(2015/02/24) The wealth divide and the crumbling bridge across it (Economics)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2015
⏱️ 79 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Edition #901
Show Notes
Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill
Ch. 2: Act 1: The bootstraps myth and The American Dream™ - @DecodeDC - Air Date: 1-8-15
Ch. 3: Song 1: Decode DC Theme Song
Ch. 4: Act 2: .@NickHanauer on inequality - @TEDTalks - Air Date: March 2012
Ch. 5: Song 2: "RazorWire" - Chris Priest
Ch. 6: Act 3: Wealth Gap - @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver - Air Date: 7-13-14
Ch. 7: Song 3: Heads You Win, Tails I Lose - Surfin' Safari (2001 - Remaster)
Ch. 8: Act 4: Yes, the budget grows and for good reason - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date: 2-6-15
Ch. 9: Song 4: One Way Street - I Can't Stand the Rain
Ch. 10: Act 5: Can Democrats Stop Republican Social Security Change? - @davidpakmanshow - Air Date: 01-25-15
Ch. 11: Song 5: I Wish I Knew (Logo Remix) - Gildas Kitsuné Season's Greetings Mix (The Merry Christmas Edition)
Ch. 12: Act 6: Whats With Politicians Fetishizing About Cutting Social Security? - @majorityfm - Air Date: 01-07-15
Ch. 13: Song 6: Out of Touch - The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates (Remastered)
Ch. 14: Act 7: Bolstering Unemployment Benefits with the 2016 Budget via @WhiteHouse - Best of the Left Activism
Ch. 15: Song 7: "This fickle world" - Theo Bard
Ch. 16: Act 8: Give jobs, not welfare - Economic Update with @profwolff - Air Date: 1-5-15
Voicemails
Ch. 17: The impact of the TPP on marginalized communities - Chrissie from Kansas
Ch. 18: Endorsing choice for vaccinations - Jeff from Cleveland, OH
Ch. 19: The 25% gender wage gap doesn't take hours worked into consideration - Tod from California
Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics
Ch. 20: Final comments Part 1: Responding to Jeff from Cleveland about vaccines
Ch. 21: Final comments Part 2: Responding to Tod from California about the gender wage and wealth gaps
Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone
Activism: Bolstering Unemployment Benefits with the 2016 Budget via @WhiteHouse
Take Action:
Let the White House know you support the unemployment provisions of the 2016 budget via phone (202-456-1111), email/mail and via Twitter to @WhiteHouse and @BarackObama
Use ContactingTheCongress to let your reps know you expect them to publicly support the unemployment plan.
Sources/further reading:
Fiscal Year 2016 Budget of the U.S/ Government via The White House
"Obama's Budget Proposes a Major Overhaul of Unemployment Insurance” by Danny Vinik at The New Republic
"Right-Wing Media Use Flawed Study To Attack Unemployment Benefits” by Rachel Calvert at Media Matters for America
"U.S. jobless claims fall as labor market gains momentum” by Lucia Mutikani at Reuters
"Conservatives Cheer Research Saying Cuts To Unemployment Benefits Helped The Economy” by Arthur Delaney at HuffPo
"Obama Budget Signals End Of Austerity, Return Of Sanity” by Dave Johnson at Common Dreams
Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This program is made possible by the members and donors to the show for details |
| 0:06.3 | visit the membership tab at bestofalef.com. Now welcome to the award-winning |
| 0:10.2 | Best of the Left podcast with clips today from D.C.O.D.C. Ted Talks last week |
| 0:15.3 | tonight with John Oliver, Counter-Spin, the David Pakman show, the majority |
| 0:19.0 | report activism from Best of the Left and economic update. |
| 0:29.8 | Today a tale is old is America itself, probably older to tell you the truth. And |
| 0:36.0 | actually what we're really going to tell you is the tale of the tale. How we got |
| 0:40.7 | this one particular story so deeply ingrained in us that we believe it. Still |
| 0:46.8 | even when it's become mostly myth. |
| 0:55.5 | This story is the American dream. The tale of the self-made millionaire, the old |
| 1:02.3 | yarn that says you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps alone. This story |
| 1:08.4 | cuts so deep in America it makes complete political opposites sound like |
| 1:14.0 | brothers. Here in America our success should depend not on accident of |
| 1:18.9 | birth but the strength of our work ethic. My great grandfather like many came to |
| 1:24.0 | this country in search of the American dream. He arrived with nothing not a penny. |
| 1:29.1 | That's how the daughter of the factory worker is CEO of America's largest auto |
| 1:33.2 | maker. He found the American dream. How the son of the bar keep the speaker of the |
| 1:37.2 | house. Success was not based on who you are but what you did. |
| 1:44.0 | That was Kentucky Senator Rand Paul a Republican libertarian mixed in with |
| 1:53.1 | President Barack Obama a Democrat. I even use the same words. To be sure the |
| 1:59.6 | bootstraps myth is all mixed up in pop culture too. Think about the Jefferson's. |
| 2:05.7 | We finally got a piece of the. Or Fival in an American tale. America. What a place. |
... |
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