Posts In Category

Fiscal Policy

EconomyElectoral politicsFiscal PolicyPodcastPopulism

It’s a long term necessity, but tragically, short term policy-makers put off a solution essential to a strong economy and restoration of our republican form of government. As of today, both the economy and democracy are in a downward spiral.

Read More
People demand change while money balances the scale.
DemocratsFiscal PolicyPodcastPopulism

It may have the word “liberal” in it but it’s anything but. Until the Biden/Harris years, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party had its deserved image of serving the richest among us. Trump understood raw populist anger to win

Read More
Cover of 'Supremacy' exploring capitalism's biased rules and crises.
Fiscal PolicyPodcast

In the current American version of capitalism, all of us are “thingified:” our only value being as digits on the way to corporate profits. This reflects a core bias in the system toward serving the very richest. But it doesn’t

Read More
Book cover of "The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution" by Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath.
Fiscal PolicyJusticePodcastPopulism

If the plaintiffs get their way, Moore vs United States could be the wedge that prevents a wealth tax. Guests on this show are law professors and authors Joseph Fishkin and William Forbath whose op-ed in the New York Times

Read More
Book cover titled 'Capital Order' discussing economists, austerity, and fascism.
Fiscal PolicyPodcastPopulism

The unchecked power of the Federal Reserve claims its current, never ending rate hike strategy is about curbing inflation. It is not, according to our guest today, economics professor Clara Mattei. That we have become so used to it we

Read More
Missiles dropping dollar signs symbolizing military waste.
EconomyFiscal PolicyMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

If the word conservative means anything, it means conserving and not wasting money. Especially public money. How long can politicians claim to be conservative when they studiously avoid looking at obvious waste? Billions, hundreds of billions, trillions. On the first

Read More
A tank made from rolled US dollar bills.
CultureFiscal PolicyMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

Sure there’s the $750 billion Pentagon budget for FY 2020. But real military spending is nearly twice that. There are many opaque agencies which are secretive in their use of other taxpayer money, according to our guest William Hartung Director

Read More
Two actors perform a musical scene on stage with a third seated in the background.
CultureFiscal PolicyHistory That Matters NowPodcastPopulism

The hugely successful Broadway does a service: igniting the relevance of history to today. Of course it is largely fiction. As  author and historian William Hogeland tells it, Hamilton saw his job as just making America a good investment. He

Read More
Large text on ground asks, 'What would you do if your income were taken care of?' with walking people nearby.
EconomyFiscal PolicyPodcast

Economic despair in the face of unimaginable wealth? Scarcity in a reality of plenty? Is there now a  case for giving every American a share of a public wealth fund? In what ways might a universal basic income work to

Read More
A sleek supersonic aircraft flying above the clouds against a deep blue sky.
Fiscal PolicyPodcastWar

With near consensus from both sides of the aisle, congress just rubber-stamped a nearly three quarters of a trillion dollar spending plan for defense contractors. There is no limit on what we will spend on weapons, according to today’s guest

Read More
Middle-aged man speaking with expressive gesture.
Fiscal PolicyPodcastPopulismSocialism

Is truth still the first casualty of politics? Not in the UK, where Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn stunned PM Teresa May. He dared to tell the truth; authenticity works. So says Marc Weisbrot of the Economic and Policy Research Center. And

Read More
Four smokestacks emitting heavy smoke into a hazy sky.
EnergyEnvironmentFiscal PolicyTrump

Never motivated by serving the common good, powerful old-school Republican leaders such as James Baker, George Schultz, and Henry Paulson have put forward a proposal for a carbon emissions tax to fight climate change. You ask: why would they do

Read More
Word cloud centered on 'Frank' with finance and technology terms.
EconomyFiscal PolicyPodcastTake Action

Do they really intend to destroy the economy and serve the short-term greed of billionaires, or do they just mouth simplistic phrases and really not know what they are doing? We deon’;t really know. The Bannon/Trump Administration is taking aim

Read More
Book cover of 'Viking Economics' by George Lakey.
CultureEconomyEducationEnvironmentFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastRacismSocialismTake Action

The Vikings were brave explorers and they found wondrous new things. Today Scandinavia holds promise of how America can become happier and more free. George Lakey, author of the new book Viking Economics, talks about struggling toward something rather than

Read More
A post-apocalyptic cityscape with abandoned cars and overgrown buildings.
CultureEconomyEducationFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastRacismSocialismTake Action

Generally American cites are dumped on: Budgets cut, services eliminated, schools ignored. But 80% of us live in cities and despite the pressure from uncaring financial interests and their politicians, we are close to a tipping point where an urban

Read More
Scattered US dollar bills overlaid with a green medical marijuana leaf.
CultureEconomyEnvironmentFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastPopulismRacismSocialismTake Action

