving. So now I feel conflicted; not only do I shop there, but use delivery. For me, it's a matter of survival.I share, only to share that things are not as simple for some folks as they are for others. 😢

I watched the 1st video in this series on a whim and now watched the 2nd. I find this fascinating and educational.

Never thought performance based pay was at the root of todays wealth gap, makes perfect sense now. We have much to learn.

It seems to me there is often an appeal to stakeholder morality from those most interested in a shareholder model. And thank you for publishing these lectures.

Thank you for your service!

I watch this & dread the next election!! :( Thanks for sharing this class. It's only become worse over the past 5 years since this course was taught. SO appreciate this!!

Mr. Reich, you are a brilliant teacher. Brilliant.

I'd like to add to the discussion regarding how "we are all implicated in this system" (online retail vs storefront). A valid point, as i see it, is that some consumers, especially in rural areas and closed-off neighborhoods, have little choice but to go to large on-line retailers or big-box stores for goods. For example, in my small town in rural South Dakota there used to be small manufacturing, small implement/agricultural businesses, a pharamacy, a grocery store, etc. However, because of structural issues, policy, and other pressures, these businesses and industries no longer exist here. So, as a consumer, I may have to drive 60 miles (this is much closer than many folks in rural America may have to travel) to the nearest city to get groceries and other goods and services I want and need. Thus, the tension between consumer belief and consumer choice (do i seek the cheapest deal on Amazon or do I put money back into my community by supporting small businesses) is not exactly a fair supposition for all Americans. The unfortunate reality is that I no longer even have the choice to buy some goods or services locally. Of course, the argument could be made that this is always the case: geographic location, market competition, supply/demand, etc. are always drivers of local economies. Still, I would counter, the demand/need for goods and services here has not changed. What has changed is ability of massive corporations, through their accrued wealth and power, to supply goods and services at rates and values well below what a small business can. Essentially, they're not here because they cannot compete with big money. This trend is present in every industry in America. The mantra that many farmers are familiar with is "get big, or get out." The unfortunate side effect is consolidation of wealth, making it harder and harder for small farmers to compete. Market pressures make expenses go up significantly, extreme competition for limited land resources drive land prices through the roof, etc. It's no mystery where I live, that is impossible to become a farmer today without extreme risk (large sums of borrowed money; aka, debt), wealthy benefactors/investors, or intergenerational transfer of wealth/lan. In fact, many small farmers do not have enough equity to "get big" even if they want to (they can't borrow the money to buy the land to grow their business). Small farmers are then driven to find efficiencies through technologies, etc. Then, efficiency leads to more over-production, which drives down commodity prices, which impacts their bottom line. Thus, they go bankrupt and the big corporations benefit through economies of scale. As I see it, within agriculture, we are headed towards a system where a few, very wealthy corporations will own all the land and means of production on that land, and "farmers" will either become employees, or, maybe, the land they used to own will be leased back to them on limited contracts. What i am describing is, in essence, serfdom (this thing is going medieval ;)). The system that we have today is so deeply flawed, yet it has been sown into every fabic of our existence. These are incredibly complicated issues that will require a tremendous amount of careful, thoughtful consideration to even begin fixing. I wish it could be as simple as "eat the rich," but what would happen to retirement funds and 401k's, etc. Without careful implementation of good policy the entire economy may collapse in a manner that would make the great depression look like the good ol' days. I'm very happy this class is available to the masses, and grateful that students are learning about all of this, but, again, this stuff requires a tremendous amount of deep, critical thinking if we are to ever have a chance of correcting course. Sorry for being so long-winded. I love thinking about all of this and wish I could be in this classroom and engage in discussions with these young people who will be the ones having to wrestle with incredibly challenging issues in the rapidly approaching future (and I'm not sure I like the way it's likely to shape-out). Cheers

By the logic that links the CEO wages to stock prices shouldn't all employee wages be linked to the stock price?

I’m hooked on these lectures. Great lectures were one of the best parts of college.

Incredible, I stambled upon this. I hope as much people as possible follow those lectures!

