Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development
Director for Employment, Labor and Social Affairs for the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD)
PROFILE
John Martin
Guest
FROM John Martin
To the Point
Have People in Power Turned Their Back on Job Creation? US unemployment is back up to 9.1 percent and 45 percent of the jobless have been out of work for more than six months, 30 percent for more than a year. Joblessness has become chronically high on both sides of the Atlantic, but "policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue. The more they fail to do anything, the more they convince themselves there's nothing they could do." That's according to Nobel-Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman , who insists it's time for governments to take action. Is stimulus spending the answer? What about the deficit? Are both Democrats and Republicans failing to govern? In the meantime, what are the consequences of chronic unemployment? Will the US go the way of Spain? We talk with Krugman and others.
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To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.