America Trends Podcast: Recent Episodes
America Trends
Many say that AI will keep you from working because your skills can be replaced by this technology in ways that make it faster and cheaper for companies to accomplish the work. Well, here’s another way AI may affect your job. Have you heard about the resume robots? Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) that scan for hyper-specific keywords which are often pulled straight from the job description. These ATS systems can act as a digital filter replete with hidden biases that may silently purge candidates based on age, race, gender or disability before a human ever sees their name. Two recent lawsuits pulled back the curtain on how AI powered hiring tools are failing American workers and companies. To explain what is frustrating so many worthy applicants of their opportunity to obtain an interview, let alone a job, is Attorney Gary Phelan, a partner at Hurwitz Sagarin & Slossberg LLC in Milford, Connecticut. It opened my eyes as to why I hear young people say they have gotten immediate rejection or no response at all in their job search. Very interesting and disturbing.
There has been a lot of ink spilled trying to explain the climate weirdness which has spread all across the globe. And while some of the metrics may still be questioned, the near universal effects agreed upon by climate scientists and visible to the naked eye are upon us. So how well do we really understand what is happening and why? Pable Ribeiro Dias, Ph.D. in his new book “Climate Changed: The Science of Sustainability and How Each of Us Can Do Our Part,” is the primer and reference resource we’ve all been waiting for on this vital subject. He admits that given he is an engineer, not a climate scientist, he had to undertake a rigorous, scientific study of the subject and become knowledgeable about it so that he could provide us with a clear map of the environmental challenges of the 21st century, what really works (and the trade-offs) and practical steps we as individuals and the world community must take to tackle this existential threat. He’s done all of that. Give a listen.
The thirty-year history of the WNBA has been a raucous roller-coaster and controversy continues to swirl around the league, as it welcomes new teams, new revenue streams, greater audience interest and yet retains ongoing socio-political challenges based on sex, sexual orientation and color. It is fair to say that the league could not have achieved the status of the longest-running professional women’s sports league in US history without a certain cache that has been growing over the years. The league is trying to grow into the fact that players are key and that how you compensate them and build fan attachment to them is central to the growth of the sport. In tandem with the growing success of college women’s basketball, much of the mythmaking, say around Caitlin Clark, for example, was established before she came into the WNBA. There’s much concern that while she’s the driver of added appeal for many, it’s been difficult to fully capitalize on her popularity. We discuss the history of the league and those matters that have been in the news recently with Tamryn Spruill, a longtime writer about the sports and author of “The W: A History of the WNBA” on today’s podcast.
Many people who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 were hoping that he could restore the economy back to levels before the pandemic and somehow bring inflation down. That hasn’t happened and affordability is hanging around the neck of Republicans like an albatross going into the mid- term elections. Still others wanted a tougher immigration policy, but no one bargained for citizens getting swept up in ICE raids and others getting gunned down like in Minneapolis, Houston and Maine. Another group thought Donald Trump would keep us out of foreign adventurism and yet we are now bogged down in a conflict with Iran. So, what have we gotten? Personal retribution, personal enrichment and raw political power and extension of presidential authority to what end? That’s what a bipartisan group of former government officials, former military officers and academicians try to determine in the book, “Betrayed: America Didn’t Vote for This.” The founder of the group and co-editor of the book, Ira Shapiro, joins us to discuss.
Individually and collectively, the Beatles and Bob Dylan were the pulse, the heartbeat, and the cultural pacesetters of the 1960’s. They each influenced the course of popular music for generations, but until now, there hasn’t been a serious investigation into the ways their rivalry and collaboration affected the other. In his new book, “Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other–and the World,” Jim Windolf, features editor at the New York Times, does a deep dive into the personal and musical cross-pollination between the two. Would Dylan have gone electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 if he didn’t want to cross over from folk to rock and roll because of the wild success of the Beatles? Would the Beatles, particularly the edgy John have begun writing lyrics for songs like “Nowhere Man” and “Norwegian Wood” if not for the lyrical genius he aspired to in Dylan’s works? Windolf chases down every encounter, influence and collaboration between the two most dominant change agents of a rapidly transforming world. It’s a great read and a fun interview with Jim.
Carole King was always a great writer of pop melodies from the early days of Teen Pan Alley, at the Brill Building, in the heart of midtown Manhattan, when she and her then husband, Gerry Goffin, a lyricist, gave us classics like “Up on the Roof”, “Natural Woman,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “The Locomotion” and hundreds more. Her transformation in 1971 to a recording artist giving us one of the most successful albums in history, “Tapestry,” was something many who knew her might not have anticipated. She was shy and not confident about her vocal abilities and star power. And, yet, the authenticity of that album, as she found her voice, both in the lyrics and melodies, in many of the songs, made her name synonymous with the singer-songwriter era, of the early 1970’s. And her musical soulmate, James Taylor, is largely responsible for the confidence she gained in becoming an artist, as well as a writer. Jane Eisner captures her life and career in the book, “Carole King: She Made the Earth Move.” Her impact today? Well, Taylor Swift inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for the second time, first as a songwriter and then as an artist, and said she was the greatest pop songwriter of all time. High praise, indeed. Her legacy lives on.
We are all in the doom loop of what has become known as the ‘annoyance economy’. You know the drill–long hold times on calls and the ‘friendly’ AI assistant unwilling to get you to a human, hidden junk fees, voluminous spam offers, health insurance wrangling that pits you against health care giants, corporate-friendly cancellation processes that are designed to make you throw up your hands and pay the damn bill regardless of the validity of your claim, airline policies from ‘budget’ carriers that are anything but (and it’s impossible to navigate their websites or talk to a human) and subscriptions that seemingly never end. While it may be a source of amusement in conversations with friends, the projected costs to us in time and money are projected to be $165 billion a year. The frustrations are becoming so universal, based on the polling, that some politician who wants to run on these issues would have a powerful platform. Joining us today to discuss the ever- growing annoyance economy is Juliana Kaplan, a senior labor and inequality reporter at BUSINESS INSIDER. You’ll serve as an amen choir once we point out the abuses that create frustrations beyond measure in today’s fast digitizing economy. By the way the term itself annoyance economy, was coined by Neale Mahoney, a Stanford economist, and Chad Maisel, a policy fellow at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive research organization.
Our guest has resurrected the word ‘instigators’ and given it a powerful and positive connotation. In this case, she is bringing attention the historical importance of Black women, ages 18 to 45, whose role continues to be that of pushing our society forward for social justice and historic reforms of all kinds. Atima Omara, author of “The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy and What We Can Learn from Them”, challenges us to consider any progressive movement–be it abolition, voting rights, labor justice, the environment, the rights for LGBTQ and those advances relating to persons with disability–to recognize the central role the ‘instigators’ have played throughout our history. Even the Flint, Michigan water crises and the attention and action brought to it came about because of these brave young Black women. We revisit some of the history and current day impacts that these women have had and continue to on our society as they resist being pushed to the margins with a range of creative efforts to bend the nation’s moral compass toward justice.
Google Trends reported a 2,400 percent increase in searches for “AI girlfriends” recently. Millions of people are currently in what they consider to be serious relationships with AI. Thousands have engaged in ceremonial weddings with their AI companions and stay as faithful to them as they would a human partner. Could legal marriage to AI be far off? To many of us such concepts are unusual to say the least. However, it’s hard not to see how so many in our society could take their screen addiction to another level as they seek some form of connectedness. While in sci-fi we have imagined most of our encounters with such AI beings might be as enemies, what’s to say it couldn’t also be as ‘friends’? In her new book, “The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship,” our guest, Victoria Hetherington, takes a deep dive into something many of us have a hard time contemplating.
Most success stories start with an unimaginable backstory. Larry Bird’s journey to NBA immortality involved one of the most hardscrabble roads to success. In the fall of 1974, Bird-one of the greatest players ever to pick up a basketball-was lost and in danger of slipping away. This self-proclaimed ‘hick from French Link’ was recruited to play for Bobby Knight’s vaunted Indiana University Hoosiers’ team, but his discomfort with the fit at the University saw Bird never play a minute for the team. It all could have ended right there, but for the determination of Bob King and Bill Hodges to bring him to Indiana State University in Terre Haute, a school whose basketball team couldn’t even fill its arena. I’m old enough to recall the March 1979 NCAA Tournament finals game that pitted Larry Bird against Magic Johnson. The rest of the story involved these two men, very different in so many ways, bringing the NBA back from a perilous moment when the league was at risk of never achieving comparability with football and baseball. Keith O’Brien, author of “Heartland: A Forgotten Place, An Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird,” is a great storyteller and he joined us recently for a virtual book talk for my town’s library, which is now available as a podcast.
You’ve heard the phrase ‘horse sense’ which generally means the ability to make good judgments or decisions. In other words, common sense, about which we have often been told isn’t all that common. Our guest today, Patrick Dorinson, has a lot of what I described earlier, and he lays it all out in his new book, “The Common Sense Cowboy’s Guide to Life: Stories from the Old Guy at the End of the Bar.” The book is a spirited read full of life lessons, based on his years working on ranch crews, winning buckles in cow work competitions and as a campfire teller of tales both tall and small alike. In the book, he and his contributor Mathew Klickstein, lay out the common sense cowboy’s 12 rules for life. Number one on the list is “the secret to a long life is getting up every day with a purpose. Young or old, working or retired, everyone needs a purpose so find yours.” There so much more to benefit from in this podcast. He’s also got a great voice and graces the book cover with his elegant handlebar mustache. He’s the real deal.
There was a time when scientists could only read our biology, then came an advance with their ability to edit it and now it’s a moment to write a whole new chapter in evolution through synthetic biology, made possible in large part, you guessed it by artificial intelligence. Breakthroughs in AI, gene editing and synthetic biology are coming together to make this an unprecedented time in the history of life. Evolution, and its randomness, have left us with bodies that could benefit from our ability to make adjustments–like repairing faulty genes and having the ability to intervene in the complex systems that drive disease. Sounds futuristic? And a bit scary? The technology is neutral. It’s how it is applied. In benevolent hands, and with regulatory safeguards, it may make possible advances unimaginable just decades ago. Our guest, Dr. Adrian Woolfson is the author of “On the Future of the Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence.” This is probably your first time diving into this fascinating topic. Advances suggest it will become part of the scientific lexicon before you know it.
Recently, noted author Walter Isaacson devoted a whole book to what he called “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written”, you know, the one that reads ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While the beauty of the prose in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence is most often quoted, our guest historian and Professor of History, Robert Parkinson, tells us in his new book that what follows in the form of 27 grievances against the King and his enforcers, represents the real crux of the reason we declared our independence in the first place. In “Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence,” Parkinson details the reasons we decided we must break away from England at the time. It is the first book in 120 years devoted to the meat of the Declaration of Independence. On the 250th anniversary of this world changing event, we thought we’d have him get to the heart, rather than the spirit, of the matter. He makes a bold case and by listening, you’ll have a great conversation piece for your 4th of July celebration.
In an unprecedented compilation, half of the faculty at Harvard Law School contributed essays, short and readable, about the work America has to do to build on the dreams and aspirations of our Founders as set out in our seminal documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Both of them commit our nation to shared governance, shared rights and shared accountability under the law for ‘one people’, as diverse as we were then and even more so today. Joining us on this podcast is Guy-Uriel E. Charles, the Charles J.Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard. He, along with Alexandra Natapoff, the Lee S. Kriendler Professor of Law, at the same venerated institution, edited a first of a kind book, “America Unfinished: An Essay Collection from Harvard Law School Faculty.” Some of America’s most brilliant legal minds weigh in on the moment and give their reasoned consideration to issues like the many failures of the Article 1 branch, the Congress, where war powers reside in the Constitution, the pros and cons of our decentralized electoral system and the role of the judiciary–especially the Supreme Court—in keeping the constitutional order functioning. It is an important book and a great conversation.
President Trump’s most prized word is ‘tariffs’ and on Liberation Day he extolled their virtues and told us that this would usher in a new era of reshoring and renewal of the manufacturing sector. He has also touted $18 trillion dollars in manufacturing investments here in the United States, but according to our guest that has yet to result in shovels in the ground. After a year of on again, off again tariffs and testy interplay with allies on many of the levies, is it having the desired effect of creating new investment and employment in the manufacturing sector? Our guest, Paul Lavoie is the vice president for Innovation, Corporate Partnerships and Career Success at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. As the State of Connecticut’s former chief manufacturing officer, he was named one of top 5 Chief Manufacturing Officers in the world. He answers a range of questions about the current manufacturing policy in the United States and offers his six steps to bend the curve back toward growth in that sector of our economy.
Underpinning the growing use of AI is the need for state-of-the-art data centers. These data centers host a large number of file servers and networking equipment that can store, process, and analyze text, images, code, and other information sources. While data centers have been around throughout the computer, internet and cloud eras none so big and controversial as these. One proposed in the state of Utah is larger than Manhattan. Really! The objection to these data centers has formed in red and blue states. The concerns relate to the impact on water supplies needed to cool them, particularly in the Southwest, the spikes in electricity costs, the noise emitted and the giveaways that communities and states have bestowed upon them even if the economic impact on the local workforce is not very impactful. Large tech companies are feeling the backlash and trying to develop community impact packages that deliver more to the sites where they are being built. More than 4,000 are already in operation and 3,000 more are being planned or under construction. To discuss this issue of growing importance is Darrell West, of Brookings, co-author of the book, “Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.”
The staff of America Trends Podcast would like to wish all are listeners A very Happy Thanksgiving
Ira Chaleff, an expert in political followership reveals how political followers can make or ‘brake’ toxic leaders and what we can do-no matter our political sophistication or where we sit on the political spectrum-to support beneficial leaders and stop the rise of prototyrants who are on the verge of becoming…In his new book, “To Stop a Tyrant,” Mr. Chaleff describes the choices for action available to us depending on our circle of influence. He identifies the opportunities available for interrupting a progression from democratic governance to tyrannical rule. He admonishes that early resistance is a key and reminds us of the fact that followers, ‘we the people’, can make a tangible difference in preventing the rise and consolidation of power of toxic political leaders.
Brody Mullins, and his brother, Luke, wrote the much heralded “The Wolves of K Street”, about how the last fifty years of corporate influence in Washington had shifted Washington D.C.’s center of power from elected officials to extravagantly paid operators, using a new bag of tricks, who bent public policy in favor of corporate interests. That book came out in 2024. And already, according to Brody, the game is changing again. Starting in 2016, corporate PAC money has been declining as a share of campaign finance dollars in favor of Super PAC money. At the same time Trump’s law, in politics, speeding up the process of change in that realm has echoes of Moore’s law in defining the pace of technological change. The pace of what’s happening in Washington D.C. can be dizzying and the way it all lands uncertain. In this podcast, we do our best to walk you through the fast -changing landscape, explain the terms of campaign finance and its implications for our politics.
The doomsday clock is ticking…and who can we blame if the alarm is sounded and we find out it’s too late for the human species to recover? There’s a certain irony that all of the good things that science and technology have wrought, bring with them byproducts which are the key ingredients of our own demise. For instance, will AI and its growing intelligence determine that we are no longer needed? Whoops, there goes the Anthropocene. Or if the convenience of plastics results in its overuse to the degree that its contaminants, breaking down in our bodies, leads to our demise. Or the ability to harness the atom and the development of the atomic bomb results in a madman turning the switch and the conflagration we’ve all feared arrives. To discuss these weighty issues, and major concerns, is Dr. Peter Solomon–a scientist, educator, entrepreneur, and author. In his latest book, a novel, “100 Years to Extinction”, he looks at these and other ‘achievements of science’ to determine if astrophysicist Stephen Hawking’s dire prediction of human extinction by 2117 may be right.
And you think your family has some great achievements and enough demerits to warrant a book? Well, clearly, author and New Yorker writer, John Seabrook’s family, has all of that in triplicate and he spells it all out in the eminently readable “The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.” His grandfather, C.F. Seabrook, hailed as the “Henry Ford of Agriculture,” built an empire in the bean fields of southern New Jersey. Seabrook Farms, which at its peak in the mid-1950’s grew a third of America’s frozen vegetables–and made his family wealthy, glamorous and powerful. They literally drove the transition from horsepower to mechanized agriculture and pioneered quick-frozen food, which changed the nation’s eating habits. However, there’s much more to this story which a grandson, John, captures in the book and on the podcast which might not put such a positive spotlight on his family. Thanks to a box handed down to him by his father, he was able to recount the good and the bad and give us a remarkable picture of American innovation, wealth and some of the not so genteel ways fortunes are made.
For more than sixty years, the United States has trained fewer physicians than it needs. It is expensive and time-consuming to educate a new doctor, and much more expedient to bring immigrant doctors trained in other countries. And that’s what we’ve done. This all began, in earnest, with the passage of the Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which expedited the entry of foreign medical graduates (FMG’s) from postcolonial South Asia and sent them to provide care in shortage areas throughout the United States. I, myself, have benefited, and do today, from their care. In fact, one out of 4 doctors practicing in the United States came from other parts of the world. It was never an easy road for them, but they have filled a vital need for America. Yet, today, with a less than welcoming attitude, it’s hard to know what the future holds and its impact on all of us. To discuss this important subject is Eram Alam, Ph.D, and Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. She is the author of “The Care of Foreigners: How Immigrant Physicians Changed US Healthcare.”
Bitcoin had been a bit player as people designed their financial portfolios. Investors would ask ‘is this a scam and am I chasing the latest shiny object?’ But today it seems as if cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology that undergirds it is getting newfound respect. The second Trump Administration has passed The Genius Act and pronounced openly its support of digital currency (and the Trump family has profited from it to what’s reported as $2.9 billion). So how should we, as individual investors, take stock of the growing options available in cryptocurrency purchasing and its inclusion in standard issue mutual funds and ETF’s? While some may not want to be left behind if it is the next big thing, others might take a more cautious approach. In this podcast, I ask Vijay Marolia, a seasoned money manager and the Chief Investment Officer of Regal Point Capital, to walk us through this new world and explain if we can believe what is very hard to see–digital currency.
Many of us are unwitting victims of the private equity industry. Some by virtue of being employed by companies they have bought whose future success or failure may have no impact on the private equity firm’s ability to profit from the leveraged buyout of those companies. In her new book, “Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, ” journalist Megan Greenwell takes a deep dive into the lives of four such people–including a Toys R Us floor supervisor, a Wyoming doctor, a Virginia housing advocate and a Texas journalist. Megan herself began a journalistic journey to understand this financial behemoth because her own on-line sports project, Deadspin, was taken over by private equity and run into the ground, after having had great success. We will explain how this industry achieves the results that it does for the owners of the private equity firms, the reach it is having into all sectors of our economy and your need to be aware of how it may affect you.
It is said that we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction. Thus, we have taken some steps to protect endangered species–but clearly not enough. And while the stories we usually tell ourselves about global warming tend to focus on the damage inflicted on human societies by big storms, severe droughts, and rising sea levels, the most powerful impacts are being felt by the natural world and its many species. Our guest, naturalist and author, Adam Welz, decided to write “The End of Eden” in order to engage people on climate in a way that might break through. In the book, he describes the effects it’s having on moose in Maine, parrots in Puerto Rico, cheetahs in Namibia and the birds in your backyard. In a nuanced way, he tries to remind us that our fragile ecosystem and all creatures great and small are suffering. It’s a compelling wake up call.
It can be hard to explain how the actions of the top .01 percent have severe consequences for the rest of us, but in his book, “Burned by Billionaires,” Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, lays it out chapter and verse. He demonstrates through words and charts how the rest of us pay more in taxes, get less in services, find housing unaffordable and get news increasingly skewed by the ownership of important sources by the richest among us. As you listen to this podcast, you will better grasp how the highest income concentration in the last 100 years results in tax shifting from wealth to work and that this phenomenon has been building from the 1970’s on to a tipping point today. Our vast political swings each cycle show an electorate trying to find someone who can make the system work for them, while the billionaires huddle with their advisors and our elected leaders to disrupt the game board for their advantage. It all makes sense when our guest describes concepts like the wealth pump and how the financialization of our economy takes money away from pursuits that can benefit us all. It’s a must listen.
America has many challenges in the health industry. And while our guest, who came to America as an immigrant, wanted desperately to be part of what he considered to be ‘the best medical system in the world’ back in 1975, he no longer holds that view. He says that our system has become too politicized, with too many intermediaries and has a one size fits all approach which is not serving this large country well. In his book, “Disease Knows No Politics”, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, former Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), shares thoughtful reflections on his profession as well as compelling stories about his immigrant past. In this podcast, we touch on all manner of issues in health care, from what went wrong during the pandemic, the importance of the NIH and university settings for making America the leader in health care innovation and the large role immigrants play in our healthcare system. Listening to Dr. Zerhouni is like being back in one of the best classrooms of your past. He’s clear, precise and so well informed on these issues.
While the ideal of the American woman was to be skinny, now they need to be skinny and have a glow acquired through some combination of daily yoga, vegan makeup and mushroom coffee or tea. Gwyneth Paltrow’s company, GOOP, in many ways best exemplifies this growing industry which rakes in about $5.6 trillion a year with products advertised on-line, by influencers and by more conventional media outlets. Products and services are involved which are said to improve all aspects of your life from colonics to charcoal toothpaste to green juice enemas. While the FDA may not be referenced as having sanctioned these products (and what does the FDA sanction anymore) what was once considered the domain of the rich has become aspirational for the mainstream and many ‘wellness’ branded products can be found under such a label at Walmart, no less. It’s a fascinating topic explored critically in Amy Larocca’s new book, “How to be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time.” Amy joins us today to discuss.
Refrigeration is considered to be the most impactful invention in the history of food and drink. And while we focus on our personal refrigerators there is an entire ‘cold chain’ of cold storage warehouses, shipping containers, trucks, and display cases, keeping foodstuffs fresh until we can purchase them. It’s a labyrinth never documented in the way that Nicola Twilley, our guest, and the author of “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves” has done in her meticulously researched book. There are stunning statistics in the book, including the fact that three quarters of the food Americans eat has been refrigerated and the American family opens the refrigerator 107 times a day on average. And like many technological advances that have made life easier and better with, say, the ability to eat tomatoes in the winter in New England, there are downsides, which threaten the actual growth of those plants in no small part because of the mechanics of cooling and its contributions to global warming. It’s a fascinating story and we present it to you today.
