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Protecting America’s Future.   Children are not allowed to vote, but they have the most vested interest in America’s future. Today we hear from experts about how the way complex political fights affect minors and what can be done about them. Simon Workman Simon Workman works on policy solutions that will improve the lives of children. It’s an issue, he says, that affects all Americans and tells us how voters can make politicians accountable. Danielle Allen Danielle Allen tells the story of her cousin, a young man who was tried as an adult at age 15 for attempted carjacking.  After 13 years in prison, he was released and died violently at the age of 29. It is a story she says, about the deep and destructive “war on drugs” that has corrupted a criminal justice system that has abandoned our nation’s youth. Jim Hightower   Kartoonus Americanus Is Going Extinct!   Right before our eyes, an invaluable American species is fast disappearing from view. Kar-toon-us A-mer-i-kan-as.   These are the newspaper cartoonists who’ve long delighted readers and infuriated power elites. And there’s nothing natural about their sudden decline – it’s not the result of a declining talent pool, and certainly not due to a lack of political targets. Rather, what’s happening is that their media habitat is being intentionally destroyed. Bill Press The J6 Committee Makes its Case.   The January 6th Select Committee hearings. We'll hear from California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who led the questioning in Monday's hearing.    If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

The trap of poverty wages. According to researchers, the number of Americans living at or near the poverty line has risen sharply since the beginning of the pandemic. This week, we hear from experts about the plight of poverty-wage workers around the world and the best strategies for combatting those conditions at home. Annelise Orleck Historian Annelise Orleck traveled the world to write a book about  workers who live on poverty wages. What she found gave her a renewed sense of hope and possibility. Elizabeth Lower-Basch Elizabeth Lower-Basch has a long history inside and outside of government figuring out the best ways to assist struggling families. She says that “work requirements” for people on public assistance is exactly not the way to help. Jim Hightower   How Can Democrats Save the Party… From Their Own Leaders?   “It’s over.” “Biden’s numbers are in the ditch.” “Democrats are doomed.” “Call the priest.”   These are Democrats talking! Even before November’s congressional elections are run, many conventional-thinking Democratic operatives are surrendering to a presumed Republican sweep. You don’t need a political science degree to know that if you start out announcing that you’ll lose, chances are you will. Bill Press "We're in a Bad Place Right Now." With Norm Ornstein   Norman Ornstein is one of the leading experts on the Congress and an Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author, with Thomas E. Mann of the 2012 book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism and with Thomas E. Mann and E.J. Dione, the author of the 2017 book, One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

Rebuilding our nation’s manufacturing muscle.   The supply chain is in the news lately, with most stories about it focusing on the end results for consumers. But how can government look out for the interests of American manufacturing workers in a way that protects their rights while strengthening domestic manufacturing? This week, we talk to two experts about how to achieve those goals.  John Pouland John Pouland explains a study that details how the conventional political wisdom has completely missed the biggest electoral earthquake of the last decade, specifically highlighting how both Democratic and Republican parties have discounted and misjudged their appeals to voters in manufacturing-heavy working-class towns.  Tom Conway As head of North America’s largest industrial union, Tom Conway speaks for over 800,000 workers. He says now more than ever, we need to protect working people and fight to rebuild our nation’s manufacturing muscle.  Jim Hightower   Enthroning Corporate Power Over America   “Equal Justice Under Law.” That’s the noble principle carved into the marble façade of the temple-like Supreme Court building.   Today, though, six right-wing, corporate-dominated activist judges control the present Court, and they’re implementing an elitist creed mocking that ideal. By putting the interests and power of the wealthy over the rest of us. Bill Press The Second Amendment is About Slavery   Elie Mystal returns to the Bill Press Pod with a withering takedown of the Second Amendment, Justice Alito and Supreme Court Ethics. He is The Nation Magazine’s Justice Correspondent. He's a frequent guest on MSNBC commenting on the intersection between the legal and the political. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he gave up Big Law to fight for justice.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

