October 1 – “The Legality of Government by Extortion”; Heading for the Cliff on the Debt Ceiling and Beyond; A Former Insurance Insider on the Launch of the Affordable Care Act

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of whether government by extortion is the new normal, given Republican threats to hold the debt ceiling hostage following their shutdown of the government. John Dean, the former Counsel to President Richard Nixon who has a forthcoming article at Justia “The Legality of Government by Extortion”, joins us to discuss the capture of the Republican Party by extremists and whether the endangered species of traditional Republicans will make a comeback.

Part 2

Then we speak with Richard Parker who teaches economics and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government about the motivations behind the apparently suicidal behavior of the Tea Party Congress. We discuss the method to their madness and who is really driving the country further and further to the right and whether we are heading for a possible repeat of the 1937 recession if they up the ante from their shutdown of the government and bring about a government default which will likely trigger a global recession.

Part 3

Then finally we look into the launch of the Affordable Care Act in the midst of a government shutdown with insurance insider Wendell Potter, the former chief corporate spokesman for CIGNA and head of corporate communications at Humana. We discuss the well-funded forces trying to sabotage Obamacare and the growing likelihood that as the American public learns about the Affordable Care Act, the less traction the lies and distortions by its opponents will have.