The American Empire Is Over: Richard Wolff on Trump, Tariffs and the Rising Power of BRICS | UpFront

Mar 7, 2025 | United States President Donald Trump is pushing to slash public spending and implement tariffs on countries including China, Canada and Mexico, straining diplomatic relations.

He, together with billionaire Elon Musk, is also gutting the federal government and purging its workforce.

What impact will these measures have on US citizens? And how will they affect the country’s global standing?

This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with economist Richard Wolff about Trump’s economic policies and their impact on the US’s international standing.

Autumn Statement: Hunt Does Not Rule Out Income Tax Cuts

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out cutting income tax in Wednesday's Autumn Statement, as he insisted economic growth was his priority.
Read the BBC aricle here.

This man is trying to take credit for bringing inflation down. He shouldn’t. Inflation is still raging. Any decrease in inflation so far has happened because energy prices have come down, prices over which he has no control. There has been little or no decrease in inflation as a result of Hunt’s efforts. He is merely trying to hoodwink the electorate.

The main reason for the sharp drop in inflation as measured by the consumer prices index was that the increase in energy prices in October 2022 was not repeated. Gas prices fell by 7% last month, having risen by almost 37% in the same month a year earlier. [Source: The Guradian]

Further, if Mr Hunt is wise, if there is any room for tax cuts, he should aim those tax cuts not at the superrich, but at the man in the street. And if economic growth is your goal, encourage spending on consumer goods, not superyachts and private jets! If you bring about tax cuts for the wealthy at this time of great hardship for the many, the elctorate will never forgive either you or the Tories.– © Mark Alexander

Market-turmoil and Slumping British Pound after UK Government Announced Economic Plans | DW News

The new UK government's plan for huge tax cuts financed by borrowing have drawn strong criticism from the IMF. The British pound has slumped - so has London lost control of the economy? The Day put that question to Phillip Inman, economics editor of the UK's Observer newspaper.

Thom Hartmann: Has PM Liz Truss Wrecked the UK Economy? Featuring Richard Wolff

Is British prime minister Liz Truss trashing the economy of her country? A tax cut for the rich and little for the poor. The pound sterling has crashed against the dollar and the euro.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has publicly rebuked the UK government, which is almost unheard of.

Is the country spinning out of control financially?


Bio: Professor Richard Wolff, Economist / Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books including The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself (also available as an eBook) / Host-Economic Update w/Prof. Richard Wolff on FSTV

Kwarteng’s Tax Cuts Will Force ‘Significant’ Interest Rate Rises by Bank of England

THE GUARDIAN: Chief economist says mini-budget will increase inflationary pressure in remarks likely to further spook mortgage borrowers

The Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, says: ‘It is hard not to draw the conclusion that this [tax cuts] will require a significant monetary policy response.’ Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
A senior Bank of England official has warned “significant” increases in interest rates will have to be imposed by the central bank in response to tax cuts put forward by Kwasi Kwarteng in his mini-budget.

The Bank’s chief economist, Huw Pill, said the chancellor’s planned tax cuts would act as a stimulus and increase inflationary pressures, with the result that interest rates would need to go higher than previously forecast.

“In my view, a combination of the fiscal announcements we have seen will act a stimulus to demand in the economy,” he said. “It is hard not to draw the conclusion that this will require a significant monetary policy response.”

Pill’s remarks are likely to further spook homebuyers and mortgage borrowers near the end of a fixed-rate mortgage about the cost of financing their loans. » | Phillip Inman | Tuesday, September 27, 2022,br />
UK’s cost of borrowing on international markets overtakes Greece and Italy: Five-year British government bonds fall dramatically as traders price in higher risk of default on debt »

Corporate CEOs Are the Only Ones Benefiting from Republican Tax Cuts

Corporate CEOs have admitted that they aren't giving any raises and they're not about to start laying out thousands of dollars to workers. Ring of Fire's Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss this.

Tom Steyer: Why Tax Cuts for the Rich Are So Stupid

Rich Americans know they don't need a tax cut.

Robert Reich: Another Tax Scam for the Rich

Robert Reich explains why cutting capital gains taxes would benefit the wealthy.

While Corporations Enjoy Their Tax Cuts, American Workers Are Losing Everything

On the surface, the US economy appears to be doing quite well right now, though most credible economists have been warning us for months that things are about to come crashing down. And one of the reasons for this impending crash is the fact that American workers are getting less pay, fewer benefits, and NOW Americans could see dramatic cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Those cuts are coming at the same time that the Trump administration is trying to unilaterally cut taxes AGAIN for the wealthy. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Another Way Trump Is Tanking The US Economy That Nobody Mentions

Donald Trump has managed to attack the US economy in ways that he doesn’t even realize, the latest revelation being that his presidency and the resulting anti-US sentiments across the globe have reduced foreign investment into the United States by 32%. That’s a significant loss in investment, and those numbers are expected to climb even higher with Trump’s trade wars and derogatory comments about other world leaders. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

When Tax Cuts Failed

As Paul Ryan Touts a Secretary’s $1.50 Weekly Pay Hike, Koch Bros. Reap $1.4B from GOP Tax Plan

This weekend, House Speaker Paul Ryan touted a story of a woman whose paycheck increased by $1.50 cents a week as a major benefit to middle-class workers. On Saturday, Ryan tweeted a link to an Associated Press report, writing, “A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week … she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year.” After a deluge of ridicule and outrage, Ryan deleted the tweet hours later. For more, we speak with Richard Wolff, emeritus professor of economics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and visiting professor at The New School. He’s the author of several books, including, most recently, “Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown.”

Apple: The Biggest Tax Cheaters in History Repatriate Profits Under Trump’s Tax Bill

What Apple did was outright illegal according to the European Union, but instead of taking legal action against Apple for tax evasion, the Trump tax bill will reward them says white-collar criminologist Bill Black

Republican Tax Bill Is A Monstrosity - Richard Wolff

Trump, GOP Pull Off Their Tax Heist

Congressional Republicans have approved their tax bill, a massive upward transfer of wealth that fulfills a decades-long right-wing goal of permanent tax cuts for corporations. We speak to professor and author Bill Black

Defining Moment? The Impact of Trump's Big Tax Shake-up

The House of Representatives putting the final touches on a tax reform bill that's been characterized in some quarters as a whopping big Christmas present to the rich. Despite public opinion opposing the plan by a two-to-one margin, Republicans rallying behind legislation that should most notably slash the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. It's about the one issue where Trump and a majority of Republicans agree: the role of government.

"The Republicans Are Shafting The Middle Class!" Bernie Sanders & Friends Destroy Trump's Tax Bill

Warren Buffett On GOP Tax Cuts & Consequences (July 2017)

Fact Check: Trump’s Tax Plan

GOP Tax Bill: The Great American Heist

The 'Insane and opaque' Tax bill had no hearings, no independent experts, only lobbyists informed this bill. It will blow up the deficit and gut social programs, explains economist and white collar criminologist, Bill Black