ANDREW BACEVICH-How US Squandered Its Cold War Victory – Paving the Way for Trump

Written on January 23rd, 2020

In his newest book, The Age of Illusions, ANDREW BACEVICH takes us from 1989’s seemingly ultimate victory in the Cold War to the current troubling and chaotic moment. He attempts to explain how we ended up with outsized inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, an increasingly angry and alienated population, and Donald Trump. We also talk about current events including the confrontation with Iran.

www.quincyinst.org

LAWRENCE LESSIG – They’re Not Representing Us-and what we need to do about it

Written on November 21st, 2019

In his latest book, THEY DON’T REPRESENT US: Reclaiming Our Democracy, Harvard Law School professor LAWRENCE LESSIG points out big problems the U.S. is NOT solving, and adds, “The crisis in America is not its president. Its president is the consequence of a crisis much more fundamental…The core problem with our democracy today is that it is essentially unrepresentative. We should secure, finally, a representative democracy…let’s just try it for once… and see if things get better.” We talk about how democracy is broken and how we can fix it.

The Book Behind the Wealth Tax – EMMANUEL SAEZ, Triumph of Injustice

Written on November 1st, 2019

I talk with EMMANUEL SAEZ, UC Berkeley economist, about his newest book, THE TRIUMPH OF INJUSTICE: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay – co-authored with Gabriel Zucman. The pair grabbed headlines when their book reported that in 2018, for the first time in history, America’s richest billionaires paid a lower effective tax rate than the working class. Their solutions include a wealth tax, and they’ve advised Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on their proposals. You can learn more at taxjusticenow.org

NEW: JONATHAN BLANK, Sex, Drugs & Bicycles – How does Holland do it?

Written on October 4th, 2019
In his documentary SEX, DRUGS & BICYCLES, high-tech entrepreneur JONATHAN BLANK asks, “How scary is life in a social democracy?” Beyond windmills, cannabis “coffeeshops”, and the red light district, Holland has one of the best economies in the world, is top 5 in almost every quality of life index, #1 for work-life balance. Dutch kids are the happiest in the world, the healthcare system is #3, and the government runs a budget surplus. Boo!

NEW – DAVID CORN, Mother Jones The Most Important Election of Our Lives The Most Important Scandal in Our History

Written on October 27th, 2018

DAVID CORN wrote the Mother Jones cover story – The Most Important Election of Our Lives, declared that “The Russia scandal is the most important scandal in the history of the United States”, and co-authored with Michael Isikoff, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. Who better to talk to at this moment…less than two weeks till the midterms.

https://www.motherjones.com