Part One:
We speak with Dean Baker, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, about his article: “Building An Economy that Works Again, a Practical Blueprint for Reform in the Wake of the Corona Shutdown. We discuss the myth that we can’t take action to reduce the enormous inequalities in our economy because that will only lead to distortions of the free market. Baker’s research focuses on the subsidiary myth that we can’t reduce the bloated price of prescription drugs.
He describes how government policies – choices that our elected leaders have made, such as granting long-term patent protection to Big Pharma – have permitted wealthy drug companies to reap *excessive monopoly profits* from consumers who need the medicine to sustain their lives. As the COVID-19 pandemic abates and we try to rebuild the American economy, we must reorganize how the drug industry works, so that a few companies can squeeze more than their fair (free market) share of profits to the enormous detriment of ordinary people who need medicine.
The same must be done in other industries as well. Consider Bill Gates and Microsoft. It is only because the government has granted them copyrights and patents for their products that they have been able to amass excess profits for decades, enabling Gates to become one of the richest humans on the planet and Microsoft to muscle any new entrepreneurs out of the (vast) market for their integrated products. As has been said, who can compete with Microsoft?
Part Two:
We welcome back Harold Meyerson, editor at large of the American Prospect. We discuss his recent article on America’s police problem – “Why white Males are the last people we should hire to police our cities.” Police-community relations would be much better served by interacting with officers who look like them, think like them, live their lives in the same community.
We also discuss Pres. Trump’s speech on Monday, sounding like he was considering declaring martial law! His previous actions threats have made this threat sound like a course of action he might really take seriously. So we ask: Under what circumstances should a president be able to call out the military to take action against communities within our own country.
On the few occasions in the past that presidents have called out the military, it has been for very different – and ostensibly more legitimate – reasons. E.g., to enforce equal rights when state law enforcement wouldn’t do it (to stop lynchings, or to protect children trying to go to integrated schools in Little Rock.
We note that, when military force was used to put down recent instances of urban unrest, they have led to election victories for tough “law and order” candidates, such as Nixon as president in 1968, Reagan as governor of California in 1965, Mayor Giuliana in NYC and Reardon in LA. Does that history bode well for Pres. Trump in 2020?
