There’s an economic crisis but is capitalism itself in crisis? It certainly doesn’t appear very healthy with foreclosure rates mounting, food prices and energy costs soaring, and daily calls for taxpayers to bail out banks. And the government seems to have little in the way of solutions. As Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine says on our panel tonight, “Bush is an advertisement for the uselessness of government.” His calls for consumers to spend more along with Phil Gramm’s comment that the crisis is mental indicate a level of cognitive dissonance that we haven’t seen since, well, Hurricane Katrina. There are two worlds in this country and the schism is widening.

Here to discuss the current economic crises along with Klein are Jeff Madrick, author of The Case for Big Government, and Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of the Taxi Workers Alliance.

And a conversation with Ethan Canin, author of America America and David Rosen, Editor in Chief of the Progressive Book Club. Canin talks about the empathy of fiction and how looking through the keyhole into other worlds can change the way we think about ourselves and about politics. He calls it a politics of generosity and says that fiction allows people to understand these other worlds. Plus some suggestions on what to read this summer.

Finally the American News Project on contract oversight in Iraq. Kellogg Brown and Root’s malfeasance leads to the death of at least 11 American soldiers. And from Pangea Day, creative ways of playing football in Mozambique. All that and more on GRITtv.


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