Month: January 2023

How to Deal With the Economic Suicide Attack by Legislative Terrorists

We begin with the Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen who is busy taking extraordinary measures so that the government can pay its bills, making a polite appeal, “I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” to the new Republican House controlled by far right radicals and know-nothings who have vowed not to raise the debt ceiling unless Biden makes drastic cuts in government programs. Joining us to discuss a solution to this economic suicide attack by legislative terrorists is Robert Hockett, who has first-hand experience working at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and continues to consult for a number of US federal, state and local legislators and regulators. He drafted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” resolution for the House of Representatives and officially advises her on economic policy. He is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University whose latest books are Money from Nothing Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve, Financing the Green New Deal: A Plan of Action and Renewal, and The Citizens’ Ledger: Digitizing Our Money, Democratizing Our Finance. He helped draft a new bill just introduced by Representative Ro Khanna and Senator Marco Rubio, The National Development Strategy and Coordination Act of 2022.

The Surprise Resignation of New Zealand’s Much Admired PM Jacinda Ahern

 Then we look into the surprise resignation of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ahern who is admired abroad but whose party’s poll numbers are sinking at home. Joining us from New Zealand to discuss what led to her feeling burned out with an empty tank is Dr. Maria Armoudian, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, co-director of Nga Ara Whetu, Centre for Climate, Biodiversity and Society, the founding host/producer of the radio program, The Scholars’ Circle, and the author of three acclaimed books, Lawyers Beyond Borders Advancing International Human Rights through Local Laws and Courts; Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World; and Reporting from the Danger Zone: Frontline Journalists, Their Jobs and an Increasingly Perilous Future.

Political Instability in Peru as Voters Feel Betrayed by a Left Wing President Propped up by the Right Wing Establishment

Then finally we get an update on the political instability in Peru with 12,000 police deployed in Lima to protect the power centers from massive demonstrations from poor and rural voters who feel betrayed by a left-wing president whose hold on power is propped up by the right wing establishment. Joining us is Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow at the Washington Office for Latin America and a professor of political science and Latin American Studies at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University who has published widely on political violence, state-society relations, human rights and transitional justice in Latin America. An expert on Peru and the Vice President of the Latin American Studies Association, she is the author of Silencing Civil Society: Political Violence and the Authoritarian State in Peru.