Virtually Speaking

While attending the 2014 Netroots Nation conference, Gaius Publius — contributing writer at AmericaBlog and member of the Virtually Speaking Sunday media panel — conducted three interviews under the heading "Five Questions." This year he spoke with House Democrat Keith Ellison; economist Dr. Stephanie Kelton of the MMT school of economics; and Democratic strategist Robert Cruickshank. In this podcast, Gaius talks with Dr. Kelton about: · Her view of the so-called "budget for burnable carbon" and the looming climate crisis. · How to guarantee a minimum wage without a passing minimum-wage law (this answer is striking). · How seeing the film "Roger and Me" changed Kelton's approach to economics. Gauis first published this series of conversations at AmericaBlog.  He provides a fast look at how MMT views money, and what that means for progressive politics.Ste ·

While attending the 2014 Netroots Nation conference, Gaius Publius — contributing writer at AmericaBlog and member of the Virtually Speaking Sunday media panel — conducted three interviews under the heading "Five Questions." This year he spoke with House Democrat Keith Ellison, co-leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; economist Dr. Stephanie Kelton of the MMT school of economics; and Democratic strategist and activist Robert Cruickshank. In this podcast, Gaius talks with Rep. Ellison about — • Ellisons's view of the so-called "budget for burnable carbon" and the looming climate crisis • How progressives can "win" if Clinton is the nominee in 2016 • What his Muslim faith means to Ellison, a former Catholic Gauis first published this series of conversations at AmericaBlog.  

Historian Rick Perlstein returns to Virtually Speaking to discuss his new book, The Invisible Bridge.  Blogger extraordinaire Digby joins us as guest interviewer.  RIck has described Digby this way: My other favorite political writer, Heather Parton, blogs under the name “Digby.” Daily for over 10 years she’s been unleashing a fire hose of brilliance on the fecklessness of the Democrats, the craziness of the Republicans and especially the way that what we now call the “culture wars” has been seared into our national DNA at least since the Civil War. In the acknowledgments to “Nixonland,” I called her the other half of my brain. We're delighted to have them both here tonight.

This is a rerun of Jay Ackroyd's interview with Rick Perlstein, about his monumental tour de force, Nixonland. Rick is one of the nation's leading popular historians, and, until now, the capstone of his career.  He has actually exceeded himself in his latest book, The Invisible Bridge. He will be discussing that book with Digby as our guest host on August 28. 

Richard (RJ) Eskow has a rich history of engagement with public policy making, in the Eastern Europe transition to market economies, in addition to extensive technical work in health care and finance in the US. He recounts his experience being on the inside of policy discussions. This conversation provides an interesting contrast to Joe Sudbay's talk with Gaius Publius, on tactics conducted for an outside game.

The role of intelligence in U.S. domestic and foreign policy, a conversation beween investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler and Jay Ackroyd. One of a series of conversations about surveilllance, national security, NSA, CIA, and Congressional oversight. follow @emptywheel @jayackroyd

June Carbone & Naomi Cahn, authors of Marriage Markets, talk with Jay Ackroyd about the economics of family life, children, marriage, social structure.

Stephanie Kelton, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the top-ranked blog New Economic Perspectives.  In this episode, she and  Gaius Publius discuss the basics of Modern Monetary Theory.  Also, at the bottom of the hour, Gaius Publius on the Unpeople of the World.  More information here. Also, help out the show by checking out Audible's free 30 day trial, or visit our virtual bookstore.

