GDAE Podcast

Episode 52 - October 31, 2011

2011-10-31T12:01:44Z

Episode pending - Occupy Wall Street foreseen.

Episode 51 - September 30, 2011

2011-10-01T01:47:35Z

Episode 51 - September 30, 2011 Whose Economy? Part 2 of 3

Artificial Crisis Leads to Super Budget-Cutting Committee: Michael Hudson, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, exposes the establishment framing of the economic situation to justify cutting social safety nets.

Occupy Wall Street: Interview with Michael Moore, after a visit with protesters occupying Wall Street. Moore discusses a people's framing of the economic situation.

Episode 50 - August 30, 2011

2011-08-31T03:00:19Z

Episode 50 - August 30, 2011 Whose Economy? Part 1 of 3

Economist Richard Wolff: Bailouts put the private debts onto the public (tax payer) balance sheet. Now Congress and White House are poised to finish the job by putting that debt onto the backs of America's most vulnerable people.

Wealth Gap Between Minorities and White Americans doubles after housing crisis, recession: According to Pew Research Center.

Episode 49 - July 31, 2011

2011-08-01T01:58:40Z

Episode 49 - July 31, 2011

Economist James Galbraith: Reality check on the Washington "Debt Crisis".

Journalist, media critic and political analyst John Nichols: The Unraveling Murdoch News Corp media empire. Were crimes also committed in the United States?

Ralph Nader: Common Ground with the Tea Party? This might be true for the principled libertarians within the Tea Party.

Episode 48 - June 30, 2011

2011-06-30T22:30:13Z

Episode 48 - June 30, 2011 Mideast Awakening

Mideast Awakening in Iraq: Raed Jararr discusses protests in Iraq as part of the mideast awakening. He also provides a behind-the-scenes analysis of the US plans for departure from Iraq... or not....

Mideast Awakening in Bahrain: The US looks the other way during government crackdowns on the pro-democracy movement in this tiny Gulf monarchy; a report from Husain Abdulla Director of Americans for Human Rights and Democracy in Bahrain.

Prosecute Bush: Who are the "Bush Six" and what happened in Spain last Spring? Although the outcome in this case was negative, the movement to hold Bush administration officials accountable remains strong.

Episode 47 - May 22, 2011

2011-05-22T13:03:00Z

Episode 47 - May 22, 2011 Corporate Tax Dodgers

Senator Bernie Sanders (VT): Speech on the US Senate floor exposes corporations that are avoiding taxes via loop-holes that they wrote into the laws.
Nicholas Shaxon: Author of "Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens" interviewed April 15, 2011 on DemocracyNow!

On a personal note, Violet Lyra Mae arrived April 27th, 2011. As a time-saver, given the demands of fatherhood, I'll be shifting to a less demanding format, which involves less editing and longer audio clips of interest or straight interviews.

Episode 46 - April 24, 2011

2011-04-24T17:07:00Z

Episode 46 - April 24, 2011 Budget Crisis! Really?

Economist James K. Galbraith: Speech in Washington, DC, from late 2010. Galbraith lays out a strategic path that we the people must push forward, because the two-headed, one-party establishment system is trapped by group-think and is incapable of steering the world away from disaster. (35-min)

On a personal note, with a little one coming at the end of April, I'll be shifting to a less demanding format, which involves less editing and longer audio clips of interest.

Episode 45 - April 17, 2011

2011-04-17T20:04:00Z

Episode 45 - April 17, 2011 Authoritarian Conservatives
.

Two Brands of Conservatives: There are the "small government" "Libertarian Conservatives." Then there are the "Authoritarian Conservatives" that 'say' they want small government, but once in office they reveal themselves as government-in-your-business "Authoritarian Conservatives." Find out more with help from Rachel Madow.
Cut Taxes for the Rich and Create Jobs: Dean Baker discusses why this simplistic economics principle does not hold in today's economy.
Gerald Celente: Conservative Future Trends forecaster points out "the obvious" that will ring true with progressives: Government and Corporate powers have for the most part merged, which is the definition of fascism.

On a personal note, with a little one coming at the end of April, I'll be shifting to a less demanding format, which involves less editing and longer audio clips of interest.