So excellent, Robert, thank you so much for sharing this course. Just a thought about the 80s-90s: cocaine use among CEOs, athletes, movie stars, was strong during that time and in my opinion contributed to their narcissistic wild demands for excessive pay without regard to consequences, and maybe contributed to their indifference to workers, communities, etc. in the decisions they made to get rid of the "bloat," in their corporate raiding. They were flying high on their own perceived power.

Wow! Great content and witty, sharp delivery. Very very compelling and informative.

Thank you for sharing your insights and vast understanding on this important subject that affects us all. I feel I have learned a great deal from your lessons.

Thank you for allowing access to your lectures! You mean I don’t have to take out an indentured servitude contract to access higher education in the DSA? (Divided States of America)? Take that USC! You were in the room where it happened! You warned them! What other atrocities are overlooked in the name of “competition”?

Thank you so much! I’m going to watch with my 28 year old daughter! ❤

Brilliant lecturing series. Lovely to see a room of young folks engaged with such high quality information and thinking. Thank you for sharing with the world.

I am enjoying your class. Love your clarification that the market and government are part of the same cloth and that market results occur within the structure of government policy. Your stock market chart does indeed appear to "explode" and correlate with the rise of CEO pay. However, If you plot a stock market series with reinvested dividends and adjusted for inflation on a logarithmic scale the trend the last 20 or 40 years is quite ordinary and consistent with the hundred preceding years. The rise in CEO pay may be better explained by the drop in the top tax rates and brackets for both ordinary income and capital gains. Back when taking an additional few million in pay would have mostly gone to personal taxes CEOs were more likely to feed ego by building strong companies, rather than pulling so much personal income out.

Incredible. Thank you so much for this 🙏

Yes, thank you for letting us audit this class

Thanks for this great series. Its very generous to share this true wealth

what a class, the beginning to end....

❤❤❤Love your stuff!❤❤❤Thank you!❤❤❤Old and gray but still learning 🎉🎉🎉

Yes I’m loving this. I was a Bridgestone worker for 30 years. I know exactly what you were talking about. Probably the one in Desmoines.

18:15 Another Value Check is when at home at no cost to the Consumer Citizen (instead, possible monetary savings) do you conscientiously CONSERVE WATER, ie not let it go down the drain when brushing teeth; and turn off lights when exiting a room- that’s a real test IMHO. The little things add up and are so easy to do, if we truly care❤❤❤

This is so very interesting and exciting! Thank you Mr. Reich!

Your lectures should be given in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is not that far removed from the US. Here, too, the welfare state has been phased out and liberalised. All kinds of government tasks have been marketed, as a result of which a great deal of knowledge has disappeared from the executive organizations of the government. Knowledge must be purchased and that costs the government a lot of money / tax money! The government's dependence on market parties has only grown. The market dictates, not the government. This applies to all areas in which the government acts. In the Netherlands we had stakeholder capitalism (the Rhineland model) aimed at the longer term and growth of the company, now only shareholder capitalism, aimed at the short term and the profit of the shareholder. The Netherlands is currently experiencing all kinds of policy crises, in the field of health care, the climate, pensions, etc. and they all have to do with the privatization of government tasks and the resulting loss of knowledge. Unfortunately, the political discussion is not about that. The voters/citizens are ignorant and think that what matters is which party rules or which politician becomes the prime minister of the Netherlands. Citizens are not told that many of the government's problems can be traced back to this neoliberal thinking of less government and more market forces.

This is the best lecture in economics I ever attended - practical and reflect the real economics. Really understand the economic and instead dry theorems, without connection to real econ. Thank you prof. Reich for your clean demonstration of the political economy and the roll of government.

Thank you Professor Reich for making your lectures available. I am curious to hear your views on ESG investments as it relates to this course, and what impact it will have on the purpose of the corporation. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Reich.

Great lecture. I really love how he links how political shapes the market and gives such a solid case for it.

this tickles my brain and i love it! thanks for sharing your lectures!

