'... Forums for A Future...'

Podcast Syllabus
by

Edward Renner, PhD
www.kerenner.com

This course/podcast is about the future. It provides the basis for focused civic discussions on how to create a sustainable future. It is not enough to be critical of the present. We must also have a perspective of the past that both informs the present and is prescriptive for the future.

The foundation for the course rests on three recent books, one dealing with the human condition from a social perspective, one from a political perspective and the last from economic perspective. All three are well grounded in history and have a solid factual understanding of the present. Each provides a warning that the future cannot be a simple continuation of the present or the result will be the end of modern civilization as we know it. Yet, social structures, power and wealth taken separately are not sufficient. These three perspectives on the human condition are so completely interdependent that it is their one common denominator -- the ultimate importance of the beliefs, values, and philosophy of life of individual people -- that ultimately provides the path toward a sustainable future. This fourth element, the personal/psychological means by which needed change can be structured, is the scholarly contribution I will make to the series based on my own academic research and professional writing.

Reference Books 

1. Jared Diamond. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books, 2005.

The reader cannot help but wondering whether we are following the track of other civilizations that failed, and that we must take steps now to save our planet. Collapse shows that resilient societies are nimble ones, capable of long-term planning and of abandoning deeply entrenched but ultimately destructive core values and beliefs.

 

2.  Gwynne Dyer. Future: Tense. The Coming World Order. McClellan and Stewart, 2004

 

The central message of Future: Tense is the foundations for World War III are being laid today as a result of the Pax Americana project that precipitated the United States’ invasion of Iraq. He shows that the fate of Iraq is a sideshow, the terrorist threat a red herring, and the radical Islamists’ dreams of a worldwide Jihad against the West a fantasy. He provides an analysis of the motives and strategies of the fringe group of extremists -- in both the Middle East and the United States -- who have delivered the world to the brink of disaster.

 

 3. Thomas Friedman. The World Is Flat: a Brief History of the 21st Century. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

Thomas Friedman argues that we have entered a new era. The convergence of technology and the events that allowed India, China, and  so many other countries, to become part of the global supply chain has created an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations and given them a huge new stake in the success of globalization. With this “flattening” of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, the world has perhaps gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner.

Course Outline

(#1)     Part I. Introduction
              A. Brief Overview of the Podcast
(#2)        B. Conceptual Foundation

 

(#3)     Part II: A Philosophy for the 21st Century
(#4)
       A. The End of the Modern Era
(#5)        B. Living in the Future Tense: How to Embrace and Live with Change
(#6)        C. The Post-Modern Era 

(#7)     Part III: Beliefs, Power and Wealth: Lessons from Modern History for Informing the Present and Their Prescriptive Implications for the Future
(#8)       
A. Science and Technology (The Beliefs of Power and Wealth)
(#9)       B. Self-Righteous Conquest (The Wealth of Beliefs and Power)
(#10)     C. The Face of Oppression (The Power of Wealth and Beliefs)

 

(#11)   Part IV: Concepts for A Future
(#12)
    A. Building World Citizenship NOT Citizenships of the World
(#13)     B. Achieving the Power of Balance NOT the Balance of Power
(#14)     C. Establishing Knowledge As a Public Domain NOT As a Private Commodity

 

Part V: Tools for Change
(#15)    
A. Personal and Private
(#1 6)     B. Political and Public

 

Part VI: Review and Transition
After having taken nearly a one-year break, I am now ready to continue the series in both audio and video formats. As a way to get started on the continuation, I have created a three-part transition. Episodes 17, 18 and 19 provide a brief introduction of the conceptual foundation for those new to the series, and a quick review for the original subscribers.
(#17)
          The Conceptual Foundation Reviewed
(#18)    
 The Principles for Having a Future
(#19)
          The Age of the Millennials


