Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the Fed lowering interest rates today by a half a percentage point

and examine the likely impact it will have on the economy and the election,

given that inflation, which is a campaign issue, appears to be largely tamed.

Joining us is Robert Hawket, who has had first-hand experience working at the International Monetary Fund

and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

and continues to consult for a number of U.S. federal, state,

and local legislators and regulators.

He drafted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal resolution for the House of Representatives

and officially advises her in economic policy and is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University.

His recent books are Money from Nothing or Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve,

financing the Green New Deal, a plan of action and renewal,

and his latest, spread the Fed, distributing central banking for productive monetary policy.

Then, following Israel's attack on Hezbollah's leadership with exploding pages,

we'll assess whether Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu,

who clearly wants Trump elected and is undermining Biden and Harris at every turn,

has an October surprise in store for the Harris Waltz ticket by starting a war in Lebanon

that will expand to Iran and draw the United States into another war in the Middle East.

Joining us is Robert Baer, one of the most accomplished agents in CIA history and the winner of the

Career Intelligence Medal. He's the author of Four New York Times bestsellers, including

Sleeping with the Devil, How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude, and is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on the Middle East

...