Arbitration; Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism; Polarization in the American Landscape; The History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade
Arbitration
Mechanics union strikers and the MTA representatives are meeting today with a federal mediator, and arbitration in the grocery strike is being discussed as well. What kinds of mediation and arbitration are the most useful in serious labor conflicts like the ones we are experiencing in Southern California? Larry Mantle talks with Ken Cloke, Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution, about what kinds of arbitration and mediation will be used to contribute to the settlement of these labor disputes.
Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism
In the war on terrorism, the federal government has detained over 5,000 foreign nationals. Critics of these detentions contend that the administration engaged in guilt-by-association and ethnic profiling, and conducted secret searches and wiretaps without probable cause of criminality. In his new book, Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism (The New Press), constitutional rights advocate David Cole argues that in balancing liberty and security we have consistently relied on a double standard, imposing measures on foreigners that we would never tolerate rate if they were American citizens. Jan Ting, Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law, disagrees with David Cole. They both join Host Larry Mantle to discuss the issue.
Polarization in the American Landscape
The spirit of national unity that followed the events of September 11th has disappeared, according to a new survey just published by the Pew Research Center. The survey finds that the gap between Republican and Democratic partisans wider than at any time in the last sixteen years. Findings also portray a nation equally split and severely polarized on a variety of domestic and foreign policy issues. Larry Mantle talks with Pew's editor, Carroll Doherty, about the survey's significance and its implications for civil and political discourse leading up to the 2004 presidential election.
The History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade
Most observers would agree that the US, and in fact the world, economy boomed in the 1990s, providing Americans with a decade of unbridled economic prosperity. Nobel Prize-winning economist and author Joseph Stiglitz agrees that the 1990s were prosperous, but at serious cost. In his new book The Roaring 90s: A History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade (W. W. Norton), Stiglitz argues that the systematic deregulation of the finance, telecommunication and energy sectors that fueled the boom also laid the foundation for the subsequent economic bust. He joins Larry Mantle to debunk the myths of the 90s economic boom.