Today we take a look at the extreme wealth inequality that’s plaguing our nation, the insufficient attempts to correct the problem as well as it’s underlying causes
Show Notes
Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill
Ch. 2: Act 1: The bootstraps myth and The American Dream™ - @DecodeDC - Air Date: 1-8-15
Ch. 3: Song 1: Decode DC Theme Song
Ch. 4: Act 2: .@NickHanauer on inequality - @TEDTalks - Air Date: March 2012
Ch. 5: Song 2: "RazorWire" - Chris Priest
Ch. 6: Act 3: Wealth Gap - @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver - Air Date: 7-13-14
Ch. 7: Song 3: Heads You Win, Tails I Lose - Surfin' Safari (2001 - Remaster)
Ch. 8: Act 4: Yes, the budget grows and for good reason - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date: 2-6-15
Ch. 9: Song 4: One Way Street - I Can't Stand the Rain
Ch. 10: Act 5: Can Democrats Stop Republican Social Security Change? - @davidpakmanshow - Air Date: 01-25-15
Ch. 11: Song 5: I Wish I Knew (Logo Remix) - Gildas Kitsuné Season's Greetings Mix (The Merry Christmas Edition)
Ch. 12: Act 6: Whats With Politicians Fetishizing About Cutting Social Security? - @majorityfm - Air Date: 01-07-15
Ch. 13: Song 6: Out of Touch - The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates (Remastered)
Ch. 14: Act 7: Bolstering Unemployment Benefits with the 2016 Budget via @WhiteHouse - Best of the Left Activism
Ch. 15: Song 7: "This fickle world" - Theo Bard
Ch. 16: Act 8: Give jobs, not welfare - Economic Update with @profwolff - Air Date: 1-5-15
Voicemails
Ch. 17: The impact of the TPP on marginalized communities - Chrissie from Kansas
Ch. 18: Endorsing choice for vaccinations - Jeff from Cleveland, OH
Ch. 19: The 25% gender wage gap doesn't take hours worked into consideration - Tod from California
Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics
Ch. 20: Final comments Part 1: Responding to Jeff from Cleveland about vaccines
Ch. 21: Final comments Part 2: Responding to Tod from California about the gender wage and wealth gaps
Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone
Activism: Bolstering Unemployment Benefits with the 2016 Budget via @WhiteHouse
Take Action:
Let the White House know you support the unemployment provisions of the 2016 budget via phone (202-456-1111), email/mail and via Twitter to @WhiteHouse and @BarackObama
Use ContactingTheCongress to let your reps know you expect them to publicly support the unemployment plan.
Sources/further reading:
Fiscal Year 2016 Budget of the U.S/ Government via The White House
"Obama's Budget Proposes a Major Overhaul of Unemployment Insurance” by Danny Vinik at The New Republic
"Right-Wing Media Use Flawed Study To Attack Unemployment Benefits” by Rachel Calvert at Media Matters for America
"U.S. jobless claims fall as labor market gains momentum” by Lucia Mutikani at Reuters
"Conservatives Cheer Research Saying Cuts To Unemployment Benefits Helped The Economy” by Arthur Delaney at HuffPo
"Obama Budget Signals End Of Austerity, Return Of Sanity” by Dave Johnson at Common Dreams
Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Showing 2 reactions
I recommend you listen to Wade’s call from last episode.
Further to my earlier email regarding your Pro Vaccine episode, maybe you should listen to Bill Maher’s episode 342 for a more balanced discussion. Your episode was full of rant and ignorance of the real issue here, and that is the distrust of the pharmaceutical industry. Your views were also just as ignorant and frankly, insulting to those of us that choose to question big corporations and the greed involved with so many billions of dollars.
You have done episodes in the past that called out companies like Monsanto for the atrocious mis-deeds they have inflicted on society, in the name of the big bucks. So why is it so hard to believe that the pharmaceutical companies would be just as corrupt? Why have you not looked into the Merck case from 2012 where they covered up test results so they could keep their contract with the US government? Why not look into the revolving door of politics and private enterprise in Big Pharma? Don’t be an idiot on this matter, Jay. You can be so much smarter, as you have on many other issues.
The points that resonate with me from the Bill Maher piece are the fact that they push too many vaccines at once, overwhelming the immune system. Again, this is only due to the fact that Big Pharma wants more cash, not that it is good for our health or societies’ well-being. The other point that came up was the parallel between the increase of childhood maladies and the increased vaccine schedules. It is said that vaccines have decreased the incidence of so many viruses, (which by the way, were on the decline before vaccines were brought in) yet there is no investigation into the decrease of our children’s health.
The theory of a single vaccine to help protect us from a single virus makes some sense. However, when you add so many vaccines, that incidentally have been proven to be less effective recently, to the mix, then there is no telling what will happen. Do the research Jay! The vaccine studies, that many by the way, are sponsored or run by the vaccine manufacturers(no conflict of interest here, hey?), are done with just the one vaccine in the study, not looking at 10-20 vaccines at a time. Nor do they compare the results with un-vaccinated groups.
Just as money in politics has corrupted the system, so has money corrupted our health industry, specifically the pharmaceutical barons. I cannot believe them when they tell me to blindly take a medication, when they have lied to me in so many other ways.
Lastly, please do not lump pro-choice vaccination with anti-climate science, nor conservative politics. Bill Maher brought this point up and it is so true. The pro-choice people I know are well-read, educated, typically left wing, and do the research to protect their children. They do not blindly take the word of the Big Pharma-sponsered doctors.
I do believe in climate change caused by mankind, I do believe in getting money out of politics, I do believe the TPP is a mad mistake, I definitely believe we are being lied to on so many levels for the gain of profit by corporations and government, I do believe the republicans are pawns of a few people with a lot of money, and I do believe we need to have a choice with the number and types of vaccines they are trying to push on society.