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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Now how did that happen?  It was then President George W. Bush, who asked that question of his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson. So, if he didn’t know the financial collapse was coming, how could you have known?  We just commemorated the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the investment firm Bear Stearns an event that presaged the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We go back with two financial experts to re-visit what went wrong and whether it could happen again.  In that process, we explore the remedies put in place at the time and whether they should provide any comfort that the steady growth of the economy since that time is real or built on another bubble ready to burst. In this episode, we are joined by Edward Pinto, who was chief credit officer for Fannie Mae in the 1980’s and no co-directs the American Enterprise Institute’s Center on Housing Markets and Finance.  He is also a former FDIC and Federal Reserve economist.

http://www.aei.org/

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About a decade ago, it was believed that the generation after generation growth in cigarette smoking might come to an end.  Young people were beneficiaries of much scientifically valid information about its harmful effects and not bombarded with marketing by big tobacco.  Then, e-cigarettes came along. The goal espoused by many in the public health field was to use them as a cessation device to wean adult smokers off some of the more harmful effects of tobacco.  And then, the tobacco companies and new manufacturers realized that they could be used for the purpose of re-introducing a form of smoking to young people, offering the companies new customers going forward.  Congress and the FDA are now trying to get into the act to make the e-cigarette experience less pleasurable, but is it too late? We discuss the topic with Linda Richter, Phd., from the Center on Addiction.

GET MORE INFORMATION HERE

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