The myths—and dangers—of austerity politics

03/28/22 • 49 min

Republicans often tout simple spending cuts as markers of economic responsibility. But that sort of superficial belt-tightening often proves to be far more reckless in the long run. This week, we revisit interviews with two economists about the myths—and dangers—of austerity politics.

Mark Blyth

Mark Blyth is a professor of international economy at Brown University, and he succinctly explains what’s wrong with austerity as a cure for an ailing economy: “Tighter belts,” he says, “only work if we all wear the same pants.”

Simon Johnson

Economist Simon Johnson warns that irresponsible austerity methods proposed by Republicans could throw the world into a financial catastrophe. And, he says, it would be the private sector that really suffers.

Jim Hightower

What’s Up with This Crazy Trucker Protest?

The recent traffic-clogging protests by truck drivers in the US and Canada are about drivers being angry over COVID-19 vaccine mandates – right?

Uh... no. That’s the line being put out by right-wing extremists trying to use the legitimate gripes of truckers for their own political gain. The extremists are nuts... not the truckers.

Bill Press

What's Next for Putin's War

Twenty-six days into Putin's War in Ukraine, can anything be done to stop the carnage and stop Putin? What are the likely next steps, diplomatically and militarily? What are the risks of a wider war, of a nuclear war? To provide some context, Bill has arranged to talk again with the two experts on foreign affairs who gave us their first assessment of the situation in Ukraine three weeks ago. A lot has changed. . Steven Pifer was our Ambassador to Ukraine in the last two years of the Clinton Administration and was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State with responsibilities for Russia and Ukraine in the first four years of the George W. Bush Administration. He is currently a Fellow at Stanford University and the Brookings Institution. Joining him is Joe Cirincione, a Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He previously served for over 12 years as the President of the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

The myths—and dangers—of austerity politics

Mark Blyth

Simon Johnson

Jim Hightower

What’s Up with This Crazy Trucker Protest?

The recent traffic-clogging protests by truck drivers in the US and Canada are about drivers being angry over COVID-19 vaccine mandates – right?

Uh... no. That’s the line being put out by right-wing extremists trying to use the legitimate gripes of truckers for their own political gain. The extremists are nuts... not the truckers.

Bill Press

What's Next for Putin's War

If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

Previous Episode

Building state-level progressivism.

In continuing our effort to examine power at the state and local level, we look at two case studies: The state senates in Colorado and Kansas, and how progressive agendas were devised and executed in each.

Jessie Ulibarri

Former Colorado state senator Jessie Ulibarri talks about building progressive power in statehouses.

Anthony Hensley

Then-Kansas state senate minority leader Anthony Hensley tells us about a bipartisan effort to roll back a statewide tax cut from five years prior.

Jim Hightower

Now, Robots are Coming for White-Collar Jobs

In CorporateSpeak, there are no “job cuts.” Instead, firings are blandly referred to as “employment adjustments.”

Now, though, corporate wordsmiths will need a whole new thesaurus of euphemisms, for masses of job cuts are coming for employees in the higher echelons of the corporate structure. Don’t look now, but an unanticipated result of the ongoing pandemic is that it has given cover for CEOs to speed up the adoption of highly-advanced RPAs (Robotic Process Automation) to replace employees once assumed to be immune from displacement.

John Bolton

Why Did Putin Wait?

John Bolton had unimpeachable Republican and Conservative credentials. Until he went to work for Donald Trump as his National Security Advisor. It did not go well as he detailed in his book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir. Bolton and Bill discuss the current situation in Ukraine and Trump's attitudes toward Russia, Ukraine and Vladimir Putin.

If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.

Next Episode

The rich have organized themselves into a powerful lobby.

The wealthiest Americans like to imagine the current economic system as a meritocracy, where their status is the inevitable result of hard work and virtue. This week, we talk to two experts about how, in fact, the rich have rigged the tax code and economic policy to secure the economic order and prevent it from ever changing.

Isaac Martin

Professor Isaac Martin has studied one particular economic trend in American history and tells us about that, and the topic of his book “The Rich People’s Movements.”

Erica Payne

In 2010, Erica Payne organized some of the richest Americans to demand higher taxes on millionaires like themselves. Her recent book offers an insider’s view of how the wealthy have rigged the tax code in their favor and offers a blueprint to unrig it.

Jim Hightower

Supreme Thieves in Robes of “Justice”

As we know, “government ethics” can be a very slippery concept.

That’s why We The People have insisted that every public official – from congress critters to dog catchers – swear to abide by some minimum standard of proper behavior. Not that all will honor it, but a code of ethics provides a measure of legal action against those who are grabbers and grifters.

Bill Press

"The Constitution is Trash." with Elie Mystal

Elie Mystal is The Nation Magazine’s Justice Correspondent. He's a frequent guest on MSNBC commenting on the intersection between the legal and the political. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he gave up Big Law to fight for justice.

If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.