Over the last 40 years, China has changed beyond recognition, becoming a world power following economic reforms made by Deng Xiaoping and others.  President Xi Jinping, perhaps the most powerful leader in China since Mao Tse Tung, has inherited this more prosperous, and complex, economy. Yet, George Magnus, of the China Centre at Oxford University, sees four key ‘Red Flags’–traps, if you will– that Xi will have to negotiate if he wants to keep China’s hot streak going. Is China in more jeopardy than you imagine?  Find out on this episode.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Flags-Why-China-Jeopardy/dp/0300233191

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We’ve all held fast to the notion that in America there exists ‘one man, one vote’, thus we are all equal in our system of representation.  Yet, when you really think about it, the voices of those who invest money, time and energy in the political conversation often count for more than someone whose civic responsibility begins and ends at the voting booth.  And there is clearly a socioeconomic aspect to this as the well educated and affluent carry megaphones, while the poor and dispossessed speak in a whisper. Those are the findings in the book, ‘Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and the People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age”.  Kay Lehman Schlozman, a political scientist and co-author of the book, joins us to count the many ways that citizens have to express themselves politically and the impact these have on policy decisions.

https://www.amazon.com/Unequal-Unrepresented-Political-Inequality-Peoples-ebook/dp/B0795BTMMY

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At the end of the Cold War, America stood alone in the world as the supreme economic and military force. We were finally a unipolar giant with decent relations with present adversaries, like Russia and China.  What went wrong? Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs, at Harvard University and author of ‘The Hell of Good Intentions’, traces our problems to a misguided, bi-partisan strategy of ‘liberal hegemony'(he’ll explain).  Many misadvenutes later, the foreign policy establishment in America still pushes the same concepts that have failed us in the past. And, while President Trump, espouses other ideas, Professor Walt doesn’t see his policies ushering in a new era for American foreign policy.  The author suggests we pursue offshore balancing to align America foreign policy with our values and capabilities. This is important.

https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Good-Intentions-Americas-Foreign/dp/0374280037

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Years back, Ivan Eland wrote a book with this title.  He traced this country’s steady expansion of its military footprint all over the world and the dangers inherent in this trend.  We decided to catch up with him several years later to determine if this military intervention, on the whole, has been positive for America on the world stage. He still believes, resolutely, that the world, and the United States, would be better off if we curtailed some of ’empire like’ tendencies, which are in contravention with the role The Founders envisioned for this land.  This episode is the first of two parts on U.S. foreign policy.

http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=487

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As an addendum to the conversation with Mark about the skills gap EP199, Peter Murphy of the Invest in Education Coalition, talks about one approach to closing it: the USA Workforce Tax Credit.

http://investineducation.org/about-the-coalition/

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If they are led to believe that there is no other path to a successful future than a four year, liberal arts degree then the answer is no, according to Mark Perna, CEO of TFS Results and author the book, ‘Answering Why’.  He’s very concerned that while there are six million open jobs in America that this number could grow to eleven million unfilled jobs by 2025. He describes why we have a national skills gap and the various avenues that young people can pursue to close it.  He attributes much of the problem to an awareness gap regarding those opportunities. We do our part to close that on this episode.

https://www.markcperna.com/book/

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That’s what Bruce Nagy, author of ‘The Clean Energy Age’ reminds us.  So, while we wait for policymakers and businesses to do their part to avoid calamity, he reminds us that there is much we can do.  In his concise and neatly constructed guide, he tells us that there are concrete steps we can take–action priorities, he calls them–to make a real difference, save money and win.  And he takes his own advice. Imagine living in Canada in a zero energy home with no furnace. He is a compelling listen and in plain language invites us into the process of making ethical investments with decent returns both economically and environmentally.

https://bfnagy.com/

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Have you had reason to visit an urgent care center for a medical service such as the flu, asthma or a sprain? You’re certainly not alone  It seems that they are popping up on every main street and retail cluster. We’re talking about an urgent care center. We wanted to find out why this phenomenon represents such a growing sector of the medical delivery system so we went to the Chief Executive Office of the Urgent Care Association, Laurel Stoimenoff, to find out.  The numbers are staggering. It’s an $18 billion industry that is expected to grow 5.8% annually. Let’s go deep on the increasing importance of these centers to our health and well being.

https://www.ucaoa.org/

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Jarl Jensen, a writer and inventor who, at 16 sixteen years of age, contributed with his father to a successful patent that led to the launch of a wound care company called Euromed.  As a result, he has been successful the whole of his adult life and can step back and assess how the economic fortunes of others are affected by many forces including Federal Reserve policy ands technological innovation. The basis of this episode is his work of fiction, ‘Optimizing America’, which considers real world issues affecting all of us.

https://www.amazon.com/Jarl-Jensen/e/B0781XQV4C

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Now, we offer another perspective on the financial crisis of 2008 from Attorney John Dellaportas.  He is the co-chair of Kelley Drye’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement practice. He defends clients in shareholder class action suits and in civil enforcement proceedings brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission

.https://www.kelleydrye.com/Our-People/John-Dellaportas

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