Part VII: Special Topics
Starting with Podcast #20, the continuation of the podcast is an open-ended series of positive approaches for addressing the many specific contemporary economic, social and political issues that challenge our capacity for making the necessary changes for having a future in the 21st Century.
(#20)      Universal Health Care
(#21)      Globalization: What It Means and Why (Economic)
(#22)      The Iraq War and World Order (Political)
(#23)      The Millennial Self (Psychological)

(#24)      A Cost/Revenue Economic Stimulus
(#25)      World Citizenship, Not Citizenships of the World
(#26)      A War Without Pain: How the Media Failed America, and Americans Failed Themselves
(#27)      A Conceptual Framework for the Civic Discussions We Need to Have, to Have a Future 
(#28)      Actually, It Is Not Very Complicated 
(#29)     Stop Loss Wall Street 
(#30)     Resetting the American Dream

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 To comment or respond:
future@kerenner.com

FAIR USE NOTICE

This podcast contains some copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17, Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Fair Use notwithstanding I will immediately comply with any copyright owner who wants their material removed or modified, or who wants me to link to their website.


Abstracts of the Individual Podcast/Forum Topics

(The “Listen To,” "View" and the “Print a Copy” buttons will become active links as soon as each element is available.)

 

(#1) Part I: Introduction: An Overview of the Podcast  (Listen to this Podcast)   (Print a copy)

 

What the course/podcast is about, why it was created, who did it and how it is structured.

 

(#2) The Conceptual Foundation (Listen to this Podcast)   (Print a Copy)

 

This podcast/course was inspired by three recent best selling books (The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, Future: Tense by Gwynne Dyer, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond). Each author, respectively, from an economic, political and social perspective outlined how the modern world has brought human-kind, collectively, to the point where people must make significant changes to core beliefs and values if they are to survive in a New Era. Forums for A Future provides the basis for a structured discussion of what those significant changes of core beliefs and values are if our children are to have a sustainable future on this planet within their lifetime.

 

(#3)  Part II: A Philosophy (Perspective) for the 21st Century (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

The Conceptual Foundation for this course is based on three assumptions: (1) We are at an inflection point in history. Inflection points are when some contemporaneous event is so far-reaching and significant that it changes everything. The Industrial Revolution is an example of a past inflection point. We are now at a similar inflection point. (2) At inflection points in history old ways of thinking and old concepts are no longer valid. People must be flexible enough to embrace and thrive on change. (3) The new era we are entering will require the creation of alternative economic, political, and social structures.

 

(#4) The End of the Modern Era (Listen to this Podcast)  (Print a copy)

 

There was a time, not long ago, when a father or mother could put his or her hand on his or her son’s or daughter’s shoulder and say "When I was your age…" and the advice would be meaningful. Such is no longer the case. The speed of change is now so fast that what was the reality of the parent at that age is no longer the reality of the child. We are at the end of an era.

 

(#5) Living in the Future Tense (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy

Living the present in the future tense requires the capacity to accept that what was is no longer what can or should be if our children are to have a future at least as bright and hopeful as was our own. However, people do not change their core personal beliefs and values easily; they resist such change, sometimes to the point of collapse of the civilization, as Diamond so clearly pointed out. Living the present to capture the future requires embracing a psychology of significant change. Significant change within a lifetime, rather than between generations, is a rare event in human history that has not occurred before on a global level

 

(#6) The Post-Modern Era (Listen to this Podcast)   (Print a copy)

 

One of the dominant beliefs of the Modern Era has been that the harnessing of science and technology by the engine of capitalism would produce unprecedented levels of human well-being. Yet, it took until the end of the 1900s to realize that unbridled capitalism was more exploitative than beneficial to most. In the Western world the result was the emergence of a mixed economic model in which child labor laws, worker health and safety standards, minimum wage, anti-monopoly legislation and other National constraints achieved a temporary balance through which US style capitalism emerged as the world standard. But, with the advent of globalization, the corporate elite are able to escape from National regulation. The result has been a diminishment to human well-being in the service of unbridled wealth and power. It is the 1920s all over again. The balance has shifted from the ideal of human well-being to the accumulation of unsustainable wealth and power by the economic elite.