A minimum and maximum wage.   The minimum wage often stands in for a variety of different workers-rights issues in political debates. This week we dig into how minimum wage laws can function as part of a broader social agenda—and study their direct, and incredibly intriguing opposite.  Janelle Jones Economic analyst Janelle Jones says a higher minimum wage is a crucial tool in bridging our nation’s widening income inequality gap  And in the face of federal inaction, cities and states are setting up to the plate. Sam Pizzigati Income inequality in America is now at a rate we haven’t seen in close to 100 years.  In a new book, author Sam Pizzigati says it’s time to resurrect an idea once endorsed by President Franklin  D. Roosevelt … a maximum wage for our nation’s highest earners. Jim Hightower   A Rube Goldberg Inflationary Spiral   Last July, several GOP senators combined their 5-watt intellects to charge that inflation was rising because of the “insane tax and spending spree of President Biden and the Democrats.”   Never mind that the “insane” spending is for such sensible, productive, and enormously popular national needs as childcare and jobless benefits, Mitch McConnell’s rabidly partisan flock saw the chance to politicize the public’s legitimate worries about rising prices.   Bill Press To Stop Gun Violence, Elect Democrats.   With the tragic massacre of children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas dominating the news, we talked to Igor Volsky of Guns Down America about what can be done, if anything, to combat gun violence and the politicians who support it. But our gun laws cannot change unless our politicians do, so Bill also talked to two sharp political reporters about the 2022 primaries: Niall Stanage, White House Columnist for The Hill and Political Analyst at News Nation AM and Maya King, Politics Reporter for the New York Times covering the South based in Georgia.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

Teachers at the front line of progressive politics.   How a wave of teachers strikes in red state America is changing the political landscape. Education advocate Jeff Bryant tells us why a record number of educators are running for office, and what they want. Eric Blanc In 2018, in some of the reddest states in our nation, teachers led  a series of walkouts demanding not only better pay for themselves, but better schools for the children they teach.  Writer Eric Blanc embedded himself in this unlikely and powerful rebellion for an inside view of a movement that has the potential to rebuild working class politics in America. Jeff Bryant Jeff Bryant has written extensively about the intersection of education and politics. He says that a movement that began with teachers’ walkouts has turned into an a record number of educators running for office and fighting for the future of public schools. Jim Hightower   Save the Whales! Save Polar Bears! Save Political Cartoonists!   I never dreamed of growing up to be a political activist/ commentator, but here I am, and it’s worked out pretty well for me. I’ve been lucky enough to have a voice in public matters and eke out a modest living running my mouth as an independent populist agitator. Still, I have to confess to the sin of Job Envy. Not in the sense of being resentful, but regretful about my own inability to lift the trade of journalistic commentary to the heights attained by a small, feisty collection of unique public opinionators: Political cartoonists. Bill Press “News for People Who Give a Damn.”   Journalist Judd Legum was a regular on the Bill Press Show for years. Today, he makes his debut on the Bill Press Pod. Legum writes a four-times per week newsletter, Popular Information, that practices Independent Accountability Journalism. He compares what people and institutions SAY to what these same people and institutions actually DO. Today we talked about the Great Replacement Theory behind the Buffalo shooting, that has been mainstreamed by Right Wing media and politicians; which corporations are contributing to Right Wing politicians while espousing Human Rights; Ron DeSantis and book banning in Florida and what the heck is going on with Elon Musk.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

Homegrown extremism in America.   This week marks the ten-year anniversary of the Facebook corporation going public on Wall Street. We examine that story from two different angles: The growing income inequality in America, which has often been fueled by Silicon Valley bubbles and the financialization of our economy, and the way Big Tech has helped stoke right-wing rhetoric—and even violence.   Ron Formisano Distinguished historian Ron Formisano has written a book about plutocracy and says we are in a new “gilded age” when the state and federal governments are up for sale. Brian Levin Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino, is one of the most trusted voices on hate and extremism in America. We discuss how the landscape of political violence has changed under the Trump administration. Jim Hightower   Why Should We the People Respect a Court That Disrespects the People?   Mitch McConnell, the perpetually sour old goose who heads the Senate Republican Caucus, had a hissy fit when the news leaked out that American women are about to have their most fundamental constitutional right taken from them by a cabal of Supreme Court judges.   What made Mitch twitch, of course, was not the bad news for women… but the leak. Bill Press Midterm Ground Zero.   Former Progressive Caucus Co-chair Mark Pocan and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin are at the center of the 2022 midterms. Ron Johnson is up for reelection and control of the Senate may hinge on that race. There are competitive House seats that may determine control in that chamber. In Wisconsin the legislature is so gerrymandered, it is almost impossible for the Democrats to gain control. So having a Democratic governor is the one check on the extremist Wisconsin Republican Party.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

