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2012 Program Archive
April 16 - Unlike People Corporations Don't Pay Taxes; Europe Again at the Brink; Mormonism's Egalitarian Classless Utopian Roots
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On this day before taxes are due, we begin with a comparison of what people pay in terms of personal income tax with what corporations pay. Scott Klinger, the Tax Policy Director of Business For Shared Prosperity joins us. He has an article at The Nation, “Six Rigged Rules Corporations Use to Dodge Taxes”. |
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Then we revisit the European debt crisis that many thought had been dealt with but Spain is now facing unsustainable borrowing costs as unemployment soars to Great Depression levels and youth unemployment remains at over 50%. Economist Stephany Griffith Jones joins us to discuss what Nobel Economist Joe Stiglitz refers to as “Europe’s Economic Suicide Pact”. She is the Financial Markets Program Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. |
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Then finally we will speak about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith and its egalitarian, classless utopian roots. Troy Williams, the Executive Producer of RadioActive, a progressive talk show on KRCL-FM in Salt Lake City joins us to discuss his article at Salon “When Mormons Were Socialists”. |
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| MUSIC: F Ups - Screw You; LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations; Built To Spill - Temporary Blind; Book of Mormon - I Believe |
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April 15 - Rumors of Peace With Iran; "No One's World: The West, the Rising East, and the Coming Global Turn"; On Tax Day "Taxed by the Boss"!
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We begin with an analysis of Saturday’s talks between the P5+1 and Iran in Istanbul that might avert another war in the Middle East since President Obama has warned that “the window for diplomacy is closing”. Colin Kahl, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East at the Pentagon from 2009 to 2011, joins us to discuss a possible deal as the clock ticks on an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. |
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Then we look ahead to the coming world with multiple centers of power and no global hegemon. Charles Kupchan, a former head of European Affairs on the National Security Council, joins us to discuss his new book “No One’s World: The West, the Rising East, and the Coming Global Turn” which makes the case we are entering a world of conflicting values and multiple paths to prosperity that not many Western policymakers and pundits want to contemplate, let alone prepare for. |
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Then finally on tax day, we speak with the nation’s leading expert on taxes and who pays them, David Cay Johnston. A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigate reporter, he is a columnist for Reuters where he has an article “Taxed By The Boss”, a shocking expose that reveals how more than 2,700 of the biggest corporations like GE, GM, Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers and pocketing them, with the states’ approval. |
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| MUSIC: John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance; Al Jolson - Sitting On Top of the World; Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changing; The Beatles - Taxman |
April 12 - Dangerous Truths Drip Out About Troubled California Nuclear Plant; Avoiding War With Iran; How to Stop the Killing in Syria
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We begin with one of the nation’s foremost experts on electrical power and energy David Freeman who has been inspecting the nuclear power plant at San Onofre, north of San Diego, which is leaking radiation and in his opinion should remain shut down. The former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, New York Power, the Los Angeles DWP and the State Energy Czar who rescued California from the predations of Enron and company, David Freeman is the author of “Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How”. |
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Then we assess the upcoming talks this weekend between the P5+1 and Iran which might provide a diplomatic alternative to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program that threatens to lead to war and a global energy crisis. The co-founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, Dr. Trita Parsi discusses possible areas of agreement to avoid war, given that there is no agreement even among the P5+1 itself on how to proceed. |
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Then finally we examine the fragile ceasefire that began today in Syria and discuss the stalemate between the Syrian rebels and the Assad regime, neither of whom can win in a civil war that is fast becoming a proxy war. Asli Bali, a professor at the UCLA School of Law who specializes in International Human Rights and the Laws of War, joins us. She had an article in Wednesday’s New York Times, “To Stop the Killing, Deal With Assad”. |
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| MUSIC: Sons of the Pioneers - Old Man Atom; Stiff Little Fingers - No More of That; Bright Eyes - Easy/ Lucky/ Free; Built to Spill - The Plan |
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April 11 - Justice Delayed and Denied Until Now; Warmongering Senators Try To Stop Talks; Crime, Corruption and Scandal In The Chinese Politburo
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We begin with the announcement by the Florida State Special prosecutor Angela Corey that she is charging George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin, with second degree murder. Ken Adams, a professor of Criminal Justice at the nearby University of Central Florida joins us to discuss this incendiary case of justice delayed and denied up until two hours ago. |
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Then on the eve of the breakthrough talks between Iran and the U.S., we look into efforts by Senator Lieberman to undercut the Obama Administration’s diplomatic track with Iran and force his hand to take military action. Kate Gould, the Legislative Associate for Middle East Policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker public interest lobby on Capitol Hill, joins us to discuss the Lieberman/Graham/McCain push for another war just as diplomacy gets underway. |
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Then finally we discuss the unfolding scandals inside the highest ranks of the ruling Communist Party in China. Gordon Chang, the author “The Coming Collapse of China” joins us to investigate the politics, criminality and national security issues surrounding the murder of a British businessman, allegedly on the orders of the wife of a rising star in the politburo whose right-hand henchman, a provincial Police Chief, had tried to defect to the U.S. consulate where he dropped off a cache of secret documents before being handed back to Chinese authorities. |
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| MUSIC: Sweet Honey In The Rock - Ella's Song; Jose Gonzalez - How Low; Bright Eyes - Let's Not S*** Ourselves; Manu Chau - Politik Kills |
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April 10 - Santorum In Suspension; The 99% Spring is Budding; How Your Taxes Are Spent
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We begin with the announcement today by Rick Santorum that he is suspending his campaign and discuss the reasons why with Will Bunch, an award-winning senior writer with the Philadelphia Daily News. He has followed the career of the former Pennsylvania senator who was soundly rejected by the state’s voters in 2006 and was likely facing a similar fate in the Republican primary two weeks away. |
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Then we speak with George Goehl, the Executive Director of National People’s Network. He is helping lead the “99% Spring” and “99% Power”, training 100,000 activists in April and organizing demonstrations at upcoming shareholder meetings of some of the biggest, most abusive and least accountable corporations in America. |
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Then finally, as tax day looms, we examine how your taxes are spent by the Federal government and how the spending is prioritized. Mattea Kramer, a senior research analyst at the National Priorities Project joins us. They just released the report “Tax Day 2012” that gives the numbers down to the penny on how your federal income taxes were spent in fiscal 2011. |
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| MUSIC: Metallica - Hollier Than Thou; The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man; Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster; Billy Brag - Ideology |
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