The Politics of Wealth and Poverty in November's Elections

To the Point

KCRW

News

4.4 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2006

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republicans in the House and the Senate are moving to cut the inheritance tax while refusing to increase the minimum wage. Some Democrats call that an "obscene" combination, which ought to help them in November. Republican leaders say they're protecting economic expansion and safe-guarding low-level jobs. What do the polls show about issues of rich and poor? Will they unite Americans behind "basic fairness" or divide the electorate by inflaming class-consciousness? We speak with journalists, business experts, economists, pollsters, Democratic and Republican political strategists about what one Democratic leader calls, "the ultimate values debate." Making News: Supreme Court Divided on Campaign Finance Law, Death PenaltyThe US Supreme Court is wrapping up this year's session with some major decisions. Today, the justices divided on campaign spending limits and capital punishment. Warren Richey, who writes on the Court for the Christian Science Monitor, and Charlie Savage, who covers legal affairs for the Boston Globe, have more on today's decisions.Reporter's Notebook: Warren Buffett Gives It All AwayIn an exclusive interview, Warren Buffett has told Fortune magazine he'll donate most of his own fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In another exclusive, both men will appear together tonight with Charlie Rose on PBS. Buffett's promise of $31 billion will double the Gates' Foundation's current assets to $60 billion. Jim Ferris is director of USC's Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy, which calls the donation the biggest such gift in history.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.
0:07.4	The politics of wealth and poverty in November's elections.
0:14.6	Hello again, I'm Mormon Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,
0:18.6	a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. Republicans in the House and the Senate are moving to cut the inheritance tax while
0:25.0	refusing to increase the minimum wage. Some Democrats call that an obscene combination, which
0:30.3	ought to help them in November. Republican leaders say they're protecting economic expansion
0:34.3	and safeguarding low-level jobs. On To the Poet, we'll hear what one Democrat calls
0:39.1	the ultimate values debate.
0:41.4	What are the polls show about issues of rich and
0:43.2	poor? Will they unite Americans
0:45.2	behind basic fairness or divide
0:47.3	the electorate by inflaming class
0:49.2	consciousness? On reporter's notebook
0:51.4	later on, the largest philanthropic
0:53.7	gift in history.
0:55.3	First, here's the news.
1:00.3	Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica
1:04.7	and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,
1:07.9	whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
1:13.0	Hello again, Warren. I'm only back with To the Point. Republicans are cutting the inheritance tax while
1:17.1	refusing to increase the minimum wage. Democrats say that means basic fairness will be an issue this
1:22.3	coming November. On To the Point, as each party appeals to its base, will swing voters care.
	...

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