Diane Ravitch, Ph.D, is a historian of education. For decades now, she has written, lectured and been interviewed about her views on a range of subjects related to education reform, including standardized testing, vouchers, charter schools and accountability. Early on, she was a proponent of all of the above. She was part of the leadership team in George H. W. Bush’s education department. While her views were categorized as conservative or neoconservative throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s on these subjects, at the start of this century her scholarship brought her to a different place on virtually all that she had previously espoused. It is hard to imagine how difficult it was to admit she was wrong, having been so public, and influential, in her views. In the end, she came to a few simple, but profound, conclusions–public monies are for public schools, family wealth is the greatest determinant of student achievement, and adherence to color-blind policies assures that the status quo remains in place. She also believes that the No Child Left Behind effort, and other modern reforms, measure only certain skills in reading and math, but leave other important subjects in a lesser tier. And that in the end, it is content–narratives and stories–not skills, that ignites the love of learning. In her latest book, “An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else,” Ravitch is unsparing in sharing both the incredible changes she has undergone throughout her life and in how she now views her life’s work
While we might think that ambulances are always involved in step on the gas exercises–get the paddles out, extricate from a car wreck or save from the effects of a heart attack, in truth there are many folks in the ambulance because they’ve run out of luck and have no one to call, excepting 9-1-1, for just the bad fortunes of life–an imminent eviction notice or the lack of food And as long as emergency services answer all calls, the bulk of the work of ambulance drivers and technicians will never be only about life-threatening emergencies. This is one of the many revelations you’ll find in Joanna Sokol’s work memoir, “A Real Emergency: Stories from the Ambulance.” While she documents the low pay and difficult working conditions, we are reminded that it’s the only medical care that is not first mediated by the medical bureaucracy–particularly insurance considerations. The ambulance arrives and off you go. In the end, someone has to pay for the service but given the many ways that ambulance services are owned and operated, it’s a hard business to make a profit from. Riding in that ambulance, Sokol reminds us, you can discern a lot about what America cares about and who is often left behind.
Tim Bakken, a civilian professor, and the longest-serving law professor in West Point’s history, filed a lawsuit recently in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging a new U.S. Military Academy policy regulating faculty speech, which he alleges violates the First Amendment. You may recall that Professor Bakken was on our podcast a few years back promoting his book, “The Cost of Loyalty,” in which he describes how unquestioned faith isolates the U.S. armed forces from civil society and has catastrophic consequences. In 2012, he won that case against West Point before the U.S. Merit System’s Protection Board, which found him to be a legally protected whistleblower, after he complained of wrongdoing at West Point and suffered retaliation. As a result, he became one of the few federal employees to win a lawsuit against the U.S. military. The new lawsuit challenges the new “Academic Engagement Policy” requiring faculty members to seek and obtain prior approval from their department heads before they may speak to external audiences or publish articles or essays on matters within their spheres of disciplinary expertise while on duty and when speaking or writing as a citizen and mentioning their affiliation with West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. On this podcast, Tim Bakken spoke as a citizen and did not indicate his institutional affiliation in accord with a requirement of his employer. Any reference to that status was mine, and mine alone.
The euro survived crises unimagined at its founding in 1992, giving European countries a common currency. First there was the financial meltdown of 2007-2009, the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2012, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The European Central Bank (ECB) pushed back against these ill winds with dramatic policy innovations, like buying up vast amounts of debt and providing large loans to banks. In the midst of turmoil those seem to have been the right things to do. Now, however, is it expected that the ECB will intervene routinely, expanding the limited mission (to use interest rates to pursue price stability) it was given at its birth? That is a key question going forward. Our guest, Stanford professor, John Cochrane, along with co-authors Luis Garicano and Klaus Masuch, provide prescriptions for maintaining this monetary union in their new book, “Crisis Cycle: Challenges, Evolution, and the Future of the Euro.”
To many, the term “Black Capitalists” tips an equation upside down. Black people were the labor force that built the infrastructure of American capitalism through the violent dictates of legalized slavery, so is it possible in this moment to see Black people as beneficiaries of this system? And if they are starting to amass capital, what are they doing with it? According to our guest, Rachel Laryea Ph.D., author “Black Capitalists: A Blueprint for What Is Possible” those who deserve this nomenclature are those who are strategic in using their wealth in order to create social good. Her book is replete with examples of those who do not take a winner-take-all approach to the accumulation of money. Our guest says that the term “Black Capitalists” is race agnostic–an invitation for everyone to strive towards social good and monetary profit in their everyday economic transactions. While anyone can participate in a capitalist system with a more equitable and inclusive approach to it, she points out how race profoundly shapes the way people participate in our economy
Oh, the times they are a changing’. While the focus in a slew of parenting books has been on infancy, adolescence and the teenage years, little has been focused on as it relates to ages 6-12, which is deemed middle childhood. To many parents there’s a sense that the heaviest lifting for them is over. And yet the research is telling us something different. In her new book “The Crucial Years: The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood (Ages 6-12)”, clinical psychologist, Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler, tells us that this next phase of child development may be different from that which we remember, because of early onset puberty, social media and peer pressure caused by it. The child is now facing new pressures from other adults, such as teachers, and schoolmates. Their brains and their bodies are going through changes that can be confusing to them and their parents. Thankfully, we have an expert with us who can explain the psychological and physiological elements at play at this stage.
There are over 400,000 children in foster care in America, costing the state and federal government over $30 billion a year. So, is the system working? It’s hard to say the system is failing, but perhaps it’s more accurate to say that adults all along the way–from the biological families to a host of caregivers–are unable to build the attachments and connections which can lead to a healthy adult life. How else can we explain the fact that children who have been in foster care exhibit nearly twice the rate of PTSD as Iraq war veterans? Childhood trauma can result in greater likelihood of arrest and imprisonment and even shorter lifespans. To dissect this complicated issue, our guest, Claudia Rowe, author of “Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care” followed six foster kids across the country for a number of years to really study the effects of their experience. The book, and our conversation, are eye-opening.
Most of what we hear lately about higher education relates to the legal battles between the Trump Administration and Harvard, the nation’s oldest university. And while prior to this the leading issue in the news was student debt and overall affordability of college, there are a number of issues that have come to the fore. Among them is return on investment as while collar graduates find it more difficult to find jobs given the barreling and hard to imagine impacts of AI, the demographic cliff in which fewer students are coming through the college age cohort and the growing set of choices, not all well vetted, of alternative paths by way of certificate programs offered by all manner of institutions. Our guest, Mark Schneider a non- resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (aei.org) specializing in higher education administration takes my questions about all of these issues on today’s podcast.
We like to imagine that we are safe and immune from much of what we see on the news. In the case of wildfires, people on the east coast might see it as a west coast phenomenon. Yet, there have been such fires in New Jersey and the Carolinas recently. Even those living outside of Los Angeles might have imagined that the wildfire devastation that so often has visited northern California would spare them. Yet, there are too many conditions in play–arson, overgrown forests, global warming and overdevelopment–that suggest that no one is immune from the ravages of fire. And there are only some of us who, when seeing it, have the courage to rush toward it to stop it, as opposed to away from it. One such person is Kelly Ramsey, a former federal Hot Shot firefighter who details her exploits, and those of her team, in “Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West.” She’s a fascinating person, a great writer and a brave soul whose message needs to be heard. Listen in.
As a dog parent, I bristle at doggie dress-ups at the local pet supply store, yet I still eat meat. Call me a hypocrite. I accept the critique. And yet when it comes to animals, there is a stratification as to how we treat them and the title of a book published a few years back most aptly put it, “Some We Love, Some We Hate and Some We Eat.” Our guest, Elizabeth Melampy, author of “Forget the Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say About Being Human,” and an animal rights attorney, tries to answer in the book the profound question of what makes humans different from animals, since as we are reminded early on in it that our origin story must start with accepting the fact that humans are animals. The modality she uses to expertly delve into the subject are the dozens of festivals around the country that use animals as the central theme. It becomes clear, like the doggie dress ups shows, how we often disregard the needs of the animals even as we host events seemingly in their honor. We go on to discuss a range of animal rights issues in this compelling podcast.
Let’s start with the basics. What are ‘forever chemicals?’ And so this podcast begins with Professor Matt Simcik, an environmental chemist from the University of Minnesota, trying to explain to me, a layman, what they are. They have been in the news lately and there are now efforts around the country to limit their use and our exposure to them. They are otherwise referred to as PFAS chemicals which have been around since the 1940’s. They are manufactured and engineered to be strong, with a durable carbon-fluorine chemical bond. Like many other industrial developments, PFAS chemicals were created with good intentions–to keep people safe, offer convenience and spur economic growth. Much later, we find that their use brings with it health risks particularly in our food and water. Let’s leave it there and allow our guest to bring his expertise to the subject. Stay until the end when he describes what each of us can do to minimize our risks with ‘forever chemicals.’
Pneumatic drilling from building sites. The dull roar of planes overhead. Your fellow worker’s phone conversations in an otherwise silent office. The suburban drone of lawn mowers and blowers. Noise seems to be everywhere, and it can disrupt our sleep, ratchet up our stress, destroy our concentration–yet it’s a problem we shrug off once the immediate annoyance passes. In truth, noise is one of the most pervasive pollutants in our daily lives. It can cause health problems for people and wildlife, both on land and sea. For humans it can, of course, cause hearing loss, and this is a growing problem for young people as they accessorize with devices early on to amplify their music. It can lead to high blood pressure and have impacts on longevity overall. Chris Berdik, our guest and the author of “Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back” joins us to discuss an issue we pay too little attention to.
Interconnected technological change is happening more rapidly than at any time in history and on such a scale that its impacts will be profound in fields as diverse as health, food production, and the strength of the overall economy. It may even bail us out from our assaults on the planet. In a clear-eyed and easily understood manner, Jamie Metzl, a leading futurist and One Shared. World founder, explains all of this in his new book, “Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work and World.” The challenge we face is that while our ability to engineer the world around us is advancing exponentially, our processes for understanding the scope, scale, and implications of these changes, and for managing the “godlike” powers wisely, are not keeping pace. His thinking is bold and inspiring as he explores with us the transformative nature of human knowledge, with a particular focus on biology and the life sciences. CRISPR babies? Doctors performing gene therapy? Analysts storing data in genes? What is happening here? A brave new world, indeed. Find out on this podcast.
There was a time that America sensed that the right leader came along at the right time and pulled us through many crises–war, The Depression, pandemics and other economic travails. I am not certain we feel that way about some of the recent commanders in chief. Yet history reminds us we have had many forgotten chief executives who made it necessary for us to replace them with someone who could fix the mess they left behind. I am referring to a number before and after the Civil War. Is it that they didn’t live up to expectations or that we simply made the wrong choices? In any event, William Haldeman, in his new book, “Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership that Transformed America,” singles out the qualities needed in a President-like judgment, ingenuity, dedication, courage, confidence and optimism and points to those who had these qualities and the telltale signs of their greatness. As we approach a transfer of power at this moment, it is a good time to reflect on these values and fall back on them as we evaluate our leaders going forward.
Math is used by campaign strategists to help politicians decide where to travel and spend money when running for office. The same kinds of calculations can help ordinary citizens make the best use of their time and resources. And for change agents who want a more representative democracy, these simulations and ‘what-if’s’ might give us the empirical data to evaluate what might occur if, for example, we eliminated the electoral college and went to a popular vote method, had open primaries for congressional districts and other offices and employed some form of rank-choice voting. Our guest, Sam Wang, is a Neuroscience Professor at Princeton University and the Director of the Electoral Innovation Lab, where they developed the Voter Maximizer, which performs a non-partisan mathematical and strategic analysis to identify races and ballot questions where the per-voter impact is greatest. Their work does not center on campaigns, but rather on the individual voter. It’s a fascinating lens into our political and electoral systems.
When we think of institutions that define welcoming spaces to convene and conduct business in virtually every community in America the local library is first and foremost. It represents the one place in which you can build social cohesion, promote civic renewal, and advance the ideals of a healthy democracy. And where you can get a potboiler of a new novel, share your computer skills for research with others, attend a multitude of programs or watch children’s eyes light up as part of story time programs and other tactile experiences, like learning a percussive instrument. All of that and so much more takes place within libraries which are staffed by creative professionals who are engaged in designing new learning experiences for young and old. In his new book, “Meet Me at the Library: A Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy”, Shamichael Hallman reminds us of all that libraries represent in a time when loneliness and isolation demand that we find public spaces to bond and forge new relationships. The library serves this purpose…and so much more.
We have been the powerhouse on the world’s stage since WWII and we virtually stood alone as a dominant force since 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. While there have clearly been wobbles since, like the Iraq debacle, we now must envision a new era in foreign policy, both because of the rise of our major adversary, in China, as well as the new Trump Administration’s uneven support for NATO and the alliance that has secured the peace throughout this modern era. Edward Goldberg, an NYU professor, and the author of “The United States as Global Liberal Hegemon: How the US Came to Lead the World”, leads us through this changing political landscape. While we use our military, economy and geography to straddle the globe as the major force still, are those days coming to an end? And, if so, what are the implications of this changing dynamic? We discuss today in detail on this podcast.
The guest on this podcast is pretty remarkable, not only because he’s willing to say that the polling industry got things wrong, but why. And he doesn’t exclude himself. Yet he has enough self-awareness to admit that not knowing who, among those polled, is coming out to vote really makes this job of polling a tough game. Even in high profile elections, like the one that just passed, nearly 40 percent of the people don’t cast a ballot. Which forty percent is the hard part to discern. Perhaps more important is the fact that while we categorize the electorate as either being on the blue team or the red team, more and more people on the shades of gray team and are very fluid in their voting patterns, depending upon the personalities of the candidates and the issues of the day. How else can we explain the oscillation of an electorate that goes from George W. Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump to Joe Biden and back to Trump. Anti-incumbent fervor is rampant in this country and around the world. A key ingredient in all of this is the growing sector of the voting public that describes itself as independent. So, when asked to make predictions during election season, our guest always gives the same answer. Whoever wins the independents. Brett Loyd, CEO of the nonpartisan Bullfinch Group and a contributor for the Independent Center, joins us to explain.
Our guest on today’s podcast, Rafael Martinez, is an assistant professor of Southwest Borderlands at Arizona State University. There he focuses on immigration, migration, the US-Mexico Borderlands, and the American Southwest. Through that work he demonstrates how communities along the US-Mexico border contribute to the social, political, and economic fabric of the US. He calls himself am ‘undocu-scholar’, a DREAMer, as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which offered certain protections to young people like himself. He discusses the many issues surrounding immigration and particularly the rise of undocumented youth social movements in 21st century America. He documents their efforts in his book, “Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States.”
For some years, we’ve been told that the ice melt in Antarctica, Greenland and other places in the cryosphere represent the harbinger of things to come announcing the profound effects of global warming on the planet. Little did I know that a new discipline has developed around ‘ice patch archeology,’ which ties us to the environment and culture of the past. Science journalist, Lisa Baril, in her new book “The Age of Melt: What Glaciers, Ice Mummies, and Ancient Artifacts Teach Us About Climate, Culture, and the Future Without Ice,” excavates a tour of ice for us, exploring the conflicting belief systems around ice and its integral relationship to people. Interestingly, the more the ice melts the more we learn about the past and yet, at the same time, it compromises our future. The meltwater is critical to the fresh water we drink and utilize in many parts of the world, but this sustainer of life can only do its job when it releases seasonally not in the overwhelming torrent that continued warming will eventually lead to. We are in a race against time. Can human ingenuity get us past this man- made crisis? We’ll discuss today.
The U.S Senate has many important responsibilities. Among them are making laws, ratifying justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts and approving presidential nominees for key Cabinet positions. For the newly re-elected Donald Trump Administration the latter responsibility is key to determining whether the chamber is ready to step up to its constitutional responsibility as a separate branch of government or whether its GOP majority will simply go along with questionable nominees in order to accede to President-elect Trump’s desires. It will be a bellwether of what is to come from the branch of government that can put a check on a new President who seems to want to put the Imperial Presidency on skates. Will they? Early signs that they may be taking seriously their independent role was the selection of Sen. John Thune as the Republican Majority Leader and the pressure they exerted to force Matt Gaetz to withdraw his nomination for Attorney General. Joining us to discuss what to expect from the Senate is a man who has worked there and written a trilogy of books about the last sixty years of the Senate. Ira Shapiro’s latest book is “The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America.”
The real question is whether that is even the goal and purpose of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Or is it retaliation for Donald Trump’s inability to bring bureaucrats to heel in his first administration? We will find out in short order because it’s a race against several clocks–the ‘mandate’ claim which gets smaller as all votes are counted, the Democrats to find their voice after a loss that stunned many, Congressional Republicans to realize they have mid- term elections to survive and union lobbyists and lawyers to push back against any serious tinkering with the federal workforce and programs, to blunt the force of what’s proposed. We’ve had Commissions and several efforts like this in the past under Democrats and Republicans, and it’s had little effect on the growth of government. Philip K. Howard, who founded commongood.org, has been seeking simpler governing frameworks that honor the role of human judgment and responsibility for years now. His work is serious and intentional. In this podcast, he describes what he believes should be done and casts a doubtful eye on the approach being taken by DOGE.
Our guest, Peter Schwartzstein, is a journalist on the climate security beat. He’s immersed himself in some of the hot spots of the world, like Syria, for years during its civil war to unpack the story of how global warming is adding to, if not a key precipitant of, conflicts in many parts of the world. This is particularly true in the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America where intensifying gang warfare in urban neighborhoods to ‘old school’ piracy are raging. The climate plays a role in adding to a variety of other destabilizers when we consider how dependent many regions are in living off of the land. This only makes sense. Historically we have seen, for example, the role that water, or lack thereof, has played in disputes between nations. In his book, “The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence”, Schwartzstein describes in vivid detail how global warming can unleash dislocation, exhaustion and a sense of powerlessness. And while this phenomenon is most aggravated presently in poorer countries in warmer climates, he can see how it has the potential to push over to wealthier nations going forward.
How polarized are we, really? While the extremes in both ideological camps may be smaller in numbers than mainstream opinions their effect on our political dialogue and the conveyor belt of lies and distortions on social media amplify and accelerate those differences. Thus, it feels like we are in a pitched battle for the soul of America. The echo chambers distort so much of what is heard and seen that you feel like you’re in a fun house of sorts. So how do we, everyday commonsense Americans, render the ‘stridents’ less powerful than they appear to us. In her well thought out and researched book, “Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future For All”, Diana McLain Smith provides us, as she has business leaders for years, on a “Leading Through Relationships(LTR) approach which has been used around the world to convert debilitating intergroup conflict into a constructive force for change.
Longtime Defense researcher Luis Elizondo has become associated with reporting on the existence of UFOs(unidentified flying objects), now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena(UAPs). He made headlines in 2017 when he resigned as a senior intelligence official running a Pentagon program investigating these objects in the sky and alerted the public to the fact that the secrecy and lack of resources devoted to this topic was denying the public of its right to know about this long discussed topic. His disclosures caused much ruckus and has led to serious discussion about the topic, to the point where Congress, on a bipartisan basis, is taking the matter seriously. Elizondo posits that we are not alone and, in fact, states in his new book “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs” that “humanity is, in fact, not the only intelligent life in the universe, and not the alpha species.” His thoughts, observations and first hand knowledge of the subject make for a fascinating conversation.
What kind of question is that, you may ask? We’ve always had grades. How would we evaluate performance without them? Is this just another ‘woke’ idea, like participation trophies for playing the game? How will they learn to compete in this dog eat dog world awaiting our students? Joshua Eyler, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a clinical assistant professor of teacher education at the University of Mississippi and the author of “Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It” has answers to all of those questions. He illustrates in his book how grades interfere with students’ intrinsic motivation and perpetuate the idea that school is a place for competition rather than discovery. In his research on the subject, he feels that grades actually impede the learning process. He provides alternative ‘grading models’ which are being adapted in certain educational settings as we continue to see student anxiety and mental health issues go off the charts. It’s a very interesting discussion.
While the rankings for U.S. News & World Report seem to get most of the attention, perhaps there’s another lens we should put on the ranking process. Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief of Washington Monthly, once worked there and sensed that there is a better scoring system to reflect the needs of more students across the country, so he designed one. His is not based on selectivity, endowment size, and name recognition. Rather it reflects well on the colleges and universities that focus on social mobility, affordability, and provide educations that lead to careers in public service and jobs that allow students to pay off their student debt. You may find it interesting that schools with “State” in their name do very well. The September/October issue of his magazine features great articles about where you can get the best bang for the buck, a university that’s breaking the mold by doing the opposite of what the trends are in higher education and how to escape what’s called “Higher Ed’s Bermuda Triangle.” This podcast breaks it all down and toplines what these articles explore in depth. It’s all worth a listen and a read.
Listening to this podcast, you can discern that I am not a fan of Donald Trump. His approach to ethics, decency, business practices and bruising politics is an anathema to me. So, to the extent that I can keep up with his subterfuge, I attempt to do so. I’ll admit that it is a challenge because he spews a firehose of lies, distortion, misdirection, and gaslighting. Frankly, it’s disorienting. If he has one gift that I can acknowledge, if not applaud, it’s his ability to be unabashed in his torrent of deception. Whether it was the cooperation, if not collusion, between Russia and members of his 2016 presidential campaign, best described in a report of the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio or the Big Lie of 2020 or the ‘perfect phone call’ trying to trade military support to Ukraine for dirt on the Biden family, this man’s propensity to obfuscate the truth, and sell it to millions of Americans, is unparalleled in our history. How does he do it? Our guest, Steve Benen, explains on this podcast and in his new book “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Why do politicians lie so often? There must be a reason for it. And why do we not demand better of them and ask the media to do a better job of holding them to account? One could argue that, really, the incentive structure in politics rewards those who lie and the penalties are too slight to stop the practice. With it comes a growing cynicism that no one can be trusted to keep their word and the pillars of democracy become further weakened. Bill Adair, from his founding of PolitiFact years back, to this day, has attempted to put the Truth-O-Meter to work, developing a methodology to reveal what’s true and what’s not. In his new book, “Beyond the Big Lie”, he shines the spotlight of the best liars in politics and names names in the Lying Hall of Fame. He then prescribes ways that we may be able to curb the default tendency to lie. Finally, he reveals, empirically, which party lies more often.
Many presidents have attempted to influence the actions of the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI for political means. I am old enough to remember the Saturday Night Massacre, as it was called, in Richard Nixon’s presidency during the Watergate scandal. And the FBI had its own political agenda on the remarkably long, and dubious, tenure of J. Edgar Hoover. However, few presidents have been as indifferent to the distance that should exist between federal law enforcement and the president’s personal desires or prejudices than Donald Trump. New norms established in the wake of the Watergate scandal have been trampled over. He sought to use the attorney general, special prosecutors, U.S. attorneys and the FBI as tools to help himself and his political allies and punish his enemies. Examples too numerous to recount are detailed in David Rohde’s new book, “Where Tyranny Begins.” A Pulitzer Prize winner and national security editor at NBC News, Rohde tells remarkable stories behind headlines long forgotten about the pressure Trump tried to exert on cases like the Russian campaign interference, the Election results in 2020 and many others. It’s recent history and it’s a foreboding reminder at this critical juncture.
