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 37: February 21, 2012

6.9
2001
31 Seasons

Watch Democracy Now! Season 2012, Episode 37: February 21, 2012 online on FlixGems. 2012/02/21 Headlines: European Finance Chiefs Approve $172 Billion Greek Bailout; Yemen Holds "Election" in Deal to End Saleh's 33-Year Rule; Report: Israel to Release Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan; Afghans Protest Koran Burnings at U.S. Airbase at Bagram; 4 U.S. Soldiers Killed When Spy Plane Crashes in Djibouti; Spain: Police Criticized for Brutal Beating of Students; Obama to Host Israeli PM for Talks on Iran; Donors Pour $22 Million into Super PACs for Republican Candidates; Santorum Spokeswoman Attacks Obama's "Radical Islamic Policies"; Former IMF Chief Held, Questioned in Prostitution Inquiry; Syria: 12 Killed in Homs as Red Cross Pushes for Ceasefire; Senegal: 3 Dead as Pre-Election Protests Intensify; Canada Threatens Complaint over Tar Sands Labeling; Study: 94% of Oscar Voters Are White, 77% Are Male; 2011 Polk Awards Given to Shadid, Mayer, AP, Al Jazeera;$

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