Mike Lofgren is a former Republican US Congressional aide who served for 28 years on the Hill, more than half working as a senior analyst for the House and Senate budget committees, including military spending.  During his career he has witnessed first hand financial debacles including the Bush tax cuts, the TARP bail out to banks, the Pentagon and its budgets to finance its war on terrorism, and the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. Since leaving government in 2011, Mike has published numerous articles that appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, Truthout, Consortium News, Counterpunch, Huffington Post and others, and has appeared on many TV programs including Bill Moyers. Mike holds  degrees from the University of Akron and studied at the US Naval War College and at the universities of Berne and Basel in Switzerland.  His two major books detail the corruption and failures of our government, particularly the GOP. His most recent just-released book is “The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government.”  His website is MikeLofgren.com