Jay and Ian Welsh continue the discussion rerun last week regarding the need to develop a new ideology in the face of the failure of our technocratic centrist elite to  deal with the consequences of the petroleum economy: A powerful ideology is a scary thing. If your ideology isn’t strong enough, doesn’t create enough fervent belief that people will die for it, then it won’t change the world.  But if it does create that level of fervent belief, then it will be misused, so the question is simply: will this do more harm than good? An ideology which leads to us killing a billion or more people with climate change, let me posit, is a bad ideology.  At the end of its run, neo-liberalism will kill more people than Marxist-Leninism did, and will be thought of by our grandchildren as monstrous.  Most of them will no more be able to understand how we submitted to it or even believed in it than we can understand how Hitler or Stalin or PolPot or Mao came to power.  Hyperbole?  Not in the least, because the body count

Stuart Zechman discusses the policy framework that underlies the US health care system with Joseph White, Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy at Case Western Reserve University. Professor White is also the author of Competing Solutions: American Health Care Proposals and International Experience.    

Joan McCarter and David Waldman discusses the implications of the Reid Rule, and the future of the filibuster in the Senate. David (KagroX) has been working on this issue for at least 6 years, as reported today by CNN.    

Juan Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he specializes in the Middle East and South Asia. Juan talks with Jay Ackroyd about Egypt, Syria, Lebanon -- including the drought conditions leading to the popular uprising -- and the development of a coherent US foreign policy in the region. Follow @jricole @jayackroyd  

In this 5 min clip, taken from Virtually Speaking Sundays — recorded live on Sept 8, 2013 — Richard — RJ — Eskow speaks with Jay Ackroyd about the quality of insurance under Obamacare. They make the point that deciding against a plan that requires you to pay $10–$15,000 out of pocket in the case of a medical emergency is a rational act. The full program is here.

Lynn Stout joins Jay Ackroyd to discuss her book, The Shareholder Value Myth. The idea that a public corporation has one, and only objective--to maximize shareholder value is such a widely held idea that it's deeply implicit in much current business writing. What else is a corporation to do, but to maximize shareholder value? More at virtuallyspeaking.us

Clipped from a June 27 hour-long conversation with Jay Ackroyd. Listen here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2013/06/28/david-cay-johnston-virtually-speaking-with-jay-ackroyd

Dan Ellsberg relates a conversation with Henry Kissenger in which he — Ellsberg — describes what happens to people as they become privy to closely held and sensitive government information. The year was 1969 and Kissinger had made his first presentation to the National Security Council. Glenn Greenwald brings it forward in time and reflects on WikiLeaks. Recorded in 2011 with Jay Ackroyd.

American investigative journalist — economics and tax issues — and author David Cay Johnston talks with host Jay Ackroyd about debt peonage and neo feudalism. Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill, is about hidden subsidies, rigged markets, and corporate socialism. Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich—and Cheat Everybody Else, a New York Times bestselleron the U.S. tax system that won the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2003 Book of the Year award. Temples of Chance: How America Inc. Bought Out Murder Inc. to Win Control of the Casino Business is an account of how the junk-bond kings usurped mob control of the casino industry in the 1980s. Johnston discusses corruption in the industry and the role of the federal and state governments in that corruption. The Fine Print: How Big companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind was released in September 2012.

Economist Dean Baker and Jay Ackroyd discuss the current state of the economics profession. More here: Center for Economic Policy & Research http://www.cepr.net/ Follow @deanbaker13 @jayackroyd @ceprdc

Engaging the surveillance state, good news and bad. Editor, writer & social media consultant Ian Welsh - "The horizon is not so far as we can see, but as far as we can imagine" - comes by to continue his extended conversation with host Jay Ackroyd. Read Ian here  Follow @IWelsh @JayAckroyd More at VirtuallySpeaking.us

Toronto based social media consultant, editor and writer Ian Welsh writes at IanWelsh.com. Formerly the Managing Editor of FireDogLake and the Agonist, his work has also appeared at Huffington Post, Alternet, and Truthout, as well as the now defunct Blogging of the President (BOPNews). In Canada his work has appeared in Pogge.ca and BlogsCanada. Ian and Jay talk about how the events in Boston illuminate the intelligence and military apparatus now operating in the US,  in support of an increasingly oligarchic system of governance throughout much of the OECD.