Skip to Main Content

Capitalism Hits the Fan

The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It

Published by Interlink Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
LIST PRICE $20.00

About The Book

A BREATHTAKINGLY CLEAR ANALYSIS OF TODAY’S ONGOING ECONOMIC CRISIS In this updated edition of Capitalism Hits the Fan, Professor Wolff explains why capitalism's global crisis persists, why bank bailouts and austerity policies fail, and why deepening economic inequality now generates historic social tensions and conflicts and worsens the ongoing crisis. This book chronicles one economist’s growing alarm and insights as he watched, from 2005 onwards, the economic crisis build, burst, and then change the world. The argument here differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and other academics. Step by step, Wolff shows that deep economic structures—the relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income—account for the crisis. The book’s essays engage the long-overdue public discussion about capitalism as a system and about the basic structural changes needed not only to fix today’s broken economy but to prevent future crises.

About The Author

Richard D. Wolff is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs, at the New School in New York since 2007. He has written, co-authored, and co-edited many books and dozens of scholarly and popular journal articles.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Interlink Books (May 1, 2013)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781566569361

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

"Richard Wolff is the leading socialist economist in the country. This book is required reading for anyone concerned about a fundamental transformation of the ailing capitalist economy."

– Cornel West

"Richard Wolff's constructive and innovative ideas suggest new and promising foundations for a much more authentic democracy and sustainable and equitable development, ideas that can be implemented directly and carried forward. A very valuable contribution in troubled times."

– Noam Chomsky

"Probably America's most prominent Marxist economist."

"Richard D. Wolff has provided a blow by blow account of how the crisis developed, how the politicians and parties reacted, and how the average folks suffered and will suffer in times to come. But he has done more than that... Whether you align yourself with Democrat or Republican, New Labour or Tory parties, or are politically independent or non-aligned, this book provides an excellent source of clear well-focused analysis of what happened in the last five years."

– Bob Lloyd, BlogCritics

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images