Usually we define vigilantes as the barbarians at the gate who want to disrupt the order of things. What if the state itself becomes that disruptor bringing the chaos not protecting us from it? Two law professors, Jon Michaels, of UCLA, and David Noll, of Rutgers University, make a compelling case in “Vigilante Nation: How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy”, that we are on the precipice of this happening in the present moment. And it’s not the first time in our history when this has happened. It was true when northern abolitionists emancipated southern slavocracy and then, following the Civil War, when emancipated Black Americans sought to implement Reconstruction and were instead faced with Jim Crow laws, designed to maintain white dominance. The book describes the American right’s twenty-first century resurrection of state-supported vigilantism, which has made a roaring comeback following the failed coup of January 6, 2021. The upcoming election and its aftermath will fill in the picture more as we see the traps set for our democracy since January 7, 2021, most noticeable already in red states across the country.
It’s never happened before where a presidential candidate promises to throw sand in the gears of a modern democracy in order to bend all levers of government to his will. Sure, we have had much rumination about how slow or inert government agencies have become, or how there might be overreach on the part of regulators, but never the stated and elaborate effort to to dismantle the capacity of government to do its work. Democracy depends on a government that can govern, and that’s requires what’s called public administration. Our federal government, as well as all levels, including state and local, is made up of a vast array of departments and agencies that conduct the essential business of government, from national defense and disaster response to implementing and enforcing public policies of all kind. In their new book, “Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos”, Dartmouth professor, Russell Muirhead, and our guest, Nancy Rosenblum, a Harvard Professor Emerita, lay out how this new term came about and what might ensue if this approach comes to fruition. Hint: the results are not good.
This week’s two podcasts feature women journalists writing about subjects that put them at potential risk as they uncover abuses and actions that most in our society are shielded from. Alice Driver, author of “Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking On America’s Largest Meatpacking Company” lives in Arkansas a state controlled by two dominant businesses: Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart. She has focused her perceptive and poignant pen on the abuses of workers at Tyson Foods plants, a subject that got some attention during the pandemic, but rarely is reported on. With a workforce dominated by immigrants, some with papers, others with fake documents, a past CEO of the company admits that without this labor force the company could not operate. And yet these immigrants, many of whom are just happy to have a job, are left to the many perils that beset one of the most dangerous work environments in the country. Ms. Driver practices immersive journalism as she learns the stories firsthand from the workers themselves. It’s a compelling read and listen.
There is a line, albeit it a bit curvy, from Charlottesville in 2017 to the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The passageways from one event to the other may be found on the dark web where anonymous conspirators reinforce each others darkest thoughts about America in 2024. In her book, “Black Pill”, former Vice News and now CNN correspondent, Elle Reeve, takes her book’s title from the popular reference in “The Matrix” and explores the darkest of all the pills which she describes as “a dark but gleeful nihilism: the system is corrupt, and its collapse is inevitable. There is no hope. Times are bad and they’re going to get worse. You swallow the black pill and accept the end is coming.” With that as a backdrop, she explores in the book and with us the line that is crossed when posturing online morphs into taking action in real life. In vivid detail, she describes the ‘characters’ caught up in this frenzy and their ability to capture our politics.
Labor Unions had immense economic and political power in the post WWII era through the early 1970’s. In the 1950’s a third of all private sector workers were members of unions. For a host of reasons that we explore in this podcast, all that changed and for the last 50 years unions have shrunk to about six percent of the private sector labor force. The public sector unions have bumped the overall number to more than 10 percent and have had a trajectory of their own. We focus most particularly in this podcast on the unionization efforts related to private sector workers which seems to be having a moment. Whether that’s because of labor shortages, the’ take this job and shove it’ attitudes as people reassessed their lives in the wake of Covid 19 or the friendly Administration in the White House over the last four years, there has been a change, best exemplified by successful unionization of workers in a VW plant in the South and a 70 percent approval ratings for unions by the general public. We will explore all of these issues and more with Andrew Wolf, assistant professor in the Department of Global Labor and Work at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, on this podcast.
The profession of long haul trucking is vital to our nation’s commerce. As a career choice, many of us might think of it as one we would never pick because it can be lonely and unsettling as to a normal home life. Some choose it because they like the open road and others because they are repressing certain needs that a less isolated existence might reveal. The darkest underbelly of the profession has demanded the establishment of a new unit within the FBI. It’s called the Highway Serial Killers Initiative. This special unit has linked 850 killings to long haul truckers. Frank Figliuzzi, who is now retired from the FBI, and its former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, was stunned to realize that these killings were so pervasive so he set out to understand the subcultures involved in the trucking community, that of its victims, basically female sex workers often dispossessed by their families, and the group of agents in the special FBI unit dedicated to trying to stop this grisly practice. He explains what he discovered and revealed in his book “Long Haul.” His acumen in the art and science of investigations is well on display in this podcast.
There is a disturbing history of a fifty-year plan to hijack voting rights in America. Despite Chief Justice John Roberts’ reputation as an institutionalist trying to steer the Supreme Court in a measured fashion, our guest says he’s not a deliberate incrementalist but rather a patient bulldozer. In his first fourteen years as the nation’s chief jurist he overturned precedents in 21 cases. And while we have recently focused on Supreme Court limits on abortion, gun laws, and affirmative action, perhaps the action taken in 2013, in the Shelby County v. Holder case will have the most long lasting effect. It gutted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act on the basis of the flawed notion that racism in America, and particularly in the South, was a thing of the past. This was the culmination of an effort John Roberts began as a young lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department where he contested voting rights cases and the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act. David Daley, our guest, and author of the new book “Undemocractic: Inside the Far Right’s 50 Year Plot to Control American Elections” joins us to discuss.
Recently, in Massachusetts, its government leaders discovered that the statewide 9-1-1 emergency system was down. A scramble ensued to handle the crisis. About 7 million people went for almost two hours with no 91-1 service. Unfortunately, such crashes have become more commonplace over the recent years as long needed upgrades to the system have been stalled in Congress. Outages hit eight states this year. Begun in 1968, there are wide disparities in capabilities and funding of the system. While I think it’s fair to say few of us imagine a world where an emergency occurs and 9-1-1 is not available to call. It’s like turning on your faucet and water not coming out. Organizations like National Emergency Number Association(NENA)have been working tirelessly, in the recent period, to get funding for Next Generation 9-1-1 and for the reclassification of 9-1-1 professionals as part of a “public safety occupation”. To explain the complexities and struggles of today’s 9-1-1 system are Brian Fontes, NENA’s chief executive officer, and April Heinze, NENA vice president and chief of 9-1-1 operations.
The process of dying in America has changed dramatically over the last twenty years. The process was often hidden away from family in a hospital setting. Today more than half of deaths are at home surrounded by loved ones. Along with this new American approach comes a range of responsibilities and stresses which can either bring families closer or tear them apart. The primary caregivers may feel that they are ill-equipped for the responsibilities involved or that they are not given adequate support by others. In their book “Dying at Home”, CM Cassady and our guest, Andrea Sankar, explore all of the issues surrounding this process, from having all medical and legal directives in place to burial and bereavement. The hospice and palliative care movements in America are fast growing, though government support for families through things like Family and Medical Leave still leave much to be desired in many parts of America. This podcast and their book are essential tools in dealing with an issue few want to discuss, yet all of us will face.
‘It’s a part of me’ said one student when asked about a possible ban on smartphones in her classroom. While we can all come up with reasons that smartphone use is a distraction and worse in the classroom, who cannot sympathize with that student’s feeling? Given the amount of time we spend on these devices, and how they have become the most utilized part of our digital array of products, we know what she means. And, yet, empirically, the evidence of their negative impact on attention to task and resultant test result declines, school districts are increasingly coming to the realization that the presence of them is no longer manageable in the classroom. The percentage of schools limiting use, in a variety of ways, is 75 percent of the country. It seems to be one of the few issues that finds agreement among liberals and conservatives. To discuss this growing trend, and making a case for it, is Professor Arnold Glass, a psychology professor at Rutgers University and someone who has researched this subject extensively.
Among demographers and others, even marketers, there are serious conversations going on about the consequences of plummeting birth rates. In the way that we often discuss retirement–do you have enough money to live on the rest of your life–we ignore the psychological, as well as economic,l effects of couples having fewer children and our society as a whole. Sure, the federal safety net programs, primarily Social Security and Medicare, both targeted at older Americans generally, will suffer, but what about the psychology of human flourishing and the energy and innovation a society relies on to move forward? Without more ‘future adults’ and the contributions they will make, much is in peril. To provide more context and nuance to a concern about falling birth rates is Clay Routledge, the Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at Archbridge Institute. He’s an existential psychologist(and he will explain that term) and has a new book out called “Past Forward.” His weekly newsletter is Flourishing Friday.
With Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for President, we have come to know more about the sororities which have become family for Black women in Historically Black colleges. Though bias and biology have made them members of two marginalized groups since the nation’s founding, Black women nonetheless have been enrolling in college at rates higher than any other demographic group since the 1940’s. And when a certain politician calls part of our economy ‘black jobs'(short for menial and low wage)he certainly hasn’t caught up to this trend. While Black women have been going into many fields, well beyond teaching and nursing, the pay inequities with white men and women remains vast. Rachelle Winkle-Wagner in her book, “The Chosen We: Black Women’s Empowerment in Higher Education” we read oral histories of Black women who graduated between 2054 and 2014. Some attended Historically Black colleges and others that are predominantly white. Their need for community was easily satisfied in the former and a challenge in the latter. We go beyond the halls of academia to discuss the experience of Black women in America in challenging times as questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion have taken on a decidedly political caste.
Is it as easy as just being good at music, painting, writing or other creative pursuits and the world will naturally beat a path to your door? Not really. I asked our guest how many Taylor Swifts wannabees, with talent, may be walking around today without a recording contract a realistic path to fame whose musical story may end with smoky club open mics in her town. He posited a guess of 5,000. That’s just the way it is. There are many variables that go into achieving success and fame for a talent or particular genius in your field. We all know too well that many people in America look to become famous for being well known and, admittedly(the Kardashians are you listening?)having a great sense of style. Honestly, though, why do some folks break through the glut of talent and rise to the top/ Professor Cass Sunstein, of Harvard Law School, considers the elements in his rollicking new book, “How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How The Beatles Came to Be.” You will be captivated by stories behind Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, Connie Converse, and Sixto Rodriquez, among many others. That’s the point. Some you’ve heard of. Some you haven’t. Why is that? Listen in and find out.
When the discussion turns to inner-city gun violence, many people throw up their hands in despair that it’s just part of the fabric of American life. Can that be true? As long as we choose not to address the root causes of the problem and find innovative approaches to it, I fear it will continue, despite the noble efforts of credible messengers and violence interrupters in cities all across our nation. It is a small cohort of young people, generally Black, young and dispossessed engaging in this deadly gun play which wreaks havoc for people living in their neighborhood, according to a Josiah Bates, a reporter whose beat is this issue and the author of “In These Streets: Reporting from the Front Lines of Inner-City Gun Violence.” While much is fueled by the intersection of drugs and guns, these same young people often have easy access to guns and no conflict resolution skills, leading to a simple slight or unpaid debt as the cause of the mayhem. We will delve into the issues of policing these in these communities and long-term approaches to solving a vexing American phenomenon.
There is a serious economic debate going on in America that hasn’t truly permeated the presidential campaign, but underlies the economic future of the country. These debates are happening among members of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee as to whether the path forward will be better by maintaining the Biden approach of an industrial policy built on developing a clean energy future and government investments in reshoring computer chips and high tech manufacturing or the Trump approach of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in his term, which must be renewed in 2025. It cut corporate tax rates from 35% to 21%. This podcast was recorded before President Biden quit the race, but the basic differences between the parties remain. Joining us to discuss this and a range of other economic issues is Kenneth Rapoza an industry analyst from the Coalition for a Prosperous America. He is a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and a senior contributor to Forbes covering China. It’s a lively discussion of the American economy and strategies of both parties in reshoring industrial jobs.
While many debate the essence of the Robert Mueller report any fair reading of it details chapter and verse how the Russians tried to influence the 2016 election with social media accounts set up under names like Blacklist or the Heart of Texas as they posed as grassroots activists on one side or the other of the political aisle while targeting much of their activity in swing states. All this in the interest of sowing discord in America. While it’s hard to say definitively that it turned that election, the discord they sought has arrived in a torrent. And now these tactics of disinformation–the deliberate spreading of lies as truth is the most powerful weapon today in our political discourse. It’s capstone activity was Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” challenging the 2020 election results of what his own chief of election security called the fairest and most secure election in our nation’s history. And sixty court cases, when asked to rule on it, threw out his bogus claims. Attorney and University of Michigan law professor, Barbara McQuade, in her new book “Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America” looks at the history of how lies are spread and have become such a malevolent force with the advent of social media. She identifies the central causes and possible solutions to a problem that can make a democracy impossible to sustain.
Listen to EP 640 for more information on this topic
The Constitution clearly states that Congress shall write our laws. But as the federal government grew larger and more complex, executive branch agencies were given more authority to bring greater definition to Congressional intent because of their expertise in a particular area. Even more power has shifted to those agencies as Congress fails to keep up with the challenges of a modern society. Clearly, courts remain arbiters of whether those same agencies have overstepped the Congressional authority granted to them. Since the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in what is called the Chevron case, judicial review has been highly deferential and courts are left to uphold agency interpretations as long as they are determined to be “reasonable.” But now the Supreme Court is pushing back on the Chevron decision which has been THE most written about, most cited administrative law decision of all time. Columbia Law Professor Thomas Merrill joins us to discuss the influential thoughts he offers about the decision’s future in his book “The Chevron Doctrine: It’s Rise and Fall and the Future of the Administrative State.” This episode has been updated to get Professor Merrill’s analysis of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron Doctrine. He plays out all of the implications of this momentous ruling.
Patients are not just the sum of their often limited check-ups and lab results. They come to their doctor with many behaviors and influences that affect their overall health. How nutritious is their food, how healthy is their living environment and what are their genetic predispositions among other things? Can they even maintain regular contact with the health system absent appropriate transportation? And yet in our medical system, often following the protocols established by large medical groups and insurance companies can a doctor really gain that perspective within the limited amount of time they are able to spend with their patients? Our guest, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger, a primary care physician at San Francisco General Hospital and author of “Telltale Hearts: A Public Health Doctor, His Patients, and the Power of Story” reveals what he has discovered is necessary to truly understand his patients, often poor and marginalized people, who have more chronic conditions than others in our society. Empathy and science create the alchemy necessary to address their needs.
Our most recently posted podcast with Tony Payan focused on the essential relationship between the United States and Mexico. Given the importance of the topic and the many issues involved, we decided to bring another perspective to the subject. Our guest on this podcast, Jennifer Apperti, is the director of the Texas-Mexico Center at Southern Methodist University. She focuses much of her attention on the longest shared border and the issues surrounding the unique Texas/Mexico relationship. It adds another dimension to the subject.
Mexico, not China, is now America’s leading trading partner. Who knew? All we hear in relation to Mexico are issues related to the southern border. And with that, we never have an honest discussion of the many aspects of that border relationship which span geography, natural resources and culture. It all gets boiled down to border security. In short, if there’s a more important bilateral relationship for the United States, I’d like to know what it is. And now with Claudia Sheinbaum becoming the new president of Mexico, the first woman of the Jewish faith to do that, it will be interesting if she follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Orbrador, or sets a new course for our neighbor. To discuss this important issue is Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, at Rice University’s Baker Institute. For a much more nuanced discussion of the relations between the two countries, listen in.
The pressures for adolescents and young adults to maintain a certain standard of beauty in our culture is pervasive. It comes from parents, peers, video of all sorts and social media. And in the wake of the pandemic we find ourselves with a twin mental health crisis amid Face tuned photos, viral makeup tutorials, and misleading online nutritional advice. It’s a complicated picture and no one has been trying to do more to provide help in navigating this territory than Dr. Charlotte Markey who has written books providing body image advice to boys and girls as they approach puberty. Her latest book, “Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life” recognizes that these same issues exist in a different form for those who now make many choices without the benefit of their parents. We tackle a range of topics in the age of Ozempic as to how young adults and others can create a healthy relationship with their mind and body. Please listen to the podcast, but, by all means, get this book as a practical guide to deal with this overarching issue in our culture.
She may be our next president as she heads into the August Democratic Convention with a full head of steam following President Joe Biden’s decision not to run again. And while she has a long career as a prosecutor, district attorney, Attorney General of California, U.S. Senator from the Golden State and Vice President, there are conflicting narratives about her. Is she tough on crime or not? Does she want Medicare for All or has she reversed that position? Is she liberal or more moderate? Finally, how effective a chief executive would she be? All of these questions will be answered in the course of a short campaign, less than one hundred days, but the question is who will define her in the eyes of the voters–the Republicans or her campaign? To discuss all of this with us is John(Jack)Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College politics professor, who has followed Harris’ career for decades.
J. Ted Oakley, founder and managing partner, of Oxbow Advisors, has seen it all. That’s why he wrote his latest book “30 Million and Broke.” Yes, it happens to celebrities, athletes, and lottery winners who are given the wrong guidance, no guidance or are left to their own devices. Mr. Oakley has seen it happen to those who sell businesses and those who are born with money, who think it’s their birthright to have it forever. But many of the same lessons of careful financial management are important to those of us who have much fewer resources and must make them last a lifetime. We unlock the keys to doing that in this interesting conversation about money–a topic many of us spend little time paying attention to. This 30 minute investment of time may be well worth your while.
We know that liberal democracy in America has always contained contradictions–all men are created equal as slavery defines the economic order of the Revolutionary moment, as one example. And while we have had a noble, but abstract, commitment to freedom, justice, and equality, tragically, that has seldom been realized in practice. The fraught politics of this moment, perhaps, reflects the fact that we just may be too tired, depleted and divided culturally–meaning how we define this ongoing experiment and who should be able to participate in it–to reclaim the work to bend the arc of history toward the goal of progress in addressing those wrongs. It is a frightening notion that what you see on the surface–political polarization, disinformation and general rancor–may be something we no longer have the resources to deal with. Professor James Davison Hunter, of the University of Virginia, coined the term ‘culture wars’ back in the 1990’s. In his book “Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis” he frames the argument powerfully that with compromise now a forbidden word in our political lexicon, we may be at a tipping point and have no other way to address it than by force. It is a disturbing thought from one of America’s per-eminent scholars.
Born into a culture of hate and bigotry, R. Derek Black has defined a new path for himself as he describes in his compelling book, “The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Anti racism.” It has been a difficult journey as he has been estranged from family and those in his community of white nationalists with whom he grew up. He was thought to be the heir apparent to the leadership position his father, Don Black, held in this group who founded the on-line platform, Stormfront. As you begin to listen to Derek, now in his mid 30’s, you quickly realize that he has thought long and hard about what white nationalism has meant to our American institutions, in contradistinction to our American ideals of equality and justice for all. The fact that he has made this journey reflects on the possibility for change which he feels is possible for all of us. At the same time, he is very sanguine about the fraught moment we find ourselves in as many of the extremist views he was raised on take on a more mainstream tinge in 2024. Our conversation was so compelling, we will make this a two-part conversation.
The White House, as a place, conjures up much about our history as we envision the remarkable people and the momentous events that have comprised its remarkable story. We’ve watched Oval Office addresses, seen press briefings and events of State with major performers there. If you’re old enough to remember, then First Lady Jackie Kennedy invited us to view some new furnishings she wanted to bring to The White House, which acts as both a place of work and the living quarters for the President’s family. Destroyed and rebuilt, renovated after neglect and the site of key decisions about war and peace, it remains a symbol of continuity and stability to the American people. Corey Mead, in his book, “The Hidden History of The White House: Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments” shares stories we have not heard before about what has transpired there throughout time. We bring the story to this day as we take an aural tour that takes into account the changes in its uses during an era of growing importance as we have firmly established the Imperial Presidency.
Heat has a pretty ‘cool’ connotation–that song is hot, let’s getaway to a warm destination and that car is smokin’–but in the modern parlance of climate change– heat is anything but. In fact, it lies at the root of virtually all of the climate related calamities–wildfires, hurricanes and just suffocating heatwaves that may not show up as the cause on a death certificate, but often is. It not only kills more people directly than the storms and events emanating from it, but it is stealth. Looking out the window on a nice day, it is impossible to tell whether it’s 70 degrees or 105. And heat does unimaginable things to the body. When our internal temperatures hit 102 or 103, we can pass out. In that process our body is sending blood to the skin, abandoning internal organs, including the brain. According to Jeff Goodell, a prolific writer on climate issues and author of “The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet,” the old, sick and poor are more vulnerable to extreme heat, but the rest of us should not be complacent. The summer of 2023, the warmest on record, is a harbinger of what’s to come. And the heat is coming for all of us and will affect migration patterns, our food supply and all life on earth.
Many money matters are trending in our economy. Some, like softening, but stubborn, inflation still tops the list of what people sense about these economic times. And while recent price reductions at McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and grocery food chains, like Stop & Shop, suggest retailers are sensing that consumers have reached a tipping point and are pulling back, how much it continues to ebb may well predict the outcome of the November elections. Jared Dillian, the editor at Jared Dillian Money(jareddillianmoney.com) and the author of “No Worries: How to Live a Stress-Free, Financial Life” delves deeply with us on the hobby horse we have ridden on this podcast before and that is the excesses in the gargantuan private equity market. Its latest victim is the beloved Red Lobster chain. We also discuss other trends like price spikes in gold, copper, metals and commodities and this quiet moment when it comes to oil and gas prices.
Our guest, Alexandre Lefebvre, author of “Liberalism as a Way of Life”, poses a provocative question–where do our values and beliefs come from in a time when fewer of us claim to belong to a specific religion or follow it in any meaningful way? We might say from our parents, our friends, our experiences, or human nature, but, in fact, he argues that liberalism is where most of us gain our value structure in today’s democratic societies. And while liberalism is normally associated with a political philosophy, his definition is much broader. He posits that liberalism permeates all walks of our life from the home to the workplace and shapes our thinking about how to treat one another in a diverse society. His original thinking suggests that you do not need to be liberal, plus something else, like identifying with a religion, to be a good person, satisfied that you are living a purpose-driven life. He sees liberalism as intrinsically fulfilling and a fun way to be. It’s a concept you’ve likely not thought about before and we are glad to bring it forward on today’s podcast.
