Obama Cracks Down on Tax Havens; How to Win a Cosmic War; Coachella Valley Copes with Recession
Obama Cracks Down on Tax Havens
Today the White House released a plan to close tax loopholes for corporations and individuals with overseas operations or bank accounts. If approved by Congress, the plan would bring the government $210 billion over the next decade in otherwise lost tax revenue. The plan is likely to meet resistance from multinational corporations, who under current rules pay taxes on international accounts only if they bring those profits back to the United States. Larry Mantle discusses the details of President Obama's plan.
How to Win a Cosmic War
A cosmic war is not a war between nations and armies, but a religious war in which God is believed to be engaged for one side or the other. The hijackers of September 11 believed they were fighting a cosmic war. And according to religious scholar Reza Aslan, the United States is also fighting a cosmic war through the rhetoric of its War on Terror. In his book "How to Win a Cosmic War", Aslan explores radical ideologies and the religious violence of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He argues that the only way to win a cosmic war is by refusing to fight one, and to address instead the social and political roots of a conflict. Larry Mantle talks with author Reza Aslan about his book.
Coachella Valley Copes with Recession
For over a decade the desert communities of the Coachella Valley have experienced unprecedented growth. But now like so many other Southern California regions they are feeling the economic pinch of the recession. AirTalk goes "on the road" to UCR Graduate Center in Palm Desert where Larry Mantle talks to civic leaders about how Coachella Valley residents are coping with the downturn in the economy.