Lever Reruns

The Daily Poster recently published a deep-dive report on Wall Street executives skimming billions of dollars of fees off the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters and other government workers. The relationship between public pensions and alternative investment firms has become one of the biggest upward transfers of wealth in America - and much of it is happening in secret. That's because pension officials and the firms collude to keep the investment contracts secret, even to the workers and retirees whose money they are managing. On this episode, Sirota talks to former SEC attorney Ted Siedle, whose forensic investigations of major pension funds are exposing this enormous scandal. Siedle is the author of the books Who Stole My Pension? and How To Steal A Lot Of Money, Legally.

Sirota talks to ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger about the recent leak of IRS data showing how billionaires are able to accumulate vast wealth while paying so little in taxes. Recent analyses have estimated that every year, the richest 1 percent are not paying between $174 billion and $250 billion of taxes they owe. The documents leaked to ProPublica illustrate how tax loopholes, preferences and shelters allow moguls such as Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett to pay a lower effective tax rate than everyone else. Eisinger also reviews the story of how right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel used stock valuations and a Roth IRA - which was designed for middle-class Americans - to tax shelter roughly $5 billion of wealth. The discussion concludes with a review of new legislative proposals to rebuild the IRS so that the agency can better police billionaire tax avoidance.

With the government recently issuing a new report on UFOs, Sirota talks to journalist Laura Krantz, whose new podcast series is called "Wild Thing: Space Invaders." It looks at our culture's obsession with the idea of extraterrestrial life. They discuss the government's renewed interest in UFOs, and what science suggests is the most likely explanation for the unidentified phenomena. They also discuss whether or not the recent UFO mania is being driven by a military-industrial complex looking for more justification for even larger Pentagon budgets.

Sirota talks with Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, the Harvard researcher who last month touched off national headlines when he resigned from a panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration on drug approvals. Kesselheim resigned because the agency approved a pharmaceutical company's unproven Alzheimer's treatment, even though the panel of overseers was nearly unanimous in finding that the therapy had not displayed compelling evidence that it worked. In a co-authored New York Times oped, Kesselheim warned that "in recent years, under steady pressure from the pharmaceutical industry and the patient groups it funds, the F.D.A. has progressively lowered its standards of effectiveness and safety required for drug approvals."

Sirota and Tom Frank begin by discussing some of the Daily Poster's financial reporting on the housing market this week. Then, they move into a larger discussion of Frank's controversial Guardian oped about the power of elite groupthink and the pushback against even scientifically reviewing the theory that the coronavirus leaked from an American-funded lab in China.

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This week is President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office, and so The Daily Poster’s latest podcast takes a look at Biden’s personnel appointments to see whether or not his administration has been captured by corporate interests.

On the podcast, Sirota talked with Max Moran of the Revolving Door Project and David Segal of Demand Progress, two groups that have been pressuring Biden to stock his administration with progressive appointees, rather than corporate cronies. The Revolving Door Project recently issued a report card on Biden’s first 100 days, which you can find here.

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A few weeks ago, The Daily Poster noted that the exclusion of a $15 minimum wage from the American Rescue Plan was a missed opportunity and a tragic failure. Then again, our reporting also pointed out same bill’s direct aid to millions of people was an enormous victory and a huge success for a grassroots movement that has so changed politics that even a former longtime austerian like Joe Biden ended up signing legislation that included those investments. 

On this podcast, I talked to author Anand Giridharadas about the idea of losing and winning — and whether or not we are finally moving out of the Reagan Era and into a new epoch of positive change. He is the author of the fantastic book Winners Take All and has a great newsletter called The Ink. 

During the discussion, we talked about how to simultaneously remember the awful and unforgivable parts of Biden’s senate record, remain circumspect about his commitment to progressive change, criticize his ongoing capitulations, but also acknowledge some of the victories that are being won during the early weeks of his presidency. 

As you listen to this podcast, please know: I’ve spent a lot of my life standing up to Biden. As a young person, I was ostracized by powerful Democrats for daring to criticize his bankruptcy bill. As a reporter, I wrote one of the definitive pieces exposing his pernicious role in the student debt crisis. As a campaign staffer, I spotlighted his efforts to cut Social Security. And now as the founder of The Daily Poster, I’ve been leading a team of reporters that has continued to scrutinize his actions.

The point is: I’m under no illusions about who Biden is. But I also know that politics is much bigger than any one politician — and that the best reporting is the kind that focuses on the policy.

I hope you’ll listen to this whole podcast because it delves into lots of issues that so many Daily Poster subscribers have raised over the last few weeks.

Rock the boat,

Sirota

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This week, Sirota and Tom Frank discuss the campaign for a higher minimum wage. Joe Biden campaigned on a promise to enact a $15 minimum wage and as recently as six weeks ago, the White House and top Democrats were signaling that they were determined to make sure it was included in must-pass COVID relief legislation that needed only 50 votes to pass through the reconciliation process. Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin signaled he would support at least an $11 minimum wage. And yet, the compromise between a $15 minimum wage proposal and an $11 minimum wage proposal ended up being no minimum wage increase at all. How did that happen?

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Photo credit: Brent Stirton/Getty Images

This week, Sirota and Tom Frank discuss the rise and fall of the Lincoln Project, and how the Republican group is merely the latest iteration of “political entrepreneurs” turning democracy into a business opportunity. They also discuss the larger context of the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and how it was the latest expression of conservative grievance politics that goes back decades and intensified during the Tea Party era. Finally, they discuss Democrats’ lack of urgency in fulfilling their promises to help the country during the current economic crisis.

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During a new subscriber-only podcast this week, Sirota and Tom Frank discuss:

• The troll phase of Larry Summers career, and the Biden administration’s surprising rejection of his latest attempt to undermine the stimulus.

• Democrats latest attempts to complicate the promised $2,000 checks — and how the behavior spotlights party elites’ belief that any initiative must be bad just because it is simple.

• The Washington Post’s weaponization of “fact checking” and Pinocchios to inject economic ideology into the political discourse.

• The insidious economic message of the most talked about Super Bowl ad.

Here are some of the articles Sirota and Frank refer to in the podcast:

Biden’s Promised $1,400 Checks Are Even Dividing the White House (Bloomberg)

A Dystopian Sales Pitch On Super Bowl Sunday (Daily Poster)

Lies, Damn Lies, And Fact Checking (Daily Poster)

Can President Joe Biden Mend A Torn America? (Le Monde Diplomatique)

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