My 1989 speech to my 20th Harvard reunion – prescient & tragically hopeful
Written on July 27th, 2025A couple of weeks ago I recorded myself reading a speech I originally gave June 9, 1989 – 36 years ago – at my 20th college reunion, Harvard class of 1969. Ours was the year of the University Hall takeover and the campus strike. In ’89, I was fully involved in the entertainment industry. In the speech, I asked how we were living up to our youthful ideals. I don’t know if my words affected anyone else, but I came back home and got much more involved in causes, setting me on the path on which I found this show 7 years later. Today I find my words prescient, hopeful and – given today’s reality – a bit tragic.
FF_TM 1989 Harvard Speech_Transcript
(1) Can government save capitalism from itself? CHRIS HUGHES, Facebook co-founder, (2) my prescient & tragic 1989 speech to my 20th Harvard reunion
Written on July 4th, 2025
T. McNally Harvard Speech Transcript
30 years of research: Inequality hurts everybody-even the rich-Wilkinson & Pickett-THE SPIRIT LEVEL
Written on June 30th, 2025In Trump’s tax bill, 60% of cuts go to the top 20% (income: $217K+). More than a third to top 5% ($460K+) Households earning less than $51K will see income drop next year. Top 0.1% will get an average boost of $390K. Time for one of my favorite episodes: my January 2010 conversation with Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett about their groundbreaking book, The Spirit Level. Based on 30 years of research, it makes clear that the more unequal a society is, the worse it is – in all sorts of dimension – for everybody – rich and poor alike. Worth a listen.
Wilkinson.Pickett – Transcript
TIM JACKSON, THE CARE ECONOMY – Can we imagine it? Can we make it real?
Written on June 20th, 2025When I decided to speak with TIM JACKSON about his new book, THE CARE ECONOMY, I had second thoughts. What could be further from our current reality in the US than a care economy? Would talking about it seem naïve? But as Robert Reich makes clear, “We need to demonstrate not just against Trump but also for the America we want,” and this episode is part of my attempt to imagine and flesh out such a vision. Jackson is Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity in he UK and his earlier books include PROSPERITY WITHOUT GROWTH and POST GROWTH: Life After Capitalism. You can learn more at timjackson.org.uk
Jackson Tim-05-15-2025- transcript
DON INGBER (2012)-Biotech Breakthroughs at Harvard’s Wyss Institute reveal costs of Trump’s research cuts
Written on June 12th, 2025The chaos Trump is creating in Southern California is a distraction from the other cruel, careless, and destructive actions of his administration. The assault on higher education and Harvard University in particular will cost us enormously, especially in terms of medicine and science. Here’s my 2012 conversation with Don Ingber, founding director of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, who has emerged as one of the leading voices defending science and attacking White House cuts to research. Following this conversation you’re about to hear, I was hired by the Wyss Institute to host and co-produce Disruptive, a 17 episode podcast series, honored by the Webbies as one of the five top science podcasts of 2017. Search Disruptive, Terrence McNally to find the series at numerous sites.
