Debt deal: will it kill or stimulate the economy? Best & worst of debt-debate rhetoric. Romney redux: second time’s a charm? LA County refuses to comply with child fatality audit. Make-up ads: Photoshopped phonies or aspirational images?
Debt deal: will it kill or stimulate the economy?
The U.S Senate just passed the bipartisan bill to increase the nation’s debt ceiling and cut some $2.4 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade. But what’s in it for the country’s economy? Not much, say most economic experts. There is nothing in the bill to reduce unemployment, stimulate consumer spending or avert a double dip recession. Moreover, the economy has been stressed by a depressed housing market. Even with the debt deal, experts project that the nation’s economic lull still threatens its credit rating. Most of the cuts in federal spending would take effect in the later years of this decade. In this context, how do fiscal spending reductions aid prospects for improvement in the near future? The nation will avert federal default, but was it worth it for Congress to spend weeks in gridlock with economists projecting that the bill might not do much? What aspects of it affect you most?
Guests:
Chris Thornberg, Principal at Beacon Economics
Chad Stone, Chief Economist, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Nancy Sidhu, Vice President Chief Economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).
Romney Redux: second time’s a charm?
In the second installment of our series on the contenders for Republican nomination for president we bring you Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor is running for the second time after losing the nomination to John McCain in 2008. This time his presidential campaign is being dogged by the specter of a popular healthcare system he put in place in Massachusetts as governor, just as his apparent flip flops on abortion and gun rights dogged his 2008 bid. Romney has business and politics in his blood, his father was an auto executive in Detroit before becoming governor of Michigan in the 1960’s and his mother ran for the United States Senate. We’ll give you a primer on the man who could be the next American president. From his upbringing in the Mormon church to his successful career in business and his latest incarnation as the “conservatives conservative” and the frontrunner in the republican field.
Guests:
Brian Mooney, Boston Globe
Fred Thys, Political Reporter, WBUR, Boston
Best & worst of debt debate rhetoric
Sunday wasn't just the climax of negotiations to raise the nation's debt ceiling. It also gave us the most imaginative rhetoric by far of the entire debate. Congressmen Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) described the deal as a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich," explaining that by lifting the bun you'd find evil policies. Well before you could spread on the Hellman's, Cleaver's sandwich simile was seized on by journalists tired of politicians given a blank check for boring cliches. Cleaver wasn't the only wordsmith critiquing the debt deal. A Tea Party Nation press release declared "do not associate the Tea Party with that disastrous abortion we are calling the debt ceiling deal." Say what? Long before those gems, President Obama's eat-your-peas metaphor really caught on. Then the President was crowned "His Jello-ness" after House Speaker John Boehner complained negotiating with the White House was like "dealing with Jell-o." And who could forget "cut, cap, and balance" versus "duck, dodge and dismantle?" What have been the highs and lows in the debate? Why do you think Satan sandwich caught on? And what’s your favorite recipe for a Satan sandwich anyway?
Guest:
Tom Hollihan, Professor of Communications, USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, Author, Uncivil Wars: Political Campaigns in a Media Age
LA County refuses to comply with child fatality audit
Los Angeles County supervisors are defying a subpoena to supply records from the LA Department of Children and Family Services. The audit is an attempt to look at the deaths of children who had been under the supervision of that department. LA County supervisors say they will not turn over specific documents due to attorney client privilege issues, even as California's state auditor is warning that this non compliance will be treated as a crime. Are the supervisors right to protect what they are calling the "sacrosanct" attorney-client privilege? And just where is that line? The state says that many of the records in question were simply reviewed by lawyers and do not even belong in this category. Furthermore, under a 2008 law, the DCFS is required to release records to the public when a child under its care has died. Meanwhile, three other counties involved in similar audits have submitted all requested documents. What does each side need to see the standoff resolved?
Guest:
Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 3rd District
Dr. Jackie Contreras, Departing Interim Director, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
Make-up ads: Photoshopped phonies or aspirational images?
In a much talked about move, the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K. has banned two L'Oreal magazine ads. One features a porcelain, flawless Julia Roberts. The second shows supermodel Christy Turlington somehow looking more super. The decision came after a politician there complained the ads were "not representative of the results the products could achieve". The make-up company admitted retouching the photos. In particular, L'Oreal said the Turlington photo was altered to "lighten the skin, clean up make-up, reduce shadow and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows." Is that all? Still, L'Oreal calls the images accurate representations that are "aspirational." What do you think of these ads being pulled? Should ads be a closer reflection of reality? Whose reality anyway? Are media consumers savvy to Photoshop? What about the children?