Reupload request for listener that was having issues with audio sync. I suspect it may have been an encoding issue on older podcasting platforms causing it. I checked the original pod on Spotify and Podbean players and had no issue. Using a different encoding method going forward.

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On this edition of Parallax Views, economist and author Jack Rasmus joins us to break down Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”. Far from a populist breakthrough, Rasmus argues the bill is a continuation of neoliberal austerity, dressed in MAGA branding. While headline-grabbing provisions like no tax on tips aim to appeal to the working-class base and may offer said base something, the bill ultimately delivers massive tax cuts for the wealthy and deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, reinforcing longstanding elite priorities.

He also examines how the Establishment wing of the Democratic Party’s failure to seriously challenge austerity and tax cuts as well as how the Democratic Party may face implosion from a leadership that refuses to address bread and butter issues head-on. Then, in the second half of the conversation, we explore Trump's foreign policy—debunking the “isolationist” label—and consider how the MAGA movement seeks to consolidate U.S. power in the Western hemisphere and the Pacific through territorial ambitions and militaristic posturing.

Along the way, we discuss:

The bill’s impact on healthcare and working families

The ruling class consensus on economic policy

The bombing of Iran, AIPAC’s influence, and the reconfiguration of U.S. global strategy

It’s a wide-ranging conversation on the economic and geopolitical architecture of 21st-century power—and who it’s really built to serve.

NOTE: Views of guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect all the views of J.G. Michael or the Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael program

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