Ithaca College
Associate professor of Sociology at Ithaca College and visiting scholar at the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College
PROFILE
Stephen Sweet
Guest
FROM Stephen Sweet
To the Point
A Slower Recovery for Older Workers This week, two senators introduced a bipartisan plan to renew long term unemployment benefits for the more than 3 million Americans still looking for work. Congress allowed the benefit to expire last December. But even if the bill passes and insurance is reinstated, it provides only a temporary bit of relief. In the meantime, the long term effects of the recession and this sluggish recovery are hitting some Americans more than ever. One group stands out: middle aged women. As the economy took a dive, many women left the workforce to care for their aging parents – now as they try to re-enter the workforce they find their applications are going straight into the "do not call" pile. Special thanks to Over 50 and Out of Work .
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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
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 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
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.