 

(#7) Part III: Beliefs, Power and Wealth: Lessons from Modern History (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

We are now at the end of the Modern Era. It started with the exploration and with the birth of science and technology. It delivered the Empires that define Modern History and the industrial and agricultural revolutions. The history of this era provides a basis for understanding the present and for being prescriptive for the future. The social, political and economic elements of Beliefs, Power and Wealth are identified as the three interdependent components of Empire, each of which can be understood only in terms of the other two. The pursuit of Empire is no longer an option for life in the new era..

(#8) Globalization and Economics (the Beliefs of Power and Wealth)  (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Power and wealth (or the lack there of) are addictive. They can take over your mind. They provide a rationale for what you believe if you are powerful and wealthy, or what you were told to believe if you are neither powerful nor wealthy. The rich and powerful want their extravagant lifestyles to be willingly supported by the poor and powerless. This is as true today as it was hundreds, or even thousands of years ago. All that has changed over time is the specific beliefs required to accommodate the current arrangements for the accumulation and distribution of wealth and power. The interesting psychological question is why ordinary people, for so long, have supported accumulations of power and wealth that are not in their own best interest.


(#9)
Self-Righteous Conquest (the Wealth of Beliefs and Power)  
(Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

An inflection point in history for the indigenous peoples of the North and South American Continent was the year 1492. Since that time the Original Peoples of these continents have been struggling to survive Columbus. Exploration in the search of the wealth of gold was justified by a Christian belief in the obligation to save the souls of heathen savages, through the use of military force when necessary. Through the combined effect of guns, germs, and steel a thriving civilization was destroyed “…in order to save it…” This is prophetic of the General in Vietnam who said “Unfortunately we had to destroy the village in order to save it". Now, a parallel process has been unleashed in the search for the new wealth of oil to a similar Christian-based policy backed with political and military power.


(#10)
The Face of Oppression (the Power of Wealth and Beliefs)
(Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

As we are well aware, human oppression has many historical examples. In the United States, slavery and the subsequent discrimination against Afro-Americans is one example of how wealth and beliefs are combined to exercise the power of oppression over minorities. In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States, in Brown versus the Board of Education, outlawed racial segregation in education. Busing, Head Start, affirmative action and a variety of other programs were started to correct the accumulated effects of this history of oppression. However, these have been offset through the wealth of urban flight, and through the distortion of the concepts of civil rights legislation to protect white people against the "discrimination" of remediation as seen in the most recent Supreme Court decision. In the end, minorities have no better access to higher education than they did 50 years ago and have made no relative gains over that period of time.

 

(#11) Part IV: Concepts for the Future (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

What is required for the Post-Modern Era is a realignment of how we think about Beliefs Power and Wealth. These three elements of social, political and economic forces must be re-conceptualized in a way that provides individual people with a Personal sense of coherent self-direction and values. These are the prerequisites for providing meaning to life in a way that will enable humankind to make the choices that will avoid the inevitable collapse if we do not do so. Three concepts are required.

 

 (#12) Building World Citizenship NOT Citizenships of the World (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Globalization has allowed wealth, in the form of the corporate elite, to buy, manipulate and trump National political restraints and the general social good. There must be a corresponding shift in political power and popular beliefs to transcend National boundaries. In this regard the United Nations needs to become more relevant, not made less relevant, as it has been by US foreign policy. The current mind set of the American people, and the policy of the government, propelled by the Iraqi war, is the kind of thinking that is grounded in the past and is no longer valid for living in a new era of history.

 

(#13) Achieving the Power of Balance NOT the Balance of Power (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)
        Print a longer Technical Version with Graphics illustrating the concept of the Power of Balance)

 

The continued pursuit of Empire in the old sense of winning the balance of power is no longer functional. The planet -- the natural world -- cannot be sustained if the social, economic, and political structures continue as they are. The balance of nature, industry, wealth and power are essential for the evolution of a set of human core beliefs and values that will sustain the planet for human habitation

 

(#14)   Establishing Knowledge As a Public Domain NOT As a Private Commodity 
    (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

In the time compressed Post-Modern World, knowledge and information are an indispensable natural resource like air and water. Knowledge is not a commodity that can continue to be exploited for wealth. Rather, it must be shared for human well-being. The profit margin in a global world is the delivery of the benefits of knowledge, not the possession of science and technology for wealth and power.

