Working Life Podcast

Episode 30: Why do we let Wall Street run wild with our money? We don't have to. With his guest Mark Armstrong, Jonathan digs into the idea of a public bank--a bank whose shareholders are we, the people. It's an idea gaining momentum throughout the country. Our Robber Baron of the week is hedge fund kingpin William Ackman.

Episode 29: Here is something almost no one is talking about but Jonathan takes it up in this podcast: the repeal of Obamacare, along with its immoral tossing millions of people off health coverage, will cost the country 3 million jobs and $1.5 trillion in economic activity. Jonathan breaks this down for all of us in simple terms with his guest Leighton Ku. You also will hear from House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. And wrapping it all up is our Robber Baron for the week, Paul Ryan, who takes the crown home for an unprecedented second time.

Episode 28: People die at work, and people revolt and organize. All in sharp focus the last few days, Jonathan talks about the toll at work of sick, injured and killed workers—and why we mark Workers Memorial Day every April 29th—as well as the May Day mobilization that makes us consider how to change the system. Jonathan talks with Tefere Gebre, the Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO, the first immigrant, political refugee, black man and local labor council leader elected as a national officer of the Federation. And we go back to Mylan Corporation to find our Robber Baron of the week, the outgoing chairman Robert Coury who pockets tens of millions of dollars.

Episode 27: Jonathan digs into the top 10 really bad things that have happened so far in Donald Trump's reign, focusing on workers, and the issues we care about in the political revolution. It's all an easy-to-understand conversation with Jonathan's expert guest, Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute. Jonathan also talks about American Exceptionalism—a big part of a recently much-talked about piece he wrote. We wrap up with our Robber Baron of the week, Yahoo's Marissa Mayer who was just showered with another $186 million that she will pocket—after failing miserably.

Episode 26: Uber or Isis: Which is really a greater threat to the security of millions of people in this country, and around the world? In conversation with national taxi workers advocate Bhairavi Desai and foreign policy expert Phyllis Bennis, Jonathan makes the point that, by far, the answer is Uber. ISIS is a brutal extremist gang—whose rise, people conveniently forget, was a direct result of U.S. foreign policy—but its capability to hurt millions of people comes nowhere near the reach of Uber's model of "corporate terrorism", which is a threat to the standard of living of most Americans. Our Robber Baron of the week is Rupert Murdoch.

Episode 25: Every day, it happens: the tax system puts unfair burden on the 99.9 percent while the very wealthy and big corporations pocket huge bucks…and a lot of those bucks come right out of our pockets thanks to corporate tax subsidies. Just in time for Tax Day, Jonathan talks to three of the leading experts in the country about the tax robbery underway, which is mostly entirely legal courtesy of politicians of both parties. You'll learn how to talk taxes to your neighbor, including how to blow up the myth that corporations pay too much and getting key tips on the ways in which the very wealthy use the tax code to get even richer. Our Robber Barons of the week are the top 25 corporations that dodge taxes the most.

Episode 24: Poof! Before you noticed it, the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates and, then, no one much talked about it, even though the Fed probably has more power over your job prospects than any politician. So, we talk about The Fed at length with long-time Fed watcher Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Also, Jonathan was the keynote speaker a few days ago at the Larimer (Colorado) Democratic County Committee annual dinner—you can hear him take on the Democratic Party's promotion of myths and "American Exceptionalism", as he asks whether the party is really able or interested in leading the rebellion against a corrupt system. Our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Peabody Coal.

Episode 23: This isn't a surprise—CEOs are robbing the great wealth created by workers. But, Jonathan adds a new wrinkle to the robbery of the people—domestic outsourcing. Yup, you got it. Not jobs running to slave-wage countries but jobs vanishing within the borders of the country. And our Robber Baron of the week, for a second time, is Wells Fargo.

Episode 22: Who cares if old people go hungry if the military-industrial complex can celebrate, right? That's basically the upshot of Trump throwing a $54 billion increase the Pentagon's way—even if there is no clear idea what to do with the money, it's champagne time for the war machine.

I go in-depth with two experts on this insanity. And, keeping with the theme of the podcast, our Robber Baron of the week is the CEO of Lockheed who is happy to make millions off the war machine while regular people go without food and water is polluted.

Episode 21: 24 million. Big number. The number of people who will be added to the ranks of those who have no health care coverage. More people will be sicker. More people will go bankrupt. More people will die. Jonathan goes deep into the "Make America Sick Again" bill, also known as the repeal of Obamacare, and gives answers to the key questions about what all this means, with some help from a top national expert from the AARP. Our Robber Baron for this week is the CEO of Uber.