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 30: February 10, 2012

6.9
2001
31 Seasons

Watch Democracy Now! Season 2012, Episode 30: February 10, 2012 online on FlixGems. 2012/02/10 Headlines: U.S. Unveils $25 Billion Mortgage Deal with Banks; NATO Blamed for Deaths of 8 Children in Afghan Air Strike; U.S. Marines Photographed Posing with Nazi Flag in Afghanistan; Syria: Homs Seige Continues as 25 Die in Aleppo Blasts; Maldives: Ousted Pres. Nasheed Leads Rally, Calls for Elections; U.N. Envoy Concerned for Ousted Maldives President’s Safety; Greek Unions Protest Wage Cuts as Europe Withholds Aid; Spain: Pioneering Judge Baltasar Garzón Disbarred; Online Protests Held for Palestinian Hunger Striker; NRC Approves First U.S. New Nuclear Plants Since 1978; NYC: 1,000 Rally at Meeting over Two Dozen School Closings; Education Gap Growing Between Rich and Poor; CPAC Features White Nationalist Speaker, Rejects Gay GOP Group's Sponsorship; Immokalee Workers Claim Victory with Trader Joe's Deal;$

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