From rideshare apps to food-delivery services—to ballot measures like California’s proposition 22, which allows companies to treat their employees interchangeable and dispensable—the new economy of the gig and temporary work is proving to be a disaster for workers' rights and long-term stability. This week we talk to two experts about just what is being lost in this transformation.  David Rolf Union leader David Rolf says even Republicans can be persuaded that America will be better off with a strong middle class. But it’s the plutocrats and their hired guns standing in the way. Louis Hyman In his book, labor historian Louis Hyman tells the story of America’s transformation to a temp economy and why he calls it the moral crisis of work in the 21st century. Jim Hightower   America needs a quality childcare system   Nearly every nation with an advanced economy (and some not so advanced) treats child care as a fundamental public good essential to nurturing children, families, and the whole society. But not our US of A.   Indeed, our so-called leaders relegate millions of working parents and 21 million kids under 5 to the tender mercies of a for-profit market, with child care facilities ranging from impossibly expensive to helter-skelter, unlicensed Kiddie Korrals. Bill Press Midterm Madness Begins   With the midterms just seven months away, Bill talks to Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ nonpartisan newsletter on American campaigns and elections. They focus on the primaries coming up in the month of May in the GOP where Trump has endorsed candidates. How these primaries turn out may determine who controls the Senate in 2023. They also discuss the likelihood of the Republicans taking over the House of Representatives. And a little conversation about Biden and Trump in 2024.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

We must go further with voting rights.   With primary races soon to be in full swing, we take a closer look at some of the structural hurdles Americans face at the polls—and at just how narrowly President Biden was elected two Novembers ago.  Phil Keisling Phil Keisling used to be the secretary of state for Oregon, one of three states that allow people to vote by mail. He said the practice increases turnout, especially among younger and more diverse voters. Amel Ahmed The passage of H.R.1 would mark a necessary advance in defense of the right to vote.  But does that go far enough? Amel Ahmed says more can be done to go on the offense in the struggle over voting rights.  Jim Hightower   We’re Stuck on a Monopoly Merry-Go-Round   The problem with our so-called “free market” is that it’s not free for you and me. It’s largely controlled by monopolies, which are free to inflate prices just because they can, letting gougers gleefully extract unwarranted monopoly profits from us.   This milking of consumers by tightly consolidated industries is propelling today’s surging price hikes. Bill Press Ukraine: "A Grinding Slog."   Today's guest is Joe Cirincione, here for a monthly update on Putin's war in Ukraine. Cirincione is a Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He previously served for over 12 years as the President of the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

There are two tax systems, one for the rich, and one for the rest of us.   Donald Trump is certainly a figure of unique notoriety, but his manipulation of tax law is simply one window into the way the wealthy avoid paying their fair share. This week, we look at what his case can teach us about the 1 percent more broadly—and at one solution that might make American taxation more equitable. David Cay Johnston  David Cay Johnston has spent years reporting on Donald Trump’s business practices, and on the inequities of the U.S. tax code. He says reporting from the New York Times on Trump’s taxes offers greater proof of two tax systems, separate and unequal.  Emmanuel Saez Economist Emmanuel Saez studies wealth and income inequality around the world. His book argues that the American economy isn’t working for half of the nation and makes the case for a tax system that is truly progressive. Jim Hightower   The Corporatization of Pet Care: Animal Cruelty?   For many people, the animals they adopt and love become more like family members than pets. We have deep relationships, with cats, dogs, parrots, goats, horses, and other fellow critters – who at least pretend to love us back, providing comfort and joy all around.   Sadly though, life for all of us animals is a spin around the wheel of fortune, so illness and injuries happen. That’s why one of the most valued members of every community are the staffers in our local veterinarian's office. Bill Press "A Catastrophic Event in Food." With Amb. Cindy McCain   Cindy McCain is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture which leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. She is the widow of former Arizona senator and 2008 Republican nominee for President, John McCain. In 2020 she endorsed Joe Biden for president. She has a long history with helping people in need. From 1988 to 1995, she founded and operated a nonprofit organization, the American Voluntary Medical Team, which organized trips by medical personnel to disaster-stricken or war-torn third-world areas.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

