Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Part 1: Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy in Focus | Download MP3

Part 2: Massie Ritsch, Center for Responsive Politics | Download MP3

Part 3: Winslow Wheeler, Center for Defense Information | Download MP3

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Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Conn Hallinan, Foreign policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus and a provost in Journalism at the University of California at Santa Cruz | Download MP3

Massie Ritsch, Center for Responsive Politics | Download MP3

Massie Ritsch is the Communications Director for the Center for Responsive Politics. He’s also been a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and a a communications strategist for a Los Angeles public affairs firm.

Winslow Wheeler, Director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information | Download MP3

Winslow T. Wheeler worked on national security issues for 31 years for members of the U.S. Senate and for the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). He was the first, and according to Senate records the last, Senate staffer to work simultaneously on the personal staffs of a Republican and a Democrat.

He’s also the editor of the new report: America’s Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress

Today, we are in such a time of political upheaval and economic crisis. Just as outlined by Naomi Klein, in this time of shock, large banks and financial interests are trying to push through corporate-friendly policies. Can we somehow break the cycle of shocks with a new administration? This week, Business Matters will explore how the lame-duck Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve are applying a kind shock therapy to the economy, and we’ll spend the hour with the best-selling author of The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein.

Naomi Klein, Author of The Shock Doctrine | Download MP3

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times and international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Published worldwide in September 2007, The Shock Doctrine is set to be translated into 20 languages to date. You can read an excerpt of the book here.

Most recently, she’s been writing about the exploitation of the credit crisis:
-Naomi Klein: “In Praise of a Rocky Transition”
-Naomi Klein: “The Bailout Profiteers”

Her previous book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies was also an international bestseller, translated into over 28 languages with more than a million copies in print. Naomi Klein writes a regular column for The Nation and The Guardian that is syndicated internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. In 2004, her reporting from Iraq for Harper’s Magazine won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism.

Check out the six minute companion film to The Shock Doctrine, created by Alfonso Cuaron, director of “Children of Men.” It was an Official Selection of the 2007 Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times.

Today, we are in such a time of political upheaval and economic crisis. Just as outlined by Naomi Klein, in this time of shock, large banks and financial interests are trying to push through corporate-friendly policies. Can we somehow break the cycle of shocks with a new administration? This week, Business Matters will explore how the lame-duck Bush Administration and the Federal Reserve are applying a kind shock therapy to the economy, and we’ll spend the hour with the best-selling author of The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein.

Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Naomi Klein, Author of The Shock Doctrine | Download MP3

View the full details…

A few months ago I was reading an article in the The Atlantic titled, Infectious Exuberance. The article is about the factors that led to the meltdown in the housing market. What caught my attention was the way the author spoke about mood. As a student of cultures, I see the strong dynamic that mood plays for whatever culture I may be a member of. It could be the community where I live, the church I attend or the company where I work.

Robert Shiller, pointed out that the underlying factor that is always present in similar situations of a boom is contagious optimism. When we had the Internet bubble bust in 2001, we could track the contagious optimism that guided the decisions of investors who felt that the market was going to continue to rise indefinitely. This same enthusiasm was at play when we felt that housing prices that had been rising rapidly in many areas would continue to do so.

When history is considered, it would show us that in a world of capitalism there has always been rise and fall. This rise and fall is predictable and absolute. So what is it that keeps us from seeing the inevitable when we are in what Shiller calls a bubble? He points out that these bubble are social phenomena. Going further, I feel they are a collective mindset that has a simple story attached to it, “you can get rich without creating anything of value yourself.”

This mindset is so intoxicating that you can only see a reality that supports the mindset. Those that are not infected by the mindset see the world much differently. The know about expansion and contraction and watch diligently for the inevitable change. I mention this to you because this same phenomena of bubbles can be at play in every aspect of our lives.

Now we are on the other side of the economic bubble, the bust part. It isn’t really much different than the boom. In the bust phase, we believe things will continue to get worse. This pessimism continues and, just like the boom phase, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy until it runs out of steam. Then the next boom cycle will begin.

There are some who say we are in such a down swing that the next up cycle won’t happen for six or seven years. I don’t know. What I do know is that we are in a time of adjustment. This boom thinking has run its course. This time around there are different characteristics than in previous busts. For example, for the most part everyone is affected no matter where they live. We have build a very interdependent social and economic system. In past bust cycles, the impact was felt in multiple places, but not everywhere. This is why it is difficult to predict when something will change to move out of the bust cycle and what the change will look like.

I am very curious to watch this cycle to see where it leads. What about you?

Until later,

Thomas

Technorati Tags: Awareness, Deliberateness, simplicity, Truth, Wisdom

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Part 1: David Altheide, Author of Terrorism and the Politics of Fear | Download MP3

David Altheide, PhD, is Regents’ Professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University, where he has taught for 34 years. His research focuses on how mass media and information technology have powerful roles in social control.

The most recent books are Terrorism and the Politics of Fear and Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis. His recent research focuses on how news reports about “fear” have evolved over time. Along with his students, he’s been investigating how the language of law enforcement and the military has infused popular culture. He’s identified the critical elements of successful media messages, and how critical consumers of information can better understand “media logic.”

Dr. Altheide is a three-time winner of the Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.  In 2005, Dr. Altheide received the George Herbert Mead Award for lifetime contributions from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. His next book, currently in preparation, is The Mass Media and Terrorism After 9/11.