The opioid crisis doesn’t get the headlines it once did, but in no way should that fact be interpreted as suggesting it’s gone away. By all accounts it remains stubbornly destructive and shocking in its impacts. We’ve moved it out of the doctor’s office and pharmacists hands into the laps of the cartels which have replaced plant-based opioids with fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are cheaper synthetics. Its path of destruction in America, once a disease of despair in rural enclaves, is now everywhere. It’s cheap, plentiful and available year round. We wanted to see how this scourge was trending and so we turned to Sam Quinones, the reporter whose books on the subject, “Dreamland” and “The Least of Us” have been the most praised of the many written. His proximity to the subject and great expertise, along with a large dollop of humanity that permeates his writing, makes him according to the New York Times Book Review our leading chronicleer of the pain epidemic.
Biases, prejudices and preconceptions are part of living. Sometimes it’s because of the way we were raised, the messages we receive through various sources and the politics of this moment, as the GOP’s presumptive presidential candidate refers to people coming across the border as ‘animals’. In the multi-racial and multi-ethnic society in which we live, which will be majority minority in the foreseeable future, we need everyone working together. Shelly Tochluk and our guest, Christine Saxman, have a combined 45 years of experience facilitating White antiracist dialogues and have put that experience to practical effect in their new book, “Being White Today: A Roadmap for a Positive Antiracist Life.” In it they provide insight into what it looks like to operate from eight different positions in the White racial identity journey and they provide concrete approaches for how to navigate conversations about race with other White people at different points on the racial identity journey.
Climate change(aka global warming)and warming denial– human-engineered and accelerating at a rapid clip–have been on display in America for at least 4 decades, dating back to when then Vice President Al Gore shared with us “An Inconvenient Truth.” Scientists were aware of what our industrial and consumer advances–electricity, gas guzzling cars and growing use of fossil fuels–would mean to the planet over time as carbon dioxide was trapped in the atmosphere, generating the greenhouse gases which vex us today. While scientists were developing a consensus about the problem, dogged deniers, many of whom were the merchants of doubt who sold us cigarettes as being good for our health, attacked the science. Their hi jinx brought us “Climate Gate” and have been successful(if we want to call it that)in influencing public opinion to this day. Their efforts make tackling the issue a lower priority than many other more temporal issues, thus the creating political inertia limiting efforts to mitigate it. In his masterpiece of a book, our guest, David Lipsky, author of “The Parrot and the Igloo” gives us much to laugh and cry about as he tells a history so little told or understood in this time of climate weirdness. Now that fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and heat make the reality inescapable, what will we do? David was so interesting and entertaining we offer you a rare two-part podcast.
Many books have been written in the recent period about rural America. The beginning of this literary push to better understand the opportunities, problems and malignancies of what one author coined ‘overlooked Americans’ in the hinterlands of non-metropolitan areas was J. D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” which raised many questions. It dealt with the character of his family and people in order to determine the reasons for their own misfortune. Some have focused on the economic insecurity brought on by the corporatization of farm work and the loss of manufacturing jobs to cheaper labor in China and other places. It’s a complex tangle of politics, economics and culture, as well as elements of an American way of life that has vanished in the minds of rural residents. Brent Orrell, senior fellow, domestic policy at the American Enterprise Institute(aei.org) is our guest today. He, along with Tony Pipa, of the Brookings Institution have been collaborating on talks called “On the Front Porch” in an attempt to better understand rural America and find commonalities with the growing metropolitan populations. Their goal is to overcome the benefits many politicians have realized in creating urban/rural divisions.
His day job involves commenting on what’s happening in real time around the globe but David Ignatius, the highly respected foreign affairs columnist of the Washington Post, also uses his journalistic sources and methods as the basis for compelling fiction. Thus his latest spy novel “Phantom Orbit” offers great insights into the importance of America’s nascent Space Force and the untold consequences for space warfare. That warfare he tells us as we weave from what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine, back to the elements of his novel, is a key reason that Ukraine has been able to track and defend itself against a better equipped Russian military. We ask David to take us around the globe and into space to better understand the forces at play attempting to undermine American superiority technologically in low orbit, as well as the situation in the Middle East and U.S.relations with China.
One of the fastest growing demographic cohorts in America is men over the age of 60. Growing with this group, in a majority of instances, is their prostate. That gland gets much attention primarily as men age and doctors track their PSA number for the potential of being cancerous.. Less discussed, but quite impactful, is another number–the size of the prostate, which tends to enlarge over the years for many men. The greatest impact of that growth is the effect it has on the urinary tract, which results in constant trips to the bathroom, particularly at night, and the inability to fully empty the bladder. As host of this podcast, I shared my own difficult experience in this realm at the top of the podcast with Dr. Daniel Kellner, of Yale Urology and Yale School of Medicine. I’m trying to get the word out that this condition is something to be mindful of. In my case, the seriousness of this was brought to light following routine hernia surgery when I was unable to urinate for days following the procedure and ended up in an emergency situation with acute kidney injury. The month long journey resulted in having Dr. Kellner perform a laser surgery, called HoLEP, to hollow out the prostate, not remove it, giving me renewed urinary function going forward. We discuss issues related to this topic, in full, on today’s podcast.
The pursuit of happiness is a birthright for those of us who are American citizens. It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence, which itself seems rather odd. We are not guaranteed that state of satisfaction and by recent polling and just a good look around there are lots of unhappy people in this country. Prestigious colleges offer courses in ‘happiness’ as a society of grievance looks for ways to turn a frown upside down. First things first, our guest, Adam Gopnik, the esteemed writer from the New Yorker Magazine and author of “All That Happiness Is” gives us a way to look at happiness in the pursuits that are inner-driven and all consuming. Call them hobbies, avocations or personal growth pursuits these accomplishments differ from outer- directed achievements which may accrue to us from our work, for instance. In our super-sized work society, maybe we are looking for happiness in all the wrong places. Let’s discuss on this podcast.
Aaron Stein, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute(fpri.org), shares his insights with us on the Israel-Hamas conflict. With as many critical issues affected by it, first and foremost the lives of the hostages and citizens on both Israel and Gaza, we wanted to find an expert to help us to better understand these turbulent and fast-changing events. For example, is the long negotiated U.S.-Saudi Arabian mutual security pact moving forward or in jeopardy? And will Israel join in this pact with Saudi Arabia to go along with long held treaties with Egypt and Jordan? Given that this would require a path toward a two-state solution is the Netanyahu coalition interested in that? What will the impact of this conflict be on President Biden and his re-election chances? We discuss all this and more on today’s podcast.
The U.S. Senate has particular Constitutional responsibilities and political duties. As the deliberative body it is meant to check the impulses of a more rambunctious House of Representatives, confirm judicial appointments, ratify treaties and, when necessary, act as the jury in the event of the impeachment of the President or Cabinet officials. Ira Shapiro, Senate scholar, former staffer and U.S. Trade Ambassador, focuses on the impeachment responsibility in his updated version of “The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America,” recently released. In a blistering indictment of his own, Shapiro assigns principal blame to Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader, considered by Shapiro and others to be the most powerful Senate leader in history, for the opportunity he let pass to convict former President Donald Trump after his second impeachment. Trump’s election denialsim led to a mob insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. While the U.S. Senate, by 2022, was functioning well enough to pass major pieces of bipartisan legislation, questions remain about the body’s ability to function effectively in these turbulent political times.
When Alvin Ridley’s wife was discovered dead in their home, residents of the small town of Ringgold, Georgia assumed the recluse, hoarder, and odd fellow naturally murdered her. His difficulty in communicating what took place added to the conclusion many had drawn about his guilt. As it turns out, they were proven wrong in a court of law, thanks to the interesting, often contentious, bond that developed between our guest, McCracken Poston, Jr., Ridley’s lawyer, and the defendant. Poston’s new book, “Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom,” was many years in development as he analyzed what happened then in relation to the better vantage point he now has decades later. While Poston juxtaposes his own struggles at the time personally and professionally the more complicated puzzle involved Ridley’s adult autism, not understood back then, and the rare condition that led to his wife’s death. Many people today still fall through the cracks of the criminal justice system because of autism and mental illness. The case may have been settled satisfactorily, and mental health is given greater parity today with physical conditions, but the crisis of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed developmental conditions persists in the criminal justice system.
While our parties may only from time to time have lived up to the mission of truly organizing our political discourse and developing serious nuts and bolts efforts toward major transformations that benefit our society. Yet when they have, the impact had been remarkable. So says today’s guest Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld, political scientists and co-authors of “The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.” In the book they point to two such seminal moments in our modern history. They argue that today Democrats and Republicans are both failing us in a period of hyper partisanship that has modern roots in the 1970’s. In ways, para-political groups, or ‘party blobs’, as they call them, have assumed many of the activities previously attended to by parties. And these SuperPAC’s, think tanks, and media hosts are entwined with parties but they are not actually a part of them. So, were we better off in the days of smoke-filled backrooms and party bosses? We will discuss all of this today on the podcast.
The Rascals had a song out years back called ‘How Can I Be Sure’? And while those lyrics pertained to love, the same question could, and should, be posed today about the media content you are devouring from a range of sources–legitimate and sketchy. The ability to discern which is which gets harder by the day as content is vomited out in quantities that are staggering. Our guest, Nolan Higdon, is a prolific writer and lecturer on the topic of media literacy in this baffling age. He has authored a number of books to help us become a model media citizen. In his view we need to answer several question about what we read and see: is the content journalism? who is publishing the content? What is the evidence? And there are others. What you are about to listen to is a wide ranging discussion of what’s available in this evolving, perhaps unraveling, digital media landscape and how you should prepare yourself to consume it.
To those of us who stopped thinking about the inherent risks in our banking system after the meltdown of 2007-2009, exemplified by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and assumed that Dodd-Frank legislation had corrected all of our problems, it might be time to think again. Except for extraordinary government interventions over a weekend in 2023, two ‘tech’ banks were on verge of collapse. That action forestalled a disaster that could have spread throughout the banking industry. Had it, there was no way that the government could have provided a sufficient backstop for the entire sector. In truth, the new regulations have not made the financial system resilient. Much has been papered over by flawed accounting and Federal Reserve support. Bank lobbies make false and misleading arguments about so-called “capital requirements” which require banks to rely relatively more on their own(equity)funding and less on borrowing. Is this all a house of cards? Anat Admati, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is our guest today and will explain what’s happening in clear detail. She, along with Martin Hellwig, have just written the new and expanded edition of “The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do About It.”
Our guest is a feminist trailblazer who had an inside look at the feminist movement as it progressed from the 1960’s on. Her insights and odes to those who made it possible for women to have virtual integration into all aspects of commerce, the arts and even sports, as we’ve seen, is a far cry from the conditions that existed prior to Betty Friedan and she co-founding the National Organization for Women. Muriel Fox, author of “The Women’s Revolution: How We Changed Your Life”, reminds us that women often could not get mortgages or credit cards on their own, were at the whim of their husbands, even if the behavior would today be considered illegal, at the same time women served longer prison sentences because at the time they were considered ‘harder to rehabilitate’ and the pay inequity was 59 cents on the dollar. Oh, yes, often times job seekers were told whether the position was meant for a woman or a man. We’ve come a long way, baby, but still have much further to go. It’s hard to believe that in 2024 a defining issue of the presidential campaign involves the U.S. Supreme Court’s rescinding a woman’s right to an abortion, unless granted by a state, after a previous court signed on to Roe v. Wade fifty years ago. We will take the long view on today’s episode and discuss prospects for the Equal Rights Amendment that has never become the law of the land.
Each of us honors remarkable women in our own way. Often it’s when we think about what our mothers contributed to our growth and development. In other cases, it’s a teacher or a caregiver. Well the emphatic sex has for generations contributed both to the nurturing part of society’s needs as well as the political and scientific aspects. And while there is still a long way to go to achieve equality of the sexes, expectations and opportunities are rising for women and they are taking full advantage of the moment. Their skew in college today-60/40-suggests that women will be in key positions for generations. Alice Look, an accomplished woman in her own right, with a background in media has joined with Jane Applegate to found the Remarkable Women Project(remarkable womenproject.org)to advance our understanding of the contributions women have, and continue to make, as activists, in the arts, and sciences. A key outgrowth of their project is Alice’s book, “Remarkable Women: Reclaiming Their Stories.” We’ll recount some of them and discuss the growing influence of women in American society.
Sure democracy is messy and lots of people feel it’s not working as well as it once did. But all of us born here have never lived under the alternative. Be careful what you wish for if you are taking in, and buying, all the strongman musings of Donald Trump. It’s a recipe for disaster. In a previous podcast one of our guests described a liberal democracy as meaning ‘no boss’. We run things at the city, state and federal level. And we have the power to change things by reforming that which is not working in the best interests of the majority of us. But turning the whole thing over to a man who has hallucinations that he’s the chosen one and wants to pump up a version of Christian nationalism is not the way forward. Joining us to discuss this is Richard Abel, a Professor of Law Emeritus at UCLA and the author of “Defending American Democracy”,a new mini-series of books.
Viktor Orban? Vladimir Putin? Turkey’s strongman Erdogan? Is that the traditional leader America wants to hold up as an exemplar for a nation built on universal principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all? Maybe we’ve never achieved those lofty aspirations, but we never said let’s take our form of government–a democratic republic–and trade it in for a dictatorial approach, which excludes those who do not fit in. Yet, a serious analysis suggests to many that the MAGA movement has a more dated vision of America which yearns for a past built on supremacy of white ethno-nationalism and Christian Fundamentalism. And this fervor has engulfed one of the two major parties in America. While history informs us that this strain of bending at the knees of dictators has a long tradition in the Republican Party(look up the appeasers to Hitler in America in the lead up to WWII)but never has it taken over the party root and branch. Jacob Heilbrunn in his new book “America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators” reminds us of the strong tie between those in the GOP who want to maintain the rules-based international order that has served America so well since 1945 and those, like Trump, who want to let Russia “do whatever the hell it wants” with NATO allies who don’t pay their fair share. The inmates have taken over the asylum of the GOP. Is the country next?
There is a fact that is so surprising that it borders on being unbelievable. Research indicates that students from disadvantaged and advantaged class backgrounds who graduate from the same college go on to earn the same amount of money. Our guest, Duke sociology professor, Jessi Streib, author of “The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay After College”, posits according to her research. Sociologist Michael Hout goes further in concluding that “college graduation cancels the effects of background status.” So for those who can afford all of the educational enhancement activities and extracurricular functions, starting at birth to 3, when it comes to the workplace, and in this case the business majors studied, luck plays an even greater role in determining the pay a college graduate can expect. In practice no one can prepare an otherwise advantaged candidate college graduate for a job interview that will lead to a better result than disadvantaged graduates. Do you still need to be convinced? Take a listen to this podcast as we explore the rationale for what Professor Streib calls ‘luckocracy’ at work.
In the next ten years, in the United States alone, 61 trillion dollars will transfer from baby boomers to the younger generations. With that wealth comes the power to determine the structure of our society and economy. The amount of money that will be moving is staggering, unlike another in human history. And how the younger generations value it and the system that produced it will determine the future of societies around the globe. Given that this transfer comes on the heels of various cataclysms, like the 2008 financial meltdown, 9-11 and later the disorienting impacts of the pandemic and growing concerns over climate change, these generations seem to be demonstrating a much different outlook as to their values and priorities. What will that mean for capitalism itself? To discuss this fascinating topic we are joined by Ken Costa, one of the top five deal makers in Europe over the past 25 years and a seasoned investor formerly of UBS Investment Bank(EMEA)and Lazard International and currently chair of Ken Costa Strategic and author of “The Hundred Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer: How the Handover from Boomers to Gen Z will Revolutionize Capitalism.”
“Jews will not replace us” was the cry from far-right extremists a few years back in Charlottesville, Virginia and, in response to counter protests, then President Donald Trump said that there were good people on both sides. Really? In the wake of the brutal attacks on Israeli citizens on October 6, 2023 far-left activists on college campuses took up the cause of the Palestinians in Gaza as a result of Israel’s aggressive response and the question of anti-semitic sentiment among the youth in the America came into view. While the question of whether Jews have better friends from one political ideology or another may be the subject for debating societies around the country, the truth is that even in a nation where Jews have been able to flourish and lead the way in science, business, the arts and medicine, they are never able to look away at the possibility that one day they, too, will join the diaspora looking for a more hospitable environment. It can happen here. Benjamin Ginsberg, the David Bernstein Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, joins us to discuss his new book, “The New American Anti-Semitism: The Left, the Right, and the Jews.”
Child care costs, accessibility and quality represent a critical challenge for families across America. And an existential threat to a recovering economy, generally reliant on both parents working to sustain themselves and their families. With federal supports given to this industry during the pandemic that have recently expired, early childhood centers–daycare, early learning and the like–have been shuttering their doors. They cannot find workers, pay them adequately or train them as well as is needed to nourish these young minds. It is so much so a problem that Democrats have been joined by Republicans on the federal and state levels to address it and business associations as well as labor unions are supportive of measures to find public dollars to keep places and spaces open for children in need. Even vaunted Head Start is serving only a small percentage of the children who are eligible for it. Let’s first understand the problem and then offer some solutions. With us to do that is Laura Mutrie, Director of Field Education and Clinical Assistant Professor in the MSW program at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
Even if you’re not paying great attention to what’s happening to healthcare in your local community, the trends are hard to miss–hospital consolidations, the growth of out-patient facilities affiliated with the hospitals, and insurance company involvement in medical practices and pharmaceuticals, all of which drive up the cost and limit the choices in healthcare. It’s a distressing picture. Ask your doctor or anyone who’s been trying to access care recently and you’ll hear the same stories about a focus on efficiency over quality and a bedraggled medical support team, including nurses and medical assistants, pressured to improve bottom lines. Regardless of whether a facility is deemed for-profit or non-profit, revenue over expense, is driving what should be medical decisions toward greater concerns for financial outcomes over the specialized needs of patients. So what does one informed, caring practitioner have to say about all of this? Dr. Marion Mass, co-founder of Practicing Physicians of America, shares her concerns with you today
Manufacturing has been considered the backbone of the U.S. economy since the Industrial Revolution, yet with recent trade policies encouraging offshoring, there’s been a sense that America has lost its edge in this sector. More often than not, we hear that America’s economy has become one built on a services and not hard goods. Given … Read More Read More
Bryan Stevenson(“Just Mercy”) considers him his mentor. He’s been the subject of books and a film for his work to correct the injustices that race and poverty play in our criminal justice system. In that pursuit, he has fought and won capital cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and was the recipient of the American … Read More Read More
ESG investment products have environmental, social and governance considerations at their root. ESG investing grew out of the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investing. A former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wanted to encourage investors to be more mindful of how their investments might dovetail with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Thus, they encouraged investors to incorporate ESG considerations into their decision-making. And while our guest, Terrence Keeley, CEO of 1PointSix, LLC and author of “Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing”, says “we should all want the ethos of ESG to reign,” he also says that fiduciary responsibility to clients requires that other factors also must play a role in investment decisions. And on that score, according to our guest, ESG investment products are not generating consistent financial performance; nor are they producing much good. He has a nuanced approach to this issue and provides what he considers a better approach to doing good and doing well. Listen carefully as he has thought these issues out in a reasoned fashion.
The richest nation in the history of the world can do better. Let’s be honest. Whether you live in a pocket of destitution, or just drive by it, don’t you get the sense that something is wrong if millions of people, urban and rural, live in the squalor that you can see, even just passing by? Nikhil Goyal, a sociologist and former U.S. Senate staffer dealing with these issues, took a deep dive into North Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, and put his on the ground observations into his new book, “Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty.” In it he profiles the chaotic lives of three young Puerto Rican boys who are by no means guaranteed an eighteenth birthday as a rite of passage. It feels more like a test of survival as they navigate the hypermasculine logic of the streets. And while Senator Tim Scott suggests the American Dream is now available to all, given his example, according to statistics his story is one of an outlier. In the Philadelphia we visit in this podcast, only one in 13 goes on to overcome the many impediments they started out life with. The lottery they lost from the get go is a real challenge to difficult for so many to overcome. We discuss possible answers to a problem which continues to vex America.
