Month: August 2024

Briefings

Background Briefing: August 5, 2024

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Governor Tim Walz May be Kamala Harris’ Pick For VP 

We begin with the latest speculation that Kamala Harris’s pick for Vice President will be Minnesota Governor Tim Walz since the most favorite candidate, Governor Josh Shapiro may be disqualified because he worked for the Israel embassy in Washington in 1996. Given the dissatisfaction among young Democrats over the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war in Gaza (that could blow up into a regional war at any moment), Shapiro might not be the right look at this time. Joining us to discuss the possibility of Tim Walz as VP and what he would bring to the ticket is David Schultz a Professor of Political Science at Hamline University and the University of Minnesota School of Law. He is the author of 30 books and various articles on American politics, ethics, election law, and the media, most recently Election Law and Democratic Theory, and American Politics in the Age of Ignorance: Why Lawmakers Choose Belief Over Research. His latest book is Generational Politics in the United States From the Silents to Gen Z and Beyond.

 

The Plutocratic Capture of John Roberts’s Supreme Court

Then we examine the plutocratic capture of John Roberts’ Supreme Court and Republican plans to stop the certification of a Harris victory in November, this time without storming the Capitol. Joining us is David Daley, a senior fellow for FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, which helped spark the drive to reform gerrymandering. Dave’s second book, Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, chronicles the victories and defeats in state efforts to reform elections and uphold voting rights. A digital media fellow at the Wilson Center for the Humanities and the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, he is the former editor-in-chief of Salon.com, and we discuss his latest book, just out, Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.

 

Wall Street’s and the Global Drop in Markets Does Not Spell Recession

Then finally we look into today’s panic on Wall Street and the drop in global markets which some hyperventilating analysts say could mean we are in store for a recession. Joining us for a sober look at the jobs numbers and the Fed’s recent failure to lower interest rates is Pavlina Tcherneva, a Professor of Economics at Bard College and the President of the Levy Economics Institute. She is also the co-editor of Full Employment and Price Stability: The Macroeconomic Vision and her latest book is The Case for a Job Guarantee.