Part V: Tools for Change

 What can I do? There are  two answers to this question, one personal (psychological) and private, one political and public.

(#15)  Personal and Private (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)

All three of the authors of the textbooks agree that we are at an inflection point in history. Inflection points are time of significant change. Their common theme is the importance of the key beliefs and values of individual people. If human kind does not adapt how they think and what they believe to be suitable for a new era, then social, political, economic and psychological chaos is ahead. Thus, the title: "Forums for A Future." There is need for the emergence of new national leadership that is based on imagination -- imagination of the meaning of life in the Post-Modern Era.

(#16) Interpersonal and Public (Listen to this Podcast) (Print a copy)
            (Family Political Forum material) (Public Political Forum Material)

 

The format is for a group of young people to invite their parents, aunts and uncles and grand parents to a Forum to discuss the issues raised by Friedman, Dyer, and Diamond. Specifically, whether the youth of today, in fact, have a future. The rationale for the format is that the adults of today do not appreciate the urgency of abandoning some of their current core beliefs and values. And, that the youth of today need to take responsibility to start claiming their future if they are to have one. In a similar fashion, homogeneous adult groups, such as a church discussion group, a social group, a union, co-workers, etc. can hold formal discussions among themselves about whether the future is sustainable. And if it is not, what corrections are necessary.  Using natural existing family and social group should ensure that the discussion continues over a period of time and is not simply a one-shot outburst of frustration, but rather, the start of a shared cross generational responsibility to embrace the adventure of exploration. Not geographic exploration, as was the case at the time of the last inflection point; but, this time, exploration of the core beliefs and values that provide personal meaning.


Part VI: Review and Transition
After having taken nearly a one-year break, I am now ready to continue the series in both audio and video formats. As a way to get started on the continuation, I have created a three-part transition. Episodes 17, 18 and 19 provide a brief introduction of the conceptual foundation for those new to the series, and a quick review for the original subscribers.

(#17)          The Conceptual Foundation Reviewed (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Podcast, #17, is a review of the conceptual foundation, summarizing the material in audio Podcasts numbers 1 through 10. The conceptual foundation is based on four key concepts: 1) Using “constructs” as a cognitive tool for coping with change, (2) Recognizing the challenges imposed by inflection points, 3) Realizing the Modern Era is now over, and 4) Identifying the essential lessons from history for living in the 21st Century.


(#18)    
 Three Principles for Having a Future (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Podcast, #18, is a review of the three principles for having a future, summarizing the material in audio Podcasts numbers 11 through 14.The key concept in today’s podcast is that: Re-conceptualizing wealth, power and beliefs as alternative sides of a single concept allows us to escape the impossible task of creating a coherent economic-political-social system from three independent dimensions each with their own set of constructs.


(#19)         
The Age of the Millennials (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

Podcast, #19, is a review of the strategies for change, summarizing the material in audio Podcasts numbers 15 and 16. Humankind now has the knowledge to make the choices required for creating a sustainable life on this planet. What is in question is the human capacity for doing so.

Part VII: Special Topics

Starting with Podcast #20, the continuation of the podcast is an open-ended series of positive approaches for addressing the many specific contemporary economic, social and political issues that challenge our capacity for making the necessary changes for having a future in the 21st Century.

(#20)      Universal Health Care (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast--mp4 file) (Print a copy)

In today's podcast, number 20 in the series, I ask five rhetorical questions. If you answer the questions the way most people do, you should be in favor of the United States adopting a universal health care system.

