I hear some folks (seems like people who sympathize with the tea partiers) say we need to run the economy like a business.  In other words, not the current deficit spending.  And that this is why Democrats (Obama) are ruining the country, and why Mitt Romney might be the best candidate for the Presidency – he ran Bain didn’t he?  He ran the Olympics, didn’t he?

BUT….

Wouldn’t ‘managing the economy’ be socialism (the boogieman of the conservatives these days)????

Well, we get down to  basics in this show – Timothy Taylor, Managing Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, author of Principles of Economics: Economics and the Economy, tells us all about it, and shares his thoughts on what experience might be useful for a President.

Goldman, corruption, and why they won’t respect us in the morning

Guest: Stephan G Richter, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Globalist, the daily online magazine on the global economy, politics and culture, which he founded and launched in January 2000. In addition, he provides editorial direction for The Globalist’s innovative content services on global issues, which are licensed to newspapers, corporations, institutions, universities and high schools around the world.

• Goldman Sachs and America’s Regulation/Supervision Paradox
  • the vilification of government and civil servants in America (in some quarters) and the impact this had had on our ability to protect ourselves from the financial crisis;
  • the status America’s civil servants have vs those other countries;
  • the importance of a vibrant private sector to assure that elected leaders actually leave their offices (and not change their constitutions to remain in power)

• The West as a Role Model
  • How the financial crisis has affected America’s standing in the world and what impact it has had on “American” companies doing business elsewhere, i.e. successful countries/economies have certain characteristics in common, but the ‘rule of law’ seems to be an important, if not the important, one;
  • if the reputation of US companies is that they are corrupt, does this make it more difficult for US companies to make and enforce contracts in other countries, refuse to pay/accept bribes, etc

John Loretz: Nukes

Russia and nukes – is the new policy a security threat or do you feel safer than we’re talking with our former enemies?  Can we team up with Russia and China to counter other powers we worry about…Pakistan, Iran, North Korea?  What about India, South Africa, Israel?

Does a country need nuclear weapons to be taken seriously?  If so, why wouldn’t Iran want them?

John Loretz, Program Director, IPPNW, will join us to discuss all this and more.  From his recent post :

The long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review released yesterday by President Obama is the most important and thorough re-evaluation of US nuclear policy since the Cold War. While it is not a blueprint for rapid nuclear disarmament, it marks the first time the US has made the elimination of nuclear weapons a guiding principle, focusing more on reducing the dangers of nuclear weapons than on finding roles and rationales for them. This is a very welcome and long overdue course correction.

Like the New START agreement with Russia, the NPR begins to anticipate a world in which nuclear weapons no longer exist. Nevertheless, the pace for disarmament set by this review, which is intended to establish the framework for US nuclear policy for 10 years or more, is still too slow.

and here:

All of the nuclear weapon states are modernizing their forces, sending a contradictory and provocative message to the rest of the world. Russia uses modernization for political leverage; China is reportedly engaged in a significant upgrade of its heavily veiled arsenal; the UK is still stubbornly (I’ve heard the word “stupidly” used) pressing ahead with Trident replacement despite the compelling arguments against doing so; and France, which has always marched to the beat of its own drum, is adding new nuclear capabilities across the board. India and Pakistan, if not exactly in an arms race, are busily adding to their own nuclear capabilities.

And check out this new briefing paper on the global climate and health effects of nuclear war…  Zero Is The Only Option.

John Loretz
Program Director

John’s career working on behalf of peace, disarmament, and environment organizations spans more than two decades. As IPPNW’s Program Director he is responsible for shaping and coordinating the federation’s nuclear weapons abolition campaigns, providing issue analysis, policy guidance, and advocacy support to affiliate groups and activists. He has joined physician delegations in London, Paris, and Moscow as an adviser on nuclear weapons and disarmament, and has written and spoken extensively on the issues. He is the Executive Editor of IPPNW’s journal, Medicine & Global Survival, and helped edit the book Humanitarian Crises: The Medical and Public Health Response, published in 1999 by Harvard University Press. A graduate of Boston College with an MA from the University of Virginia, John was Communications Director for Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) in the early 1980s and at IPPNW’s US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility, in Washington, DC, from 1986-1990.

It’s tax time, and the procrastinators are counting down the hours.  When we’ve sent in our tax returns, we can go back to arguing about whether they should be high or low; progressive or regressive; based on income, sales, property, or unearned income; national, state, or local.  We can argue about the economic impact of the tax system – do higher taxes reduce the pie (conservative belief) or could they actually increase the pie (one example, by creating an incentive for companies to put money back into the business thus fostering innovation).

But, tax systems vary from country to country- not only by the level of tax, but how they are structured.

• Neither Saudi Arabia nor United Arab Emirates have personal income tax.
• In France, large families pay much less in taxes than do couples or single people.
• Mortage interest is deductible in the United States, thus heavily subsidizing home ownership at the detriment of renters or those who own their homes outright.
• There is a church tax in Germany and much of Scandinavia.

How does our tax system reflect our values as a country? What about other countries?

The Samantha Clemens Show: What does a tax system say about a society?

The Queen Bees of South Hadley – do you BELIEVE THIS???

In the traumatic days that followed, Rebecca Brouillard, a student who spoken on a television interview about the hazing, was slammed against a wall and hit by one of the accused girls, said her father, Mitch Brouillard. He said that they were angry she had publicly discussed the bullying, and that some of the students who were accused had bullied his own daughter for years.

What on earth is up with the parents? How do girls become a Queen Bee? And what can be done to stop them?  And, what’s up with the boys?  A pox on their houses…

We’ll be joined by Rosalind Wiseman, author of “Queen Bees and Wannabees” the book that inspired the movie “Mean Girls.”

Rosalind Wiseman is an internationally recognized author and educator on children, teens, parenting, education and social justice. Her work aims to help parents, educators and young people successfully navigate the social challenges of young adulthood.

Her publications include:

The Samantha Clemens Show: Rosalind Wiseman