Williams College
Professor of Economics at Williams College, and an expert in tax policy who studies income inequality
PROFILE
Jon Bakija
Guest
FROM Jon Bakija
Which Way, L.A.?
If We Are the 99 Percent, Who Is the 47? New York's Zuccotti Park has little vegetation. It's mostly sleek black ledges and an odd red sculpture. But one year ago yesterday a movement began there which centered on issues of income inequality, under the slogan "We are the 99%." Last night over a hundred protesters were arrested on Wall Street to mark the movement's first anniversary. At about the same time a video was leaked showing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney telling supporters that the 47 percent of non-income-tax paying Americans won't support him. We discuss income inequality, Romney's remarks, and the direction of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
To the Point
If We Are the 99 Percent, Who Is the 47? New York's Zuccotti Park has little vegetation. It's mostly sleek black ledges and an odd red sculpture. But one year ago yesterday a movement began there which centered on issues of income inequality, under the slogan "We are the 99%." Last night over a hundred protesters were arrested on Wall Street to mark the movement's first anniversary. At about the same time a video was leaked showing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney telling supporters that the 47 percent of non-income-tax paying Americans won't support him. We discuss income inequality, Romney's remarks, and the direction of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
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To the Point
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
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
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.