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Heartland Institute
Columnist for the American Spectator and senior fellow at the libertarian Heartland Institute; self-employed trader and host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver's NewsRadio 850 KOA
PROFILE
Ross Kaminsky
Guest
FROM Ross Kaminsky
To the Point
The Minimum Wage, Income Inequality and Presidential Politics Two years ago New York City, 200 fast food workers demanded a minimum wage of $15 an hour. They started something. Since then, legal minimums have been raised in red states as well as blue. The current federal floor is $7.25, and President Obama has proposed $10.10. Democrats in Congress are now pushing a federal floor of $12 an hour. Some Republican presidential hopefuls are talking about working class beginnings and cheap off-the-rack sweaters. Are we seeing a political movement? With voters still suffering in the aftermath of the Recession, we look at how income inequality is emerging as a major issue in next year’s campaign.
To the Point
Will the Campaign Never End? Because of possible runoffs in Louisiana and Georgia, it may be next year before it’s clear if Republicans have taken control of the Senate. Predictions all lead in their direction, but there’s lack of consensus in either party on major issues that have been submerged by relentless attack ads. Gridlock may be the best that President Obama can hope for, with Republicans likely to take harder lines in both the House and the Senate. We hear what to look for in tomorrow’s midterm elections with both parties already focused on the prospects for the next Presidential election in 2016.
To the Point
America: Democracy or Oligarchy? The evidence is overwhelming. The wealth gap in America is growing. A new study claims that the wealthiest 10% of Americans influence public policy in this country more than any other group. Of that 10%, the top one percent pocketed nearly the entire gains from the recovery from the financial crisis. Yet many pay a lower tax rate than middle class. The top selling book on Amazon is a re-working of Marx's Das Kapital. It argues that income inequality is an inevitable result of free market capitalism, and that it threatens our democratic institutions at almost every turn. Is that just capitalism at work? Has income inequality eroded democracy to a vanishing point? If our country is indeed controlled by the very few and the very rich, how do we level the playing field?
To the Point
Food Stamps and the Politics of Hunger Families with children, the elderly and the disabled are feeling the first cut ever in the Food Stamp program. Automatic reductions of $5 billion took place on Friday, cutting monthly benefits for 48 million people. For a family of four, that's a reduction of $36 a month, about $1.40 per meal. Democrats are fighting Republican efforts to cut much more, but the Democrats themselves are responsible for what's happening now. As part of the economic stimulus program — and to ease the hardship caused by the Great Recession -- Congress increased Food Stamp benefits in 2009. The number of recipients has doubled in the past six years. Food banks say they may not be able to meet increased need, and low-cost retailers are bracing to take a big hit. Conservatives say cuts have been too long in coming, that Food Stamps create a "culture of dependency." We hear a dispute about economics and hunger.
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To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
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.