Full Program

Part 1

We begin with President Obama’s pledge to dedicate his remaining time in office to raising the minimum wage and reverse the “dangerous and growing inequality and lack of upward mobility” in America. Joining us from one of the many demonstrations across the country by fast food workers, union organizers and community supporters is Kendall Fells, the President and Organizing Director for Fast Food Forward, a movement of New York City fast food workers demanding living wages and worker’s rights. We  discuss the struggle of fast-food workers who the president mentioned “work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty”.

Part 2

Then we hear from Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at U.C. Berkeley who researches family budgets, low-wage labor markets, inequality and minimum wages. We discuss what the president calls “the defining challenge of our time”, the growing gap between the rich and poor, and look into the plight of bank tellers who do not make a living wage while banks are enjoying record profits, a sign that we are fast declining into what Warren Buffett warned we are in danger of becoming, “a plantation economy.”

Part 3

Then finally, although the death of Nelson Mandela should remind us of all of what he stood for in terms of racial justice, human rights and reconciliation, we are obliged to cover what is going on in the middle of Africa in the Central African Republic where a military coup installed a Muslim leader in a predominately Christian country, leading to sectarian massacres and counter- massacres, mostly against innocent civilians. The United Nations Director at Human Rights Watch, Phillipe Bolopion, who was recently in the Central African Republic, joins us to discuss the danger of one of the poorest nations on Earth becoming the latest killing fields and a haven for armed groups. 

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels where discussions are focused on how to get around Afghan president Karzai’s foot-dragging and obstruction which is delaying a withdrawal agreement and post-withdrawal plans to support Afghanistan’s military. Ambassador Peter Galbraith, who was the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan until he was fired for blowing the whistle on Karzai’s rigged re-election, joins us to discuss why Karzai won’t sign the deal his own hand-picked Loya Jirga has approved.

Part 2

Then, as the deadline for a budget agreement to relieve the sequester cuts approaches, we speak with Jo Comerford, the Executive Director of the National Priorities Project who is critical of the secretive negotiations and is calling for an open, transparent budget process. We discuss House budget chairman Paul Ryan’s resistance to ending tax loopholes for the very rich to replace the worst sequester cuts as he protects high-end tax shelters and instead wants to make cuts that effect middle class and working Americans.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Deanne Loonin, the Director of the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project at the National Consumer Law Center about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau now having authority over companies that collect payments for student loans, after years of lax oversight by the Department of Education. We discuss outstanding student debt that has doubled in recent years to $1.2 trillion with defaults at record levels, which economists warn is sapping economic growth and holding back the U.S. economy.