Episode 44 - March 31, 2011

2011-04-01T00:06:00Z

Episode 44 - March 31, 2011 Journalism & Democracy in Crisis
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Econ 101: The notion that giving the wealthy class, or owner class, tax cuts to spur jobs and economic growth is a widely held belief in our society... What's the real story today?
Feature on the Broken Corporate Media: Communications Professor Robert McChesney on Journalism and Democracy in Crisis..

Episode 43 - March 13, 2011

2011-03-14T01:28:00Z

Episode 43 - March 13, 2011 We Are Wisconsin
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Security Industrial Complex: A concern of both conservatives and progressives. Coleen Rowley, former FBI agent discusses the glut of information being collected and the needle-in-a-haystack syndrome.
Has the Sleeping Giant Awoken? Michael Moore Madison, WI speech, 3/5/11.

Episode 42 - February 2, 2011

2011-02-03T03:35:00Z

Episode 42 - February 2, 2011 Anarchism Libertarian Style

Anarchism: Excerpts from Lew Rockwell Show on Anarchism with historical examples.
Prosecute Bush: Two segments that demonstrate the viability of holding Bush administration officials accountable for their crimes: 1) UN Special Rapporteur on Torture puts the U.S. on notice, 2) If Argentina can hold its leaders accountable, so can the U.S.

Episode 41 - January 24, 2011

2011-01-25T02:15:00Z

Episode 41 - January 24, 2011 Can Violence be Incited on a Society-wide Level?

Past GDAE podcasts asked the question: "We know that hate speech can incite violence in unstable individuals, but can hate speech infect entire segments of our society?" A retrospective.
Is the 1917 Espionage Act Constitutional? It depends on how you define the word "traitor."
Use of the Espionage Act against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange: Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald on why Assange is the wrong man.

Episode 40 - December 30, 2010

2010-12-31T02:11:00Z

Episode 40 - December 30, 2010 The Right Critiquing the Right?

Libertarian Critique of Republicans: "The Persistence of Red-State Facism," by Anthony Gregory.

Prosecute Bush: Scott Horton on State Department cables that expose US obstruction of justice in Spain and Germany to suppress their investigations of extraordinary rendition, torture and illegal activities associated with the Guantanamo prisons.

Episode 39 - December 18, 2010

2010-12-18T19:19:00Z

Episode 39 - December 18, 2010 Conversation on Corporate Power

Corporate Power: Conversation on how excessive corporate power is creating dysfunctional elections, health care system, financial system, news media, and its affect on American democracy and its citizens..

Prosecute Bush: Obstruction of justice in Spain and Germany by US officials exposed by WikiLeaks. Emerging facts have a way of forcing democratically governed countries to choose between maintaining their status as democracies or admitting that they are authoritarian states. If they choose to maintain their status as democracies, they have to prosecute high officials for crimes.

Episode 38 - November 29, 2010

2010-11-29T12:58:00Z

Episode 38 - November 29, 2010 Economic Outlook: Not Good

Panel discussion on October 4, 2010 with three main stream economists' predictions for jobs in 2011 and beyond. Predictions are Pretty Bad, Very Bad, and Absolutely Catastrophic.

Paul Krugman, of Princeton, who studies macro economics, is a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics. He now spends much of his time as a commentator appearing in the New York Times.

Jan Hatzius is from Germany. He currently is Goldman Sachs′ chief US economist and is responsible for setting the firm's US economic and interest rate outlook. He was listed atop of 52 Wall Street economists in The Wall Street Journal′s economic-forecast rankings.[1] He'll be giving us his forecast.

Martin Feldstein is currently the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University. From 1982 to 1984, Feldstein served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and as chief economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan.

The three economists each predict job losses in 2011 even if the economy grows by 1-2 % . Under the predicted scenario of 1-2% economic growth, Hatzius expects unemployment will increase from 9.6% to 10% or more during 2011. If the economy grows less than 1%, or we dip back into negative growth, back into recession, then we will see even more job losses... beyond 10%. Hatzius thinks there's a 25-30% possibility of a dip back into recession.

The three eonomists agreed on three factors that could lead to a down turn and possibly recession: 1) If federal, state and local governments cut funding leading to significant cuts in jobs, 2) If there is more trouble in housing, like foreclosures, this will lead a continued glut of houses on the market, which drives house prices down, and 3) if commercial real estate experiences troubles as is predicted when a lot of balloon mortgages come due in 2011 on over-priced properties bought in the early 2000s.