According to our guest, there is a lost chapter of American foreign policy–the century following the Civil War in which the United States carved out a sphere of influence and became the only great power in modern history to achieve regional hegemony. The ways in which America achieved complete supremacy in the Americas was at … Read More Read More
Every October we wait to see what cases the US Supreme Court will be taking on in the coming session. And every June we wait to see how they rendered their judgments. On today’s podcast, we tell you ‘the rest of the story.’ You see almost 99 percent of the court’s decisions take place on … Read More Read More
Private equity is a growing sector of investment financing in America where whole companies, not shares in them, are purchased with money from the principals in the private equity firms, as well as outside investors, while the rest is borrowed, often with the company being purchased assuming that debt liability while the investors cash in … Read More Read More
As the wealthiest nation on earth, America should have made poverty a historical curiosity. Yet it is still with us and the wealth inequality gap continues to widen. As the major existential threat we face–climate change-is showing up everywhere in the form of floods, wildfires and intense hurricanes, some among us still doubt its … Read More Read More
Exclusionary zoning, practiced throughout most of the United States, is one of the most damaging forms of class discrimination. There is a racial component to it in many suburbs, but it really falls on a strata of society which is generally less educated and less affluent. Interestingly, liberal communities actually engage in the practice at […]
Have you talked to anyone lately who thinks that the system of health care we have now is working just fine? I didn’t think so. You may have coverage but your co-pays and deductibles are going up and up. You may be eligible for government help but you didn’t know you were and, therefore, didn’t … Continue reading EP 681 A Health Care System That Pleases No One →
There are things that still seem unimaginable even in the political chaos of our times as women’s rights are being stripped away and historical content taught in schools is being tightened so as not to ‘offend’ students. One of those to my mind is the push in a number of states to ease restrictions on … Continue reading EP 680 America Revisits Child Labor Law: Really? →
The answer to our title for this podcast episode is no, but…many fewer people identify as Christians today than in the late 20th century and whether it be frustration with scandals in the Catholic Church, the politicizing of many Protestant sects or the pandemic, the pews just are not as full as in the past. … Continue reading EP 679 Is Christianity Dying in America? →
If there was ever a political leader who understood the moment, American history would point to FDR. Having been elected with America on its economic back from the Great Depression, he was masterful in instilling confidence in the people about their futures and in developing new government programs which, he said, would have been … Continue reading EP 678 Are We Still Living in the World FDR Built? →
Exercise fads are big in America. We love the novelty of hot yoga one minute and Zumba the next. The whole industry has evolved so much over the last 70 years when presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy made physical fitness a spoken priority. In truth, however, only 20 percent of Americans exercise regularly and America seems … Continue reading EP 677 Is America a Fit Nation? →
It still has many of us shaking our heads in disbelief that the most sophisticated nation on earth, in so many ways, proved so unprepared, disorganized and unsuccessful at confronting the Covid-19 pandemic. Yes, Operation Warp Speed and the development of Mrna vaccine was a great achievement, as the government incentivized the private sector to … Continue reading EP 676 Why Did America Lose the Covid War? →
Despite many in our midst downplaying the role of experts in our society, the truth is that we thrive because people have mastered so many different skills and abilities. We do what we enjoy or do best and we outsource those things we do not want to attempt to them with full confidence that they … Continue reading EP 675 Demystifying Mastery →
In March 2020, economic and social life across America ground to an abrupt halt as the country attempted to slow the spread of COVID-19. In the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression, twenty-two million people lost their jobs in the first few months of 2020. And yet somehow the finances of most Americans improved … Continue reading EP 674 How Did Most People(Who Survived)Come Out of the Pandemic in Better Financial Shape? →
The January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was at once an end-the culmination of long-simmering strain of violent American extremism–and a beginning. In effect, it’s the origins of a new war on democracy by a fundamentally antidemocratic far-right movement that, cynically and ironically, calls itself a ‘”Patriot” movement. They are anything but, according … Continue reading EP 673 America Plays with Fire: The Dangerous Game of Insurrectionist Politics →
Mankind has been fascinated by this question since we began conjuring up big thoughts about things around us and things unseen, but imagined. Today the search for the answer to that question seems to have intensified beyond ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcasts and classic Star Trek episodes. The government has developed new agencies to legitimize … Continue reading EP 672 Are We Alone? →
What happens when an optimist asks the question ‘what will the world that I leave to my 19 year-old daughter look like when she’s my age in 2063?’ When it’s put in the observant and skillful hands of a man who has been recognized for changing the face of nature writing after twenty five years … Continue reading EP 671 What World Are We Leaving to Our Children? And Their Children? One Father’s Quest to Find Out →
By revisiting her mother’s central role in helping write and push through the first anti-abortion bill in America in New York State, our guest Felicia Kornbluh , author of “A Woman’s Life is a Human Life” has a unique perspective on where the fight for reproductive rights goes from here, now that it falls to … Continue reading EP 670 Abortion Rights Take Center Stage in American Politics →
It’s fitting that we post this podcast on the 4th of July, as we ask what we can do for our country at a time when it is facing numerous challenges within and without. Ted Hollander has been leading a one man crusade through his Step Forward America! effort for a National Service program … Continue reading EP 669 Should We Require Young People to Step Forward for America? →
Extremists come in many forms. Some carry a weapon. Others carry around a myth that can be just as harmful. While in their previous best-selling book “Merchants of Doubt” Naomi Oreskes and our guest, Erik Conway, explained how four physicists laid the groundwork for climate change denial by arguing against government regulation, in their … Continue reading EP 668 We Are Now Paying for a Bill of Goods Sold By Free Market Extremists →
To hear a great historian of America’s early history come to the realization that America’s victory over the British in the Revolutionary War was second to its defeat of the scourge of smallpox at the time is pretty stunning. Then he makes a compelling case that the virus had to be conquered in order to … Continue reading EP 667 America’s Response to Viral Outbreaks Has a Historical Familiarity →
The term feminist has been maligned by both the right and the left, for different reasons, even though the concept of equality for women is a generally accepted principle and one that many women, no matter their politics, fought to insure. The ideas of feminism were first articulated by women personally involved in the … Continue reading EP 666 Feminism Comes in Many Forms to Bring Change →
The pandemic was an economic catastrophe the likes of which CEO’s running America’s biggest companies had never seen or prepared for. There was no playbook and the shock was even greater given the fact that it seemed that the good times would roll on unimpeded as cheap money(zero percent interest rates)sparked tremendous growth. But as … Continue reading EP 665 American Business and the Hangover From the Pandemic →
We have addressed the issue of the overreach of our current make-up of the US Supreme Court, but not in a way as comprehensive as the deep dive we take in this podcast. We look at the history of overreach on the Court(hint: this isn’t the first time)and we explore the far-reaching implications of what … Continue reading EP 664 Over Three Days in June 2022, the Supreme Court Changed America: What’s Next? →
That’s right. The long held practice of degree inflation is coming to an end in America. With three state governments–Maryland, Utah and Pennsylvania–declaring that experience, military service, technical preparation and apprenticeships will count more than having a bachelor’s degree for many positions in government, this movement of busting through the paper ceiling is real. And … Continue reading EP 663 A College Degree No Longer Required for Many Job Types →
Healthcare is the number one cause of bankruptcy in America. Nearly 30 million Americans have no insurance and those who do face staggering increases each year. We all interact with the healthcare system and to a person I do not come across anyone who thinks it’s a good model. And while we might have … Continue reading EP 662 A Safety Net Hospital: A Model for Health Care Reform in America? →
While the belief is that all young people are in lockstep with liberal ideas, many flirting with socialism, the truth is that the enthusiasm of young people on the right is better financed and has some charismatic leaders who are working diligently to get those ideas to their age cohort who feel marginalized by the … Continue reading EP 661 Young Zealots on the Right Well Financed and Well Organized →
Our guest has been warning America for decades that our government has become unaccountable tied up in overlapping jurisdictions and strangled by reams of rule books and regulation. The ability to make decisions based on common sense and human innovation has been neutered. In his new book, “Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee … Continue reading EP 660 Should Public Employee Unions Be Outlawed? →
Imagine getting a check for $1,000 from this point on, on the first day of every month, deposited directly into your bank account. What would that do to give you peace of mind that there’s an income floor under you? Andrew Yang made this concept a basic tenet of his 2020 presidential run calling it a ‘Freedom Dividend’ as he saw frightened Americans looking at their downside prospects in the wake of automation and job outsourcing. To those who think the idea of Universal Basic Income is a liberal utopian concept, it actually harkens back to conservative economist Milton Friedman who preferred this notion to the many categorical programs we have now, like SNAP benefits. Richard Nixon actually proposed something like it during his presidency. Today, municipalities across the country are experimenting with it in various forms. And early research tells us that people put the money to good effect, helping them to provide food and shelter in these uncertain times. We’re joined today by Jim Pugh, co-director of the Universal Income Project(universalincome.org)to describe how it works and what the likelihood that it will gain more traction in the years ahead.
Faced with mounting Medicaid costs, powerful public employee unions and often underfunded pension and medical obligations, state and local governments can present fiscal dilemmas that, at times and as a last resort, the federal government gets dragged into. It is hard to overstate the importance of making certain that the 50 states and Puerto Rico and thousands of local municipalities have the resources they need to operate since they provide the most essential, visible, government services important to all of us–teaching our children, building and maintaining most infrastructure, public health and public safety. And yet with the din of our obsession with national news, we do not see substantial reporting on their fiscal health. And as David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor and expert in this field reminds us, in his book “In a Bad State: Responding to State and Local Budget Crises”, while we have a moment in time when many state governments are awash in federal pandemic dollars, it is a good time to take a true assessment of the health of state and local governments to perform their vital tasks.
As podcasters go, I don’t generally insert myself into the story line like so many others do. To me, it’s about the guest, their book or their expertise. In the case of this story, I was right in the middle of helping to elevate women’s basketball in America to new heights. As the chief programming executive at Connecticut Public Television for a quarter of a century, one of the achievements I’m most proud of was bringing UConn Women’s basketball to our airwaves in 1994 and developing a franchise that would become the most successful ongoing local PBS project of all time, whether measured in viewers, membership response or underwriting. It was an absolutely amazing 17 year run. ESPN, another Connecticut media outlet, saw our success and, in a sense, the rest is history. What we point out today in this podcast is how that story continues to evolve with the women’s game getting bigger and with more media exposure on both the collegiate and professional level. Kate Fagan, a former ESPNer, along with curator Seimone Augustus and illustrator, Sophia Chang, should be rightly proud of their stunning book, “Hoop Muses: An Insider’s Guide to Pop Culture and the (Women’s)Game.” I truly enjoyed talking with her. Listen in. You will enjoy it, too.
Enron. Theranos. Purdue Pharma. Harvey Weinstein. The Nazis. Awful behavior abounds. The question is what do we do when we see it? Do we become a whistleblower or an enabler? Max Bazerman, a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a behavorial ethicist, has written a new book entitled, “Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop.” While it is easy to condemn obvious wrongdoers, his focus is on the many people around them who ignored or supported tacitly or actively the commission of unethical or criminal behaviors. Let’s admit it. We all have to one degree or another, either by acts of commission or omission. In his book and on this podcast we take these issues on directly and he offers strategies for recognizing and avoiding the psychological and other traps that lead us to ignore, condone, or actively support wrongdoing in our businesses, organizations, communities and politics. I share my own sense of complicity in a dubious personnel practice at one point in my career. If you have an ethical compass, this podcast will have you asking questions of yourself by the end.
America lost the Vietnam War. End of sentence. The reasons most scholars give are many. Chief among them is the notion that the North Vietnamese and Vietnam Congress wanted to win more than we did and understand how to fight this asymmetrical war better than our conventional forces. Dr. Mark Moyar, a military historian at Hillsdale College disputes conventional wisdom in his new book “Triumph Regained”. He argues that what most consider a military folly, built on the domino theory, was actually a strategic necessity that could have ended in victory had President Johnson heeded the advice of his generals. He makes his case and we have a lively discussion as to whether America today and going forward is as strong as we are led to believe militarily or whether our projection of force is greater than our actual battlefield capability.
Like all rites of passage in modern America, the wedding is undergoing a transformation. From who officiates to the vows that are taken to whether a church setting is involved, wedding bells ring in very personal ways for couples, some of whom have only been allowed to marry in the last few years. In fact for many couples co-habitation and no official license is the culminating step in their relationship. Shane McMurray is the CEO of The Wedding Report(wedding.report)and he does market research on what is happening in the wedding industry. We talk with him about the cost of weddings and who pays, the most desirable settings and the impact of marriage itself on our economy and changing as so much did in the wake of the pandemic.
America projects both economic and military muscle all across the globe. And while we tell ourselves its all in pursuit of goals that will help people live better lives and rise from poverty in truth there is much that we do to benefit the rich and powerful in America.The help we provide benefits a select few in those countries and allows us to exploit low income countries and their precious raw materials in a scheme that is carried out by what our guest calls ‘economic hit men.’ He himself was one and regrets the suffering he says it has caused and degradation of the planet that results. John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man 3rd Edition-China’s EHM Strategy: Ways to Stop the Global Takeover”, is a road map to how rich nations get richer and poor countries remain that way. His role in the 1970’s led him to write a compelling work as to how a corrupt system of government agencies and businesses did whatever it took-including overthrowing and killing government leaders- to enable US companies to prosper. He details the approach and the way that China is now in the game, using and adapting the tools we developed around the globe. It’s a thrilling–and chilling–account of how the economic order really works.
: This year’s Super Bowl was one of the most watched in history. This follows the release of new research from the NFL showing a dramatic increase in concussions, even after lawsuits and new ‘safety protocols.’ Football used to be thought of as a game that kept orthopedists in business. Today, it’s the domain of many more specialists including neurologists and trauma specialists. And while the popularity of the game has never been higher the brutality of the current form is more punishing for those who play it consistently and at a high level. With linemen weighing in at over 300 pounds and experiencing mini- concussive events on most plays, it has become a gladiatorial sport. Do you care what it says about us as a society that we watch it, despite the personal damage it is inflicting on the players? I have stopped watching the game, not wanting to support the enterprise. I was convinced to do so by an interview with Steve Almond, author of “Against Football.” A devotee of the game, he swore it off after realizing that his support, along with millions of others, was the sustaining force behind a life shortening, crippling and diminishing sport. He may not convince you to do the same, but you’ll never watch another football game without remembering his words.
The car-dominant approach to US transportation planning has led to the construction of freeways and roadways that have torn apart and devalued communities, especially affecting Black and Brown individuals. With a boatload of new cash going into infrastructure in America, thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure bill passed by the last Congress and signed by President Biden, will we acknowledge past failings and look to design getting around in ways that emphasize greater health, safety, fairness and resiliency in our communities? Our guest, Lynn Peterson, who along with Elizabeth Doerr, authored the book “Roadways for People: Rethinking Transportation Planning and Engineering” is trying to describe what true community engagement means in developing plans for the future and convince fellow engineers that plans that put vehicles, project schedules and budgets ahead of people are designs for failure. She describes the process of moving from the Practical Design approach to demand management. And while there are many examples of multi-modal approaches to transportation, which have come about with the public’s active participation, they are too few and far between.
The answer to the question posed in the title to this podcast was the basis of a substantial research project undertaken by a team at the Yale Cancer Center, led by Dr. Sajid Khan,an associate professor of surgery and section chief of hepato-pancreato-biliary and mixed tumors at Yale School of Medicine. He is our guest today. The findings are rather stunning. In a study encompassing over a half million patients over more than a decade and with a variety of gastrointestinal cancers, it was discovered that Black patients are less likely than white patients to have “negative surgical margins”, and have adequate lymph node removal in surgery. Following surgery Black patients are less likely to be offered chemotherapy or radiation. The looming question in my mind when I did this interview with Dr. Khan was ‘why.’ The answers may surprise you and beg more questions as you think about what the research tells us.
From disease to long term care to natural disasters, insurance offers hope for security in an uncertain world. But it often fails to deliver. In this podcast we explore what makes insurance markets work and what makes them fail. Our guest, Amy Finkelstein, an economics professor at MIT, and her co-authors Liran Einav and Ray Fisman in their book “Risky Business: Why Insurance Markets Fail and What to Do About It,” describe what it means to be part of a selection market–the defining feature of insurance-in which some customers are more expensive than others. They point to a great example to explain this concept. While a grocer does not care who buys broccoli, an auto insurer most definitely wants to know who is a terrible driver. The composite picture some insurers need to put together, like those selling life policies, may include an actual physical exam to determine if they want to write the policy and at what cost. In this podcast we explore a range of coverages and their vagaries including pet, dental, long-term care,health, auto and disaster insurance. If you didn’t think this topic could be made interesting, listen in. It is..and it is an important industry to help us sleep at night.
Labor is having a moment in America. With unemployment at its lowest rate in 50 years, even workers at the low end of the pay scale, in industries like fast food, retail and hospitality, are finding jobs that pay $15 an hour or better and come with benefits, such as medical insurance, tuition assistance and retirement plans. Labor is in short supply as baby boomers age out, immigration policy is restrictive and fewer jobs require a college degree. It’s a perfect storm for those looking for work in the service sector, in particular. But, will it last? In their new book, “Moving the Needle: What Tight Labor Markets Do for the Poor” Katherine Newman and our guest, Elisabeth Jacobs, explore this topic fully and introduce us to those whose lives are being turned around to the benefit of all. We touch upon government policies that may be required to sustain this good news story when the business cycle reverts back to a higher rate of unemployment, as it no doubt will at some point.
Who better to explain the remarkable changes that have taken place in Ireland over the last sixty years than one of its greatest modern writers, Fintan O’Toole, author of “We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland?” Designated one of the New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of 2022 is now out in paperback and I was honored to speak to such a thoughtful and gifted writer and commentator. He explains how the Irish have always presented a certain ambiguity about life’s complexities and that its history is riddled with “known unknowns.” He uses his upbringing as a window into the dramatic changes that have seen the society go from a near theocracy to a willful casting off the yoke and double standards of the Catholic Church to present a new image to the world, where same sex marriage, abortion and divorce are all accepted norms in the society that once forbade all. He also provides insights into the Troubles in North Ireland and captures the essence of of the particular Irish habit of “deliberate unknowing” which allowed myths of national greatness to persist as the foundations were collapsing. It’s a perfect time to present this conversation on the heels of President Biden’s visit to Ireland.
If there is a technology story trending in America today it’s the presumed impact of ChatGPT on all manner of writing and communicating in our business lives, academic careers and every day interactions. While this description has been written by a real human being it could have been written by this enhanced form of artificial intelligence. After all, it is capable of composing poetry, creating chord progressions that adhere to music theory and translate 100 languages. The awesome capabilities of this new generation of AI are hard for most of us to grasp. That’s why we reached out to Naomi Baron, Professor Emerita of World Languages and Cultures at American University and the author of a new book, soon to be released, called “Who Wrote This? How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing.” White collar workers beware as an Oxford study suggests AI could replace 47 percent of U.S. jobs, including paralegals, copywriters, digital-content producers, entry-level computer programmers(yes it can code)and some journalists. Professor Baron makes clear the implications of this most powerful new tool on this podcast.
From my curiosity generated by the headline of an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled “The Boss Is Back in Silicon Valley” came the following wide ranging conversation with Carol Schultz, the founder and CEO of Vertical Elevation and author of “Powered By People: How Talent-Centric Organizations Master Recruitment, Retention, and Revenue(and How to Build One)” discussing the changing workplace in America as its most valued sector has employees taking a haircut when it comes to perks and benefits. We discuss the new hybrid work environment, the great resignation, quiet quitting, the four day work week, labor’s moment because of supply and demand and other buzzwords in the world of work. It’s a lively discussion sure to find issues you can relate to whether your are a manager or a person being managed.
Few of us can imagine the difficult life circumstances that bring teenage children into a detention facility, which to them is simply another word for a jail. Jeff Hobbs, an author who immersed himself in different kinds of facilities to capture first hand accounts of the experience from these children describes in vivid, and painful, detail what happens there in his book “Children of the State: Stories of Survival and Hope in the Juvenile Justice System.” While some in society might look at these kids as society’s throwaways, to Hobbs there’s always hope, even if it turns out to be difficult to find redemption in a society that offers few choices and low ceilings once you have been detained in this way. Circumstances are different, state by state, county by county, in America but given the ongoing brain development research, it seems defeatist not to believe that even these troubled teens cannot rebound from these early interactions with the system. Our guest will introduce you to what he saw as part of his immersive reporting on juvenile justice in three different facilities.
The Constitution reserves many responsibilities to states and enumerates clearly those that the federal government can undertake. Wildlife management was one of those state focused responsibilities until the earliest days of the 20th century and then with the Lacey Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act, responsibilities began to be shared or taken over by the federal government. In the case of wildlife management, such as migratory birds or many other species of animals who traverse boundaries of states, it makes sense that policy be directed from a national perspective. In 1973 with the passage of the Endangered Species Act further duties were taken on by the federal government but still much of the work on the ground was being done by the states. The friction now results in where the funding comes from to protect species further impacted by climate change. If you care about critters, please listen in and make your voice heard about public policy debates ongoing. Lawyer, conservationist, historian and author, Lowell Baier, joins us today on the podcast to discuss.
Our guest, David Auerbach has coined the term that is the title of his book, “Meganets”. The scope of various social networks and interactive platforms has grown to such a proportion because of the sophistication of the technology and the abundant use by individuals that it is creating an autonomous digital force, as uncontrollable as the weather, and is transforming lives,society, culture and politics. Implicit in this description is the notion that no matter how many times tech execs are hauled in front of Congress or new regulations written to moderate content, the most startling fact is that there is no hand on the tiller of some of the largest global digital forces that influence our lives. This includes Facebook, Amazon, Google,Instagram and others. In effect, Auerbach argues that these companies have a created a Frankenstein. He’ll explain on this podcast.
For more than a century the go to move of governments facing a financial crisis has been the implementation of austerity policies, like cutting wages, decreasing spending on social programs and public benefits as the answer to restoring fiscal health. We’re in such a period now in America where we are pursuing monetary belt tightening to deal with inflation and fiscal austerity is put forward to insure an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling. Our guest, political economist, Clara Mattei, in her book “The Capital Order” posits a provocative thesis that solvency has never been austerity’s goal, but rather it is used to keep sending the spoils of capitalist societies to the makers and entrepreneurs to the detriment of the workers. As our wealth and income inequality grow even more, it’s worth listening to her rarely espoused point of view by either party’s leadership or by the economic brain trusts with whom they surround themselves.
The Constitution clearly states that Congress shall write our laws. But as the federal government grew larger and more complex, executive branch agencies were given more authority to bring greater definition to Congressional intent because of their expertise in a particular area. Even more power has shifted to those agencies as Congress fails to keep up with the challenges of a modern society. Clearly, courts remain arbiters of whether those same agencies have overstepped the Congressional authority granted to them. Since the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in what is called the Chevron case, judicial review has been highly deferential and courts are left to uphold agency interpretations as long as they are determined to be “reasonable.” But now the Supreme Court is pushing back on the Chevron decision which has been THE most written about, most cited administrative law decision of all time. Columbia Law Professor Thomas Merrill joins us to discuss the influential thoughts he offers about the decision’s future in his book “The Chevron Doctrine: It’s Rise and Fall and the Future of the Administrative State.”
With a hot war raging in Ukraine, it is easy to lose sight of a zone of growing tension in the cold ice terrain of the Arctic. American military planners have taken notice of the growing Russian military presence building land bases and launching a string of provocative aerial missions. America is playing catch-up in a climate where it has little experience and capabilities, knowing that the threats of climate change and the Russian dominance of the Arctic demands a more comprehensive strategy. Our guest, journalist Kenneth Rosen explored the activity in the region in a lengthy article online in Politico Magazine. We discussed with him the various challenges for America as it builds its fleet of nuclear-capable icebreakers, ships and submarines, in a region where experts agree any battles in the future will be fought in the air or on water. More importantly, he discusses the need for America to have a more comprehensive strategy, with its Allies, in order to address the growing importance of the Arctic.
Tik Tok. Huawei. Tencent. Giant Chinese companies have become controversial players in the United States as we try to determine their motives and whether they are just another arm of the Chinese government as they vacuum up incredible amounts of data on American citizens. Data which we willingly provide as we ignore terms of service so we can post another picture or video or interact with our friends. And given the lax regulation of social media companies in America, allowing them to sell our information as a key part of their revenue stream, our data flows like a faucet to China at a moment in time when they are severely restricting the information coming back to us. In her book, “Trafficking Data”, author Aynne Kokas explains how, in her view, China is winning the battle for digital sovereignty as it more broadly defines information that is important to its national security. Beijing is collecting data on people nearly everywhere. Their platforms track people’s preferences and whereabouts, while also giving the Chinese government control over a powerful tool for shaping people’s worldview.
https://vimeo.com/804059020/0a93cadc22
Check out this link to Larry’s song about Barry Sussman the unsung hero of Watergate
Give it a listen
Cryptocurrency has been in the news recently and not in a good way. The chicanery of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX Exchange now stands in league with other great financial swindles, like Bernie Madoff’s. There are large questions that need to be addressed both about the economic utility of this relatively new asset class and the role that government oversight should play in the regulation of it. To address those issues and all things cryptocurrency is Lee Reiners, the Policy Director of the Duke Financial Economic Center and a lecturing fellow at Duke University. He explains what cryptocurrency is and why in his mind it has a murky future given that it does not perform the common functions of money, as we know it, and its volatility makes it, indeed, risky business.
