Economics professor smacks down Bill O'Reilly: He has no idea what a 'nanny state' is

Appearing Monday on "Democracy Now," Richard Wolff, an economics professor who taught for 35 years at the University of Massachusetts, said that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has absolutely no idea what he's saying when he rants about so-called "nanny states."

Wolff's comments were a reaction to a clip of O'Reilly talking about the latest round of European bailouts, which O'Reilly said is happening "because they're all nanny states" that do not have enough workers to support "entitlements."

"He gets away with saying things which no undergraduate in the United States with a responsible economics professor could ever get away with," Wolff said.

"If you want to refer to things as nanny states, then the place you go in Europe is not the southern tier -- Portugal, Spain and Italy -- the place you go are Germany and Scandinavia, because they provide more social services to their people than anyone else," he added.

"And guess what? Not only are they not in trouble economically, they're the winners of the current situation," Wolff said. "The unemployment rate in Germany is now below 5 percent. Ours is pushing between 7 and 8 percent. So, please, get your facts straight Mr. O'Reilly."

This video is from Democracy Now, aired Monday, March 25, 2013.