Day: October 13, 2021

Relieving the Bottlenecks in the Supply Chain While Not Giving in to Panic Over Inflation

We begin with the Biden administration’s efforts today to relieve the bottlenecks in the supply chain by having the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach operate 24/7 and look into the panic over inflation and calls to hike interest rates and reduce the standard of living for average workers. Joining us is J.W. Mason, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and a Professor of Economics at John Jay College of the City University of New York where his research focuses on macroeconomics, finance, economic history, the history of economic thought, and international finance and trade. He was previously the Policy Director for the New York State Working Families Party, and we discuss the new report he has just co-authored at the Roosevelt Institute, “Rethinking Inflation Policy: A Toolkit for Economic Recovery.” Since Americans amassed savings during the pandemic and are now spending and increasing demand, the supply side is lagging because the pandemic shut down factories and slowed global production. But does that mean we should throw people out of work because of a temporary shortage of cars and gasoline?

What is Behind the Rise in Oil and Gas Prices

Then we speak with Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the former David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment and director of the program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her books include Energy’s Digital Future: Harnessing Innovation for American Resilience and National Security and Oil, Dollars, Debts and Crises: The Global Curse of Black Gold and we discuss what is behind the rise in oil prices that Russia’s President Putin said could soon top $100 a barrel and the 250% rise in Russian natural gas prices in Europe which Putin denies he is weaponizing.

How to Help the Afghan People Avoid Starvation While Not Recognizing the Taliban

Then finally we assess the results of a G-20 emergency meeting on Afghanistan in which the EU pledged $1.15 billion to help avert starvation and economic collapse in what the head of the EU said was a dire situation in which “the Afghan people should not pay the price for the Taliban’s actions.” Joining us to discuss how to help the Afghan people while not recognizing the Taliban government is Michael Kugelman, the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center.  He is a leading specialist on Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan and their relations with the United States, and is the editor or co-editor of 11 books on the region including Pakistan’s Runaway Urbanization: What Can Be Done?