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“It's the wrong answer to not a problem," says Dean Baker of the report out last week from the leaders of Obama's deficit commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. The report, which recommends massive cuts across the budget, most significantly to Social Security and health care programs, has been roundly criticized by progressives for its targeting, but Dean notes that the biggest problem with it is that without the health care crisis we still have, we wouldn't have deficits in the first place.He joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to talk about the commission, the latest action by the Fed, and what can really be done to balance the budget--and why we should be much more focused on creating jobs and really reforming health care than on slashing programs that benefit us all."It's fair to smash up someone's future but not to smash up someone's lobby," notes UK journalist Laurie Penny of the student protests in London last week, now being branded as "violent" and "out of control." Aside from one person who dropped a fire extinguisher off a building, she points out, the protests were free of violence against people, and property damage needs to be put in the proper perspective.Laurie joins us via Skype from London, where she attended the protests and covered them for The New Statesman, where she is a columnist, to provide some perspective on misunderstood events--and to fill us in on why they're said to be only the beginning."We're on a collision course with our finite supply of water," says Susan Leal, co-author of the new book Running Out of Water. It's not just that the supply is limited, she notes, it's our growing population, increased personal use, and climate change that are all playing into what journalist Anna Lenzer calls "the coming shock."Susan and Anna join us in studio to discuss water: why we're limited, why privatization and drinking bottled water isn't the solution, and why the problem has a better chance of being solved when people work together rather than have decisions imposed by private corporations.

Joining us today, International Women's Day, to talk about women around the world are Kavita Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women in Fiji. They discuss war and peace, media use, and women's rights as human rights."From Grass to Cheese" is the story of the Nolan family and their Laurel Valley Creamery, founded in 2005 as a way to make cheese sustainably and renew the connection between people and their food. Staying on the topic of food, honeybees pollinate one out of every three bites of food on our tables, so when they started disappearing, beekeepers and other environmental activists took notice. Filmmakers Maryam Henein and George Langworthy took notice as well, and put together a documentary that looks into the circumstances.The Citizens United decision will allow corporate spending on elections at unprecedented levels, but it also seems to have had a motivating effect on pro-democracy activists. This video looks at one activist spurred to organize by the decision.Humor can be a powerful tool for justice and can help spread your message. So say our friends at the Tactical Technology Collective, who have seen tools from karaoke to comedy aid in organizing.Finally, Laura notes that union leaders and activists are unhappy with Obama's focus--away from the working people that need the most help.