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On the Air with Alan Colmes
On the Alan Colmes radio show we talked about some of the mistakes the U.S. has made in Iraq and Syria, and how the future of the region can only end in chaos.
We also discussed where ISIS came from, why the State Department went after me after writing We Meant Well, and what it really means to “rebuild” Iraq.
Listen to the full audio here.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
On The Jim Bohannon Show: Why Walmart (Hearts) Food Stamps
Following my Reuter’s piece on how Walmart, McDonalds and others profit from food stamps, I joined radio host Jim Bohannon to discuss food stamps, the minimum wage, and more.According to Jim:
When you slide into the drive-up lane at your local fast-food place and decide which of the ‘value menu’ items you choose, do you ever think about how the restaurant chain manages to keep those prices down? The fact is, you’re paying a higher price than is on the menu board. While you may get a quick, cheap burger and a dollar soft drink right away, on April 15 your tax dollars are going to pay for assistance programs helping the people who cook and serve your ‘cheap’ lunch.
Employees in the fast-food industry, many of whom work at the minimum wage, are heavy recipients of Federal and state assistance, especially taking advantage of SNAP, the Federal food stamps program. According to our guest tonight, columnist and author Peter Van Buren, fast food workers claim public assistance at more than twice the rate of other employed people. In effect, the corporations running the fast food chains are reaping big profits while the taxpayer foots the bill for the assistance programs allowing those corporations’ employees to survive. ‘Think everything on a dollar menu costs a dollar? Think again.’
Here’s the whole interview. My portion starts at 40:10 in.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Interview with KGNU: Ghosts of Tom Joad
I recently spoke with KGNU‘s Claudia Cragg about my personal work experience at a store I call “Bullseye,” in the minimum wage Big Box economy and how this led to Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99Percent.
Ghosts looks up close at the drastic effects of social and economic changes in America between WWII and the decline of the blue collar middle class in the 1980’s right up to today.
Have a listen to the full interview.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Radio Interview: The Burt Cohen Show
Here’s my interview about the First Amendment and America’s descent into a state I call Post-Constitutional America with host Burt Cohen, on WOOL, 91.5 FM in Vermont, and WNHN 94.7 FM in New Hampshire.
The full interview online.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Interview: I Go to Hell Again
“Our rights are subject to the government’s desire to allow us to exercise them.”
This is Hell! is a fascinating talk radio program on Chicago’s WNUR 89.3 FM, and podcast online. I spoke with them recently. Here’s what they had to say about the conversation:From real life battlefields in real life Iraq to metaphorical battlefields in fictionalized Ohio, Peter Van Buren‘s books detail lives caught up in failing systems, both real (We Meant Well) and imaginary (his first novel: Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99 Percent.)
In Peter’s third appearance on This is Hell!, he discusses how his years in Iraq inform his ideas about the current violence wrecking parts of the nation, how government surveillance in the U.S. has radically changed the character of American democracy, and the real world ghosts haunting the protagonist of his new book.
Have a listen to the full interview.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Interview with Jordana Green, CBS Radio
I recently sat down with Jordana Green of CBS radio’s WCCO 830AM, Minnesota, to talk about working in the minimum wage economy, whistleblowing and my book, Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99 Percent.
Here’s the whole show. My portion begins at 20:56 in.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Radio Interview: Between the Lines, with Scott Harris
Here’s a radio interview I did with Scott Harris, host of Between the Lines. Follow this link for the full interview.
The focus of the interview is how the 2003 invasion of Iraq upset a fragile but workable balance of power in the Middle East, unleashing the chaos we are witnessing today playing out in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. So the short version: yes, it is all our fault, and more airstrikes and drone killings will work out in current Iraq about as well as they have in Yemen, Libya and all the other places where lacking any alternative besides getting out, the U.S. just lashes out.
Between The Lines describes itself as “a weekly syndicated half-hour news magazine featuring progressive perspectives on national and international political, economic and social issues” which seems about right. Have a listen to the interview!
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
On the Alex Jones Show
I join radio host Alex Jones to discuss the situation in the Ukraine, and my new book Ghosts of Tom Joad. The part about the broader societal and economic issues underlying Ghosts begins at 13:30.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Radio Interview with Bob Fitrakis, 102.1 FM in Columbus, Ohio
An interview with radio host Bob Fitrakis at 102.1 FM in Columbus, Ohio.
