business
GRITtv: April 19, 2011
"We need to stay loudly and clearly that there is an alternative. The debate underway is suffocatingly narrow," says Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, of the way the conversation about jobs and the economy has become a conversation about spending and deficits. Meanwhile, she notes, outside of the Beltway, independent media and independent activists like US Uncut are fighting hard to change the conversation. Katrina joins Laura in studio to talk about what's needed to shift the conversation back to things that matter: jobs, good government, and putting the taxes where they belong. "There is a hunger out there for some kind of serious approach to the big issues of the day, and you have to be creative about it— that’s our job," says former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert of today's media landscape. Bob joined us in his first in-depth interview since leaving the New York Times in March of this year. After 20 years of working the at the Times' op-ed desk, Bob left for greener pastures--and a longer word-count. Bob is now working on a new book that will tackle, in depth, some of the issues that he covered in his nearly 20 years of working the "beat of left-out people". Bob joins us today to talk about his career as a journalist, why he left the Times, media, race, and more. Is there a journalism school somewhere that that teaches up-and-comers to put stories into little boxes? Laura has some thoughts on the connections that aren't being made in the news. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Email this pageGRITtv: Mary Bottari & Mark Pocan: National Implications in Wisconsin
"People understand this is a national struggle," says Mary Bottari of the situation in Wisconsin right now, and Mark Pocan, Wisconsin State Assemblyman from the 78th District, says "This has to be the spot where we stop it nationally." ; If Scott Walker manages to take away the workers' right to collective bargaining, they point out, other states will do the same--Ohio and Indiana are already trying.While the Assembly continues to hold nonstop hearings, letting the people of the state express their anger, the Democrats in the State Senate are meeting outside of Wisconsin to hold off a vote in that chamber, and Mary and others are investigating the connections to Karl Rove, the Club for Growth, and other groups pushing for union-busting laws. Mary and Mark take some time to tell Laura why Wisconsin matters for the entire country.
GRITtv Special from Madison, Wisconsin: February 21, 2011
Welcome to our first special one-hour episode from Madison, Wisconsin! Thanks to our friends at The Uptake , Free Speech TV , and WORT FM in Madison for making this collaboration happen."Unions realize that this is a threat to their very existence," says Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive , of Scott Walker's attempt to strip collective bargaining rights from public workers. And some of the usual suspects are behind Walker's attack--from the Koch brothers to Republican ideologues. "These corporations want to get these people off the playing field," says John Nichols, of The Nation . Matt and John discuss the history behind this week's historic labor protests.If Scott Walker is allowed to gut public employees' right to collective bargaining, Sheila Cochran of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council points out, it will lower the floor for all Wisconsinites' wages and benefits. ; The unions in the state have long helped keep wages high and benefits, including health care, good for all of the state's workers, even as factories have closed and jobs gone overseas.The public sector remains the last bastion of union workers around the country, and Sheila and Diane Palmer of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin discuss the impact the cuts will have on working families in Wisconsin and around the U.S."People understand this is a national struggle," says Mary Bottari of the situation in Wisconsin right now, and Mark Pocan, Wisconsin State Assemblyman from the 78th District, says "This has to be the spot where we stop it nationally."
GRITtv: Richard Trumka: Challenging Business to Care About Jobs
"Corporate America hasn't been thinking about this country for a number of years," says Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO. And one might argue that politicians have been thinking too much about corporate America and not enough about working America. Unemployment is still too high, and new conservative governors are taking advantage of the recession to bust public unions. But Trumka and the AFL-CIO are fighting back, and that's even led to some strange partnerships--a statement recently, co-authored with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue. Trumka joins us from D.C. via Skype to tell us what he and Donohue agree on--and what they don't.