The predictions are bad for all three of these key influences on recession: "Fiscal Austerity", a fancy term for cutting government spending, is almost a certainty in Washington. The spending cuts will hit state and local government workers, private companies that work for the government and the local businesses that depend on these, like parts suppliers, office suppliers, local cafes. Some of these people will have trouble making their mortgage payments.... can you see the chain-reaction coming?

Krugman lays out the potential for a chain reaction that triggers another financial sector crisis. He then postulates that the Tea Party influences in Congress could mean no government bail out this time... not even one with strings attached.

Episode 37 - November 28, 1020

2010-11-29T02:45:00Z

Episode 37 - November 28, 2010 Left / Right Populism: Part VIII

Can principled people on the left and right unite clean up our democratic institutions?

History: Demagogues take advantage of bad economic times for political gains including the use of government to enrich themselves.
Three economists see three futures: Pretty Bad, Very Bad and Absolutely Catastrophic.
Call for unity among principled conservatives and progressives: Unite to counter-act dangers of demagogues during the coming hard times.
Alternatives to bailing out too-big-to-fail banks: Economist Dean Baker exposes false dichotomy of "bailout" or "disaster".
Prosecute Bush: Hilary Clinton lectures Cambodia on facing up to its past. She should look into a mirror.
Social Security: An exaggerated financial solvency crisis? Economist Dean Baker and "the solution" for keeping Social Security solvent in perpetuity.

Episode 36 - October 31, 2010

2010-11-01T00:06:00Z

Episode 36 - October 31, 2010 Left / Right Populism: Part VII

Can principled people on the left and right clean up our democratic institutions?

Motivation for Reaching out to the Political Right on Issues of Common Concern: Preventing the Drift toward "Barbarism".
Right-Wing TV/Radio Incitement: The case of Byron Williams who attempted to murder eleven people in San Francisco after listening to Glenn Beck and others.
Walden Bello: A historical perspective on the Drift toward "Barbarism" and its relation to the Moviation to reach out to genuine conservatives.
2006 Conservative Essay: "Now Is the Time for a Left-Right Alliance: A rebel alliance already exists that could stop Bush administration attacks on the Constitution."
Prosecution of Bush Officials: Beating the drum with the help of revelations from WikiLeaks of US complicity with abuse and torture.
Iraqi Blogger Raed Jarrar: Personal experience with WikiLeaks revelations.

Episode 35 - October 9, 2010

2010-10-09T18:35:00Z

Episode 35 - October 9, 2010 Left / Right Populism: Part VI

Can principled people on the left and right clean up our democratic institutions?

Case-study from Electoral Politics: David Sirota on Tea-party-backed candidate for US Senate in Colorado, Ken Buck.
Shared Left/Right Populist Anger: CNN interview with David Sirota explains Bush & Obama failure on Financial Bailout.
MUSIC: Ryan Harvey, "It's Not Just Bush"
Historical Context of Tea Party: We've seen this before in past decades. Kevin Drum exposes how the Tea Party follows the same broad contours of past right-wing spasms during Democratic Party presidencies.
Prosecute Bush: An example of a "nation of laws," Iceland is holding its leaders accountable for financial meltdown.

Episode 34 - September 30, 2010

2010-10-01T03:40:00Z

Common Interests on the Left & Right - Part V

Conversation with Vince Tola: Perspectives on the potential of principled people on the left and right to join forces and reassert the power of the people over our democratic institutions. Vince is a public school teacher and Maryland Green Party organizer.

Episde 33 - September 18, 2010

2010-09-18T23:45:00Z

Common Interests on the Left & Right - Part IV

Principled and Unprincipled Conservatives: Will Bunch, Author of "The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama," on the Tea Party movement and the recent primary elections.
Principled and Unprincipled Liberals: Glenn Greenwald, former constitutional and civil rights litigator now writer and blogger.
Prosecute Bush... and Obama?: Ideological consistency of "principled" people on the Left and Right should reach the same conclusion about Bush and Obama administrations; they both abuse power. Glenn Greenwald commentary.
MUSIC: "You're American" by Brian Fox .