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 31: February 13, 2012

6.9
2001
31 Seasons

Watch Democracy Now! Season 2012, Episode 31: February 13, 2012 online on FlixGems. 2012/02/13 Headlines: Greek Protests Spread as Parliament OKs Austerity Measures; Up to 300,000 Protest in Portugal; Belgium Firefighters Spray Water on Police at Anti-Austerity Protest; Expanded Role for U.S. Special Operations Forces Sought; Arab League Calls for Peacekeepers in Syria; Romney Narrowly Beats Paul in Maine, Wins CPAC Straw Poll; Obama's Budget Includes New Taxes on Millionaires, Cuts to Medicare; Catholic Leaders Oppose Obama's Compromise on Birth Control; Death Toll of U.S. Contractors in Afghanistan Rises; Pakistani PM Indicted on Contempt Charges; Pakistani Minister: U.S. Drones are Counterproductive; Five More Arrested at Murdoch Newspaper in Bribery Case; Republican Congressman Faces Ethics Probe over Insider Trading Allegations; New President of Maldives Rejects Call for Elections; Shining Path Leader Detained in Peru;$

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