If you want to understand why so many are opposed to and even hostile toward liberal arts education , look no furthur than this video. Robert Reich is the professor your parents warned you about, exposing the youth to antiquated ideas such as "moral philosophy" and "economic rent" from dangerous radicals like Adam Smith and David Richardo. This can only lead our youth to consider the ideas of the most dangerous of them all, Karl Marx. I speak from experience. As a student in the 1960s, an education funded with our precious tax dollars, I encountered these types of professors and they turned me into a Communist. In the interveing years I came to my senses and am now a dedicated follower of Bernie Sanders and Democratic Socialism.

Wondering teacher, great personality!

It boils down to MORALITY vs PROFITABILITY.

Great talk!!!! I do want to add that I buy more online because my local stores don't have it. Since so many people shop online, stores stock less in the stores, especially drug stores. Also, how else can I book a flight? I'm only aware of doing it online. Thanks so much!!

God bless you for sharing this with us!

This man is a very gifted teacher.

I’m so grateful that I can learn from you!

Thank you so much for posting this Professor Reich! This was a great lecture, but if anyone interested in learning how free-market capitalism has created historic wealth and income inequality, please do read his book on "Saving Capitalism: For the Many, not the Few." Indeed. It talks of how 1945 - 1970, was the golden age of capitalism - since it was heavily regulated, and wealth and income was shared broadly, not narrowly. Corporations and free enterprise had to contend with countervailing power of collective bargaining power of trade unions, and wages and productivity were analogous, when adjusted for inflation. It was not until the 1970s the capitalists and the interests of free enterprise (e.g. U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable) declared an onslaught. Lewis Powell wrote a corporate blueprint to use their lobbying prowess to organize the market rules in their favor. They started lobbying the courts, legislature, and administrative agencies to protect the profits of private corporations and industries. Neoliberalism was the forefront of justifying their endeavors, stating self-regulated markets without any government regulation or oversight was needed to make the economy grow in productivity and growth (otherwise known as trickle-down economics). During this period, more corporations had monopoly of power over intellectual property, they expanded their operations overseas, they started automating and cutting jobs, and only sought to protect the interest of their shareholders. Public good programs were gutted, and more services that were formerly public went towards privatization. It has created socioeconomic disparities and stratified social order that puts more people at disadvantage towards mobility. These corporations felt no moral and civic duty to protect the interests of the American people - instead they would prioritize their business and operation, along with their shareholders. More business interest tried to reduce the power and scope of federal government, and find ways to allow unrestricted markets to flourish. They opposed Keynesian economics, or expansionary fiscal policy (in other words, government subsidies that may potentially help the working and middle class) - and were strong proponents of neoliberalism.Now we have unfettered capitalism that has devastated the middle and working class from living well. Please also read "Consequences of Capitalism" by Noam Chomsky as well. Republicans and regressives have always purported that America is a meritocracy, and have always espoused the idea that self-regulated markets are efficient in allocating and distributing resources, income, and wealth. They have repudiated welfare states and social safety nets, using the Malthusian argument - stating that the poor deserve to be poor, and redistributive policies will be abused and working class people are responsible for their own poverty. Please be better informed. We're seeing the iron law of oligarchy unfold in our very legislatures, courts, and administrative agencies. Professor Reich is an awesome lecturer and political analyst. I have never been his student, but I've watched all his lectures, read all his books, and seen all his interviews. He's fighting for the collective good, and he is fighting for us to look towards civic virtue. This is a collective action problem - and we must build coalitions in response to the rising inequality that has given elite plutocrats a system-built advantage. Thank you Professor, I really wish I attended your lectures as a student- but UC Berkeley was too expensive for me! I'm glad you published your lectures and books!

Thank you so much for your lectures. Excellent work!!

These are all so great! Thank you for making your classes available online for all to access. It’s so important ❤. You’re a gem!!

wow! such an eye-opener on world economics. Thank you o much for sharing your insight.

I’m so excited to be watching this. Can’t wait for the next book!

