The enhanced Child Tax Credit(CTC) was signed into law by President Joe Biden as part of the American Rescue Plan.  While temporary to start, if successful, it may well be remembered as the most important  part of that legislation.  Some social scientists are comparing its potential impacts for children and middle and lower income families as akin to what the 1935 Social Security Act has been for older Americans.  Columbia University estimates that this credit, which unlike the existing one, rolls out each month to smooth the ups and downs many families face, will cut child poverty by 45 percent.  Its impact will be even greater, they say, for African-American and Native American children.  It’s an approach already undertaken in the United Kingdom and Canada and will cost $100 billion a year, with the hope that its effect will be to reduce children’s health care costs and increase parental earning capacity by amounts that far exceed that.  To describe how it works and the goals we turn to Veronica Goodman, the director of social policy for the Progressive Policy Institute.

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Our guest likes to use the straws metaphor to get across the point that all the users of the world’s most precious resource must accept that given population growth and climate change, one of the key solutions to a growing water crisis is to recognize that if your straw stays in the glass, some else’s must come out.  On the list of realistic solutions to a problem that could prove that this resource will be THE source of future global conflicts this one falls in the category of conservation.  Technological advances, education and regulation are key to giving weight to this option, but more will need to be done as we see example after example of watersheds, rivers and basins drying up.  And, for the United States, you would be mistaken to think that it is simply a problem out in the West.  The problem of too little water and poorly maintained infrastructure crosses the continent.  Our guest, Robert Glennon, author of such books as ‘Unquenchable’ and ‘Water Follies’, is a recognized leader in the science of water and gives you much to think about, and personally act upon, in this podcast.

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Your office for the duration of the pandemic was wherever you, your phone and computer were.  And while some companies are calling everyone back into the office, many others have recognized the value and benefits of remote work.  The work from home trend is now being factored into the culture of many companies as positions for the chief of remote work are being developed.  The most likely scenario, though still too early to tell, is a hybrid and flexible model of work designed to compete for the knowledge worker who will have many options from which to choose.  James Citrin and our guest, Darleen Derosa, of global leadership firm Spencer Stuart, have written a new book, ‘Leading at a Distance: Practical Lessons for Virtual Success’.  Workforce strategies, like virtual work, have been thrust to the top of the list of issues that executives have to address in the period ahead in order to compete globally.  We discuss the latest research and thinking on the topic.                   

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Our guest dedicates his book to ‘the 86 percent of Americans who are currently exhausted, miserable, and desperately seeking a way out of the culture of contempt’.  I’d imagine many of you are among that legion, so why are we letting only 14 percent of our nation lead us into deadlock, dysfunction and national decay, as we approach what appears to many of us to be a national nervous breakdown.  And if those 14 percent look anything like the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 perhaps we can find a plot of land, just offshore, where they can dream up conspiracies and be vengeful toward each other.  Professor Peter Coleman, a Columbia University professor of Peace and Conflict, has written a new book ‘The Way Out’ and offers a new perspective on looking at what has been building up in this country for the last forty years.  He’s thoughtful and reasonable, and somewhat optimistic, that this too shall pass.  If you need some help getting there, take a listen.             

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 If you google ‘work too much’ you will find lots of references to the ill effects of an unbalanced life when you spend too much time on the job.  These effects include harmful medical, mental and social consequences.  A new study discussed in this podcast attributes 745,000 thousand deaths worldwide in 2016 to the cause of overwork which is considered by the World Health Organization to be a ‘ serious health hazard’.  Joining us to discuss the topics is Daiga Kamerade, a work and employment sociologist at the University of Salford in the U.K.  And while predictions were made years back that by this point prosperity and automation would replace human labor, that is by no means the case, particularly in America, sometimes referred to as the ‘no vacation nation’.  Take a break from whatever work you’re doing and listen to this podcast.

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Despite major advances in medical science and epidemiology over the last century, the United States has not significantly improved its ability to predict and handle public health emergencies.  With our fractured system of local, state and federal responsibilities our historic approach to responding to health crises has been uneven.  Its a continuing theme in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic as some parts of the country recover more quickly than others.  In his book, ‘American Health Crisis: 100 Years of Panic, Planning and Politics’, Professor Martin Halliwell documents how America has lurched from health crisis to health crisis, often leaving vulnerable populations behind.  Our most troubling response often comes in the wake of natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, which does not bode well for the future shocks from climate change.  Have we learned from the past?  Will we respond with better solutions after absorbing the impact of the pandemic on all facets of American life?  We explore in this podcast.

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 You hear the terms ‘cancel culture’ and ‘wokeism’ bandied about these days as if people even understand what they mean.  If we’re honest our political divide, now of legendary proportions, results in each side not listening to the other. Yet the terms cancel and woke, derisive in tone, have been appropriated by the right to be the extension of political correctness. The right is trying to suggest that the left is rigid and intolerant and the left is saying that the right continues to evade truths about our history and culture and thus is not awake to the experience of many Americans.  Dr. Steven Mintz, a retired ethics professor, and I have less an interview and more a conversation about political speech and who is trying to cancel whom.  My hope is that you find it illuminating and thought provoking.

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There is growing immediacy to issues surrounding criminal justice in America.  The focus is often on police violence, mass incarceration, and inequities in how justice is meted out depending on the color of the skin of the perpetrator or the victim. Yet one element of this system that has gotten little attention is the broken public defender system which is key to many other aspects of justice.  While public defenders are often typified in the public’s mind as champions of the downtrodden and the dispossessed they are working in a system which forces them to focus as much, if not more, on speed and efficiency as justice for their client.  Jonathan Rapping is the author of ‘Gideon’s Promise’ and founder and president of an organization of the same name which has as its mandate to change the culture and practice of criminal defense in America.  Get ready to have your eyes opened as we discuss what it means to live up to the creed that justice is blind.  

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While the economy is showing signs of life as restrictions have been lifted on businesses and the pump has been primed by the federal government throughout the pandemic, there are concerning signs that inflation may eat away at some of the gains we are seeing. The question is whether this will be a short term issue or persist into the future, thus eating away at the consumers spending level and confidence. While some suggest that pent-up demand and lagging supply chains is the reason for inflation, we decided to dig deeper into the subject on today’s podcast.  Ted Oakley, Managing Partner of Oxbow Advisors, joins us to touch on many of the economic flashpoints today such as the growing debt, cryptocurrency, the spate of resignations and other issues in the job market, and then back again to the elephant in the room–inflation.  Just days ago, President Biden addressed the topic and indicated that he would look to the Federal Reserve to adjust its easy money policy if the 20 year high in inflation persists.  It’s worth keeping an eye on.  Some of us remember the impact of rampant inflation of the 1970’s.  That is a trend we do not want to see re-emerge.

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The many generations that are growing old in today’s America are as different from one another as they are from the millennials and Gen X’ers.  There is no way to look at the experiences of those in their 60’s and equate them to the fastest growing population in the country, those 85 plus.  Yet, many marketers lump everyone 55 plus in one bucket.  It’s a foolish strategy since an AARP study shows that Americans 50 and older would be the world’s third largest economy.  And while older Americans defy past stereotypes the notion of ageism and discrimination still exist.  This phenomenon is particularly acute related to women of a certain age.  Our guest, Maddy Dychtwald, and her husband Ken, founded Age Wave over thirty years ago and it remains a definitive source of the effects that this booming boomer generation is having on America.  In this podcast, Maddy and I explore a range of issues around aging in 21st century America.

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