December 11 – While Washington Celebrates the Budget Deal, 1.3 Million Americans are Cut Loose into Poverty; Zombie Politics and America’s Education Deficit; The U.S. and U.K. Cut off Aid to Syrian Rebels

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Heather Boushey, the Executive Director and Chief Economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth about the social impacts of the failure to extend unemployment benefits in the budget deal that on December 28 will cut loose 1.3 million Americans into poverty. We also look into the political future of the budget deal that is being attacked by lawmakers on both the left and the right as Congress prepares to shut down for the holidays.

Part 2

Then we are joined by Henry Giroux, a writer and the current Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University and the author of “Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism” and “America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth: Reform Beyond Electoral Politics”. We discuss his recent appearance on Bill Moyers where he discussed zombie politics and the challenges of mobilizing the indentured generation of students into political activism so that they can take back their future.

Part 3

Then finally, with the suspension of aid to the Syrian rebels by the U.S. and the U.K. following the seizure of Free Syrian Army bases and warehouses full of weapons by Islamists, we speak with Middle East expert Asher Kaufman. He is a professor of History and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and was a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and we discuss the latest rebel infighting and recent predictions that this war could go on for a decade.