Part 2: Paul Borgese, Creator of FEAR Selling | Download MP3

Paul Borgese has been writing and lecturing about e-commerce and online marketing from its inception.  He’s also the author of M&A From Planning to Integration and FEAR Selling: How To Sell More and Sell Faster By Tapping Into Your Prospects’ Deep-Seated Emotional Needs. You can receive Paul’s free ebook, The 7 Deadly Sins of Selling, here.

Paul also manages the Emerging Markets Group of The Associated Press Digital Division, and advises EyeCatcher Interactive a digital strategy and marketing firm. He’s worked on marketing initiatives with the Federal Reserve System, J.P. Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, McKinsey & Company, IBM, The Wall Street Journal Online, the Paris Chamber of Commerce, and many others.

Paul teaches marketing and international business at New York University, Pace University, and Baruch College, City University of New York. He also is an childrens’ author and singer/songwriter, including the book, When Fish Go Peopling, and the Parents’ Choice Award-Winning CD, Even the Monkeys Fall Out of the Trees.

Part 3: Naomi Klein, Author of The Shock Doctrine | Download MP3

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times and international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Published worldwide in September 2007, The Shock Doctrine is set to be translated into 20 languages to date. You can read an excerpt of the book here.

Her previous book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies was also an international bestseller, translated into over 28 languages with more than a million copies in print. Naomi Klein writes a regular column for The Nation and The Guardian that is syndicated internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. In 2004, her reporting from Iraq for Harper’s Magazine won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism.

Check out the six minute companion film to The Shock Doctrine, created by Alfonso Cuaron, director of “Children of Men.” It was an Official Selection of the 2007 Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times.

Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Part 1: David Altheide, Author of “Terrorism and the Politics of Fear“ | Download MP3

Part 2: Paul Borgese, Creator of FEAR Selling | Download MP3

Part 3: Naomi Klein, Author of “The Shock Doctrine” | Download MP3

View the full details…

Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Part 1: James Galbraith, Economist |Download MP3

James Galbraith is an economist and the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Most recently, he’s the author of “The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too”.

In the early 80’s, he was a congressional staffer, eventually becoming the Executive Director for the Joint Economic Committee.  He has been actively involved with issues of peace and justice, serving as Chair of Economists for Peace and Security and the Director of the University of Texas Inequality Project

Part 2: Peter Block, Leadership Consultant | Download MP3

Peter Block is an author and leadership consultant based in Cincinnati, Ohio. His work has focused on leadership, community reconciliation and accountability.  In 2004, he won the Members’ Choice Award from the Organization Development Network, which recognized his book “Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used” (1st edition 1980, 2nd edition 1999) as the most influential book among organizational development practitioners over the last 40 years. His other books have included “Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest” and “The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work”
His books focus on ways to create positive workplaces and communities and bring change into the world through consent and connectedness rather than through mandate and force. Peter’s latest book, Community: The Structure of Belonging, was released in May 2008. He is also a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed by Peter to build the skills outlined in his books.

Part 3: Lewis Pitts, Public Interest Attorney | Download MP3

Lewis Pitts has been a public interest lawyer for over 32 years, focusing on racial and environmental justice, children’s rights and participatory democracy. He’s the Senior Managing Attorney of the Advocates for Children’s Services, a statewide project of Legal Aid of NC. He’s also a member of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy. Lewis has appeared on Larry King Live and ABC’s Good Morning America discussing children’s rights and has been arrested six times (but never convicted) protesting nuclear power. He is the 2005 recipient of the W.W. Finlator Award from the ACLU.

Listen to the Full Episode | Download MP3

Part 1: James Galbraith, Economist |Download MP3

Part 2: Peter Block, Leadership Consultant | Download MP3

Part 3: Lewis Pitts, Public Interest Attorney | Download MP3

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Something changed. I am uncertain when this change happened. This change is a disruption of the normal operating rules. I will elaborate at a future time about what is the cause of these changes and the fallout that is rapidly occurring due to the change.

What we can see as an outward sign of the disruption of the normal flow of things is the lack of a creditable approach to restoring confidence of investors in the value of companies in all sectors of the economic system. Normally, I wouldn’t write about this type of thing in this BLOG, but the impact is so far reaching that I am writing about it everywhere. There are many who have been heralding this change. I have not taken them as seriously as I could have because most of their writing is fear based. I don’t find that useful. I did forget however, that I can gain value from listening to a fearful conversation if I look to the factors that created the fear rather than be caught up in the emotion.

Yesterday as part of the preparation for next week’s radio program on the real truth of the $700B bailout, I was talking with a journalist who was a former Assistant Secretary of Treasury in the Reagan administration. This person is very clear about the factors that are causing the current crisis. One of the things that I took away from the conversation is that the people who created the chaotic system we are trying to change were creators of the system.

As Albert Einstein was to have said, “A problem can’t be solved by the same consciousness that created it”. This situation can’t be solved by those who created it. They are digging deeper and deeper holes that generations to come will be saddled with. The prosperity we have experienced for several generations is crumbling.

What to do? That is a question that is consuming my whole attention. For the walk from here will be much different than the journey so far. I will share with you what I feel are reasonable steps for anyone who chooses to take charge of their situation rather than be at the effect of others choices.

Until later,.

Thomas

Technorati Tags: authenticity, change management, dotherightthing, integrity, Knowing, leadership, Politics, Relocalization, Wisdom