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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.
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