Next Round

Our guest this week is foreign policy expert Kiron Skinner. Prof. Skinner is the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Pepperdine School of Public Policy. She's the recipient of PRI's 2022 Sir Antony Fisher Freedom Prize. Prof. Skinner's past government service includes positions at the State and Defense departments. She is an award-winning and best-selling author with particular scholarship focused on the life and public policy of President Ronald Reagan. Prof. Skinner gives a comprehensive analysis of the threats to the U.S.'s national security worldwide.

Our guest in this episode is Steve Hilton, host of The Next Revolution on Fox News and The Daily California podcast. He is the author of Positive Populism – Revolutionary Ideas to Rebuild Economic Security, Family and Community in America and the UK Sunday Times bestseller More Human – Designing a World Where People Come First. Steve was previously CEO of Crowdpac, the political crowdfunding platform he co-founded in 2014, and before that was Senior Advisor to former Prime Minister David Cameron, where he helped lead the implementation of the British government's domestic reform program. This podcast was a recording of a luncheon talk for PRI where he discussed the next revolution in California.

What you've all been waiting – PRI All-Stars Year-End Awards. The cast of PRI characters include Lance Izumi, senior director of education; Kerry Jackson, senior fellow on California Reform, Ben Smithwick, vice president of development, Tim Anaya, vice president of marketing and communications, and your host Rowena Itchon.

Our special guest this week is golfing legend Dottie Pepper. Her book, Letters to A Future Champion – My Time with Mr. Pulver, caught Tim's eye and he made it his book recommendation for last year's Holiday Book guide. We chat with Dottie about her book, which is a tribute to her mentor Mr. Pulver and the life lessons he taught Dottie. We also talk a little public policy – what she thinks about California's heavy taxation on athletes and all California residents, and the issue of name, image, and likeness rights for college athletes.

Our guest this week is Robert Baggott, a recently retired fixed-income trader. Bob was with the Capital Group for more than 16 years and before that was in institutional sales. These days he sails and does a lot of volunteer work, especially serving the sick and the poor. Now that he's retired however, he no longer has to be a buttoned-up Wall Street guy and he tells us what he really thinks. We chat with Bob about the Fed, interest rates, inflation, the economy, and his investment outlook. Bob is also quite the poet and reads one of his compositions at the end of the podcast.

Right by the Bay blog readers know that around this time of the year, we've traditionally put together a holiday gift book recommendation list for our supporters. This year we're providing the list via podcast from our staffers themselves. As an added treat, we also provide our holiday drink recommendations. We cover it all – books from the wonky to the practical, photography to children's books. Happy Thanksgiving and happy book shopping.

Our guest this week is Clark Judge, PRI Chairman and Managing Director and Founder of the White House Writers Group, a high-stakes communications firm. Clark provides his insights on the results of the recent mid-term elections and what it means for Republicans, Democrats, free-market policies, and the 2024 presidential race.

Our guest this week is Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics. The new members of Congress will take office in January in the midst of high inflation and economic uncertainty. PRI has developed a To Do List of reforms for both Washington and Sacramento. Wayne discusses some of the key reforms that would help mitigate high gas prices, rising energy costs, as well as inflation, and put the economy back on a path to growth and prosperity.

Our guest this week is Todd Myers, Director of Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center. Todd discusses his new book, Time to Think Small: How nimble environmental technologies can solve the planet's biggest problems. The book outlines how small technologies are empowering people to protect threatened wildlife species, reduce CO2 emissions, and reduce ocean plastic. We chat with Todd about how innovative entrepreneurs and everyday citizens are doing a much more effective job at cleaning the environment than government.