We discuss Ghosts of Tom Joad, as well as the implications of a society where 99 percent of the people are beholden to one percent for their lives. You can sell your labor, but do you also have to sell your soul?
Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman co-wrote Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election?, Essential Documents, and How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008. He co-wrote What Happened in Ohio? A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election with Steven Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman. So you know we had a lot to talk about.
The full interview is online here.
My portion starts about 10:50 in.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Radio Interviews: Rick Smith, Peter B. Collins and Ian Masters
Enjoyed a couple of good radio interviews recently about my book, Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99Percent. Here they are (click on the BOLD headlines to hear the interview!) This is just like me in person, only with a volume control.
My portion starts at 14:30.
We talk how “jobs created” is a poor statistical way to gauge how things are going, as many/most of those jobs are minimum wage and do not pay enough for a person to actually live on his/her wages. The worker is left with a devil’s choice between hunger and food stamps. But the numbers look good on da’ TV.
It is actually worse. The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April 2014. Good news! But 377,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits in the week ended January 21, up 21,000 from 356,000 claims the week before. Rick Smith and I sort it out.
My portion starts about one minute in.
Peter B. and I cover the new book in detail, as well as the factual background of economics behind the (semi-) fictional story of Ghosts.
For example, in 2012, 46.2 million people in the United States lived in poverty. The nation’s official poverty rate is 15.0%. By the way, according to the U.S. government, if you as a single person earn more than $11,344 you are officially not impoverished. The bar seems pretty low– the average one-bedroom apartment rent in Tulsa, Oklahoma is about $7500 a year, leaving you as a non-poverty person with a sweet, sweet $3800 to eat, pay utilities, car, clothes, etc. Most places in America have higher costs of living than Tulsa.
The interview is primarily on the failures of U.S. diplomacy over the Ukraine.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Live on the Jon Wiener Show, April 30 at 3pm, KPFK 90.7
For anyone in Los Angeles and elsewhere, I’ll be joining host Jon Wiener today, April 30, at 3pm PST on KPFK 90.7 to talk about Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99Percent, the minimum wage and economic inequality in the U.S.
The U.S. is now an astonishingly unequal society, with wealth piling up at the top so fast that it will be impossible to reverse.
If you’re familiar with French economist Thomas Piketty’s best-selling 700-page book on the long-term trends in inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century
you know about the intellectual and econometric causes and effects of what is happening to our society. Tune in today and learn about what that same society now looks like from the ground level.If you’re not in LA this afternoon, you can also listen in via the web:
Archived. My portion begins at 26:30.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Interview: The Brian Oxman Show and Tom Joad
I enjoyed once again joining Talk Radio Network’s Brian Oxman for an interview about my current book Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the #99Percent. We traced the roots of the 99 percent, and talked about who Tom Joad is, and how his story is still relevant today in understanding our economy. Have a listen:
Part One
Oxman Van Buren Interview Part 1
Part Two
Oxman Van Buren Interview Part 2
Still not sure who Tom Joad? Watch this video and hear Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Elvis Costello, and Mumford and Sons answer:
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Interview: The Daily Report, KTNF AM950 in Minnesota
While some media outlets still roll their hipstar eyes when someone wants to talk about the dilution of the Middle Class, deindustrialization and the working poor, the Midwest gets it. Hell, they live it.
So it was a pleasure to talk Ghosts of Tom Joad with Aaron Klemz of The Daily Report, KTNF AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
Here’s some audio from that interview. Scroll down for the sound from “The Daily Report Hour 2 – April 25, 2014” and hit play.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
What Would You Ask Condi? Interviews with KALW and KPCC
I had the pleasure of two interesting radio interviews recently, with “Your Call” on KALW in San Francisco, and the Madeleine Brand Show on KPCC, public radio for Southern California.
“Your Call” was especially interesting, stumping me (temporarily) with the question of what would I ask Condi Rice about Iraq if given the opportunity. Listen to the podcast to hear my answer.
Both interviews are brief and entertaining. Listen to them online: Your Call and Madeline Brand!
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Live on Portland Radio
I’ll be interviewed live Wednesday at 10 EST on KPOJ radio, from Portland, about my book.
If you’d like to listen in, it will be streaming on the web.
Go to www.620kpoj.com, choose ON AIR BLOGS and then from that menu select LISTEN LIVE.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
Buy Peter’s Books on Amazon!