The conventional criticism of the current make up of the U.S. Supreme Court is that it is populated by a majority of rabid right wing partisans, overturning precedents in order to achieve political objectives. And that its decisions are out of step with a majority of Americans. Our guest, Mark Lemley, Professor of Law at Stanford University, has an even more searing critique as he argues that the Supreme Court is making an unprecedented power grab as it takes decision-making away from both other government institutions and individuals and retains authority never before envisioned for itself. Of all the trampling he sees to Congressional authority, administrative agencies of the federal government, and state legislatures, his clearest red flag is the impact this Court is having on lower federal courts and their role in our delicate republic. It’s such an important topic not getting the attention it deserves.
The American public education system, K-12, is plagued with problems at this moment. On the heels of a pandemic that turned teaching from one of the most impactful, personal professions into one in which remote exchanges were dominant, this just begins to scratch the surface. We find an inability to recruit enough qualified college graduates into the teaching profession, stagnant compensation, which certainly contributes to the former, heavier workloads and declining prestige for those who enter the field. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of students graduating from college with bachelor’s degrees in education fell from 176,307 in 1970-71 to 85,058 in 2019-2020. And wages are essentially unchanged from 2000 to 2020 after adjusting for inflation. Matthew Kraft of Brown University and, our guest, Melissa Arnold Lyon of the University at Albany, State University of New York, in their 2022 paper “The Rise and Fall of the Teaching Profession: Prestige, Interest, Preparation, and Satisfaction Over the Last Half Century,” tracked trends on “four interrelated constructs: professional prestige, interest among students, preparation for entry and job satisfaction” over 50 years. She has a conversation with me about their findings.
Link to Paper discussed in this podcast
While the community’s shock over what happened in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School can never be erased, the new school built nearby is meant to refocus thoughts to the future and designed to make it less susceptible to anything like it ever happening again. There is no way to harden a school beyond the possibility for an attack, but there are many approaches you can take to minimize the risk, according to Jay Brotman, Managing Partner of Svigals and Partners, the architectural firm in New Haven, Connecticut chosen to rebuild the school. In the podcast, he describes the approaches taken to both secure the facility, but still make it warm and inviting for students and teachers. The philosophy employed, and substantial input gathered from the community incorporated into the new design, is contained in the firm’s paper entitled “Building Safer Schools That Don’t Look Like Prisons”. This is an important conversation as communities address this issue nationwide.
Some Congressional leaders say that all we have to do to get control of our raging national debt is to cut out waste, fraud and abuse. Scour the voluminous federal budget and you will not find line items with those designations. Were it so easy. Mind you we’re over $31 trillion in the hole now and add a trillion or more to it each year(except much more during, say, a pandemic). The hard truth is that much of the federal budget is on autopilot–like Social Security and Medicare–and few in Congress have the desire to even begin to give a hard look at these programs and determine if structural changes need to be made. This is occurring as the ticking clock tells us there’s trouble ahead when current benefits to seniors in these programs will not be met by projected revenues within a decade. There are revenue increases, benefit cuts or changes in eligibility standards available, but is there political will to manage this problem? The looming debt ceiling debate has brought the issue to the fore but President Biden is demanding that the default on US debt obligations not be a condition of any negotiation on the long term debt problem. Robert Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition(concordcoalition.org), a non- partisan organization that encourages fiscal responsibility in Washington, joins us to discuss.
It was only a few years ago when mention of mental health concerns was done in whispered tones. Today, perhaps owing to the pandemic and its after effects, people openly share their anxiety, sleeplessness and other manifestations of mental anguish in these uncertain times. All this has been exacerbated by economic and political worries. Chuck Ingoglia, CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing (www.thenationalcouncil.org ) joins us to discuss a range of issues explaining the growing awareness and interest in mental health as well as the concerns about access to treatment, its expense and the role the federal government is playing in attempting to realize the goal of giving our mental health needs parity with our physical health concerns.
We put up signs and cheered and serenaded from rooftops and labelled “heroes,” healthcare workers, teachers, grocery clerks. delivery drivers, food processors, and we gave them a new label “essential”, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept across America. Before this event, we had spent the better part of forty years ignoring the worsening plight of working class people, often doing thankless jobs, here in America. “Essential” before this, they were not, by any measure. We did not pay them enough, protect their health enough or even thank them enough. The question is as the pandemic ebbs, has their status in our society really changed? You would think that in the face of a worker shortage (though our guest says it can be more aptly described as a “surplus of bad jobs”)we would bestow more value and benefits as a society and as companies. In his book, “Essential” How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice,” Jamie McCallum makes the argument that some progress is being made, but it’s not nearly enough. We will give you a framework for discussing this important topic in your community and workplace on this podcast.
When we read about China’s miracle economy, in large part, it is a myth. Politics, Communist style, trumps economics and the growth numbers you see heralding its economic output are likely unrealiable, partial or distorted for political purposes. Private business ownership as we know it does not exist there. The banks and major industries are subsets of the state apparatus that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party. People, or shall we say, party members can accumulate much wealth in China, but like Jack Ma, of Alibaba, if you get too big the Party may bring you down, just as it once raised you up. In China it is said that the state is rich, but the people are poor. Regardless what we may envision, the standard of living for the average Chinese citizen has not risen in what are perceived as heady times for China. In his newest book,”China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower” internationally renowned historian, Frank Dikotter, one of the leading China scholars in the world, debunks many myths we have about how things are going in China. Our complex relationship with China should not cloud our understanding that the CCP’s goal was never to join the democratic world, but to resist it-and ultimately defeat it.
The First Amendment and freedom of speech allow us to say what we want, but: we can’t yell “fire!” in a crowded theater; we can’t incite a riot; and since the nation’s founding, there have always been some types of political and obscene speech that could send you to jail. Professor Dennis Baron’s timely new book, “You Can’t Always Say What You Want: The Paradox of Free Speech” points out these exceptions, the “free speech, but”-what happens when the right of speech runs up against the government’s efforts to control it, and what types of threats to speech we will face in the propulsion of commentary on the internet. Free speech is a much more nuanced topic when you realize that the First Amendment pertains only to the government not making laws to limit it. Your boss or family members can ascribe whatever limits they choose. Even the government has limited speech when it might be injurious to a war effort or an enemy like, Soviet Communism in much of the 20th century. And today we see self-described free speech absolutist, Elon Musk, throwing people whose opinions he does not like off of Twitter. We will try to untangle a complex issue on this podcast.
When the internet was a shiny new object, it was understandable that we did not take security that seriously. But today it is home to most of the important information in our lives, including our financial records. The same holds true for corporations and nations, including delicate information that can affect our national security as well as our critical infrastructure. At the same time, the ability to hack the internet is not only possible by malevolent nation-states, but also bad actors and hacker gangs who do it for a range of reasons, including large ransoms. Unlike in the analog world there is no cyber–Coast Guard that is going to come and bail us out if we lose our data. Yet, to date evidently, the penalty for going unguarded seems to be seen by most entities as less than the cost of putting up strict cyber walls against incursion. In his book “The Unhackable Internet”, Attorney Thomas Vartanian, with long experience in the financial and banking sector, suggests we are playing with fire and a cyber- Pearl Harbor is inevitable unless we take a number of steps that he lays out in the book.
In America we play hail to the founder and the brilliant chief executive who started a company from scratch, though we realize that whether it’s Elon Musk or Jeff Zuckerberg, they have their feet of clay. The spoils go to them and outside shareholders who invest in the company, which has led to a yawning wealth gap in America. Wages, less and less, can cover the bills and social trust is eroding, There are ongoing debates about what to do, but one key solution is rarely discussed. Why not spread business ownership around and let workers benefit from the capitalist dreams they have helped to create? In the book, “Ownership: Reinventing Companies, Capitalism, and Who Owns What”, our guest, Corey Rosen, founder of the National Center for Employee Ownership and his co-author, John Case. explain why so many companies end up being owned by Wall Street shareholders or private equity firms–and why that kind of ownership encourages a focus on short-term profits rather than long-term sustainability. The heart of the book takes us inside the concept of employee ownership as a concept and how to expand it in America. Given the bipartisan support for the concept, it seems like an idea whose time has come.
When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the United States in 2020, it affected nearly every aspect of our daily lives, hitting even the biggest businesses and corporations. The meat industry was no exception. While the illness and new regulations for distancing and masked slashed the workforce and led to supply shortages, it also sharpened our focus on the awful conditions of slaughterhouses and meat packing factories. Add to this the fact that meat production is one of the greatest culprits in our battle to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and near monopolistic practices brought about by years of consolidation and you have an industry worth reporting seriously on and being concerned about. That’s exactly what Chloe Sorvino does in her expose titled “Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat”. She joins us to unpack the story.
Just as a modicum of justice is being meted out to those who ripped a hole through middle America in the opioid epidemic, the same man who awakened the nation to that crisis reveals in his new book that the epidemic is far from over; in fact, it is entering a dangerous new phase: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product is made in Magic Bullet blenders. Sam Quinones, author of the much heralded book ‘Dreamland’ continues his chronicling of pain in America in his follow on book called “The Least of Us: True Tales of America in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth”. He tells us that in fentanyl traffickers found a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. It is now laced in cocaine, meth, and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of death. His searing accounts of the impact on real lives is remarkable. He joins us today to share his vast knowledge of this most disturbing topic.
While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been simmering, and at times boiling over, for the last 70 years, our understanding of the issues at stake are spotty. It’s complicated and you must go back to Biblical times to really understand it. Our guest echoes the sentiment that both sides are ‘righteous victims’. In this podcast, we touch on the history and then break down the current situation between the parties. While we attempt to touch on the high points, there is no substitute for reading Daniel Sokatch’s accessible, but indispensable, guide to the subject called “Can We Talk About Israel: A Guide for the Curious, Confused and Conflicted.” He walks us through some of the moments of possibility, such as the mid to late 1990’s, when President Bill Clinton and the parties were so close to the elusive two-state solution. Yet, it fell apart and there has not been a serious attempt to reconcile long held contentious positions since. Stay with this one throughout because at the end of the podcast the CEO of the New Israel Fund and author explains the seeming devotion of Evangelical Christians in America and the State of Israel. It’s eye opening.
Hubris seems to have gotten the best of Vladimir Putin. After the near disintegration of the once vaunted Red Army, Putin was determined to rebuild his military into a feared fighting machine. He made a number of much overdue reforms in his fighting force and got engaged in conflicts in Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea and Syria. He understood that national pride had as its cornerstone the ability to project force as a global power. Then came his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 which may prove to be his Waterloo. Dr. Mark Galeotti is one of the foremost Russian-watchers today. He is author of the new book ” Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine” and he shares his keen observations of the unfolding, perhaps unraveling, story of the Putin era.
Whether it’s the climate crisis arriving, a terrorist attacking or a mass shooter on a rampage, it seems that disasters are becoming more frequent. In her new book, “The Devil Never Sleeps”, Juliette Kayyem, an international leader in crisis management, disaster response and homeland security, explains why we all must become disaster responders on the first line of defense in these times. She offers a new framework to anticipate the many forms the “devil’s” appearance may take and our role in blunting the impact. When we are’ left ‘of the boom we must prepare so that when we are’ right’ of the boom we minimize the consequences of a storm, madman or organized threat. We discuss a range of disasters including responses that are so vivid in regards to the COVID 19 pandemic.
The frequency of and intensity of natural disasters–such as wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and storms–are on the rise, threatening the lives, homes and possessions of so many. While lives are torn apart in the wake of these sudden and unpredictable events, there are things that people can do to better prepare for what daily seems more inevitable in many places, not just America’s coastlines. So how do you insure yourself against at least the property loss? In ‘Understanding Disaster Insurance”, disaster risk expert Carolyn Kousky walks us through the complex process of transferring risk given that many people do not read the fine print of their homeowner’s insurance and may think, in error, that they are covered for things like floods. There are many products you can buy and new ones being developed. With that said, these protections will continue to get costlier and less available when companies see risk where you live moving from possible to certain, as is the case in parts of Florida, California, Louisiana and elsewhere. Governments have been stepping in to provide insurance as a last resort, but their participation may continue to grow as the climate crisis and other factors persist.
Historically, money management was thought of as man’s work, As 41 percent of MBA students are now women, this notion, like so many things that we previously accepted as reality, is being disassembled. And it’s about time. Women continue to control more wealth in our society and whether for reasons of greater knowledge, inheritance, or divorce, as examples, they want and deserve to control the purse strings. What is required is greater financial literacy and emphasis which to this point has been lacking. Cindy Couyoumjian, financial planner and author of “The Rise of Women and Wealth” sees a sea change coming in the relationship between women and money as a new wave of feminism sweeps over the land. Using historical reference points, inspiring prose and some practical tips, she provides a framework for a new paradigm that is emerging.
The idea that someone who has the capacity to loan money to someone else to start a business or buy a house is really what fuels the consumer-based economy in America is indisputable. How that came about, the creative products developed, like a thirty year mortgage, and the safeguards that keep those commitments from running aground are fascinating when you stop and consider them. Often times there is no collateral to back them up and yet we enter into these arrangements, in effect, every time we swipe our credit card. Bruce Carruthers, a Professor Of Sociology at Northwestern University describes the complex arrangements that underpin and lubricate the economy in his book, “The Economy of Promises: Trust, Power and Credit in America”. As we consider what went wrong with the system in the financial meltdown of housing loans in 2009, we must marvel at how well the system generally works for many, though not all, in a society that prides itself on the concept of risk.
To many, America’s ‘public’ space program has seemed stalled in recent years. With many pressing problems on planet Earth, have we given up imagining the possibilities of space as the new frontier and left those dreams to to private entrepreneurs and George Lucas and other Hollywood types? The answer is a resounding ‘no’ as NASA gets set to embark on a different race back to the moon in order to use it as the platform for exploration of the deeper reaches in space. Astrophysicist, Joseph Silk, who teaches at Johns Hopkins University details the complex and vital scientific objects of going “Back to the Moon’ is his new book with that title. It’s fascinating to read about a lunar space station on the far side of the moon which offers a great picture into our world’s creation as well as whether, and what type of life, might exist elsewhere. It’s a race America does not want to lose, yet the competition, primarily from China, is fierce because the prize, including rare earth materials to be mined, is great.
No matter what measurement you use, the statistical one provided by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development or simply your own eyes as you walk the streets of major American cities, the issue of people who live on the streets with no permanent shelter is growing. Conservatives and liberals alike recognize the problem and yet we have not put together initiatives that can get at the root of the problem and provide people with dignity and hope for the future. America settled on a ‘housing first’ policy which in essence creates a large federal assistance program which is functionally equivalent to HUD Section 8 housing. However, mental health, drug addiction and the lack of affordable housing in some of the country’s largest cities combine to exacerbate the problems faced by individuals who have no stability in their lives. Dr. Robert Marbut a senior policy fellow at the Discovery Institute has worked on the issue of the homeless for decades as Chief of Staff for San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros and as a White House Fellow under George W. Bush. He was the Executive Director of the U.S. Inter agency Council on Homelessness from 2019 to 2021 under both the Trump and Biden Administrations. He joins us to discuss a concept being put forward in federal legislation to get at the broad suite of needs people on the streets generally exhibit and to attempt to find more long-term remedies.
There is an insidious new pollutant that is harmful on its own and contributes to climate change. However, given industry pressure and economics its impacts will be very difficult to reverse. It’s called microplastics. And if you want to break down the problem in a more granular way, it’s called nannoplastics. These are bits of synthetic materials that have infested the atmosphere and are falling out of the sky and accumulating on land, in rivers and lakes and the sea. It’s so pervasive because plastics are used to package most of our consumer goods and can be found in everything from tires and clothing to couches and flooring. Plastic creates mountains of polymers, almost none of which is recycled. It is broken into an incalculable horde of synthetic specks, which are actually visible if you look carefully through a window. We will leave it to Matt Simon, author of “A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies”, to lay out chapter and verse what is happening here and how much these plastics are affecting our environment–and what we must do to get a handle on this problem.
Every day, deep fake sex videos, leaked emails and stolen nude images are weaponized, causing lasting damage to people’s careers, relationships and self-expression. Every day, companies track our health, location, dating, and browsing habits and share them with law enforcement. And as the Supreme Court takes its own axe to privacy, incarceration for reproductive choices you make is a distinct possibility. Whether it’s a spurned boyfriend or an online company whose business model is over collection of data about you, the internet may be dangerous to the careful way that you try to position yourself in the world, making it a place where you no longer feel it is safe from harmful invasions of your intimate privacy. A leading expert in this field, University of Virginia Law Professor, Danielle Keats Citron, author of “The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age” is our guest today and she explains why it is so important for Americans to have a backstage where private moments remain just that. As you will learn in this podcast, that opportunity is threatened by vindictive actors and laws which protect internet companies more than users.
: COVID-19 killed more people than any war or public health crisis in American history. Given that we constantly tell ourselves that we have the best health care in the world, what explains the fact that over a million Americans and counting have lost their lives and many millions suffering with the effects of the virus? In a word-partisanship. This public health crisis took on a political caste early on that it could never quite shake and the effects were deadly. Research of how members of one political ‘tribe’ or another reacted to it are stark in revealing the impact. While this was not the only factor in our grim response, it along with the social and racial inequities in our health care system co-star in this American tragedy. We discuss ‘Pandemic Politics’, the subject and the book with co-author Shana Kushner Gadarian. She wrote the book along with Sara Wallace Goodman and Thomas Pepinsky.
There is a science behind the inherent resilience of species who are adapting to changing conditions around the world. You may not get that picture from news accounts that tell us that an abundance of the natural world is disappearing in this period of the Anthropocene as man makes the planet less habitable for himself and others. Yes, there is extinction taking place, but it might be less dramatic and more normal than reports would indicate. Our guest, Michael Mehta Webster, in his book “: The Key to Saving Life on Earth” sounds a more optimistic note about how adaptation in the natural world takes place and tells remarkable stories of species who use a range of approaches to survive. Some move. Others evolve. And some welcome immigrants in to bring new genetic diversity to a small population. It’s eye- opening material we provide on this podcast.
Walmart has spawned a range of controversies over its remarkable history from one small store in rural Arkansas as the brainchild of its legendary founder, Sam Walton, to the retailing behemoth it is today. Throughout that history one theme has been consistent—Walmart employees have never been treated as the valued associates they are said to be by management. They have fought for scraps off of a table of abundance. And while things have gotten better for employees, is the progress good enough? Rick Wartzman, author “Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism” explores the complex evolution of the company and where it’s practices stand today as it attempts to remake its image.
As Americans, the ethos of self- help permeates our lives in all kinds of ways, including our health. If we all thought we were in this together, that health is a team sport, we would not have passed one million persons dying from Covid-19 with barely a notice. And then having moved on, fixing nothing about our fractured public health system. In his book, “Me Vs. Us: A Health Divided”, Dr. Michael Stein, makes a compelling our argument that the disparities in health outcomes between Americans with means and those without must be addressed going forward or the many public health exigencies we face in the future will exacerbate problems that are worse here than in other advanced societies. Before you accept the trope that we have the best health care system in the world, consider the importance of, yet lack of attention to, the public health component as described on this podcast.
Ronald Reagan made pushing back on liberal dominance of the political agenda in the 20th century sound so optimistic and upbeat. It was morning in America and his priorities like free trade and reforms in immigration policy later became something of an anathema to an emerging wing of the party that did not see things sunny side up. With Rush Limbaugh and the nationalization of talk radio and the bombast of Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich, the Reagan era, the most successful conservative president in a generation, seems to have been swept away in a torrent of anger and vitriol. By GOP standards today, he was too accommodating and desirous of pleasing a majority of Americans. In her new book,, Nicole Hemmer, a political historian at Vanderbilt University, focuses her analytical skills on the forces at play in the 1990’s that led us to the boiling point many consider election year 2022 to be. There had to be antecedents to the raft of election deniers and Christian nationalists who occupy a dominant wing of today’s GOP party. She names names and explains the factors that led the party away from the principles of Ronald Reagan and to the adoption of the policies and rough hewn personality of its present day leader, Donald Trump.
Conspiracy theories are now mainstream in American politics. The most recent was the rigging allegations surrounding the 2020 election when somehow a cabal of independent state actors, many of whom were Republicans, and computer hackers conspired to give Joe Biden a seven million vote plurality in the popular vote, even though he actually lost to Donald Trump. At the same time, Republicans picked up seats in the House of Representatives and state races. I guess the theory is that only the top line was tampered with. Many candidates in 2022 ran on the dis proven election lie. Historically enough conspiracies were real so paying some attention to the phenomenon made sense. Medical professionals have harmed people in their care (Tuskegee) and the government does lie to us, such as in the case of Watergate, Iran-Contra and Vietnam so it is good to be skeptical, but what is lacking today in many cases is the theory of the case. QAnon, for example, is the conspiracy theory of everything (and thus nothing). To break all this down for us is Michael Shermer, the publisher of Skeptic magazine, and the author of the new book, “Conspiracy”. He describes all the factors involved in trying to make sense of a world that seems, at times,to have gone mad. Clinging to conspiracy theories may say as much about us, our own anxieties and loss of control, then about the wild notions being thrown about.