Oscar Meyer was Chuck Collins’ great grandfather. At age 26, he turned aside his inherited fortune. Why would anybody do that? His new book is called Born on Third Base; A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing

Read More
Logo with 'Labor Day' text and a wrench graphic in red and blue colors.
CultureEconomyFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastTake ActionWar

The right to organize is a basic human right. So says MIT professor and co-director of the Institute for Work and Employment Tom Kochan. In the face of decades of assaults against workers rights, this election year holds realistic hope

Read More
Protesters holding a Palestinian flag and a sign advocating for Palestinian rights.
EconomyFiscal PolicyIsrael & PalestineJusticeNational PolicyPodcastPopulismSocialismTake Action

How do you like paying interest to use your own money? According to Mike Krauss of the Public Banking Institute, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can replace the privately held Federal Reserve system and use the treasury

Read More
Close-up of a worn American flag with visible texture and folds.
CultureEducationFiscal PolicyGunsJusticeNational PolicyPodcastPopulismTake ActionWar

Independence day: Many Americans see our freedom to choose as consumers as what independence is all about. But recovering corporate CEO and Huffington Post columnist Richard Eskow on this show shines a light on how far we’ve veered from what

Read More
Black ink spreading on a gray surface creating a branching pattern.
EconomyEducationFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastPopulismRacismSocialismTake ActionWarWomen

Are we watching a train wreck in progress? Journalist Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories, offers his insight into how the 2016 Democratic Party may have ignored important lessons from the 1968 crack up. There will be

Read More
Man in suit speaking indoors with an arched doorway behind.
EconomyFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastTake ActionWar

It’s the year of the anti-establishment candidates: in both parties. Jim Rubens is certainly the underdog against incumbent Kelly Ayotte, a Washington favorite. While Rubens is no liberal, he does take on issues such as the power of money in

Read More
A man affectionately hugging a globe.
CultureEconomyFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastPopulismTake Action

Q: When is a donation not a donation? A: When it’s an investment. It is a rare super wealthy philanthropist who gives without need of great public recognition? From feudal times, it has been in the interests of the baronial

Read More
Barbed wire in front of a blurred American flag.
CultureEconomyFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastRacismTake Action

American exceptionalism is a reality in terms of locking up almost 5 times as many citizens as all other advanced industrialized democracies. Over the last 40 years, the incarceration rate has skyrocketed by nearly 400 percent. How did we get

Read More
City skyline with illuminated waterfront and busy roads at dusk.
CultureEconomyEnergyEnvironmentFiscal PolicyJusticePodcastPopulismTake Action

Tremendous wealth is being sheltered from taxation. The rules for the rest of us apparently don’t apply to the super rich of the world. But think about how that now-hidden wealth might help millions throughout the world. This is the

Read More
Illustration of people carrying large gears symbolizing teamwork and effort.
CultureEconomyEducationFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastTake Action

Between 1945 and the Reagan era, Americans understood that work benefited all and when productivity when up, all stakeholders shared in the rewards. Of course that all changed. But in his new book “Shaping the Future of Work: What Future

Read More
A man speaks at a podium with an American flag backdrop.
EnvironmentFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastWar

From the point of view of foreign policy and pentagon insiders, the candidate with the most realistic platform to ensure our national security is Bernie Sanders. Guest Robert English, former Pentagon insider and expert on Russia and the USSR, explains

Read More
Group of people holding lit torches at night.
CultureEconomyEducationFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastPopulismRacismSocialismTake ActionWomen

Throughout American history there have been times, rare moments in which the political establishment’s movers and shakers quiver as their best laid plans have gone awry. Their too-often successful efforts to keep citizens believing that we are powerless are on

Read More
Snow-covered Bernie Sanders campaign sign in New Hampshire.
CultureEconomyFiscal PolicyPodcastPopulismRacismSocialismTake Action

The 2016 New Hampshire Presidential Primary is history. No one predicted a 22 point blowout for Bernie Sanders. The establishment of both parties was flattened by the results. What the heck happened? Media talent trainer and consultant John Kosinski puts

Read More
Bernie Sanders warmly greeting supporters at a crowded rally.
CultureEducationFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastPopulismSocialismTake ActionWarWomen

He’s a leading contender, surging in the polls but the Democratic Party is wielding a real war on Bernie Sanders. According to Princeton history professor Matt Karp, it’s without precedent. Bernie Sanders is clearly carrying on FDR and LBJ Democratic

Read More
Black and white campaign button with FDR's portrait and New Deal slogan.
CultureEconomyEducationEnvironmentFiscal PolicyPodcastPopulismTake Action

No question, FDR was our greatest Democratic president. Though we have, at least for the moment, gone beyond the recession of 2008, perhaps we’ve merely swept the problem under the rug, along with opportunities for real economic security. On this

Read More