Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com
Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com. Originating on Pacifica Radio's KPFK 90.7FM in Los Angeles and syndicated coast-to-coast and around the globe! NOW FIVE DAYS A WEEK!
'BradCast' 3/5/2021 (Guest: Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies' Inequality.org)
03-05-2021 (53.13 MB)
On today's 'BradCast': This year's flu season proves that masks and social distancing help to prevent viral transmission and death. That's bad news for residents of Texas and Mississippi, whose idiot governors have lifted statewide COVID restrictions as infection rates spike again. In Washington, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) filed suit against the disgraced former President Trump and his associates for their roles in inciting the January 6th U.S. Capitol insurrection. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) succeeded in delaying Senate debate over much-needed economic relief to desperate American families by forcing an all-night reading of President Biden's $1.9 trillion emergency COVID relief and stimulus package. Even though he voted in 2017 to give $2 trillion in tax cuts mostly to the wealthy, Sen. Johnson decried the emergency bill that extends federal unemployment benefits, provides funds for safely reopening schools, and helps millions of American families keep a roof over their heads and feed their children. CHUCK COLLINS, Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his new report showing that the nation's 664 billionaires alone could cover almost the entire cost of COVID relief bill from just the profits they've made over the last 12 months. Those 664 billionaires added $1.3 trillion in wealth in 11 months, while 76 million Americans lost work, nearly 100,000 business permanently closed, and 24 million households reported they did not have enough food over the past week, including 11 million children. Collins explains those and other startling numbers that highlight the obscene inequality in the U.S., and why Republicans are so dead-set against helping average Americans. He also details actual solutions, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren's newly filed 'Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act', and the shadowy 'Wealth Defense Industry' that helps the ultra-rich hide their wealth.
Categories
Duration: 58:02 m - Filetype: mp3 (128 kbps 44100 Hz)