EP 912 How Billionaires Use Their Wealth to Keep You from Getting Ahead

EP 912 How Billionaires Use Their Wealth to Keep You from Getting Ahead

  It can be hard to explain how the actions of the top .01 percent have severe consequences for the rest of us, but in his book, “Burned by Billionaires,” Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, lays it out chapter and verse.  He demonstrates through words and charts how the rest of us …

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EP 909 Refrigeration Changed the World and Now Threatens It

EP 909 Refrigeration Changed the World and Now Threatens It

Refrigeration is considered to be the most impactful invention in the history of food and drink.  And while we focus on our personal refrigerators there is an entire ‘cold chain’ of cold storage warehouses, shipping containers, trucks, and display cases, keeping foodstuffs fresh until we can purchase them.  It’s a labyrinth never documented in the …

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EP 908 Education Thought Leader Changes Her Mind on School Reform Efforts

EP 908 Education Thought Leader Changes Her Mind on School Reform Efforts

 Diane Ravitch, Ph.D, is a historian of education.  For decades now, she has written, lectured and been interviewed about her views on a range of subjects related to education reform, including standardized testing, vouchers, charter schools and accountability. Early on, she was a proponent of all of the above. She was part of the leadership …

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EP 906 West Point Law Professor Who Won Whistleblower Case Against the U.S. Military Files New Free Speech Lawsuit

EP 906 West Point Law Professor Who Won Whistleblower Case Against the U.S. Military Files New Free Speech Lawsuit

Tim Bakken, a civilian professor, and the longest-serving law professor in West Point’s history, filed a lawsuit recently in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging a new U.S. Military Academy policy regulating faculty speech, which he alleges violates the First Amendment.  You may recall that Professor Bakken was on …

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EP 905 Can the Euro Survive More Crises?

EP 905 Can the Euro Survive More Crises?

 The euro survived crises unimagined at its founding in 1992, giving European countries a common currency.  First there was the financial meltdown of 2007-2009, the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2012, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  The European Central Bank (ECB) pushed back against these ill winds with dramatic policy innovations, like buying …

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EP 904 Black Capitalists Amassing Wealth for the Common Good

EP 904 Black Capitalists Amassing Wealth for the Common Good

To many, the term “Black Capitalists” tips an equation upside down.  Black people were the labor force that built the infrastructure of American capitalism through the violent dictates of legalized slavery, so is it possible in this moment to see Black people as beneficiaries of this system?  And if they are starting to amass capital, …

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EP 903 Is Anyone Paying Attention to Children in Middle Childhood? We Should

EP 903 Is Anyone Paying Attention to Children in Middle Childhood? We Should

Oh, the times they are a changing’.  While the focus in a slew of parenting books has been on infancy, adolescence and the teenage years, little has been focused on as it relates to ages 6-12, which is deemed middle childhood.  To many parents there’s a sense that the heaviest lifting for them is over.  …

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