America's Democrats

What happened to the American Dream? Will a Republican White House blow up the entire trade relationship with China? And Romney pooh-poohs the polls.

After examining economic statistics from the past 40 years, essayist Timothy Noah finds that the vaunted “American Dream” of upward mobility is a thing of the past. And he has a few bold ideas for getting the dream back. http://www.tnr.com/blogs/timothy-noah

International trade may not be the issue on which the presidential campaign turns, but it is a surrogate for the overall economy. Trade expert Ira Shapiro explains some of the issues … and wonders how a President Romney could face down China and not blow up the entire relationship. http://irashapiroauthor.com/

Bill Press interviews Politico’s Ginger Gibson, who has been covering Mitt Romney. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://www.politico.com/

Romney’s foreign policy blunders … Obama’s secret weapons … and who the 47 percent really are.

Former ambassador Peter Galbraith assesses Mitt Romney’s foreign policy expertise. The verdict? “Not ready for prime time” and “nostalgic for another century.” Ambassador Galbraith adds that Romney’s serial foreign policy gaffes calls his very competence into question. http://armscontrolcenter.org/about/staff/pgalbraith/

"Millionaire Tax Dodgers"

Emory University Professor Alan Abramowitz uses mathematical models to successfully predict presidential election outcomes. Today, he tells us that President Obama must get his supporters to register and to vote and hope the undecideds stay home. Oh, and since our conversation with Professor Abramowitz, he has made his prediction – a one-point-two percentage point victory for the President. http://polisci.emory.edu/home/people/abramowitz.html

Bill Press interviews Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Clarence Page about the 47 percent of us lazy moochers who populate Mitt Romney’s America. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/

Democrats run the economy better, Republicans run as Ayn (Ain) Rand, and a DNC spokesman says, “I’d rather be us than them.”

Jere Glover is a Washington attorney and a small business expert. He also has looked into official government statistics about the economy and, guess what … in Democratic administration, the economy and business investment are robust. Under Republicans, the economy and business investment go down. http://www.seidmanlaw.com/

Everyone is talking about the godmother of economic selfishness, author Ayn Rand, now that one of her disciples, Paul Ryan, could become vice president. Professor Jennifer Burns has written a Rand biography, “Goddess of the Market,” and says rather than a dream come true, the Romney-Ryan ticket would be Rand’s worst nightmare. http://www.jenniferburns.org/

Bill Press interviews Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://www.democrats.org/

Winning the independents … stimulating the economy … and taking back the House.

There is some question as to whether there really are a lot of truly independent voters. Journalist and scholar Linda Killian, who has studied them in four key swing states, says they may constitute up to 25 percent of the electorate. She says they are socially moderate, fiscally conservative and leaning toward President Obama on national security issues. http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/linda_killian.html

Robert Shiller is a professor of economics at Yale University says cutting taxes and cutting spending will devastate America and bring on another recession. He also says it is a mistake of the first order to compare a household budget with a national budget. It will only make things worse, he says. http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller/

Bill Press interviews Robby Mook, director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://dccc.org/

Vice presidential candidates – from the most honorable to the least. Plus, a Reagan-Bush economist says the rich should pay more taxes.

Forty years ago, Sargent Shriver – a man for all seasons – was selected to run for vice president. Today, we talk with one of his sons, Mark, who has written a biography of the man he calls “a warrior for peace.” And he offers some poignant and funny stories. http://www.savethechildren.net/

Now that Republicans have swallowed the Kool-Aid of low taxes as a cure for everything, we hear from an adviser to GOP leaders from Ron Paul to George Bush. Economist Bruce Bartlett explains the obvious – that if we don’t raise taxes on the wealthy, the rest of us have to pay more. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/bruce-bartlett/

Bill Press interviews the Washington Post’s Nia Malika Henderson about Paul Ryan’s “blatant untruths.” http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/nia-malika-henderson/2011/03/04/ABbisxN_page.html

Democrats and religion … middle class and downward mobility … and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, eldest daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, has written and advocated for progressive causes. Today, she talks with us about the role of religion in public policy, and reminds that progressives needs to reach out to people of faith. http://www.kathleenkennedytownsend.com/

Author and demographer Phillip Longman says almost half of Baby Boomers do not have a retirement nest egg. He shares with us a series of provocative ideas about how to reverse the downward mobility of the middle class. http://www.newamerica.net/people/phillip_longman

Bill Press interviews columnist Frank Rich about the meaning of Paul Ryan’s selection as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Not a game changer, he says. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://nymag.com/frank-rich/

From the early 1960s through the 1970s, the United States Senate lived up to its historic grandeur, says former Senate staffer Ira Shapiro, the author of a new book called “The Last Great Senate.” What went wrong? Shapiro suggests it was the outside influences of right-wing ideology and big money that turned the world’s greatest deliberate body into a permanent election campaign. http://irashapiroauthor.com/

A new internet site tries to match up ideological soul mates regardless of political party. The founder of this post-partisan exercise, Ray Glendening, explains how this new platform may bring about a broad and thoughtful conversation about the role of government. http://www.ruck.us/

Bill Press interviews political analyst Jennifer Duffy, who says Democrats have an even shot at retaining control of the Senate. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://cookpolitical.com/

Ohio looks good for Obama, income looks bad under Republicans, the House GOP looks like “monstrous” cynics.

Eric Kearney is the minority leader in Ohio’s state Senate, and he is very optimistic that once voters take a close look at his record and see the jobs start returning, they will again put Ohio in the Obama column this fall. http://www.erickearney.com/

Tim Noah is an essayist and author whose latest book examines the growing economic inequality in America over the past 33 years. He attributes it to the deregulation of Wall Street, the decline of the middle class, and, no surprise, Republican presidents. http://www.timothynoah.com/

Bill Press and Washington Post reporter Nia Malika Henderson talk with Gerry Connolly, a Democratic Congressman from Virginia, who describes how the House Republicans are “playing with the U.S. economy.” http://connolly.house.gov/

Tax deductions for Stand Your Ground laws. Tax credits for prancing horses. Romney praises national health system -- if its Israeli.

Bob Edgar is a former congressman who knows how lobbying works. In fact, he heads the public interest lobby Common Cause. Mr. Edgar has filed a complaint with the IRS exposing the lobbying tactics of a right-wing group that funds its nefarious work with tax-deductible contributions – not the way lobbying is supposed to work. http://www.commoncause.org

Mitt Romney just doesn’t relate to the average voter, and commentator Catherine Poe thinks she knows why. His money has sheltered him from the vicissitudes of life and made it seem normal to take a 77-thousand-dollar tax credit for a dressage horse. http://communities.washingtontimes.com/staff/catherine-poe/

Bill Press talks with Judd Legum about health care reform and Mitt Romney. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://thinkprogress.org/author/judd/

What role will Latinos play in 2012? Why can't we all get along? How did Senate Democrats put Republicans on the spot?

Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona says the upcoming election will critical in determining what this country will look like in the future. http://grijalva.house.gov/

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains what liberals can teach conservatives and what conservatives can teach liberals. He says different notions of morality both bind us and blind us. http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/

Bill Press talks with Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin about the politics of taxes and sequestration. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://durbin.senate.gov/public/