GRITtv: Jan. 18, 2011
Accountability and transparency are two key elements to a responsible government, notes Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and WikiLeaks and other sites like it help fulfill the transparency side of things, at least. Accountability, though, at least from the U.S. government, seems to be slow in coming--and Vince notes that the Tunisian people, who removed their despot, could use our support as well. Vince joins us to discuss the situation in Tunisia, the anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, and what is required to hold governments accountable to their people. "A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just."...A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Those were Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words on war--but last week a Pentagon official actually tried to claim that were King alive today, he'd actually support the war in Afghanistan. Our friends at Brave New Films put together this film as a reminder of what King really believed. This week not only commemorates King's birthday, but also is the 50th anniversary of Dwight Eisenhower's prescient warning about the military-industrial complex, the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of George W. Bush--and the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Russ Baker is the author of Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years, and he joins us to talk about these anniversaries, and what they mean for the America we live in now and the history we've forgotten. Last week the World Bank warned of "serious tensions and pitfalls" ahead in the global economy, and less than three percent growth for the U.S. Laura reminds us that there are plenty of problems in our economy that we should be worrying about before we take the bait in worrying over Europe. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: The F Word: Cutting Taxes Is Breaking The Economy
Last week the World Bank warned of "serious tensions and pitfalls" ahead in the global economy, and less than three percent growth for the U.S. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Dec. 1, 2010
"I don't think democracy has anything to do with it," says Danny Schechter of continued U.S. obsession with Iran. Instead, he notes, we have a long history of interfering in democratic processes in that country. Meanwhile, Iran is a country preparing for military strikes and dealing in its own way with the revelations of the latest WikiLeaks information dump.Danny just returned from a trip to Iran, and joins us in studio to discuss his experiences, what he learned from everyday people on the ground, and what U.S. politicians like Lindsay Graham are missing.Following Sunday's elections in ; Haiti, Colin Granderson of the Organization of American States declares election irregularities to not have necessarily compromised elections--meanwhile, Haitian citizens wonder whether the large part of election irregularities didn't take place before the ballots were printed.Sarah Palin is busily trying to sell "conservative feminism" to the masses, but her idea of feminism certainly doesn't include reproductive choice or sexual freedom. Meanwhile, even the Pope has decided that it's better for sex workers to use condoms than to risk getting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. So why does the new Congress include more new members opposed to women's right to control their bodies?Katha Pollitt, Nation columnist and longtime prochoice activist, joins Laura in studio for a conversation about the latest on reproductive and sexual justice, Palinism, and more.Finally, Laura has some thoughts about WikiLeaks' next target: Wall Street.
GRITtv: The F Word: WikiLeaks' Economic Warfare
So far, WikiLeaks has concentrated its efforts on U.S. foreign policy, from wars to diplomacy. Though little concrete action appears to have been taken in response to the leaks, their next target may spark a different reaction. Bank of America shares fell 3 percent on Tuesday after Julian Assange hinted that he had as much as 5 GB worth of their documents revealing some shady behavior. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Nov. 5, 2010
"Wall Street was blackmailing us," says Robert Scheer of the bank bailouts, "And we got nothing in return." It's not news to any viewers of GRITtv that Wall Street's tentacles ran throughout our election, but now that the election is over, we turn again to the running of government.Scheer joined us in the studio recently to discuss his new book, The Great American Stickup, and we asked him to give us some thoughts for after the election as well. Most pressing of all, he asks if either bankers or politicians are capable of thinking in anyone's long-term interests.We've talked a lot here about the influence of Citizens United on our elections, but now that the election is over most of that corporate cash will be going to influence Congress through lobbyists--there are an average of 26 of them per member of Congress! With the cost of elections skyrocketing, Francis Megahy's documentary The Best Government Money Can Buy, an investigation into the secret world of Washington lobbyists. ; This look at the influence of lobbyists on the decisions the government makes couldn't be more timely.The election may be over, but the influence of money on our politics is only getting started. Today we're re-airing part 2 of our GRITtv Digs series, The Loaded Chamber, a look at the SEC and the rest of the government offices that are supposed to keep an eye on the Chamber of Commerce's activities and spending. Want to see more investigations
GRITtv: Oct. 29, 2010
In the first two parts of our investigative series, The Loaded Chamber, we met the faces behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, its shadowy fundraising for the election cycle, and the government entities that are supposed to be keeping an eye on it. In part three, we look at the foreign money flowing into the chamber--and the connections between that cash and the Chamber's support for outsourcing jobs. And is that foreign money going to pay for elections?Want to see more investigations ; like this from us?
