Written on January 19th, 2023
In the first two years of the pandemic, globally the top 1% captured nearly double the amount of new wealth as the other 99%. In Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World, BRANKO MILANOVIC says we’re all capitalists now. Liberal capitalism delivers rampant inequality and excess as it fights for hearts and minds with political capitalism, as practiced by China. What are the prospects for a fairer world now that capitalism is the only game in town?
Written on January 4th, 2023
Since 1988, the GOP has won only one national popular vote but has named 11 of 15 Supreme Court justices. The current 6-3 court is a uniquely powerful tool of Minority rule. Their radical decisions last summer went against the majority of Americans on church and state, guns, environmental protection, the climate crisis, and women’s rights. I talk with DAHLIA LITHWICK – senior legal correspondent at Slate and host of Slate’s Amicus podcast – about that eventful term and some of the big cases of the current term. We examine how this court operates in order to achieve their extreme agenda. And we talk about her new book, LADY JUSTICE – stories of courageous and principled women lawyers who worked to hold the line against the Trump administration.
Written on December 28th, 2022
As we reach the end of one year and the beginning of another, many of us take stock of how we live and what we value. Here’s my conversation with LYNNE TWIST about her new book, LIVING A COMMITTED LIFE:
Finding Freedom and Fulfillment in a Purpose Larger Than Yourself. She asks us to consider “
a commitment to the common good: to something that takes you out of yourself and into the realm of service.” I think the challenge and opportunity Lynne offers in her work and in her new book is timely and worthy of our attention. You can learn more at Lynne’s site,
soulofmoney.org.
Written on December 22nd, 2022
I wish you, your loved ones, and those without loved ones at this time, health, safety, peace, and joy. At this time of reflection, here’s my 2014 conversation with SARA DAVIDSON about her book, THE DECEMBER PROJECT. Sara met every Friday for the last year of his life with 89-year-old Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement. What did they talk about? In his words, “When you can feel in your cells that you’re coming to the end of your tour of duty, what is the spiritual work of this time, and how do we prepare for the mystery?”
Written on December 15th, 2022
Why are medications essential to survival so outrageously expensive? Why are vaccines for a global pandemic a source of huge profits and limited availability? Why does the government allow private companies to patent and monopolize drugs resulting from tax funded research? Here’s my conversation with ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK about the revelations in his book, OWNING THE SUN
:A People’s History of Monopoly Medicine from Aspirin to COVID-19 Vaccines. You can learn more at
zaitchik.com