About this episode

Ralph discusses Social Security shortfalls with economist Dean Baker and explores ocean activism with journalist David Helvarg.

Ralph speaks to economist Dean Baker about the hypocrisies behind the supposed Social Security shortfall and Republicans' "waste, fraud, and abuse" panic. Then, Ralph talks to journalist and ocean activist David Helvarg about his new book: Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp. Offer for Ralph Nader Radio Hour Listeners— Armistice Day and the Empire by Matthew Hoh Dean Baker is a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research , where he authors “ Beat the Press ,” his regular commentary on economic reporting. He has written several books, including Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People , The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive , False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy , and The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer . People will hear big numbers. They’ll hear “$300 billion” and they’ll go “Oh my God, that’s a lot of money. That’s money out of my pocket. It’s causing the government deficit,” whatever. That’s because they haven’t given it any context…If we could, in any conceivable world, afford to pay $500 billion to increase…

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