Another great lecture. 👍

Your 1000 dollar experiment was game theory. Not just economic, political, but also sociological

Thank you 🙏

Although I want to shop locally, care about sustainable products, that the workers who made, transported etc. make a decent living, I have a pretty much fixed income and so have to choose price over other things. So it's a tough call when you are struggling financially.

I wish I was in the audience. I don't understand why nobody in the class said that the company is not really looking for the best it is always looking for the people who will benefit that company. Those type of companies just want someone who is going to follow their status quo which is profit over anything else.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS INFORMATION....😮😮😮

Surprised Robert didn't talk about the rise of compensation consultants and the ludicrous desire to hire 'only the best' (whatever that is). Consultants rose in prominence in the '80/'90s - they convinced BODs to approve ludicrous salaries/perks based on need to 'be competitive'. 'We can't pay less than average salaries if we want superior managers'. So what happened? Everyone decided that they needed to make sure their 'superior' managers got higher than average salaries, so they paid above average. Guess what happened when everyone decided to pay above average? Conveniently, the average had to go up - and so we ended up in an 'above average' race. So 20-30x salaries in the 60s/70s quickly zoomed to 350x today. Did managers suddenly get 10-15x scarcer? 10-15x better? Nope. The exact opposite happened with the huge explosion in B-school grads in the last 40 years. It's vastly different than a handful of movie stars or a few hundred professional athletes (who have very short careers vs managers), so conflating them with 'stars' is ridiculous.

I watched your documentary on capitalism sir. It was quite informative.

Another great class, thank you. I have one comment regarding stars. This is strictly opinion. I think we (the American public) put far too much interest and adoration into "stars" than is merited. I enjoy Broadway type musicals and I love to attend theater, but I refuse to pay more than $100 for a ticket to see anything. I don't idolize stardom or money. To me the greatest people of the 20th century were the scientists and inventors who improved the quality of life for all beings on the planet. Why should a person who amuses me, have more value than someone who prevents say polio or flu not only for me but millions people worldwide. Why should the head coach for any sports team (amusement) be paid 60 x more than the chancellor or worse yet 150 x more than a professor of mathematics or physics? We place our values on entertainment, amusement, instead of the really important matters, such as improvements in the overall quality of life. We have reverted to the lowest level of ancient Rome, when the citizens were contented with bread and circuses and ignored the depravity of the government in exchange

Thanks Robert 😎

Very sobering, and very revealing. I retired last year at age 70, and despite not doing too badly, I had sensed that something (vibe, attitude, economic structure, etc) had shifted during my lifetime. In 1990s I was too busy raising several children after a divorce, and scrambling to keep it all together, to figure out details, but - pow! This comes close to revelation! I will share this lecture, as well as the link to the KZfaq channel, with my adult children and friends. Combined mental energy, information, and effort are needed here, not just now but going forward. Thank you!

My entire 71 years I have been opposed to inheritance. To my way of thinking, most wealth should be texed away. They shlould only be able to pass on upt to $200,000. With an exception for small business and frams where the person who inherits has been materially involved for at least 10 years prior to inheritance and must remain materially involved for at least 10 years after.

"To make to points, number one, nobody is a villain here. I'm not saying anybody has done anything wrong. Everybody is simply following incentives built into the system. And number two, let me emphasize, and explanation is not a justification!." -- “The Investor's View” 53:33 by UC Berkeley Professor Reich

Thanks for the tale of Investors, inflatestors & infestors!

Who says the system works for everybody? Ask Anyone who's In Agreement with this? Best country to live in if your rich. LOVE AMERICA.

In the late 70s, in an economics class (the economists we read where John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman) the stat I remember was 20% of the people have 80% of the 'goods'.

I was waiting for a picture of Jack Welch. Check out the book, The Man Who Broke Capitalism. The author Gelles makes the case that Welch's ruthless cost-cutting and single-minded focus on quarterly earnings ultimately hurt both GE and American capitalism. "Neutron Jack," as he became known, had a practice of ranking employees and automatically firing the bottom 10 percent every year; in Welch's first few years of leadership he fired more than 100,000 people in a series of mass layoffs and factory closures.

