KQED's Forum

“After the US Constitution, the tax code is the single most important document affecting Americans’ lives. But because it is a deeply opaque, seven-thousand-page document, few Americans have any idea what the code says.” So writes legal scholar Ray D. Madoff, who argues the tax code is one of the main drivers of our nation’s historic wealth inequality — allowing the ultra-wealthy to avoid taxation altogether while relying much more on workers’ payroll taxes than many realize. We unpack how the tax code works and what real reform would look like. Madoff’s book is “The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy.”

Guests:

Ray D. Madoff, professor, Boston College Law School; author, "The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy"

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In 1977, a fledgling magazine startup in San Francisco published a searing story about the Ford Pinto, a car model that executives put on the market knowing its design could cause deaths and serious injuries. That was one of many investigative scoops Mother Jones has published in its 50-year history that established its reputation for holding corporations and politicians accountable. Staying alive in the journalism industry has required some maneuvering, but Mother Jones has managed to set up a sustainable model to continue its mission. We talk with the magazine’s leaders about its audience, nonprofit structure, journalism in these times, and what other publications can learn from them.

Guests:

Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief, Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting

Adam Hochschild, journalist and co-founder, Mother Jones; author, "American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis" and other books; lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

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Since Donald Trump broke into the political scene in 2015, the United States has seen a surge in white supremacist hate groups. Investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the 2018 murder of a gay, Jewish college student by a neo-Nazi in Orange County to explore the rise of white, Christian nationalism there – digging into how Trump’s attacks on immigrants, pardons of the January 6th rioters and use of racism memes have fueled and emboldened right wing extremism in California and across the country. We talk to him about his new book “American Reich.”

Guests:

Eric Lichtblau, investigative reporter; author, "American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate"

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Amid a ballooning rental housing market across the Bay Area, Oakland rents are mostly staying flat. Today, the median San Francisco rent for a one-bedroom home is about 70% higher than in Oakland. While Oakland often trails the city’s rental market, the gap is now far larger than in recent history. We’ll discuss whether Oakland has cracked the code on making housing more affordable, or whether other factors may be driving people away.

Guests:

J.K. Dineen, Bay Area housing reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Chris Salviati, senior housing economist, Apartment List

Tim Thomas, director, Eviction Research Network at UC Berkeley

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Prenuptial agreements are no longer just for the wealthy. They’re being pitched as smart financial planning for ordinary couples, and now more than 40% of married and engaged Millennials and Gen Z-ers say they’ve signed one. Younger generations are using prenups to negotiate everything from intellectual property rights, social media handles and who gets the sneaker collection. We’ll talk about what’s behind the shift and what it reveals about our modern anxieties about marriage and relationships. 

Guests:

Jennifer Wilson, staff writer, New Yorker. Her most recent piece is "Her recent article is "Why Millennials Love Prenups""

Juliana Yanez, law partner, Hanson Crawford Crum Family Law Group

Kaiponanea Matsumura , law professor, Loyola Law School. Matsumura is an expert on the regulation of families.

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The shortcomings and inequities of the American criminal justice system are painfully clear to those who have worked in it. Former public defender and legal activist Emily Galvin-Almanza will walk us through the many  points in our system where justice fails. We talk to her  about what reform should like and her new book, “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America.”

Guests:

Emily Galvin-Almanza, author of “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. Co-founder and executive director of Partners for Justice, which aims to support and empower public defenders.

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Chocolate is changing — and not just in flavor. As the planet warms, cacao is becoming harder to grow, reshaping how chocolate is made and who gets to make it. From commodity price volatility to farmers’ livelihoods to the price tag of your favorite bar, we’ll talk about what’s at stake for this decadent treat. We’ll speak with chocolate makers, sustainability experts and a cacao farmer about how they plan to adapt and innovate for years to come.

Guests:

Greg D'Alesandre, co-founder and cacao sourcer, Dandelion Chocolate

Minni Forman, sustainability manager, Peet's Coffee; former cacao farmer

John Kehoe, director of sustainability, Guittard Chocolate Company

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One week ahead of his much-anticipated Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny made history when he won the first Grammy for album of the year for a Spanish-language record. He used his acceptance remarks to admonish cruel immigration enforcement, uplift immigrants and shout out his native Puerto Rico. As scholars Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, point out in their new book, “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” the reggaetonero has never shied away from infusing politics into his musical career. Díaz and Rivera-Rideau, also creators of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus,” join us to break down Bad Bunny’s music and activism.

Guests:

Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, Loyola Marymount University; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabus; co-author, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance"

Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor and chair of the American Studies Department, Wellesley College; co-founder, Bad Bunny Syllabus; co-author, "P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance"

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bob Wachter was one of the nation’s trusted voices, helping us better understand the disease that upended our world and healthcare system. Now he’s focused on what he sees as the next great disruption in medicine: Generative AI. Though we need to address its flaws and limitations, Dr. Wachter says AI is essential to a healthcare system buckling under the weight of clinician burnout, staff shortages and astronomical costs. We talk with Dr. Wachter about his new book, “A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.”

Guests:

Dr. Robert "Bob" Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

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Against a backdrop of threats made by President Trump to attack Iran with “speed and violence,” talks between the two nations are set to resume this Friday. Since late December, Iran has been roiled by massive nationwide protests that have been met by a brutal response from the regime, resulting in the deaths of over 6,800 protestors with another 11,000 deaths under investigation  according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Will the U.S. use this moment to try to force regime change? We talk to a panel of experts.

Guests:

Jason Rezaian, director of Press Freedoms Initiatives, The Washington Post; author, "Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison – Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out"

Nate Swanson, director, Iran Strategy Project, Atlantic Council

Sahar Razavi, associate professor, Department of Political Science and director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento

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