 

(#21)      Economic Globalization: What it Means and Why (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

The Key Concept in today's podcast, number 21 in the series, is that globalization is not something the person can either be for or against. Globalization, in all of its many reaches, is the reality of life in the Post-modern Era. The issue is how to make globalizations work. The answer is to be found in relinquishing old beliefs from the Modern Era and in adopting new constructs that can embrace and contain our new realities.

 

(#22)      The Iraq War and World Political Order (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

In today's podcast, number 22 in the series, the key concept is that the Iraq War provides a focal point for understanding the political implications of globalization. Specifically, the need to relinquish old beliefs and to adopt different constructs than those that prevailed through the nationalism of most of the Modern Era, ones that can embrace and contain the emergence of a new world political order.


(#23)
     The Psychology of the Millennial Self (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

In today's podcast, number 23 in the series, the key concept is that if we are successful in flattening the world, nature cannot sustain us, or us nature. The two – us and nature – are one and the same. Least we forget, almost of all of the big challenges we will face in the Post-Modern Era are human made, and thus the responsibility for fixing them are human. This brings us full circle – from the economic, political and social – to the psychological: to the capacity for human beings to adapt; to some how get our own thoughts – our core beliefs and values – in order for a new era.


(#24)
     A Cost/Revenue Economic Stimulus (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

In today's podcast, number 24 in the series, the key concept is what is wrong with the current bailout to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and what needs to be done instead.

(#25)      World Citizenship, Not Citizenships of the World (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

A proposal for President Obama’s first speech to the United Nations: The key concept is for the United Nations to issue voluntary certificates of “World Citizenship” to allow individuals around the world to become dual citizens: Citizens of their country and Citizens of the World. Globalization has linked the fate of all of the peoples of the world. We will either acknowledge that we are pushing the limits of the carrying capacity of the planet, or we shall collapse the earth that sustains us. There is no other place to go. The first step is for each of us, individually, to proclaim ourselves to be Citizens of the World, to act responsibly on that citizenship no less than our national citizenship, and to hold others accountable to do the same.

(#26)    A War Without Pain: How the Media Failed America, and Americans Failed Themselves

(Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

The key concept is that the media has not born witness to what we have done to either to Iraq or to ourselves. A war with no visible pain is a war that should never have been fought. Never again should we let the government or the media keep us in a bubble of isolation to protection us from our personal endorsement of the choice for war.

(#27)      A Conceptual Framework for the Civic Discussions We Need to Have, to Have a Future (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

Today’s podcast provides a brief overview and summary of the conceptual framework 
for the civic discussions we need to have, to have a future.

#28)      Actually, It Is Not Very Complicated (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

We know we have some worn out concepts. That recognition is what accepting change is all about.  There is a need for reconsidering our core economic, social and political beliefs. Many are discouraged because these issues all need to be solved quickly. Yet, the task seems too complicated to be solved at all, let alone quickly. But, conceptually, these challenges are really not that complicated, and we know what the technical solutions are.

(#29)     Stop Loss Wall Street (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy

From the perspective of legal contract doctrine, what should be happening to our military personnel and to Wall Street executives is the exact opposite of what is happening. Specifically: (1) voluntary retention contracts or benefits should be offered to our military personnel and to victimized employees, and (2) the self-serving Wall Street agreements and the Presidential authority for Stop-Loss should be voided.

(#30)     Resetting the American Dream (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy) 

The financial crisis of 2008 -- 2009 has made clear that the economic pirates of the Modern Era have stolen the American dream by subverting, if not destroying, the very promises that shaped the nation. Clearly, it is time to look ahead and to ask what beliefs and values are required to see the future as inviting and hopeful. I suggest there are three old 20th Century concepts that we need to “let go of.” They need to be replaced by 21st Century beliefs that provide an exciting and hopeful future  -- it is time to create the American Dream.

