Columbia University
Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special advisor to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; author of The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity
PROFILE
Jeffrey Sachs
Guest
FROM Jeffrey Sachs
Which Way, L.A.?
Are Higher Taxes the 'Price of Civilization?' Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers and Wall Street Occupiers all agree that America needs more jobs, but they don't agree on how to create them. Republican presidential candidates will stage another debate in Las Vegas tomorrow, with most calling for creating jobs by cutting taxes and regulations to free up the private sector. Today, President Obama began a three-day trip to early primary states, calling for a jobs bill to be paid for with higher taxes on the richest Americans. What about taxing the rich, or a national sales tax? Is government the problem or the solution?
To the Point
Are Higher Taxes the 'Price of Civilization?' President Obama is campaigning in crucial states this week, demanding that Congress pass his jobs bill and increase taxes on the richest Americans. Potential Republican rivals, who will stage another debate in Las Vegas tomorrow, have jobs plans of their own, with most calling for creating jobs by cutting taxes and regulations to free up the private sector. But what if high unemployment is the "new normal?" Are both parties offering "gimmicks" that can't overcome structural weaknesses in the economy? Are they thinking too small? Has America lost the broad consensus that democracy requires? Is there a moral as well as an economic crisis?
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To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.