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Before Bernie and AOC, before Jesse Jackson and George McGovern, there was Henry Wallace, FDR’s vice president, who fought for the soul of the Democratic party in the 1940s. John Nichols tells that story, and links it to today’s battles between progressives and Wall Street Democrats—his new book, out now, is “The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party.”
Also: One of the key forces making inequality greater in America has been the Supreme Court — Adam Cohen will explain — his new book is, “Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America.”
Plus: a new episode of “The Children’s Hour” with Amy Wilenz, stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior, and little Eric–boy are those kids in trouble this week! Amy of course is our Chief Jared Correspondent—and was just awarded a Guggenheim fellowship.
5-14-2020

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s parts of the US reopened their economies, the Trump Administration defunded the W.H.O., and Dr. Micheal Osterholm reminded that the point of flattening the curve was not to keep everyone from getting the virus, it was to spread-out the infection-rate over time – Mike Davis reports.
Next up, we talk with David Dayen of the American Prospect about the need to save the United States Postal Service; he also reports on reasons for the shortage of hospital beds in New York City, the US healthcare system on the whole and Medicare for all.
Plus, John Powers of NPR’s Fresh Air makes his recommendations for virus-time TV watching.  5-7-2020

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Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says the US has “one of the poorest systems of unemployment insurance in the world”—and that our number one priority should be to keep workers connected to their jobs. His book “People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent” is out now in paperback, with a new preface.
Plus: Harold Meyerson has today’s update in the politics of the coronavirus–and we also talk about about the future of labor after the pandemic.
Also: Katrina vanden Heuvel reports on solidarity with the front-line workers fighting the virus—starting in New York, where people cheer hospital workers coming off their shifts at 7pm every night.
Finally: Where’s Paul Krassner when we need him? 4-30-2020

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Mike Davis argues that the coronavirus crisis is bringing about the fragmentation of Europe and the marginalization of the WHO; he also considers the danger to Africa, and whether China will emerge less powerful in the world economy because of the rise of economic nationalism. Mike wrote about the avian flu in ‘The Monster at Our Door.’
Plus Harold Meyerson comments on southern states reopening for business–and also surveys the possible Democratic candidates for vice president.
Also Barbara Ehrenreich reports on her experiment in trying to survive on low wage work. Her classic essay “Nickel and Dimed,” is the lead piece in her new book, a collection of essays titled Had I Known. We recorded this interview when her book Nickel and Dimed was published, in 2002.  4/22/20