(#31)     More Expensive and Invasive Healthcare OK with Florida Department of Health (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy) 

Is it okay for a surgeon to continue to perform a more expensive and intrusive procedure when a less expensive and intrusive procedure exists? According to the Florida Department of Health’s review process, this practice does "… not violate the laws or rules that regulate his/her profession. Therefore no… actions can be taken." This is true either if: (a) the surgeon does not know about the alternative, or (b) prefers to do the more expensive and intrusive treatment himself without informing the patient of the alternative. This is the kind of nonsense that the comparative effectiveness element of Obama's health care proposal is designed to address. Comparative effectiveness research is medical science, and it is the essential foundation for the art and science of practicing medicine; it is not rationing.

(#32)      Carrying Capacity of the Planet (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

The population of the world is approaching the carrying capacity of the planet. Unless we reverse the total impact of economic growth and human behavior to stop destroying the capacity of the planet to sustain life, the result will be the end of human progress in our immediate future. To do so would only require 20% of people to educe their impact by 2% over the next decade, and in each of the next three decades, for an additional 20% to double the effort. The end result would be 80% of the population reducing their overall impact by 16% by the year 2050. We have the knowledge and technology to accomplish this modest goal. The issue is whether we have the political will to do so; it is our choice for our lifetime.

(#33)      The Millennial Challenge (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

The key concept in today’s podcast is that the dominate cultural beliefs of the Modern Era have led to economic and political policies that have produced climate change, threatening the capacity of the planet to sustain human life. Immediate fundamental changes in the civic control of the institutions of wealth and power are essential. But, there is a trans-generational communications gap between the new Millennials and the Boomers who form a demographic wall between the Millennials and their future. A joint effort is required between the current Establishment and the youth of today who share a single future. This is the Millennial Challenge.

(#34)      Taking America Forward (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Today’s episode, Podcast # 34, is the first in the series on: Living in the Future Tense. This series will look at specific examples of exponential changes that are taking life in the Post-Modern Era to the limit. These will be the defining moments for taking America forward (not back). The key concept in today’s podcast is to understand that today is tomorrow: the choices we make to day will be our own future.

(#35)      Climate Change Summit: Part 1 (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Today’s podcast is part of a three part series on the world summit negotiations to combat climate change. Part 1 in this series, Podcast 35, explains why the proposals of both the US and China at Copenhagen and Cancun were self-serving and why neither could expect the other to agree with them. Part 2 in the series, Podcast 36 provides a rationale for an alternative world standard that is equally fair to both countries. And, Part 3 in the series, Podcast 37, explains why neither the US nor China have been able politically to reach an agreement, and it will provide a means for achieving mutual cooperation..

(#36)      Climate Change Summit: Part 2. (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Today’s podcast is part of a three part series on the world summit negotiations to combat climate change. Part 1 in this series, Podcast 35, explains why the proposals of both the US and China at Copenhagen and Cancun were self-serving and why neither could expect the other to agree with them. Part 2 in the series, Podcast 36 provides a rationale for an alternative world standard that is equally fair to both countries. And, Part 3 in the series, Podcast 37, explains why neither the US nor China have been able politically to reach an agreement, and it will provide a means for achieving mutual cooperation..

(#37)      Climate Change Summit: Part 3. (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Today’s podcast is part of a three part series on the world summit negotiations to combat climate change. Part 1 in this series, Podcast 35, explains why the proposals of both the US and China at Copenhagen and Cancun were self-serving and why neither could expect the other to agree with them. Part 2 in the series, Podcast 36 provides a rationale for an alternative world standard that is equally fair to both countries. And, Part 3 in the series, Podcast 37, explains why neither the US nor China have been able politically to reach an agreement, and it will provide a means for achieving mutual cooperation..

(#38)      Speaking the Truth and the National Debt (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)

 

Today’s podcast concerns our inability to speak the truth about our $14 trillion national debt. The national debt as a percentage of GDP has historically risen during times of war and depression while being offset by increases in the highest marginal tax rate. Since 1981 the relative debt has increased due to internal policy decisions, rather than external events as before, while the highest marginal tax rate has been reduced.

(#xx)      To be announced (Listen to this Podcast) (View this Podcast) (Print a copy)