Briefings

Background Briefing: April 22, 2025

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Trump’s Self-Inflicted Wound on Our Economy as Overseas Investors Retreat From Treasuries and the Dollar

We begin with the markets recovering today after Monday’s sell-off with the Wall Street Journal reporting the worst April since 1932. As gold reaches a record high, we look into Trump’s self-inflicted wound on our economy as the bond market and the dollar tumble as investors around the world retreat from what was the world’s leading economy just a few months ago. Joining us is J.W. Mason, a senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative and a former 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, international finance and trade. He was previously the Policy Director for the New York State Working Families Party.

 

An Update From Rome on the Conclave with Cardinals From the Global South in the Mix for a New Pope

Then, as world leaders prepare to go to Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday, joining us from Rome is Kate McElwee who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, where she has worked since 2011. She is a respected activist and advocate for gender equity in the Catholic Church and her work is frequently featured in international media outlets, including the BBC, AP, The New Yorker, and the National Catholic Reporter. We discuss the secretive succession process underway as a conclave prepares to select a new pope with possible candidates from the global south in the mix following the death of the first non-European pope, Francis.

 

On This Earth Day Strategies for Collective Political Action to Make Climate Change the Unifying Crisis of Our Time

Then finally, on this Earth Day, we speak with Malcolm Harris, the author of the national bestseller Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World and Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials. His latest book, just out, is What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis. and we assess how, through collective political action, climate change could be the unifying crisis of our time with three strategies – progressive, socialist and revolutionary – outlined in this new book which is a repair manual for life on our rapidly warming planet.