December 3 – Why Karzai Won’t Sign the Deal; Protecting the Super-Rich in Budget Negotiations; The C.F.P.B. Steps in to Stop the Hammering of Student Debtors

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels where discussions are focused on how to get around Afghan president Karzai’s foot-dragging and obstruction which is delaying a withdrawal agreement and post-withdrawal plans to support Afghanistan’s military. Ambassador Peter Galbraith, who was the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan until he was fired for blowing the whistle on Karzai’s rigged re-election, joins us to discuss why Karzai won’t sign the deal his own hand-picked Loya Jirga has approved.

Part 2

Then, as the deadline for a budget agreement to relieve the sequester cuts approaches, we speak with Jo Comerford, the Executive Director of the National Priorities Project who is critical of the secretive negotiations and is calling for an open, transparent budget process. We discuss House budget chairman Paul Ryan’s resistance to ending tax loopholes for the very rich to replace the worst sequester cuts as he protects high-end tax shelters and instead wants to make cuts that effect middle class and working Americans.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Deanne Loonin, the Director of the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project at the National Consumer Law Center about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau now having authority over companies that collect payments for student loans, after years of lax oversight by the Department of Education. We discuss outstanding student debt that has doubled in recent years to $1.2 trillion with defaults at record levels, which economists warn is sapping economic growth and holding back the U.S. economy.