What can bottled water tell us about America? When you stop to think about it, an awful lot. The pervasiveness of bottled water and its dramatic sales increases is a clear sign that people have lost trust in basic services. The well- publicized cases of unsafe drinking water in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi … Continue reading EP 608 Bottled Water Sales Tell us a Lot About our Confidence In Government →
For many people today saying who you work for as opposed to where you work is a lot simpler question to answer. There were many problems emerging with the traditional office before the pandemic, but its fate was further cast in doubt when people and technology adapted to work anywhere, anytime. Now this revolution is … Continue reading EP 607 The Nowhere Office is the Place to Be →
Political polarization and extremism have reached dangerous levels and the country’s economic and social disparities, coupled with a toxic social media environment, exacerbate tensions and make compromise, a staple of a healthy democracy, near impossible. We must break down the systemic causes of current threats to our democracy, including restricting access to voting, anti majoritarian … Continue reading EP 606 Our Broken Politics: Where Do We Begin to Fix It? →
We watched it on television. He lived it daily for years as an Afghanistan military interpreter and as a desperate husband and father trying to board a flight out of the country with is family as Kabul fell into a sea of panic and chaos. We are still shaken by what we saw. He found … Continue reading EP 605 Afghan Interpreter on American Promises Betrayed →
In your mind have you placed the fracturing of America’s politics at the entrance way to America’s college system? It takes some mental gymnastics to get there but if you trace the trajectory of American higher education from the postwar boom of the GI bill after World War II and the optimism for all to … Continue reading EP 604 Colleges Today at the Center of the Political Divide →
President Biden recently announced a college loan forgiveness program. It provides forgiving up to $10,000 of student debt for up to 43 million low to middle income borrowers. That is single borrowers with incomes of up to $125,000 and couples with incomes up to $250,000. It will also forgive as much as $20,000 for the … Continue reading EP 603 Student Loan Forgiveness: Who Benefits? Who Pays? →
Dictatorships do not come about in all the same way. The origin story, it turns out, is more than something interesting to read in a history book. Revolutionary autocracies, those born of violent social revolution, are extraordinarily durable. China, Cuba, Iran and Vietnam could be counted among this number. The record indicates that over … Continue reading EP 602 Dictatorships That Endure Crisis Have One Thing in Common →
While rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate might make us feel better, diplomacy is not enough to fix our growing problems. On this podcast, David Victor of the University of California, San Diego joins us. He, along with Charles Sabel, of Columbia Law School, have written the book, “Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain … Continue reading EP 601 Climate Change Requires a Totally Different Strategy to Combat →
Given that COVID-19 has been with us for a relatively short period of time, as viruses go, it’s hard to say whether the after effects that some people experience are short term or will become chronic. That’s why many scientists around the world are studying it now. The conditions related to it are as diverse … Continue reading EP 600 Long Haul Covid: A Long Road Ahead to Figure It Out →
How you heard of the field of bio mimicry? It’s a relatively new scientific field in which innovations inspired by the natural world enrich our lives every day and, in some cases, help save them. Let’s take one example among the many described on the podcast. Take kingfishers for example: the design of … Continue reading EP 599 Human Advances Can Be Linked to Mimicking Animal Behavior →
While little known, Harvard University tried a grand experiment starting in the 1940’s as it merged parts of the psychology department with the anthropology and sociology departments into a construct known as the Department of Social Relations. This interdisciplinary approach was meant to help unlock why we humans behave as we do. It made the … Continue reading EP 598 Harvard’s Social Relations Experiment, Timothy Leary and the Return of Psychedelics →
Much attention is paid to mass shootings because they often involve our most precious citizens, our children. Yet, other forms of gun violence such as that between intimate partners, that associated with drugs on city streets and that which involves self harm and suicide get far less. America’s fascination with the gun goes unabated as … Continue reading EP 597 Worst of Our Gun Related Violence Gets Little Attention →
It seems like the oldest false start in the world as a rumor swirls that a local mall is closing. Sometimes, they do. More times than not they are re-created to serve new, and often, public purposes, like libraries, museums and community event spaces. From Victor Gruen’s Southdale Shopping Center–America’s first indoor mall–which opened in … Continue reading EP 596 The Mall is Dead: Take Five →
That’s the question posed by our guest in his new book and on this podcast. The notion of a vital center in American politics has been a subject of inquiry for many years, going back to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.’s 1949 book “The Vital Center”. This idea of all of us coalescing around solutions that are … Continue reading EP 595 What Happened to the Vital Center? →
James Madison conceived of the states in our federalist system as being laboratories for democracy where policy innovations can take place. In an era when Congress has become more gridlocked and the parties more rigid ideologically, national partisan and activist groups, often one issue constituencies, have trained their sights on state legislatures, nationalizing state politics … Continue reading EP 594 State Politics Take Center Stage in America →
There is a lot of literature about the sacrifices that professional women make when choosing to have a family. Much has also been written about single moms and their travails. Our guest is exploring new territory as she zeroes in on working class young people and their approaches to caring for a baby while also … Continue reading EP 593 How Working Class Young Parents Handle It All →
Discrimination has reared its ugly head in America in so many institutions that it’s remarkable that some people still balk at the term ‘institutional racism’. Case in point: the National Football League. For years in the earlier part of the century black players were not allowed to compete at all. Then as pioneers in ownership … Continue reading EP 592 Black Quarterbacks Break Down Stereotypes to Dominate Football →
This ain’t Ronald Reagan’s conservative GOP. He favored immigration, international involvement and free trade. So what does the Trump era conservative movement resemble? Calivin Coolidge? Perhaps, the two have little in common personally, but from a policy perspective economic protection, restricted immigration and non-intervention in the world, including mutual defense alliances are back in the … Continue reading EP 591 The Elites and the People Battle for the Soul of the Conservative Movement →
Remember the Alanis Morrisette song, “Isn’t It Ironic”, well that fits the notion of trying to reform gun laws in America. On virtually the same day as Congress passed a series of measures, not curtailing the types of guns available on America’s streets or universal background checks, but modest measures to help cut back on … Continue reading EP 590 The Supreme Court Just Made Gun Law Changes More Difficult Going Forward →
Remember the Alanis Morrisette song, “Isn’t It Ironic”, well that fits the notion of trying to reform gun laws in America. On virtually the same day as Congress passed a series of measures, not curtailing the types of guns available on America’s streets or universal background checks, but modest measures to help cut back on … Continue reading EP 590 The Supreme Court Just Made Gun Law Changes More Difficult Going Forward →
While artificial intelligence is remarkable(right, Alexa?) it is a stretch to believe the science fiction portrayals of future humans being replaced by artificial intelligence is likely…ever. The key reason, according to our guest on this podcast, is because artificial intelligence is based on algorithms and algorithms are mathematical in nature, requiring a human to … Continue reading EP 589 How Far Can Artificial Intelligence Go in Mimicking Human Behavior? →
While artificial intelligence is remarkable(right, Alexa?) it is a stretch to believe the science fiction portrayals of future humans being replaced by artificial intelligence is likely…ever. The key reason, according to our guest on this podcast, is because artificial intelligence is based on algorithms and algorithms are mathematical in nature, requiring a human to … Continue reading EP 589 How Far Can Artificial Intelligence Go in Mimicking Human Behavior? →
: In 2021, the United States experienced 20 weather and climate disasters, each costing more than a billion dollars to repair. As we wait for world leaders to engage their citizens in an honest conversation about how perilous our current course is, we all must take actions to get us through the next thirty years. … Continue reading EP 588 Climate Change Actions That Must be Taken Now! →
: In 2021, the United States experienced 20 weather and climate disasters, each costing more than a billion dollars to repair. As we wait for world leaders to engage their citizens in an honest conversation about how perilous our current course is, we all must take actions to get us through the next thirty years. … Continue reading EP 588 Climate Change Actions That Must be Taken Now! →
When our guest knocked on one door of a voter in her rural Maine district, his first question was are you a Republican or a demon? Hmm…nice opener. The FDR coalition, a mainstay of American politics throughout much of the 20th century, has fallen apart. Less educated, rural voters have abandoned the Democratic Party. However, … Continue reading EP 587 Can Democrats Win Rural Voters? Is It Worth the Effort? →
When our guest knocked on one door of a voter in her rural Maine district, his first question was are you a Republican or a demon? Hmm…nice opener. The FDR coalition, a mainstay of American politics throughout much of the 20th century, has fallen apart. Less educated, rural voters have abandoned the Democratic Party. However, … Continue reading EP 587 Can Democrats Win Rural Voters? Is It Worth the Effort? →
As the war in Ukraine rages, it is hard not to see the ravages of the conflict on the civilian, as well as military, population in that country. When aggressors like Russia, and in the many civil war conflicts less well reported today around the globe, care little about the impacts of indirect involvement, including … Continue reading EP 586 War and Its Devastating Health Consequences for All →
As the war in Ukraine rages, it is hard not to see the ravages of the conflict on the civilian, as well as military, population in that country. When aggressors like Russia, and in the many civil war conflicts less well reported today around the globe, care little about the impacts of indirect involvement, including … Continue reading EP 586 War and Its Devastating Health Consequences for All →
It is now said that Roe v. Wade is on the ballot. President Biden recently reiterated that sentiment saying that the future of abortion rights is now in the hands of the voting public. Abortion will remain legal in ‘blue states’ and banned altogether or largely in ‘red states’. The Congress, depending upon who … Continue reading EP 585 Public Opinion Regarding Abortion Becomes More Critical in Wake of Supreme Court Ruling →
It is now said that Roe v. Wade is on the ballot. President Biden recently reiterated that sentiment saying that the future of abortion rights is now in the hands of the voting public. Abortion will remain legal in ‘blue states’ and banned altogether or largely in ‘red states’. The Congress, depending upon who … Continue reading EP 585 Public Opinion Regarding Abortion Becomes More Critical in Wake of Supreme Court Ruling →
The answer is nothing really unless you are looking to enrich incumbent property owners, institutionalize segregation and contribute to sprawl. That’s according to our guest, M. Nolan Gray, author of “Arbitray Lines”. He’s a professional city planner and an expert in land-use regulation. And while there are plenty of reasons to plan for diverse, … Continue reading EP 584 Zoning Regulations: What Are They Good For? →
The answer is nothing really unless you are looking to enrich incumbent property owners, institutionalize segregation and contribute to sprawl. That’s according to our guest, M. Nolan Gray, author of “Arbitray Lines”. He’s a professional city planner and an expert in land-use regulation. And while there are plenty of reasons to plan for diverse, … Continue reading EP 584 Zoning Regulations: What Are They Good For? →
The White House insisted that President Biden did not establish a new policy when he bluntly answered “yes” to the question, “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” To this point our policy has gone under the heading of “strategic ambiguity”. What does that mean? Well, it … Continue reading EP 583 What Is America’s Policy Toward Taiwan? →
The White House insisted that President Biden did not establish a new policy when he bluntly answered “yes” to the question, “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” To this point our policy has gone under the heading of “strategic ambiguity”. What does that mean? Well, it … Continue reading EP 583 What Is America’s Policy Toward Taiwan? →
The child welfare system is, we are told, in place to protect children from abuse. In fact, the inordinate number of interventions in Black families suggests that the touted benevolence has turned into significant overreach tearing these families apart and thrusting children into a foster care system known to cause devastating harms. Often the crime … Continue reading EP 582 Child Protective Services or Is It Child Policing Services? →
The child welfare system is, we are told, in place to protect children from abuse. In fact, the inordinate number of interventions in Black families suggests that the touted benevolence has turned into significant overreach tearing these families apart and thrusting children into a foster care system known to cause devastating harms. Often the crime … Continue reading EP 582 Child Protective Services or Is It Child Policing Services? →
When we have dreams about what our future may hold for us, is there anything that limits the possibilities we imagine for ourselves? In this country, the American Dream holds out the promise of limitless choices for all. However, Janet Ruane and Karen Cerulo, our guests on this podcast, two sociologists and co-authors of ‘Dreams … Continue reading EP 581 Is the American Dream Something We All Can Still Imagine? →
When we have dreams about what our future may hold for us, is there anything that limits the possibilities we imagine for ourselves? In this country, the American Dream holds out the promise of limitless choices for all. However, Janet Ruane and Karen Cerulo, our guests on this podcast, two sociologists and co-authors of ‘Dreams … Continue reading EP 581 Is the American Dream Something We All Can Still Imagine? →
The Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has issued a new Advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis across the country. Health workers, physicians, nurses, community and public health workers and others have faced systemic challenges in the health care system even before the COVID-19 pandemic, leading … Continue reading EP 580 What Happens When Care Providers Need Care Themselves? →
There have been two periods in American history when the Democratic Party was dominant for an extended time frame. One was the Age of Andrew Jackson, which began in 1828 and ended on the eve of the Civil War, and the other the Age of Roosevelt which began in 1932 and ended in the early … Continue reading EP 579 Is the Democratic Party Built to Win in This Moment? →
Let’s be honest, we all have biases. Often times they seep in unconsciously given the society into which we are born. The role of men and women, for instance, is societally reinforced by a host of cues, behaviors and modeling. Bias affects the individual who has to overcome someone else’s sense of who they are … Continue reading EP 578 How Do We Begin to End Bias In Its Many Forms? →
Not long ago, the technology industry was seen as a tonic for freedom and democracy. Not anymore. Every day, we see headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks and social media platforms fostering lies and hatred. Our guest, Jamie Susskind, has been called ‘one of the foremost thinkers on the transformative impact of … Continue reading EP 577 Can We Harness Digital Technology For the Public Good Before It’s Too Late? →
State Senator Doug Mastriano(R) recently romped to the GOP gubernatorial primary win in Pennsylvania. He opened his victory remarks by evoking Scripture, saying “God uses the foolish to confound the wise.” He then went on to cast the November election in vivid religious terms with another biblical reference ‘Let’s choose this day to serve the … Continue reading EP 576 Christian Nationalists A Growing Part of the Republican Coalition →
The most enduring legacy of COVID may be how governments around the world used it as cover to undermine freedom, subvert the flow of information and establish ways of avoiding accountability that will outlast the pandemic itself. The United States federal government tried to flood the zone with questionable theories about how to deal … Continue reading EP 575 The Pandemic Brought on Government Lies and Censorship →
The future solvency of Social Security hangs in the balance by decisions that lawmakers in Washington will have to make over the next decade. While many of us might think that Social Security’s solvency is fungible–just move some pots around–that’s not how the system was set up. It’s pay as you go using only funds … Continue reading EP 574 Can Congress Save Social Security? →
There is a trend in modern day America as older Americans leave their careers but prepare for another phase of life which will involve purpose, passion and, often, working in some capacity. Our guest, Chris Farrell, saw the trend of unretirement coming some years back when he wrote a book of the same name. Today, … Continue reading EP 573 The Older Set Vital to Nation’s Economy →
Ken Dychtwald, the founder of Age Wave, is a force of nature who through his writings and talks has changed America’s way of looking at aging. In this podcast, he employs his remarkable communication skills to frame the issues of aging in a new light and delivers results from a new study regarding changing retirement … Continue reading EP 572 The Guru of Better Living In Our Later Passage With New Information and Motivation →
Ken Dychtwald, the founder of Age Wave, is a force of nature who through his writings and talks has changed America’s way of looking at aging. In this podcast, he employs his remarkable communication skills to frame the issues of aging in a new light and delivers results from a new study regarding changing retirement … Continue reading EP 572 The Guru of Better Living In Our Later Passage With New Information and Motivation →
In the United States we are used to single-member districts for our House of Representatives. These are winner take all style elections. This approach seems so natural to us. You lose by one vote and you’re gone. A proportional representative approach, which is practiced in most democracies, involves larger multi-member districts and a division of … Continue reading EP 571 Is Proportional Representation The Answer to Our Gridlock? →
The field of public relations has been most simply described as ‘doing good and communicating it’. Even in days when newspapers, television and radio were the prime sources of information, a skilled public relations practitioner would have to work hard for placement, by having a great understanding as to what the media outlet was looking … Continue reading EP 570 The Art of Being Heard in a Noisy World →
In these complicated economic times it’s easy to miss the forest amidst the trees. Just as basic telephony gave way to smart telephony, which now resides in all of our pockets and has revolutionized the way we communicate and do e-commerce, our guest, Mark Mills, author of ‘The Cloud Revolution’ directs our thinking to the … Continue reading EP 569 The Future Is In the Cloud →
Our guest, Howard Husock, author of ‘The Poor Side of Town and Why We Need It’, has a warm spot for what he considers ‘naturally occurring affordable housing’, the kind that used to be available to those who were finding their way in this country as they went from an apartment to a starter home … Continue reading EP 568 Welcome Back, Baby, to the Poor Side of Town →
It’s likely that when you see double digit increases in the price of food, energy and other essentials, you are in a state of inflation. As anyone who uses our currency, in whatever fashion knows, that’s the place we find ourselves today. It’s having a major impact on household budgets and causing reactions in markets … Continue reading EP 567 How Can We Whip Inflation Now? →
President Biden has been stressing the fragility of democracy in the context of a growing authoritarian strain around the globe. Poster child for this is the most irascible person on the international stage, Russian thug Vladimir Putin. And then there are authoritarian populists in our own midst, like Donald Trump, making the cause of … Continue reading EP 566 Diverse Democracies Can Easily Come Apart. Can We Keep This One Together? →
Remember Steinbeck’s “The Old Man and the Sea”? It is a striking image of a curmudgeonly type of grisled character trolling the waters aimlessly. As it relates to modern day commercial fishing in America, particularly New England, nothing could be further from the truth. New 21st century approaches to fishing are addressing the negative … Continue reading EP 565 Commercial Fishing Arrives in the 21st Century →
It is very hard to typify what America’s relationship is with China. We are economically co-dependent and yet we’re competitors. Some say we’re frenemies in the world; yet others say be realistic and recognize that they are adversaries, growing into potential enemies, based upon their growing defense posture and designs on Taiwan. And when we … Continue reading EP 564 Is America Falling Behind China? →
The International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism(ICSVE) has spent a lot of time monitoring and reporting on the actions and motivation of threats from extremists abroad. Circumstances on the ground in America have forced the Center to focus new attention on the activities of home grown extremists in our midst. What might have … Continue reading EP 563 A Summer Going Down the QAnon and White Supremacist Rabbit Hole →
The aftermath of the war in Ukraine is uncertain because so much depends on the outcome, but speculation is that relations between the United States and its European partners will take a long time to mend with Russia. Trust has been shattered in the wake of this horrific attack by Russia on a neighboring … Continue reading EP 562 Will the Cold War Resume After the Hot War Ends in Ukraine? →
The numbers suggest that America is in the midst of one of the largest labor upheavals in decades. The resurgence in workers declaring their rights has benefited labor unions who are now emboldened and getting a second look from younger workers. The new found confidence that the worker is in a stronger position is exemplified … Continue reading EP 561 Labor Unions Seem to be Having a Resurgence →
The baby formula crisis in America caught many off guard, but not our guest on this podcast. Richard Williams, Ph.D., served as the director for social science with the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug Administration. He is the author of ‘Fixing Food: An FDA Insider Unravels the Myths … Continue reading EP 560 What Does the Baby Formula Shortage Tell Us About the Regulatory Process Around Food Safety? →
The U.S. Senate recently, by consent vote, sent to the House of Representatives what its sponsor Sen. Marco Rubio calls ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’. The measure would give us permanent daylight saving and an extra hour of afternoon sunshine in the winter. The idea is to encourage people to shop, eat out and be more … Continue reading EP 559 Would You Lose Sleep If Daylight Saving Time Became Year Round? →
There is no denying that Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, is a skilled legislator and, perhaps, the most powerful force in the modern history of the Senate, given his years in leadership, but to what end has he used his influence? To move policy forward? To forge meaningful compromises? To enhance the institutional … Continue reading EP 558 Mitch McConnell: A Powerful Force For….. →
The United States Postal Service remains the only mail and package delivery mechanism with the capability of reaching all of America. Despite new technologies and competitors that have been heralded as the end of postal delivery, it remains critical to many Americans, particularly those in rural sectors. And in 2020, when it faced greater pressures … Continue reading EP 557 Post Office Remains First Class to Many →
While America’s democratic institutions held in 2020’s presidential election, it was because some people, Republicans and Democrats–election officials, secretaries of state, in particular–did their constitutional duties and withstood pressure from the sitting president and his acolytes to overturn the results by various means, including pressuring state legislatures to overturn results in battleground states, challenging results … Continue reading EP 556 Are We on a Path to Avoid A Presidential Election Crisis in 2024, Or…. →
Most decisions we make are by listening to our gut or by talking to a few trusted friends. There is now, however, a better approach to decision-making, according to our guest, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of ‘Don’t Trust Your Gut’ and a former Google data scientist. Using data to get what we really want in life … Continue reading EP 555 In Data We Must Trust →
As our nation careens from crisis to crisis and trust in institutions fades, Americans are looking for fresh, visionary leadership. As we have seen the courage and exemplary leadership of President Volodomyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine we know that his development as a leader has been revealed through the unimaginable experience of war. In his new … Continue reading EP 554 Crisis A Crucible for Leadership →
Regrettably, it’s a fair question. Sufficed to say, the pandemic, political angst, war and personal setbacks associated with all of the above have battered our collective sense of calm and well-being. Americans have seen loss of friends and family to COVID, been isolated for long stretches and brought closer to financial peril. While all measures … Continue reading EP 553 Is America on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown? →
Dan Golden, the author of the classic book “The Price of Admission’, which documents how the wealthy and well connected have an inside track on getting into elite universities, joins us again to discuss trends in college admissions. The optional SAT, a by-product of the pandemic, may well become the norm as Harvard has extended … Continue reading EP 552 No More SAT’s to Get Into Harvard? Hmm…Maybe I’ll Try Again →
Jon Marshall, Medill School of Journalism professor at Northwestern University and author of ‘Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis’ for a second episode of our podcast focusing on the state of the new media industry as it morphs in response to the digital times. The two most disturbing trends are news deserts, … Continue reading EP 551 News Business Changing in Good Ways and Bad →
Clearly, Donald Trump’s relationship with the press was a contentious one as he continually called into the question their legitimacy and the accuracy of their reporting. Often he shorthanded the relationship with the simple handle of ‘fake news’. While many factors went in to making this back and forth particularly destructive in relation to previous … Continue reading EP 550 Presidents and Their Relationship With the Press →
In many ways, America won the 20th century by making movies that created a demand for all things American–our lifestyle, our values, our possessions and democracy itself. The impact of film was not lost on China which wants to dominate the 21st century. In fact they went to school on our film industry back in … Continue reading EP 549 China’s Influence on American Movie making →
The longest war in the modern era, longer than the Cold War(though that is resuming), has been the war on cancer. Cancer is an elusive enemy since it comes in so many forms that to think of it as one disease misrepresents what scientists are facing. And while President Richard Nixon declared this war on … Continue reading EP 548 The War on Cancer Restarts: Is It Winnable? →
Why is a nation of immigrants so divided over the issue? Is it really about the worry that there are not enough jobs for Americans? In fact, with the number of Americans retiring, plus those lost to the COVID pandemic and the 10,000,000 unfilled jobs in America, we need workers. Is it really about … Continue reading EP 547 Status Report on Immigration Debate →
The waters around the world have been calm for the last seventy five years because America’s Navy has played a crucial role in keeping them open and navigable for countries to trade and build prosperity for a greater percentage of the population worldwide than ever before. Before the applause dies down about that … Continue reading EP 546 U.S. Navy’s Role as Stabilizing Force in the World May Be in Jeopardy →
We see so much material about espionage on television or in novels, we begin to think that we understand the game. It’s called spytainment. As entertaining as it all is, this spy craft trade is hard and dangerous work and it has become even more difficult as the digital revolution makes information … Continue reading EP 545 Spying: 21st Century Style →
Men and women both need to listen to this podcast. Our societal conditioning has put it in all of our heads that men somehow are more authoritative and competent and have the right to let women know that it’s still their club and admission comes with a steep price. Every woman has a story … Continue reading EP 544 Women Deserve More R E S P E C T →
On March 3, 2015 the U.S. Census Bureau told us an important fact and that is by 2044 America would become a majority-minority country. Whites would still be the largest group by size but would be outnumbered in combination by African- Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and others. Politically, this was welcome news to … Continue reading EP 543 America on Verge of Becoming a Majority Minority Nation →
Pope Francis has done much to bring the world’s attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East. In the wake of the Iraq War and the rise of the Islamic State, more concern will be needed to offer safe passage for many Christians in places like Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Gaza who … Continue reading EP 542 Christianity in Crisis in Its Ancestral Lands →
For what seems decades now, futurists have been dreaming about, and predicting, a ‘paperless’ society. And while there are many reasons it’s taking longer than some would like, it is getting closer by the day. I am something of a troglodyte in this regard, still making many payments by check and liking paper back … Continue reading EP 541 A Paperless Society is Always Just Over the Horizon →
From more severe hurricanes to massive flooding to raging wildfires, climate change is having an effect on US cities and their residents, especially the most vulnerable already suffering from environmental injustice. But behind the headlines of these disasters lie decades of efforts, often spearheaded by grassroots activism, to create more resilient cities. Our guest, Alison Sant in her book ‘From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities’, along with other contributors, shows how cities are reclaiming streets from cars, restoring watershed areas, reforesting urban areas and designing and implementing large-scale ecological restoration along shorelines. It’s an inspiring story as these local heroes race against time in an effort to lead from the street-level, as politicians in high places dither. This all takes place against the backdrop of growing climate distress yearly. Sant takes us around the country to see what is happening on streets, in neighborhoods and by people like you and me to forestall the impacts.
