February 13 - Obama's DOA 2013 Budget; Athens is Burning; Apple Hits $500 a Share on Cheap Labor

Full Program

Part 1

 We begin with President Obama’s 2013 budget plan unveiled today and speak about it with Thomas Ferguson who is on the board of the Institute For New Economic Thinking and a contributing editor to The Nation. We discuss what is not an austerity budget, but one that calls for more taxes on the rich and therefore has no hope of Republican support, but yet might persuade American voters that it is the path back to economic health.

Part 2

Then, with Greece teetering on default as violent protests leave 45 buildings in Athens burning, we examine the latest round of austerity measures voted on by an unpopular parliament to ensure a second E.U. bailout. Costas Panayotokis, a Professor of Sociology at The City University of New York joins us to discuss how the devastated Greek economy can generate revenues and whether Greece’s creditors, the French and German banks, are prepared to take a 90% haircut.

Part 3

Then finally, on a day that an Apple share tops $500, we will look into working conditions in China where Apple’s products are assembled. Arun Gupta, the founding editor of the New York City based “Indypendent” newspaper joins us. He has an article at Alternet, “iEmpire: Apple’s Sordid Business Practices Are Even Worse Than You Think”.