Pingry Politics: Recent Episodes
Marcus Brotman
Thank you all for listening over the last year! This will [most likely] be my last episode on the podcast. As a senior, I am completing my Independent Senior Project (ISP) as a financial intern at Amsted Rail, a Chicago-based rail manufacturing firm. In preparation, I have been extensively researching the landscape of freight rail, both in America and abroad. I decided to condense some of my more interesting findings into this video.
Again, I want to thank all the people who have made this podcast possible:
Sean Lyons, Shaan Lehal, Max Brotman, Andrew Wong, Dr. Wakefield, and all of our amazing guests!
Sean and I are excited to begin a new chapter our lives in college. We know that Shaan, Andrew, Kevin, and Max will do an amazing job with the podcast when we're done!
On today's episode, Sean Lyons interview Mr. Davidson Barr, an Economics and Math teacher at the Pingry School. They talk about how to popularize economics across disciplines in high school, the changing definition of the middle class, and how politicians interact with the study of economics more broadly. In this episode, Mr. Barr detailed the winding road which lead him to the Pingry math department. He began with aspirations in the banking world, but graduated in 2009, during the Great Recession. He soon found himself teaching economics, then joining Pingry. Currently, Mr. Barr is getting his doctorate in math education from Columbia.
Funnily enough, this episode was recorded two days before the Gamestop short squeeze, which has rallied much contention around the stock market and Hedge Fund influence on the American economy.
In the wake of the Capital Riot on January 6th, we at the Politics club think it's important now, more than ever, to be able to engage with those you disagree with. Dr. Peter Horn founded his own education consulting firm Horn Ed, and has his own podcast called "Point of Learning". Members of The Pingry School and I talked asked Dr. Horn questions about our modern discourse. We focused on how to engage with people with different facts than ours, the impact of social media and echo chambers.
This is the first in a series of interviews we’ll be conducting with small businesses in and around the Pingry area. We’ll be talking to them about their experience and strategy before and during Covid
What’s Pauly’s advice on getting into the food business?
Don’t do it.
Pauly tells us his story in founding and running Lombardi's Pizzeria. Lombardi’s Pizza was fortunate to increase their revenues by more than 30%! Of course, pizza restaurants are accustomed to the takeout model, which helped their transition.
We asked Pauly about his perspective on food delivery apps like Doordash and Grubhub, which cut into a restaurant's revenues. Pizza is in a good position, but Pauly commented on the unsustainable nature of the current business model for many restaurants. As a silver lining, many restaurants, like Lombardi’s, are looking into new innovative food services models, such as a delivery-only secondary location.
On Today’s episode, I interview Mr. Toor, Pingry’s own World History teacher. Mr. Toor taught World Religions at the University of Connecticut, then taught at a Saudi Arabian international school for two years, and came to Pingry after studying South Asian Politics at Oxford. While at Oxford he also taught at Stanford University's Overseas Program. He told me about his experiences abroad, and the different cultures he encountered. We also dug into some modern geopolitical shifts, such as Trump’s pulling of troops from Afghanistan, Mohammed Bin Salman’s push to reform Saudi Arabia, and warming Israel-Arab relations.
If you'd like to be on the podcast, or have a cool idea, email mbrotman2021@pingry.org
On Today's episode, I interviewed Russel Kamp. Mr. Kamp is a managing partner at Ryan ALM, a public pensions consulting firm. Their strategy relies on Cash-Flow driven investments (CDIs) to cover monthly payouts to its participants. This short-term security allows protects them from the volatile changes in the stock market, thus allowing them to sell high volatility assets at opportune moments. Furthermore, Ryan ALM uses a Custom Liabilities index in order to measure the risks and real value within a pension system. You can find Russel's work at Kampconsultingblog.com
From this perspective, we asked Mr. Kamp about his opinion on why public pensions are currently in a state of rapid decline, as well as his solutions. We covered a wide range of topics from Pre to post-Covid pensions as well as the state of unions in America.
On today's episode, Shaan and I talked with Del of the Native American Rights Fund(NARF). NARF focuses primarily on advocating for Native American Treaty Rights and enforcement of Native property. Water Law, Recognizing tribes, and Indian Child Welfare are all issues which the Native American rights fund is involved in. We spoke on issues from the Washington Redskins to the perception of Carlisle School by Native Peoples. We also touched on Supreme Court Justices, such as Justices Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
The discussion begins at 10:00
Our first guest speaker is Ricardo Vollbrechthausen, Pingry class of 2012. Ricardo studied neurobiology at Columbia University, and is now living and working in Mexico. In particular, we will dive into Mexico’s strengths and weaknesses, and how they impact the lives of their citizens as well as US foreign policy. Issues will include corruption, brain-drain, slow economic growth, poor monetary policy, and more. We will also analyze how Mexico will be affected by the new USMCA trade deal, and how president López Obrador (“AMLO”) has led the country. We will also compare and contrast how and why Mexico's response to the coronavirus has been so different to most other countries.
As the president of the Politics Club, I acknowledge Political bias is unavoidable. Regardless, the Politics Club leaders and I will make all attempts to present objective facts to our audience and provide counterpoints to ensure that no views go unchallenged. To ensure a neutral perspective we have students of opposing political views researching for each episode. If you’d like to share your views on the podcast or suggest a topic for us to discuss, please email me: mbrotman2021@pingry.org.
A special thanks to our guest, Ricardo Vollbrecthausen
Researchers: Marcus Brotman, Sean Lyons, Micah Elwyn
Editor: Marcus Brotman
Cover Art: Chris Ticas
Intro and outro music: Max Brotman
Advisor: Ms. Davlin
This Podcast is produced by the Politics Club of the Pingry School, however, any views or ideas discussed on the show are not representative of the Pingry School, only those individuals.
On today’s episode, we talk with Lehigh Economist, Dr. Luis Brunstein. Dr. Brunstein shares his thoughts on a variety of issues pertaining to the current Economic crisis. Quantitative Easing, the efficacy of monetary policy, unemployment benefits and how the US should react are all topics of discussion. A discussion which was followed by a few student asked questions.
If you have any questions for Dr. Brunstein, you can find his email here: lfb417@lehigh.edu
Credits:
Sean Lyons and Marcus Brotman
Editor: Aidan Boylan and Marcus Brotman
Music: Max Brotman
Pingry Politics Cover Art: Chris Ticas
Episode Cover Art: Andrew Wong
Advisor: Dr. Wakefield
To get in contact: email mbrotman2021@pingry.org
The beliefs promoted on this podcast are that of the participants, and do not reflect the views of the Pingry School.