Fighting right-wing smears of progressive healthcare proposals.   Republicans have been so effective at smearing so-called “government-run” healthcare as expensive and wasteful that they have obscured just how much the current, private healthcare industry gouges Americans on everything from pharmaceutical drugs to routine care. This week, we’re re-airing two interviews with experts who say healthcare can be safer and more affordable if corporations got out of our collective pockets.  Dan Zuberi  If hospitals would spend a little more money paying their own employees, instead of outsourcing for the cheapest support workers, they would save money by cutting down on costly hospital infections. That’s the analysis from health professor Dan Zuberi. Steve Knievel  Steve Knievel is an advocate for Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, focusing on expanding affordable access to medicines. They say that to help stop Big Pharma’s price gouging in the U.S., Congress must listen to the American public, ignore the pharmaceutical industry’s high-paid lobbyists and finally pass legislation granting Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices. Jim Hightower   The Sad Whine of Supreme Court Right   Ralph Waldo Emerson told about a guest who came to dinner and spent the entire evening prattling about his own integrity: “The louder he talked of his honor,” Emerson wrote: “the faster we counted our spoons.”   Today, America has not one, but six guests in our national home babbling about their integrity. They are the six extremist Republican judges who now control our Supreme Court, and it’s a bit unsettling to hear them go on and on, almost frantically pleading with us to believe in their judicial impartiality. Bill Press The View From Europe with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli   Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk. She covers Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli has reported on the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

Cultivating the next Labor movement.   Many of the policy decisions that affect workers’ lives seem arcane and abstract, and are not the hot-button news items that other issues inevitably become. Today we look at two different spheres of policy that have serious, immediate effects on the lives of American workers.  Nelson Lichtenstein Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein explains how the current antitrust revival has the potential to prevent similar failures and advance unionization at Amazon and other giant corporations. Dan Mauer Communications Workers of America’s Dan Mauer says trade policy under NAFTA benefits multinational corporations at the expense of American workers and calls for a new framework that puts workers’ rights first. Jim Hightower   Democrats, please Be Democrats!   I think we can now say the obvious: The Republican Party has gone bull goose bonkers. Its leaders have turned the once-proud GOP brand into an unprincipled gaggle of corporate profiteers, hatemongers, and screwball conspiracy theorists. They’re so far out that the Hubble Telescope can’t find them!   But where is my Democratic Party? Here’s a transformative opportunity to forge a solid political coalition – a multi-racial, urban-rural, farm-labor alliance based on fundamental principles and programs of fairness and opportunity for all. Bill Press Rolling Back Rights. With CNN's Ron Brownstein   Ron Brownstein is one of the sharpest analysts of American politics. He is a Senior CNN Political Analyst and a Senior Editor for The Atlantic. He's been reporting and writing about the radical rollback of rights in Red states.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.  

The rich have organized themselves into a powerful lobby.   The wealthiest Americans like to imagine the current economic system as a meritocracy, where their status is the inevitable result of hard work and virtue. This week, we talk to two experts about how, in fact, the rich have rigged the tax code and economic policy to secure the economic order and prevent it from ever changing.  Isaac Martin Professor Isaac Martin has studied one particular economic trend in American history and tells us about that, and the topic of his book “The Rich People’s Movements.” Erica Payne In 2010, Erica Payne organized some of the richest Americans to demand higher taxes on millionaires like themselves.  Her recent book offers an insider’s view of how the wealthy have rigged the tax code in their favor and offers a blueprint to unrig it. Jim Hightower   Supreme Thieves in Robes of “Justice”   As we know, “government ethics” can be a very slippery concept.   That’s why We The People have insisted that every public official – from congress critters to dog catchers – swear to abide by some minimum standard of proper behavior. Not that all will honor it, but a code of ethics provides a measure of legal action against those who are grabbers and grifters. Bill Press "The Constitution is Trash." with Elie Mystal   Elie Mystal is The Nation Magazine’s Justice Correspondent. He's a frequent guest on MSNBC commenting on the intersection between the legal and the political. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he gave up Big Law to fight for justice.   If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.