December 4 - Detroit's Bankruptcy Ruling and its Consequences; Public Banks Can Replace Wall Street to Finance Municipalities; The Author of "My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel"

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the ruling by a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge that Detroit is eligible to enter bankruptcy and can impose cuts to its municipal pension obligations.  We  speak with G. Marcus Cole, a professor at Stanford University’s School of Law who specialized in bankruptcy and discuss the fate of pensions that were previously considered inviolable, as public employee are now being scapegoated for the financial mismanagement of elected officials.   

Part 2

Then we discuss the role of public banking as an alternative to Wall Street, which is how municipalities around the world raise funds, and speak with Marc Armstrong, a business development and communications consultant and the Executive Director of the Public Banking Institute. We discuss how the state of North Dakota finances public infrastructure through its public bank and Marc Armstrong’s article at occupy.com, “How America Can Replace Wall Street Financing with Public Banks”.

Part 3

Then finally, a leading Israeli journalist, columnist for Haaretz and commentator on Israeli public television, Ari Shavit joins us in the studio to discuss his new book “My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel”. We talk about the existential fear Israel has from the outside and the moral rot its occupation policy causes on the inside, and discuss today’s threats from the E.U. to cut off funds to the Palestinians if peace talks fail as Secretary State Kerry meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu and begins the latest effort by to revive the peace process.