Fiscal Policy Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show

It’s a long term necessity, but tragically, short term policy-makers put off a solution essential to a strong economy and restoration of our republican form of government. As of today, both the economy and democracy are in a downward spiral. The post A Wealth Tax: Boost the Economy and Democracy appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

It may have the word “liberal” in it but it’s anything but. Until the Biden/Harris years, the corporate wing of the Democratic Party had its deserved image of serving the richest among us. Trump understood raw populist anger to win The post Waving Goodbye to Neoliberalism? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

In the current American version of capitalism, all of us are “thingified:” our only value being as digits on the way to corporate profits. This reflects a core bias in the system toward serving the very richest. But it doesn’t The post Wealth Supremacy is On Autopilot: That’s Not the Only Option appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

If the plaintiffs get their way, Moore vs United States could be the wedge that prevents a wealth tax. Guests on this show are law professors and authors Joseph Fishkin and William Forbath whose op-ed in the New York Times The post The Case Before the SupCo That Could Hjiack a Wealth Tax appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

The unchecked power of the Federal Reserve claims its current, never ending rate hike strategy is about curbing inflation. It is not, according to our guest today, economics professor Clara Mattei. That we have become so used to it we The post The Real Purpose of The Fed’s Rate Hikes and Austerity appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

If the word conservative means anything, it means conserving and not wasting money. Especially public money. How long can politicians claim to be conservative when they studiously avoid looking at obvious waste? Billions, hundreds of billions, trillions. On the first The post Worshiping Waste As Long as It’s Military Waste appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Sho...

Sure there’s the $750 billion Pentagon budget for FY 2020. But real military spending is nearly twice that. There are many opaque agencies which are secretive in their use of other taxpayer money, according to our guest William Hartung Director The post Boondoggle, Inc: Military Industrial Complex on Autopilot appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

The hugely successful Broadway does a service: igniting the relevance of history to today. Of course it is largely fiction. As  author and historian William Hogeland tells it, Hamilton saw his job as just making America a good investment. He The post Hamilton Against Democracy, Struggle Still Unresolved appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Economic despair in the face of unimaginable wealth? Scarcity in a reality of plenty? Is there now a  case for giving every American a share of a public wealth fund? In what ways might a universal basic income work to The post Universal Basic Income: An Old Idea Whose Time is Near appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

With near consensus from both sides of the aisle, congress just rubber-stamped a nearly three quarters of a trillion dollar spending plan for defense contractors. There is no limit on what we will spend on weapons, according to today’s guest The post Sky’s The Limit for Military Waste: $717 Billion ’19 Budget appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show...

Is truth still the first casualty of politics? Not in the UK, where Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn stunned PM Teresa May. He dared to tell the truth; authenticity works. So says Marc Weisbrot of the Economic and Policy Research Center. And The post Truth as an Effective Political Weapon: Corbyn//Use Public Money to Fund Public Projects appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radi...

Never motivated by serving the common good, powerful old-school Republican leaders such as James Baker, George Schultz, and Henry Paulson have put forward a proposal for a carbon emissions tax to fight climate change. You ask: why would they do The post GOP Carbon Tax: A Hedge Against Risk appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Do they really intend to destroy the economy and serve the short-term greed of billionaires, or do they just mouth simplistic phrases and really not know what they are doing? We deon’;t really know. The Bannon/Trump Administration is taking aim The post Malice or Mere Incompetence? Trump vs Dodd-Frank appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

The Vikings were brave explorers and they found wondrous new things. Today Scandinavia holds promise of how America can become happier and more free. George Lakey, author of the new book Viking Economics, talks about struggling toward something rather than The post Scandinavia Got it Right, So Can We appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Generally American cites are dumped on: Budgets cut, services eliminated, schools ignored. But 80% of us live in cities and despite the pressure from uncaring financial interests and their politicians, we are close to a tipping point where an urban The post Saving Our Cities: Transforming Urban America appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Oscar Meyer was Chuck Collins’ great grandfather. At age 26, he turned aside his inherited fortune. Why would anybody do that? His new book is called Born on Third Base; A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing The post Born On Third Base appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

The right to organize is a basic human right. So says MIT professor and co-director of the Institute for Work and Employment Tom Kochan. In the face of decades of assaults against workers rights, this election year holds realistic hope The post Labor Day 2016: Taking Power appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

How do you like paying interest to use your own money? According to Mike Krauss of the Public Banking Institute, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can replace the privately held Federal Reserve system and use the treasury The post Serfs on a Debt Plantation//Palestine at the Democratic Convention appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Independence day: Many Americans see our freedom to choose as consumers as what independence is all about. But recovering corporate CEO and Huffington Post columnist Richard Eskow on this show shines a light on how far we’ve veered from what The post Would Our Founders Recognize Today’s “Independence?” appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Are we watching a train wreck in progress? Journalist Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories, offers his insight into how the 2016 Democratic Party may have ignored important lessons from the 1968 crack up. There will be The post The Coming Democratic Crack Up appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

It’s the year of the anti-establishment candidates: in both parties. Jim Rubens is certainly the underdog against incumbent Kelly Ayotte, a Washington favorite. While Rubens is no liberal, he does take on issues such as the power of money in The post Republican Senate Candidate Takes On Establishment appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Q: When is a donation not a donation? A: When it’s an investment. It is a rare super wealthy philanthropist who gives without need of great public recognition? From feudal times, it has been in the interests of the baronial The post Philanthrocapitalism: Charity as a False Front appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

American exceptionalism is a reality in terms of locking up almost 5 times as many citizens as all other advanced industrialized democracies. Over the last 40 years, the incarceration rate has skyrocketed by nearly 400 percent. How did we get The post How Did We Get To Be Incarceration Nation? appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Tremendous wealth is being sheltered from taxation. The rules for the rest of us apparently don’t apply to the super rich of the world. But think about how that now-hidden wealth might help millions throughout the world. This is the The post The Panama Papers: Big Silver Lining appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .

Between 1945 and the Reagan era, Americans understood that work benefited all and when productivity when up, all stakeholders shared in the rewards. Of course that all changed. But in his new book “Shaping the Future of Work: What Future The post The Future of Work: We Can Make It better appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show .