Tag: public option

Big Pharma Faces More Big Court Challenges in the Opioid Addiction Epidemic

First, big pharma is on trial in the opioid crisis … thousands of local and state officials have filed lawsuits against the drug makers and many of those cases, joined together, are expected to come up in Ohio next month. That is expected to happen just a couple months after the first trial of corporate culpability in the opioid addiction epidemic yielded a more than half a billion dollar verdict . We talk about this with Dr. Andrew Kolodny. He is Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

How Much Is “A Need for Chaos” Playing a Role in Our Elections?

Then, how much is a need for “chaos” playing a role in our elections? A new study finds, beyond ideological preferences, a surprising number of people — fueled and amplified by social media — say they affirm and agree with statements like this: “We cannot fix the problems in our social institutions. We should just tear them down and start over.” We talk with one of the co- authors of that study, Temple University Political Science Professor Kevin Arceneaux about its implications.

Reviving the Reforms of the Progressive Era to Help Bridge the Wealth Gap

Then finally, we  look back to the Progressive Era for lessons as to how the United States can once again make government work for the common good. After decades, particularly since the Reagan Administration, of the successful demonization of government as “bad,” we ask if the pendulum has moved too far in one direction to the benefit of a few at the expense of the many. Ganesh Sitaraman, Vanderbilt University Law School Professor and a longtime adviser to Senator Elizabeth Warren, joins us to discuss his new article in The Guardian called “To Rescue Democracy, We Must Revive the Reforms of the Progressive Era.”