Kevin McCarthy has just dropped out of the House Speaker race. Then, women are “leaning in” to powerful positions in the workplace, but still struggle to devote time to their families. Also, The California Public Utilities Commission has started to hear proposals from several electric companies in California that critics say, if approved, will have a devastating impact on the solar industry and the environment.
GOP Speaker race in turmoil, plus 2016 Countdown: One year and one month to go!
Congress is in a tizzy over Kevin McCarthy's announcement just over an hour ago. The Bakersfield Republican pulled out of the race for Speaker of the House.
Earlier this morning, McCarthy sounded confident about his chances to be elected Speaker. Did he do the math and not see any way to get support from the necessary 218 House members, or was it simply as he put it - he didn't think he could unite his party?
Then, in a move that will distinguish her from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is now opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord. In an interview on PBS's "Newshour" Clinton said the agreement does not meet her standard for creating jobs, raising wages, and protecting national security.
In the past, when Clinton served as Obama's Secretary of State, she lobbied for the TPP and said it would set a "gold standard" for lawful, fair international trade accords. Now it's Vice President Joe Biden stumping for TPP. In reaction, labor groups opposing the trade pact said they would not forget Biden's position should he run for president.
A Biden campaign could still be in the offing. Yesterday, the Draft Biden political action committee released a sentimental ad featuring the Vice President's personal tragedies - the death of his young wife and infant daughter - and what it calls his redemption, all set to a moving piano score.
As for the Republican race, Ben Carson’s controversial comments about mass shootings throw another wrinkle in his campaign.
Guests:
Shawn Steel, RNC National Committeeman, California Republican Party
Judson Phillips, Founder of Tea Party Nation
Ken Rudin, Host, Political Junkie podcast, MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) News
Lisa Mascaro, Congressional Reporter, Los Angeles Times; LA Times "McCarthy bows out of Speaker's Race, leaving House GOP in disarray"
Balancing Act: The U.S. State Department’s first female director of policy planning on how to thrive at work and at home
It’s a confusing time for many career women.
They’re working overtime, being the boss and getting recognition that’s long overdue. But what happens when life intervenes?
Women are “leaning in” to powerful positions in the workplace, but still struggle to devote time to their families. The need to compromise between a career and caregiving may never go away, but there are new answers to having it all. And with that evolution, more options are popping up for both men and women to thrive both at work and home.
In her book, “Unfinished Business,” Anne-Marie Slaughter takes an in-depth look at gender equality in the workplace. She became the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department in 2009, and has since shared what she’s learned after being faced with the choice between her professional life and the life she had built as a wife and mother.
Anne-Marie Slaughter will speak at a Los Angeles World Affairs Council dinner Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. For more information, click here.
Guest:
Anne-Marie Slaughter, former first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department (2009-2011) and author of “Unfinished Business” (Penguin Random House, 2015)
SCE and solar industry debate proposal that critics say could devastate solar adoption
The California Public Utilities Commission has started to hear proposals from several electric companies in California that critics say, if approved, will have a devastating impact on the solar industry and the environment.
Currently, homeowners who installed solar panels on their rooftops get money for the extra electricity they generate. Separate proposals forwarded by Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in San Francisco would cut the reimbursement rates and charge them an additional fee. These utility companies say that solar users need to shoulder some of the costs of grid maintenance, and their proposals ensure that those costs won’t be passed on to non-solar customers.
But critics, mainly those from the solar industry, say that these proposals would cancel out all the financial incentives of going solar, and stop more people from using this alternative energy.
Guests:
Gary Stern, director for energy policy at Southern California Edison
Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of California Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade association
Reporter’s notebook: Hundreds of homes could flood along Arroyo Seco Channel in El Niño
KPCC reporter Sharon McNary talks about her reporting on the threat to some homes if Pasadena’s Devil’s Gate dam is topped by high runoff from El Niño rains this winter.
She also explains the reasons the dam’s capacity is severely diminished – years of unremoved sedimentary buildup, huge sediment flowing in from rains following the 2009 Station Fire, and a lawsuit by environmentalists and neighbors against LA County Flood Control removing large amounts of sediment that they see as harming animal habitat... Read her full story here.
Guest:
Sharon McNary, KPCC reporter covering infrastructure
Tontines 101: How and why an illegal scheme could be just what modern retirees need
If you just read the title of this article and are now asking yourself what the heck a tontine is, you’re not alone.
The archaic retirement scheme (pronounced 'tawn-TEEN') was popular during the 18th and 19th centuries, reached its peak at the turn of the 20th century, and has been illegal ever since, thanks to a spate of scandals. Scandals, you ask? Indeed. You see, the concept of a tontine is kind of...unsavory.
Here’s how it works: Let’s say you and nine of your friends chip in $10,000 each to buy a large pool of stocks or mutual funds or something. Every year, your group takes out a chunk of money and distributes it evenly among all the members of the tontine.
But here’s the catch: when a member of the tontine dies, that person’s annual share is distributed evenly to the remaining members of the tontine. So, quite literally, you get more money if you outlive your friends, and depending on how you look at it, it’s either a great way to make sure that your money is helping others when it can’t help you anymore, or it’s an incentive for murder.
As you might imagine, based on the concept, a tontine is a great device to use in film or TV, since you can create an elaborate murder plot out of one.
But an increasing number of economists and lawyers are saying that tontines, with a few new-age hacks, might actually provide a simple solution to some of the biggest issues retirees face, like outliving your retirement money. Some estimates say only about 33 percent of Americans are well-prepared for retirement, so while the idea of a tontine might seem slimy, some are saying it could be the shot in the arm America’s retirement system needs.
Do you think tontines could ever see a revival as a form of retirement investment in America? Would too many people be put off by the principle? What tweaks could be made to the traditional tontine to make it more suitable for use in the 21st century?
Guests:
Moshe Milevsky, finance professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Executive Director of the Individual Finance and Insurance Decisions Centre (IFID Centre), and author of “King William’s Tontine: Why The Retirement Annuity of the Future Should Resemble its Past” (Cambridge, 2015)
Michael Kitces, partner and the director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, and publisher of the financial planning industry blog “Nerd’s Eye View.”