More KPFA…
More KPFA news. If you’re in the Bay Area and free on Thursday afternoon, please hit the picket line! Pacifica to Cut More than a Quarter of KPFA Staff – Picket Called for Thursday, November 4th | KPFA Worker
Lunacy at KPFA
No doubt many of you are sick of the whole Pacifica mess, but this is really important: if these layoffs go down, it’s gonna be 9/11 and chemtrails. From the excellent historian of Pacifica, Matthew Lasar: How the KPFA Morning Show almost killed me (and why I want it to live) | Radio Survivor.
Taking the measure of rot
[I gave this talk at a very good conference, New Deal/No Deal, at Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, on October 29. The panel chair was Michael Reich, who was the main organizer of the conference along with Richard Walker of the geography department. The dual themes were reflecting on the New Deal of the 1930s and how we’re not getting anything remotely comparable in the 2010s.] roots of crisis We all know the story of the proximate causes of the economic crisis – a housing bubble enabled by not merely… Read More
LBO #129 out
Oh yes, forgot to announce that LBO #129 is out. Has been for a couple of weeks. If you don’t already, subscribe today! contents Is Social Security really the thing that’s going bust? • 2009: not a good year for the American masses • Recession over, but is that enough? • Globalization & gender • parasitism ain’t what it used to be
Fresh audio content
Just posted two shows to my radio archives: October 23, 2010 (KPFA only) Michael Taft on the Irish crisis • Yanis Varoufakis on the Greek and broader eurozone crises September 30, 2010 Robert Paul Wolff on Harvard’s honoring of the odious Martin Peretz (and Harvard itself) • Antonia Juhasz, director of the energy program at Global Exchange, on the filth of oil, with an emphasis on Chevron Background links for guests at archive page.
Event: Scheer, Conason, Goodman chew the fat in NYC
I’ve been asked to publicize this event by my good friend Ruth Baldwin of Nation books. While I would not personally allocate precious funds from our babysitting account to enable me to attend this event, I love Ruth and am happy to do as she asks: The Great American Stickup: Clinton, Bush and Obama—How the White House Moved from Main Street to Wall Street Join bestselling authors Robert Scheer and Joe Conason for a wide-ranging discussion on the causes and consequences of the continuing financial crisis, and why successive administrations have championed Wall Street over Main Street. This conversation… Read More
Me against the right
I debate right-wing money manager and former Senate candidate Peter Schiff on The Real News Network: Schiff Vs. Henwood on Economic Crisis. Topics covered include the StimPak, Schiff’s intolerable tax burden (which makes it impossible for him to buy a submarine!), the intolerable restrictions on Wall Street (which evidently make it impossible for them to do business), the wisdom of neoliberal economic policy (to Schiff, Reagan was a wimp), etc. Interesting factoid: Schiff is the son of notorious tax protester Irwin Schiff, who’s doing 13 years in federal prison for repeated tax evasion… Read More
The truth of the Demi-Ashton troubles
Excellent to see this sterling news source back from hiatus: The Swift Report — Demi, Ashton at War over Economy. Allegations of infidelity have dogged Hollywood’s best known cougar/cub couple for months, but insiders say that what’s really pushing Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore apart isn’t love but money. The two are said to have come to blows over the best way to re-start the nation’s sputtering economy. Celeb watchers: doubtful this romance can be stimulated. By Todd Fox HOLLYWOOD, CA—Tinseltown tongues have been wagging for months that this city’s best known cougar/cub… Read More
Big thanks!
Thanks to all of you who donated to WBAI to support Behind the News. It was, in the words of the station’s webmaster, “a huge success.” Thank you all. And if you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late! Details here. The donations came from all over the place. In the webmaster’s words: “Texas, Washington state, California, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut, Louisiana, Florida, Michigan and Maryland, in addition to, of course, New York and New Jersey. On top of this, there were also donations from Belgium, Australia and Canada.” And, as I was typing this,… Read More
Another reminder to support BtN
Just reiterating yesterday’s plea: if you listen to my radio show, please contribute during WBAI’s fundraiser. Without WBAI, and without WBAI airing “Behind the News,” there would be no “Behind the News.” Ways to do it are online (see links here), or phone in a pledge to 212-209-2950 during my fundraising shift today, 5-6 PM New York time. The show will feature, as a fundraising premium, my June interview with Norman Finkelstein on CD and/or Norman’s latest book, This Time We Went Too Far (description here.)
Support “Behind the News” on WBAI—really!
WBAI is in the midst of a crucial fundraising marathon now, running through most of this month. The station is in very bad shape financially, and unless we raise a bundle in the coming weeks, there could be dire consequences. And the interim program director has made some noises about bringing in some “big names” in the 5–6 PM slot. That’s my slot, at least on Thursdays, and I doubt as I qualify as a “big name.” In pursuit of a similar strategy at KPFK, Pacifica’s Los Angeles outlet, they brought in… Read More
September employment
[I didn’t do a new radio show this week because WBAI is fundraising. More on this very soon. In the meanwhile, here’s a quick analysis of the September employment report that I did as a special intro to the KPFA version of the show, which was almost all a rerun.] And now a special update on the September employment report, released Friday morning. The headline number was a loss of 95,000 jobs—though more than all of that was accounted for by the continuing attrition of temporary workers who were hired to help… Read More
Why we love Dems (cont.)
Because they try so hard to “keep the stakeholders in the room”—even when they deserve a stake in the heart! Tom Daschle tells Wonk Room about how the public option—weak tea in the first place—was too much for the industry, so they snuffed it: I don’t think it was taken off the table completely. It was taken off the table as a result of the understanding that people had with the hospital association, with the insurance (AHIP), and others. I mean I think that part of the whole effort was based on a… Read More
LBO News from Doug Henwood 