Bad Faith Episode 520 - Ware/Wolff vs. Vampire (w Butch Ware & Richard Wolff)
Oct 22, 2025
Joining the discussion are Richard Wolff, a Marxist economist known for critiquing capitalism and inequality, and Butch Ware, a historian and former Green Party vice-presidential candidate. They delve into Gavin Newsom's evasive answers on California's housing crisis and Medicare for All. Wolff argues that profit-driven models fail housing solutions, while Ware proposes taxing corporate landlords. Together, they analyze the detrimental effects of neoliberal policies and the corporate influence on Democratic politics, raising questions about the future of leftist movements.
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Episode notes
Social Profit Versus Private Profit
- Wolff distinguishes private profit from social profit and highlights externalities housing failures create for education and health.
- He contends addressing social profit requires public intervention, not just market signals.
Students Sleeping In Cars While Cities Criminalize Homeless
- Butch Ware recounts faculty and students sleeping in cars while universities get carve-outs from vagrancy laws.
- He uses this to highlight how policy protects elites while criminalizing the poor.
Use Taxes To Convert Vacant Units To Public Housing
- Tax large corporate landlords holding vacant units heavily to force sales to the state or community ownership.
- Use state purchasing to create a large public rental sector like Vienna's to lower rents and stabilize housing.
