Dr. Hart-Landsberg straight-forwardly explains the stakes of the federal government defaulting, the history of dealing with the debt-ceiling and how the whole issue is being used to further an ideological agenda that, he says, has been destructive of interests of the majority. That agenda shows up in things both the Democrats and Republicans agree on about the public debt: there's a debt crisis that must be gotten under control; the driver of the debt are social programs (not wars, Bush tax-cuts or economic crisis); less government in the economy is better. Bill brings this question of economy back to the environment and they discuss stimulus solutions that go beyond the logic of "government as spender of last resort".
Marty Hart-Landsberg is an economics professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He has a blog, Reports From The Economic Front.
- KBOO