Episode 151

151. Monday, July 30, 2012

The famed award-winning investigative reporting team of Donald Barlett and James Steele have just published a new book, "The Betrayal of the American Dream," a followup to their landmark bestseller, "America: What Went Wrong?" As Republicans and Democrats continue disputing who should bear the brunt of the tax burden, Barlett and Steele argue that America’s middle class has been decimated over the years due to policies governing not only taxes but also bank regulations, trade deficits and pension funds. Their book chronicles how the American middle class has been systematically impoverished and its prospects thwarted in favor of a new ruling elite. Barlett and Steele have worked together for more than 40 years, sharing two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards. The duo join us for the hour to discuss the assault on the middle class, the great tax heist, deregulation, the outsourcing of U.S. jobs by companies like Boeing and Apple, and the end of retirement. "People are going to have to work forever, and yet what are those jobs going to be? What are they going to pay? And it also puts pressure then on people coming into the workforce. How are they going to get a job if people are having to work between 65 and 75 years old?," Steele says. The duo also discuss their past reporting on the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, headed by the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, and note he headed "an Olympic committee where that entire operation raided the federal Treasury like no other Olympics in history."

Democracy Now! — Season 2012, Episode 131: Monday, July 02, 2012

6.9
2001
31 Seasons

Watch Democracy Now! Season 2012, Episode 131: Monday, July 02, 2012 online on FlixGems. 2012/07/02 Headlines: PRI Candidate Claims Victory in Mexico Vote; Morsi Takes Oath of Office in Egypt; U.S. Drone Attack Kills 8 in Pakistan; Report: U.S. Firms Lobbying for Drone Sales Abroad; Mid-Atlantic Storms Kill 13 and Leave Millions Without Power; Record-Setting Heat Wave in Eastern U.S.; Con Ed Locks Out Unionized Workers in N.Y.; Colorado Wildfire Brought Under Control as Residents Return Home; Thousands Protest Resumption of Nuclear Power in Japan; Protests in Hong Kong as New Leader Sworn In; Dozens Killed in Syria as Diplomats Call for Transition; UNESCO Issues World Heritage Protection for Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity; EU Enacts New Sanctions on Iran; Barclays Chair Resigns over Rate Fixing; Protesters March Against Wal-Mart in L.A.; Federal Judge Blocks Mississippi Law Threatening Abortion Clinic; Occupy Activists Hold National Gathering in Philadelphia;$

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