How Do We Fix It?

In a year of crazy politics, disdain for the views of experts, and deep partisan divisions, we look beyond anger and fear stoked by cable TV, talk radio and social media to learn eight deeper lessons of where we are today and in what direction we are headed.Here are the eight “Fix It” takeaways as we head into 2019. Warning: Some are hopeful!1. “Women just aren’t going to take it anymore.” We discuss the growing power of women in politics, entertainment and hear why workplace programs to stop the widespread crisis of sexual harassment could be so much better than most initiatives are today. 2. “Debt is back in a big, bad way. Why the debate over rising federal deficits and the nation’s debt mountain will grow in 2019. 3. “The economy slows down and financial worries heat up.”As Wall Street volatility returns, reporter and author Diana Henriques tells us what new financial protections are needed to prevent a future meltdown.4. “Don’t count capitalism out.” We pushback against the recent celebration of socialism and discuss why markets are still the best way to enable opportunity for all—even despite fears that AI will take all the jobs and inequality will destroy the middle class. 5.”Identity Politics Are Back (And that’s not a good thing.)”. Political tribes were a big theme for us in 2018: The decline of civil debate and the view of some that those they disagree with are their enemies. Can ideas be traumatizing and is support for free speech and democracy declining?6. “New Hope From The Heartland.” Why it’s not all opioids and despair. We look at promising developments in towns and cities across the country. 7.“Things Are Better Than You Think “ At a time when many are gripped by optimism and fear we look at the powerful case for optimism. 8. “So far the system works.” From the Mueller investigation to gains made in 2018 by the economy and business, we look at how the system is holding up from assaults by extremists on the right and left. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America is facing a reading crisis. According to a government survey the number of adults who read for pleasure has fallen by more than 30% in less than 15 years. Another recent study found that Americans watch an average of three hours of TV a day, compared to less than half-an-hour spent reading."Reading is seeing the world through someone else's eyes", says Professor Joseph Luzzi of Bard College , our guest in this episode. "Social media is a mirror," says Joseph. "You look into it and your tastes and interests are reflected back on you. Literature is a prism. You look into it and you are engaged, as Virginia Wolfe said, with the mind of someone else."The decline in reading and the popularity of social media may have profound impacts on democracy, feeding into our deep partisan division, and reinforcing extreme opinions.We discuss how reading Dante helped save Joseph after he became a widower and a father on the same day. We also learn about his 4-for-45 prescription for how reading literature can bring pleasure enlightenment to our daily lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The high stakes show-down between the U.S. and China on tariffs, trade and cyber security threatens to disrupt the global economy. Growing tensions were temporarily put on pause during a recent meeting at the Group of 20 summit between President Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping. But many long-term challenges remain. Relations with China are the most important foreign policy issue.The Trump Administration imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods and has pushed back against China's trade policies and aggressive attempts to exploit U.S. technology to boost its own economy. Under Xi, China has reversed a three-decade trend towards greater political and economic opening. In this episode we look at how the U.S. and the West should deal with a more assertive, confident and anti-democratic China. Our guest is the respected scholar, Elizabeth Economy, Director for Asia Studies at The Council on Foreign Relations and the author of the highly praised book, "The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. She is among "a distinguished group of China specialists" who have long favored engagement with Beijing, but are now advocating the United States take a more forceful approach as China attempts to undermine democratic values."Managing this relationship is essential," says Elizabeth Economy. "It cannot allowed to it to spiral down too far." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What you think is true doesn't necessarily line up with reality. From the heated debate over gun violence deaths to our views about violent crime and global poverty, many of us have serious perception gaps. Democracy can be damaged when public opinion is out-of-step with the facts.The opioid epidemic is often in the headlines and was recently declared a public health emergency. But did you know there's another substance that kills far more people every year? Another example: massacres at schools, malls and other public places get massive media coverage, but they account for a tiny percentage of gun deaths.Our guest in this episode is Samantha Laine Perfas, host of the new podcast series, "Perception Gaps". She tells us "there are things we perceive to be true that are simply not. And challenging us to think about these misperceptions... begins to peel back the layers of why we believe what we believe."We hear fascinating and deeply personal stories from several recent guests on "Perception Gaps," including addiction expert and former federal drug czar Michael Botticelli, Captain Perri Johnson, Commander of the Juvenile Division at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and Professor Jennifer Stuber of the University of Washington School of Social Work, who studies suicide prevention and mental health.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The opioid and heroin epidemic has caused massive destruction suffering and pain. After rising for many decades, America’s life expectancy rate has dropped for the past two years in a row. Nearly 50 thousand Americans last year were the victims of opioid overdose deaths--twice the rate of other wealthy nations.But now, because of impressive initiatives to tackle the crisis, there are small glimmers of hope. The death-rate might be starting to fall. This month, a New York Times report highlighted a plunge in fatal overdoses in Dayton, Ohio, which had one of the highest rates in 2017.Among the possible solutions we hear about is GROW, a local effort that dispatches teams of social workers, medics, police officers and recovery experts to the homes of people who've overdosed.  