-25:44 struck a tear from me

It's not about you being better off, it's about me keeping you in perpetual survival, like a Christian waking up guilty every day, increasing your productivity and being grateful for it

THANK YOU!

Awesome!

I love the (justified) uproar in the hall at 31:08.

What I find missing in this discussion is the customers of the company. It seems safe to assume that any public company either make products to sell or services to sell. Why is the major responsibility to maximize shareholder returns? Seems to me the major concern should be to ensure the company keeps and increases their customer base and only then try to maximize shareholder returns.

The game IS the system. And there is no "we" in "team."

By first thought in this roll playing business model was " you mentioned the limitations on the tax write offs for a CEO but have not addressed tax write write offs when it regarding everyday workers" then toward the end when talking about the competition with the Japanese automotive industry...... Japan has universal healthcare! That alone is comparing apples to oranges with economy! Healthcare plays such a huge roll that comparing the U.S. to any other country that offers universal healthcare is comparing apples to oranges!

I look at it this way. Everything we have comes from (1) resources such as land, animals, trees, water, fish, minerals, sunlight, etc. that was here when Columbus came over and belong to everyone - including the Native Americans that were already here. (2) Science and technology that everybody contributed to, and also belong to everyone. (3) Roads, bridges, money, a legal system, national defense, and many other things done by government that are absolutely essential for the creation of wealth, at least to any substantial degree, and also belong to everyone. (4) Human labor. As time goes by, it takes less and less human labor to produce the same amounts of goods and services. Therefore, two things should be happening over time: (1) Hourly wages in real terms should be rising and (2) Income and wealth inequality should be decreasing because a larger and larger percentage of what we have come from resources that belong to everyone. Not only are those two things not happening, but both of them are also going in reverse. Something is very, VERY wrong here.

Before watching the answer to what happened to cause wealth inequality is one word. Reaganomics.

The citizen in me was very active when I had the means. Right now I struggle so bad financially that i but no option but to perpetuate the cycle of it alk

And not just the pubkic sectors but the political. Sector and how the Ritch influence politics.

Thank you for your dogged stewardship of our tattered democracy. You model patriotism for our rag tag age. Listening to your use of the word inequality made me wonder if you have been introduced to the inquiry of graeber and wengrow in ‘dawn of everything’. It seems to me their information broadens the base of your platform and could be very useful in your hands.

At 12:35 if is interesting that there is no choice but to shop online for some things as Prof Reich pointed out. Also if you are needing, not seeking but needing, a bargain, small shops are not in a position to give them to you. The problem is that the large corporations can well afford to pay well and give steady regular hours but they do not have to, because they know at the moment you are stuck with them without a viable alternative.

1:11 to what degree do we attribute the production gains on automation and Tech and Intellectual property ?

39:39: Correction, Dow Jones Index is at nearly 34'000 today and was over 36'000 in late 2021

One time Elizabeth Taylor was asked “why are you getting paid so much?” And she said “that’s what they offered me.”

Zellerbach I believe was the one to cut cost by using the cyanide paper which was cheaper

Crown Zellerbach does exist anymore. It was purchased because it had the vulnerabilities that Hacksaw Bob would have pointed out.

41:27 I'd like to add that software plays a big part in rise of CEO pay relative to worker. Not only is it an unalive asset that performs value, thus people now compete with software etc, it also allows companies to grow and globalize, because it does the bureaucracy stuff and makes it scalable. Thus, big fish eat small fish and if CEO get's 0.1 worker pay per workers, all you need is 3500 workers to make 350x pay. Companies used to be small, u didn't see that. All in all y'all underestimate how much AI has to do with it. We are living through the fourth industrial revolution with AI and only few notice. Notice what happened in the previous industrial revolutions and you will see a pattern. As a software developer I refrain from working as employee, because working merely gets income, while programming generates wealth. My programmes are software assets that can be sold and that can make money.

I don't know if linking compensation to performance is a good idea or a bad idea, but I do know that buying back stock to artificially inflate the price is not performance.