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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
January 10 - Will Budget Reform Supersede Financial Reform at Treasury?; A Lifeline For Obama in the Debt Ceiling Showdown; Scientology "The Church of Fear"
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We begin with an examination of whether the choice of Jack Lew as Secretary of the Treasury means that financial reform will not be a priority in Obama’s second term. Michael Greenberger, the former director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission joins us to discuss whether budget reform will supersede financial reform in the next four years. |
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Then we speak with Edward Kleinbard, who was Chief of Staff of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation, to explore an alternative scenario the president might follow to avoid the threatened shutdown of the U.S. government by Congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling. We discuss Ed Kleinbard’s plan to issue federal scrp if the Treasury is unable to issue new debt, which is outlined in his article in the New York Times “The Debt Ceiling’s Escape Hatch”. |
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Then finally, with the Church of Scientology marketing its brand of so-called religion in a television ad campaign, we speak with John Sweeney, a veteran BBC war correspondent and award-winning investigative journalist about his latest book “The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology” that chronicles his contentious experiences with the Church of Scientology filming the 2007 BBC Panorama special “Scientology and Me” and his 2010 follow-up “The Secrets of Scientology”. |
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| MUSIC: MGMT - Congratulations; Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - Don't Give Up; The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money; Frank Zappa |
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January 9 - Obama's New Man at the Treasury; What Can Be Done to Reduce Gun Violence?; The Hottest Year on Record but Denial Still Dominates
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We begin with an assessment of the likely new Secretary of the Treasury Jacob “Jack” Lew who is currently President Obama’s Chief of Staff. Felix Salmon, a financial journalist and blogger for Reuters joins us to discuss the choice of this consummate Beltway insider to head up Treasury who, although Speaker Boehner asked Obama to replace him as negotiator, will apparently continue to do battle with the Republicans. |
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Then we look into what the President, who has deputized Joe Biden to take on the task of reducing gun violence in this country, can achieve in the face of determined, organized and well-funded opposition. Saul Cornell, the author of “A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America” and “The Second Amendment Goes to Court”, joins us to discuss what could be achieved through executive order short of the American people standing up to the NRA. |
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Then finally, with 2012 the hottest year on record in the lower 48 states, we speak with Daphne Wysham, the founder and co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network. We discuss what little the U.S. is doing to slow climate change compared to poor countries like Uruguay which will be 90% energy renewable by 2015, and Germany and Denmark who are also on track to be 100% renewable in spite their lack of sun and wind compared to the U.S. |
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| MUSIC: Fiddler on the Roof - If I Were a Rich Man; The Roots - Guns are Drawn; The Beatles - Happiness is a Warm Gun / Here Comes the Gun |
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January 8 - Can Our Bloated National Security Establishment be Reformed?; Hagel's Chances of Being Confirmed; Venezuela's Constitutional Dispute as Chavez Misses His Own Inauguaration
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We begin with an analysis of whether there will be a real change in our national security establishment that is so bloated and expensive that it is becoming a threat to America’s economic health and security. A former National Security Council senior staffer for two presidents, Roger Morris joins us to assess whether Chuck Hagel will be able to reform the Pentagon in the face of the shrill opposition from neoconservative shills for the military industrial complex. |
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Then we examine further Hagel’s chances of being confirmed as Secretary of Defense with many of his former Republican Senate colleagues leading the charge against him. Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb joins us to discuss the forces arrayed against Hagel and the growing number of former senior military, diplomatic and national security officials coming forward to support his nomination. |
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Then finally, following the announcement today that President Hugo Chavez will not be attending his own inauguration in Venezuela of Thursday, we speak with Jennifer McCoy who is the director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program who has conducted election monitoring in Venezuela and is the author of “The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela”. We discuss the growing constitutional dispute between the government and the opposition, whose leader said today “There is no monarchy here, and we aren’t in Cuba”. |
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January 7 - Chuck Hagel's Evolution From War Hero to Republican Heretic; Torture Returns With Brennan's Nomination to Head CIA; The Magic Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin
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With today’s nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, we begin with an analysis of Senator Hagel’s evolution from a loyal Republican soldier to a fierce critic of the Vietnam and Iraq wars which he concluded were wars of choice based on lies. John Judis, a senior editor at The New Republic who profiled Chuck Hagel in an article “Look Back in Anger: The Unmooring of Chuck Hagel” joins us to describe the war hero turned heretic whose nomination the neocons and his former Republican colleagues are determined to block.
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Then we examine the choice of John Brennan to be the next director of the CIA with a former member of the CIA’s Clandestine Services who retired in 2007 as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for transnational threats. Glenn Carle joins us to discuss the role of torture that is reported to have scuttled Brennan’s earlier chances of getting the job and how that issue, which has been revived by the movie “Zero Dark Thirty”, will effect Brennan’s confirmation. |
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Then finally we look into the possibility of minting a platinum coin with a trillion dollar denomination to be deposited in the treasury in the event that the Republicans again hold the debt ceiling hostage and shut down the government. Jon Hilsenrath, the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal who covers the Federal Reserve, joins us to discuss this gimmick endorsed by Paul Krugman and the possibility it will be used.
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January 6 - The Press, Enablers of Republican Recklessness?; How the Syria Crisis Will Impact Iraq; The Future of Jobs in an Economy of Profits Without Prosperity
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We begin with a discussion on how the Press is already acting as the enabler of the next round of hostage-taking where Republicans threaten to turn the United States into a deadbeat nation in order to exercise their extreme ideology and satisfy their billionaire backers. Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at Media Matters and author of “Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush” joins us to discuss how the next debt ceiling debacle is already being framed as he-said – she-said and politics as usual. |
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Then we assess today’s speech by the besieged Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad that was a mixture of defiance and delusion devoid of any mention of a diplomatic possibility to end a war that is destroying Syria and has already claimed 60,000 lives. Henri Barkey, a former member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, joins us to discuss the consequences of the collapse of the Assad regime and it’s regional impact, particularly on Iraq. He has an article at The American Interest “Spinoff: The Syria Crisis and the Future of Iraq”. |
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Then finally, following last Friday’s jobs report, we look into the future of jobs as the American economy becomes more and more about profits without prosperity. William Lazonick, the Director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness joins us to discuss if, how and when full employment will return and his article at the Huffington Post “Robots Don’t Destroy Jobs: Rapacious Corporate Executives Do”. |
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