Will Haskell was about to graduate from Georgetown University when concerns about college affordability, climate change and other liberal causes hastened his entry into elective politics. It takes a lot of courage for someone who had not held a full-time job to contest a state senate seat in the Fairfield County suburbs of Connecticut held for years by a Republican incumbent. Many thought it was quixotic of him to take the plunge in 2018, imagining that he was in it only because no one else stepped forward. It turned out he was in it to win it…and he did. And in trying to hold on to the seat in 2020 found that his approach to the job garnered even more support, wherein he won 7 of the eight towns in his district with over 58 percent of the vote. In his early stage memoir ‘100,000 First Bosses: My Unlikely Path as a 22-Year-Old Lawmaker’, Haskell describes the learning curve and his own misconceptions of who the state lawmakers he served with were and how they went about their work. Prior to his time in the state legislature, aside from a trip with his dad just before deciding to run, he had never been to Hartford, the state’s capitol city, or its legislature. It’s a book about discovery and growth, as well as encouragement for America’s young people, particularly Gen X’ers, not to wait their turn.
Meditation is certainly trending in America. Perhaps, it’s growth can be attributed to the stress of the pandemic or the quieting of the American mind while spending more time at home. Whatever the reason, it’s benefits can be profound according to research. It can help with stress, burnout insomnia and anxiety, while also demonstrating positive impacts on conditions ranging from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to increasing an enzyme needed to delay the onset of diseases, including Alzheimer’s. Schools are now including mindfulness activities into their daily routine as are many businesses with great results in productivity increases. Joining us to discuss meditation is Dr. Krishna Bhatta, the founder of Relaxx, an app that helps people achieve their meditation goals.
Small business is the engine of America’s private sector and in a moment when many people are abandoning their jobs, often they are looking for the opportunity to replace their paycheck income with a successful small business that gives them more freedom and self determination. And while it is not for those who lack the courage to fail, it’s a great moment to take a hold of the efficiencies that technology affords to a small business to outsource and automate your way to success with the right idea. Most important is finding your niche in sectors that are emerging before others find a path there. Elaine Pofeldt, a business journalist, is the author of the new book ‘Tiny Business Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High Revenue Microbusiness’. She offers very practical advice on this podcast as to the process you should undertake if you are considering such a major move in your life. As she demonstrates, bigger is not always better, but smarter and more targeted can be. This podcast is clearly worth your time.
Abraham Lincoln is often called the Great Emancipator. Yet perhaps his equally valuable contribution to the rights of American citizens was to rip up the Constitution of 1787 and replace it with the one we have today. The original Constitution, nowhere included a stated commitment to equality for each of us. It was a document built on compromise, which accepted the enslavement of those who came to our shores from Africa and held back rights to many others, including women and those who were not white, male property owners. Lincoln took extra-Constitutional measures to replace pre Civil War America with one that aspires to become a more moral country. Where we are in the process of ‘becoming’ remains an open question, but certainly is a far cry from 19th century America. In his compelling book, ‘The Broken Constitution’, Harvard Law Professor, Noah Feldman portrays the struggles Lincoln went through to make the war one more about emancipation than his initial goal of preservation of the Union. As a podcast dedicated to the future, we ask this great scholar to weigh in on the challenges the Union faces today.
America and its allies in NATO have just applied the most onerous sanctions yet on Vladimir Putin, his fellow kleptocrats and the people of Russia. The question is how effective will they be? In many ways that depends on what the objective was in putting them in place. If it was to stop his invasion of Ukraine, obviously it did not work. Since it came after Russia invaded a sovereign country, as of this moment, it has not stopped the conflict. It clearly is affecting the Russian economy and the daily lives of its citizens. Ben Coates, a Wake Forest University professor, is investigating the history of economic sanctions in the 20th century. While these measures taken against Russia are unprecedented, such pressure on a country usually effective thirty percent of the time. There are so many angles to the sanctions question and so many derivations from embargoes to export controls to trade sanctions to asset freezes. While Putin calls it an economic act of war, he is looking for ways around it. Like many of the topics we deal with on this podcast, it’s complicated. Listen carefully and gain new insights into a term that has many meanings.
Americans have been leaving their jobs in record numbers as the pandemic has rolled on. While this fact in and of itself is interesting, perhaps more intriguing is ‘why’. Our guest Kristin Schuchman, a certified business coach and author of the book ‘Jump Start: How to redirect a career that has stalled, lost direction or reached a crossroads’ has seen too much in her career consulting practice to ascribe any one factor as the key reason. Some people felt overworked and vulnerable in their front line positions at restaurants and in hospitality during the surges of the pandemic, while others gained new insights into how they defined ‘work-life balance’ given what they had been through. Still others were dissatisfied with their workplace before the pandemic and the company response hastened their decision. Little discussed reasons are touched upon in this podcast, including the record number of baby boomers who were on the verge of retirement who took this opportunity to take the plunge, given rising housing values and stock market gains. It’s clearly a trend and an interesting one which we explore in depth on this podcast.
For centuries, the downfall of one global empire has been followed by the rise of another. America was top dog when the Soviet Union fell apart, but our guest argues that is no longer its position. We are now in what he terms ‘The Enduring Disorder’. Yes, the institutions we established after World War to keep order around the globe are still in place, but our willingness, and that of our Allies, to act in concert to enforce these rules has waned. That fact, according to Jason Pack, a senior analyst at the NATO Foundation, played itself out on the world stage in microcosm in post-Qadhafi Libya, thus the title of his book ‘Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder’. As I write this description of our conversation, while President Biden has worked hard to get the old band back together, it was too late to convince Vladimir Putin of the West’s resolve to protect an international system built on the notion that sovereign borders could not be changed by force. Mr. Pack shares much original thinking about how we have reached this point and the dangers inherent in its continuation. Be attentive, as I say, Mr. Pack unpacks a lot of political theory and practical examples of the unstable world which we now inhabit.
Throughout our history, state and federal legislators have limited the scope of medical treatments available to us. In the spirit of our prized individualism, Americans have often opposed this and pursued their own therapies, which may fall outside the bounds of that which the medical establishment might prescribe. During the pandemic that demand to go our own way has found people rejecting clear and indisputable evidence of the life savings capabilities of vaccines. It’s all part of an American tradition. In his book, ‘Choose Your Medicine’, American University Professor of History and Law, Lewis Grossman, presents a compelling look at how persistent notions of the right to therapeutic choice play out in modern day debates about cannabis, abortion and physician assisted suicide, among other hot button medical topics.
Mourning in America might better describe the mood of the American people in early 2022 than what Ronald Reagan had in mind in the 1980’s. President Biden just held a summit on democracy trying to encourage those countries that still fly that banner to hang in there and that this form of government can still work. Who would have imagined? Our guest, Thomas Geoghegan, author of ‘The History of Democracy Has Yet To Be Written’, actually thinks democracies around the world are doing all right, yet he has concerns which he enumerates in the book about the state of democracy here in America. His concerns primarily center on the failings of Congress, the Article One branch of our government, for a host of good reasons which he describes. He espouses some bold initiatives around the filibuster, gerrymandering and the role of the citizen in our democracy. You’ll want to hear them on this podcast.
How many people do you engage with every day? If you don’t count your ‘friends’ on Facebook, it’s likely to be a small number of real and direct human interactions. As a result most of us are not ‘socially integrated’. Having done a number of podcasts about the effects iof social isolation, in this podcast we turn the equation around and look for the positive effects of developing deep, meaningful relationships and loose associations. This can mean spending time with friends, going to local shops and exchanging ideas with others in your community. In combination, this all adds up to living a long and enjoyable life. Jon Levy is many things but chief among them for our purposes he is a behavioral scientist who has written the book, ‘You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence’. In our conversation we will introduce you to the IKEA Effect in which taking on a project with an acquaintance allows for a vulnerability loop and that expression of vulnerability provides the opportunity to establish trust. Many interesting concepts like that are explored in this podcast.
In its heyday, the Miss America pageant could attract nearly three quarters of those watching television at that time. It was considered the first reality show and had become the focal point of community life for many young girls entering competitions in places far and wide in hopes of having a chance to compete on the stage in Atlantic City. Today, as the brand fades, it is worth looking back to find out what happened in the context of the changing role of women, reality programs on television and in the culture itself. In her deeply reported book, ‘There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America’, Amy Argetsinger, an editor for the Washington Post Style section, brings a true pageant enthusiast’s eye to the subject, while at the same time critically examining the convulsive changes in our society around gender, race, feminism and beauty that now confront the sisterhood of Miss America in its struggle to survive. If you wonder what happened and how it was ever a true cultural phenomenon for such an uncharacteristically long sweep of time, this podcast describes the complexities surrounding this American institution.
Is war the locomotive of history? While that is a hard question to answer we seem never to escape its grip, whether we are talking about minor skirmishes, infra-state disputes, ethnic purges and major cataclysms. And while the latter category has not touched the world in most of our lifetimes, it’s not hard to imagine that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has the possibility of drawing NATO and China in by virtue of one miscalculation or a madman’s intent. Just days ago, we spoke to Jeremy Black, an emeritus professor of history at Exeter University and author of ‘A Short History of War’ among so many other titles about conflict. In fact, he is recognized as the most prolific historian in the English language. His knowledge about war and military history make him the per-eminent source on the subject. His first thoughts about Ukraine in the context of his vast knowledge of conflicts from antiquity to this day will be showcased on this podcast. Listen carefully.
The days of having to find a bookie to make a bet are long over. Today, many states will oblige with a host of state lottery options, relationships with Native American casinos and legalized sports book in person and on-line. In addition to the range of choices, greater proximity and ability to gamble on your phone, the boredom and isolation of the pandemic exacerbated the tendency for many. The rivalry of Fan Duel and DraftKings for dominance in this new arena of legalized sports betting has added a marketing presence which makes it both mainstream and alluring. Against this backdrop, we see headlines warning of a ‘ticking time bomb’ which will go off in the coming years as people get in over their heads, despite guardrails that have been put in place to limit their financial exposure. Some experts see the impulse for profit far outstripping the safeguards and the meager resources put into addiction programs for those who are caught up in a more invisible form of undertow than drugs or alcohol. Keith Whyte, our guest on the podcast, is the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling and he has a lot to offer. By the way, the National Problem Gambling Helpline number is 1-800-522-4700.
America’s public lands encompass more than 600 million acres of forests, plains, mountains, wetlands, deserts and shorelines, comprising about thirty percent of the nation’s land mass. In a country built on the concept of private property rights it is remarkable that for the last century and half there has been so little debate about the necessity for this set aside. Both parties have generally supported more conservation with their actions, even if time the rhetoric has suggested that some of these lands should be opened up for private exploitation. John Leshy, a former solicitor for the U.S. Department of Interior and author of ‘Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands’ has written a political history of these lands which Americans own and manage through their national government. Matters relating to these parks are inherently political and the inclusion of formerly excluded populations, like Native Americans, in their use is one of the many trends we discuss with him on this podcast. Today these lands offer Americans refuge for recreation, education and conservation of biodiversity and cultural resources. The National Parks are a crown jewel, but there is so much more as you will learn.
While much of what’s been written recently about housing in America are the exploding costs and great value of ownership, between 2010 and 2019, the number of renters in the country grew twice as fast as the homeowner population. In fact, renters now make up a majority of residents in large American cities. The cost of owning a home has been eating up household budgets and eclipsing the standard of thirty percent as the basis for what you should spending on housing a month. A hidden factor in all of this is how much housing stock was gobbled up after the housing bubble of 2008 by banks, private equity firms, speculators and overseas money. Their goal has been to maximize profit by renting or selling properties at inflated prices. Our guest, Andrew Ross, author of ‘Sunset Blues’ lays out the conditions that have made the housing market so problematic for so many and why the American Dream is becoming unaffordable in many places. His book focuses on a particular area of central Florida to make his point, but our conversation discusses the failure of the housing market throughout urban and rural locales throughout the country.
Money talks in Washington DC and China and Russia sure have their attention. not the voters
There exists a powerful lever the West can use to weaken authoritarian governments and stop the global backslide of democracy. Why we choose not to use it speaks powerfully to the forces at play in our own society often blunting social and political reforms in favor of profits. You see almost every authoritarian regime is a kleptocratic one and they rely on the Western financial system to launder and safeguard their billions. We can–and must–rein in the white collar professionals, particularly bankers at places like Goldman Sachs, BNP, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, who are selling out democracy to get rich. And we must address the issue of some Western politicians in league with them. As Frank Vogl, a leader in global anti-corruption efforts, shows in his book, ‘The Enablers” How the West Supports Kleptocrats and Corruption–Endangering Our Democracy’, oligarchs and authoritarians could not reap the material benefits of plundering their countries without the help of bankers, lawyers, accountants and realtors in places like New York, London and other financial centers. So if we want to weaken their political and financial power, we must act. First, the public needs to understand what’s happening here. This podcast is a start.
Death in America is undergoing a quiet revolution. You now can have your body frozen, dissected, composted, dissolved or tanned. Your family can incorporate your remains into jewelry, shotgun shells, paperweights and artwork. Cremations have more than doubled and will reach nearly 70 percent by 2030. As the grip of traditional religion is loosening on the culture, traditions of the past are giving way to DIY home funerals, personalized memorials and green burials. According to our guest, Shannon Lee Dawdy, the author of ‘American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the 21st Century’, there have been more changes in the professional death industry in the last few decades than in the previous one hundred years. Much of it stemming from our reaction to seeing death so vividly on 9-11, 2001. Death is being reinvented simultaneously on three levels: disposition of human remains, new rituals and ideas about the afterlives. It’s a fascinating discussion no one should avoid having about an issue we will all face regarding those closest to us and ourselves.
The unipolar superpower moment America had after the fall of the Soviet Union has ended without many of us sensing a peace dividend. We are now returning to a period of great power competition, with our fiercest competitor being China. The question before us is how to contain their growing economic and military ambitions before their ascendance is too far along to do accomplish peaceably. Our guest, Elbridge Colby, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 through 2018, led the development of America’s 2018 National Defense Strategy and is the author of ‘The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict’. In it he lays out an approach the country should pursue, urging Americans to prepare for war, above all against China–precisely to deter it. He feels we have a defense strategy that has had little intense focus on Asia, until this point, and that we have lost valuable time in the process. While he sees the Biden Administration turning its attention to the region, in partnership with nations like Australia, India and Japan, he is concerned that the long view may not take into account threats that are more immediate, like China’s sights on Taiwan. It’s a critically important, and timely, discussion.
Some say geography is destiny. While that may be too simplistic a way to look at the world, there is much you can tell about a nation’s fortunes based upon the neighborhood in which it resides. Take the United States, for example. We are isolated from potential aggressors, have unique positioning between two major oceans, and have an abundance of natural resources which allow us to be self sufficient, if necessary. Other countries live in hostile, landlocked situations which have made them vulnerable to attack and re-shaping over centuries. And, of course, your geography provides great the key to how you will fare in the competition for vital natural resources and in an era of climate change. We will walk you through the flashpoints in today’s world with Tim Marshall, author of ‘The Power of Geography:Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World’. He has a fascinating take on what to look for as we take a spin around the globe on today’s podcast.
There is much confusion as to how a new technology could have been developed so quickly in response to a novel coronavirus which came to be known as COVID-19. The truth is that the messenger RNA technology was in the works for decades and that the release of the sequence of the new coronavirus from a brave physician in China gave vacciane scientists, virologists and government officials what they needed to make the unprecedented push to bring vaccines to market in record time. It’s a compelling story as told by our guest, Brendan Borrell, in his book, ‘The First Shots’. You will learn not only about gene sequencing, but about the sequence of events and the colorful cast of characters racing to save the planet from even greater devastation than the virus has caused. People like Dr. Barney Graham, Jason McClellan, Kizzmekia Corbett and Dr. Robert Kadlec are acknowledged for their work which was critical to this effort. And the work is in no way done. Just as anti-viral pills are being developed for market by Merck and Pfizer, many across the globe are banking on faster, more scalable vaccines in places, like Africa, where so few are yet vaccinated. These involve different technologies than the mRNA. There are many viruses which we lack sufficient information about just waiting for their moment to affect the human population. The lessons from this pandemic must be applied to those enemies of mankind. Hopefully, we have learned from our successes and failures in response to this outbreak.
In this podcast, we wonder aloud as to whether America has even to this day confronted the harsh truth that the country we know today was founded on the violent dispossession of Indigenous people. While we seem to be having a moment of reckoning as it relates to the issue of slavery and its impact on African-Americans, how must Native peoples feel as there is barely a mention of the legacy of massacres and removal from their lands centuries back. Native peoples are resilient as their sheer existence proves, and their spirit indomitable, but have we, the settlers, really come to terms with our actions? Margaret Jacobs, a professor of history and director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in her book ‘After One Hundred Winters’ tells stories of the individuals and communities who are working together to heal historical wounds. She reveals how much can be gained by learning from our history instead of denying it. As a settler historian she tries help her readers come to terms with our inaction toward Indigenous people, including the absence of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to finally set the record straight about a history many find too painful to unwind even with the passage of time. Can ordinary people do it alone or does our society have to have a true reckoning? This podcast may help you sort out your own thoughts on the subject.
In the past, there was a mythology built around the concept of the millionaire next door. It was the assuming couple who brought little attention to themselves. They didn’t drive flashy cars or exhibit a taste for bling. As two-income professionals, however, they had a nice home and learned the lessons of compound interest early on. Today, in aggregate, they make up the group with the most wealth in America. And while we often talk about the excesses of the 0.1 percent, perhaps we have given too much of a free ride to those right below them who have plenty of assets when totalled up but see nothing in their lifestyle that creates the inequities that the other ninety percent are feeling. In many cases, they fail to recognize the many ‘invisible’ benefits that society offers those in this group. Philosopher Matthew Stewart, author of ‘The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristrocacy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture’, joins us to discuss this key sub-set in our culture. By the end of the podcast, you will determine if the label applies to you.
Description: It would seem that the pandemic has pushed some manufacturers to bring certain manufacturing processes home and while the percentage of movement stateside seems impressive given the movement away from our shores it’s still not enough, according to Harry Moser, president of the Reshoring Initiative. In order to insure that this is not a temporary pause in offshoring, America must develop a clear and consistent industrial policy. One unlike that which has seen America’s manufacturing sector whither over the last 40 years. With advanced manufacturing initiatives, particularly in the computer and electronics sector,there is a move to reverse that trend to some degree. But, according to Moser, it will take the adoption of a VAT tax, the weakening of the dollar against other currencies and an educational push to drive young people into manufacturing jobs of the future in order to sustain the reshoring effort and provide us with the manufacturing base necessary to provide for our own defense and health and safety. With the race to the bottom in manufacturing such a consistent tool for multi-national companies, it will take a concerted American reversal of policy to attentuate its impact.
With cascading economic crises, political unrest and climate change, four billion youth are abandoning failing states and looking for livable situations everywhere. Given the climate and affordable housing, America’s Rust Belt will look attractive to many in the years to come. It will also bring people closer to the border of Canada, one of the most welcoming countries for immigrants in the century ahead. America which has traditionally been open to immigrants finds itself having recoiled from that position in recent years, just at a time when the young people of Central and South America and other spots could provide necessary services for an aging population. Within the borders of the United States, movement inland from the coasts and south to north will also be inevitable as climate pushes people to less turbulent destinations. Parag Khanna one of the most far-sighted thinkers of his generation, and founder and managing partner of Future Map, has a vision of the future in which there is a war for young talent as countries realize their need for able-bodied, tax-paying migrants to avoid demographic doom. ‘Move: The Forces Uprooting Us’ is the first book to reveal where we will go to survive climate change and other misalignment of natural resources, borders, infrastructure and people. He speaks as cogently as he writes and he joins us on today’s podcast.
In a reversal for the American approach to many endeavors, space exploration started out as a public venture through NASA, focused on national security and scientific dominance, to an area that sees most of the investment today coming from private space barons, like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, among others. Their motivations, individually and collectively, are wide ranging from the desire to take heavy industry off our planet for environmental reasons to commercial travel and actual creating a place where humans can go on a more permanent basis. People have been excited to witness a re-commitment to manned space travel and imagining that the possibilities for the average person to explore the next frontier are finally within reach. Joining us to discuss the future of space travel is Professor Mike Gruntman, who teaches Astronautics at the University of Southern California. So before you sign up to take a ride or join the newly minted Space Force, listen to this podcast.