Max Fraad Wolff Videos

President Obama spoke today about the need for more government action to spur job creation, saying that small businesses and green jobs were the way forward for the nation. He proposed shifting funds from the TARP program--the much-derided bank bailout--to job creation programs, and offered tax cuts and incentives. But, our guests today note, the problems with unemployment and underemployment in this country aren't just results of this current recession, and they will not be fixed simply by returning to where we were. Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, Tim Casey of Legal Momentum and author of the report Battered by the Storm, Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress, and Max Fraad Wolff of The New School for Social Research talk about the solutions, short and long-term, for creating jobs, spreading them more equitably through the population, and fixing the structural problems with the economy that led to this recession.

The Dow might be up and the economy might be growing, but where are all the jobs? With a multibilliondollar stimulus package facing criticism from Republicans for growing the deficit and from some on the left for being too small, we wonder just where the money did go. Beyond just creating jobs, our panelists say, any real economic stimulus needs to make sure that the jobs created are good, with good benefits, living wages, and targeted to the people who need them the most. Max Fraad Wolff, professor of economics at The New School, Myles Lennon of the Laborers' Union, Local #10, Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs First and Nathan Newman of the Progressive States Network debate whether the stimulus has stopped the bleeding or whether it's more like a band-aid on a bullet wound.

Wall Street had its best week in months, yet banks are still charging 25-40% interest and consumers have yet to feel relief. As unemployment continues to creep upwards, is it too late to bail out the middle class? Daniel Gross, Newsweek senior editor and author of Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation, Max Fraad Wolff, economist with The New School, and Heather Boushey, senior economist with the Center for American Progress try to answer these questions. They discuss whether what we're seeing now is a "New Deal for the affluent," or a failure for the entire country, whether or not we'll get a second stimulus package to combat dismal employment numbers, and whether it's too late to see real systemic change in the American economy.

The economy is improving, at least according to Wall Street, but most of us haven't felt the change. While the Dow Jones average is up, the benefits haven't trickled down to the middle class, and unemployment is headed for double digits. So we have to ask: was this the plan all along, to keep workers paying out and bankers raking in the cash? To answer that question, we bring you Daniel Gross, Newsweek senior editor and author of Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation, Max Fraad Wolff, economist with The New School, and Heather Boushey, senior economist with the Center for American Progress. They discuss whether what we're seeing now is a "New Deal for the affluent," or a failure for the entire country, whether or not we'll get a second stimulus package to combat dismal employment numbers, and whether it's too late to see real systemic change in the American economy. The Iraq war is fading into the background in many people's minds these days, but right here in New York a new play tells the story of six Iraqi refugees living in Jordan. Playwright and director Jessica Blank wrote Aftermath after visiting Jordan with her husband, Erik Jensen, and interviewing 37 Iraqis who fled the war. We also have Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake here to talk to us about health care and her latest action campaign, "Public Option Please." Finally, we've got the Yes Men paying a visit to Chase Bank, some words from Senator Bernie Sanders, and for laughs, a video from the League of Young Voters on abstinence education. Thanks to Brandon Jourdan and Brave New Films for video in tonight's show.

Former Bank of America employee Chris Feener says that little has changed at BoA since the company received billions of dollars in tax-payer money. The company continues to use what Feener calls guerrilla collection tactics and compensates its employees based on the amount of debt they collect. Feener, who hadn't received a raise in several years, says that bonuses of five to $6,000 dollars were often awarded on a monthly basis. Despite promises that in exchange for taxpayer money, banks and financial institutions would be regulated little progress has been made. Feener, the SEIU?s Stephen Lerner, and Max Fraad Wolff, a professor of economics at the New School University's Graduate Program in International Affairs on BoA's unsavory practices and why so little has changed.