We also discuss the FDA's approval of the controversial synthetic opioid, Dsuvia, to treat cases of extreme pain, and the recent passage of a bipartisan bill to fight the epidemic.For this episode, we include last year's "How Do We Fix It?" interview with journalist Sam Quinones, author of the highly praised book, "Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artificial intelligence will lead to sweeping changes in our society, economy and relationship with work. China has suddenly caught up with The United States and will exercise much greater technological power in the future."We will not have to do routine jobs anymore," says our guest, Kai-Fu-Lee. "AI will take over in the next 15 to 20 years all the routine jobs that we have and work efficiently and essentially for free and 24/7 with no complaints."This creates both daunting and exciting challenges for our future, argues Dr. Lee, who is one of the world's leading AI experts. He has been in AI research, development and investment for more than thirty years.His new book is "AI Super-Powers: China, Silicon Valley and The New York Order."We discuss deep learning and how AI can learn things by itself, recognizing faces, speech and patterns. Artificial can do sophisticated customer service, telemarketing, loan approvals and many forms of blue-collar work such as dishwashing, fruit picking and assembly line work.This episode also discusses the AI revolution in China. While "The U.S. is stronger in research and technology, China is faster with implementation and has more data," says Dr. Lee. In a recent interview with Thomas Friedman of The New York Times he said: "If data is the new oil, then China is the new Saudi Arabia."  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, we speak with best-selling author and "immersive journalist" A.J. Jacobs about his extraordinary gratitude project and brand new book, "Thanks a Thousand".He decided to say "thank you" to every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. "It turned out to be thousands of people," A.J. tells us. "I thanked the barista, the lid designer and the coffee bean farmer, but also the truck driver who delivered the beans. The idea is to show the interdependence and interconnectivity of our world."We hear useful insights about gratitude, including tips that can be helpful and fun at Thanksgiving Day gatherings. This episode is a joint "simul-pod" with our friends at "Half Hour of Heterodoxy" podcast. Deb Mashek, Executive Director of the Heterodox Academy is the co-host along with Richard and Jim. In our confrontational and troubled times, this episode is a reminder that cooperation plays a vital role in many of the most basic human rituals. "To make a cup of coffee, you need dozens of countries, and so it's partly an argument against this rise of nationalism and tribalism to show that we are so interconnected," says A.J.Several books and lectures are mentioned, including "Enlightenment Now" by Stephen Pinker and "I Pencil" by economist Milton Friedman. A.J .recommends a worthwhile charity: Dispensers for Safe Water, an innovative low-cost approach to increase rates of household chlorination in East Africa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the most inspiring, exasperating, unique, important, and first-in-our-lifetime results from the Midterm Elections? In this special edition, Jim and Richard give their Quick Fixes take on how American voted.We discuss: Donald Trump's turnout gift, why the economy played a far larger role than election analysts admit; the serious problems that now face both Republicans and Democrats, the insidious impact of gerrymandering, how celebrities failed to motivate voters, and why the handwringing about money in politics has been put on hold for now.From Glenn Reynolds' view that the result was more of a purple puddle than a blue wave, to why the year of the woman shattered fund-raising and attention-getting glass ceilings, this record-setting election can be interpreted in a variety of interesting ways.As for what's next? Jim and Richard discuss the power of small solutions and why the new Congress must focus on legislation as well as investigations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can America recover from hatred, distrust and resentment that have lead to deep divisions, the fraying of our civic institutions and even violence, such as the recent Pittsburgh synagogue shooting?This episode, recorded at ReCity in Durham, North Carolina, is the third in our renewing democracy podcasts, where we report on collaborative efforts to promote respect and bridge divides.The idea behind this series is that if we’re going to pull back from the political precipice, it’s going to come first locally, not nationally. We’ve seen what hate and fear and can do, perhaps it’s time to try love, or at least tolerance. ReCity is a shared office space-- similar to a We Works for dozens of local social action non-profits and companies-- where organizations are housed in an open-plan office under one roof. We look at how their hard work can bring people together and lead to social change. "I believe there is hope for our communities, but when you turn on the news right now, you don't find that," says ReCity's Executive Director, Rob Shields. "This is an opportunity to show that hope and unity are possible in a community, and I think right now that's not a message that we are hearing from a lot of the channels we absorb information through." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Polarization is tearing us apart. Bullying and bluster are two of the most common ingredients in American democracy.How can we renew democracy and restore the sort of trust that is essential for governance? This episode looks at the constructive and energetic responses of two local and national groups in Minnesota.We visit a Living Room Conversation discussion on race at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and speak with the co-founder of Better Angels, Bill Doherty, a University of Minnesota Professor, who is working with others to bridge partisan divides.We also meet Tiffany Wilson-Worsley, a family and community specialist in Minneapolis, who works as a facilitator for discussions on race relations."We have this pervasive need to be human with one another," she says. "There are so many divides, and I think the goal is to bring us all together to get to know one another, but also to grow together."Both groups promote guided conversations in a safe space, and establish ground rules for difficult discussions. They aim to build trust among participants of various viewpoint, social class, gender, ethic and racial backgrounds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.