WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio

Ken interviews Nicole Knox Murphy, a multi-award winning singer/songwriter who sings new and old country music, originals, and classic rock.

Visit Nicole's website at https://www.nkmsings4u.com/home

Recently, legendary West Virginia broadcaster Howard Monroe has been wondering: has something deeply changed about the 2024 picture? It seems like both Donald Trump and Joe Biden's position has been softening in measurable ways. So what is the trajectory of the next presidential race? Matt Robison joins him to walk through what the indicators are -- and aren't -- telling us.

This week on Facing the Future, we have the privilege of hearing from Dr. Phillip Swagel, Director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO just released its annual long-term budget outlook which shows that after a brief couple of years of shrinking budget deficits, over the long-term the national debt will almost double, leading to restrained economic growth. Concord's chief economist Steve Robinson and policy director Tori Gorman also join the conversation.

Ken interviews Representative Barbara Comtois, member of the audit committee for Gunstock and clerk of the Belknap County Delegation and John Plumer, also a member of the audit committee and candidate running for NH State Senate in District 2.

Paul interviews Max Richtman, President of the National Committee to to Preserve Medicare and Social Security about the recently announced US Senate deal finally allowing the Government to negotiate with the Pharmaceutical industry for lower Medicare Prescription drug prices for key drugs. While most of the attention has been focused on the climate change provisions and the fact of a deal, which came as a surprise even to Washington insiders, the Medicare Prescription Drug Reforms are big news.

Paul and Max take us behind the scenes about the original dead-of-night 2003 deal to prohibit drug price negotiations and the challenging path to this historic deal. They also cover late breaking good news on insulin prices with a tip of the hat to Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

The day before Joe Manchin made his thunderbolt announcement of the new Inflation Reduction Act, I had a conversation with one of the Democratic Party's top communications strategists. Jim Manley - who served as senior communications advisor and spokesman for then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - walked me through the question of whether all this wrangling over President Biden's economic agenda had been all negative, or whether Senator Manchin had actually helped steer Democrats ultimately to a better place. In the interview, you can hear Jim hint that there's some news coming, and his analysis of what's happened over the past year sounds even more prescient and on-point now that we know what's emerged in recent days. A fascinating discussion about negotiating, finding compromise, and trying to create a coherent message for a party that is frequently all over the place.

Today, we tackle something that seems like one of life's problems to worry about later...as in, much later: how to get your kids, especially your teenagers, some assets for the future. After all, who has the time or the money to worry about that anyway? And that's fair enough. But what if we told you that each $1000 you invest now means anywhere from a quarter of a million to a million dollars by the time your kid retires? It's true. In fact, most of our worries about retirement could be taken care of for our kids if we're able to start early and make a relatively small investment now. And the even better news is, it's easy. Mike Morton of Morton Financial Advice boils down what to do into three simple steps that could profoundly change your kids' futures decades from now.

Late last week, a blockbuster report from Jonathan Swan of Axios detailed how former President Trump’s top allies are prepping a plan to purge the federal government. They want to remove thousands of key decision-makers and replace them with MAGA loyalists, all through an Executive Order called "Schedule F."  The report shows that even beyond the usual targets like EPA and the IRS, the Trump shadow team is targeting our entire law enforcement, intelligence, and defense apparatus. The end result? If Donald Trump were re-elected, there would no longer be any guardrail between the American people and Trump’s whims, once the core of the federal service is replaced with a new army of rabid MAGA foot soldiers.

The Congressman who has been leading the fight against this threat is Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). He successfully passed an amendment in the House of Representatives to this year’s defense bill to prevent any future president from executing the Schedule F maneuver, but Republicans hope to block it in the Senate. We are very privileged to have Congressman Connolly here with us to tell us all about it.

Paul speaks with Author, publisher and former New Hampshire State Rep and Senator Mary Ellen Humphrey about her recent books. Mary Ellen Humphrey will be at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord to talk about "Politics and Poltergeists" and "My Mountain Friend" on Tuesday, July 28 at 6:30 PM. The politics book takes the reader behind the scenes in the NH state house, with a fantastical thriller twist.

The mountain book is a memoir, including the challenges of healing from childhood trauma through immersion in New Hampshire's natural landscape. Don't miss this fascinating conversation filled with wry observation and a lifetime of wisdom.

Chris Hill, host of Motley Fool Money, explains what the low earnings reports and downward guidance from major retailers really reflects about the economy. Does it mean that the biggest sellers see troubled times ahead, or is something else going on?

Also, why is Google forever? And is now a good time to buy...grills?!?