America Trends

 A series of threats have landed on the doorstep of leaders in higher education. These include a demographic cliff which jeopardizes the very existence of some institutions, the advent of AI and the uncertainties it presents for faculty and students prospects going forward, attacks on academic freedom from the Trump Administration, along with threats to cut off funding for research.  All of this in the wake of a ruling striking down affirmative action by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 and the turmoil on campus over treatment of both Jewish students and those demonstrating support for the Palestinian cause.  It’s no wonder the average college president occupies a chair some would ask ‘why would anyone want this job?’  Our guest, Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D, was very successful in serving as the ninth president of Spelman College in Atlanta from 2002-2015.  In her latest book, “Peril and Promise”, she describes her innovative approach to leading a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), single sex institution for that length of time, as well as providing her insightful take on the challenges described above.

 The post-World War II world has seen America defending and trying to export democracy and free markets through its military might and the development of international organizations having the same purpose.  Under the Trump Administration II, and its recently released National Security Strategy the new approach can best be described as an ‘America First’ national security regime.  It is in their words more ‘realistic’ given our fiscal challenges and offshore balance security concerns are to be left to allies closer to where the hotspots are.  It shows growing concern for American business interests around the world, regardless of the political dynamics of the potential customer, and less about promoting more liberal, democratic governments.  There are mixed signals toward our greatest competitor, China, though it clearly disavows the notion of past Administrations that trade and engagement with this country can lead to democratic reforms there.  Some call this policy document a gift to the Russians.  It remains to be seen.  In many cases this document, updated by every Administration is put forward in theory but not in practice. However, we have just seen in the Venezuelan Maduro capture the re-emphasis of dominance in the Western Hemisphere.  To discuss this changing international focus with us is Todd Sheets, author of the Substack newsletter ‘On Wealth and Progress’ and author of the book, “2008: What Really Happened.”

There is a growing awareness about the increasing dangers of plastic.  We see it everywhere, yet some of the invisible plastics contamination, called microplastics or nano-plastics, may be as insidious as what can see. It can be found everywhere in our environment–even our bodies–as a persistent, accumulating toxin, with carcinogens and other hazards.  Our guest, Dr. Jason White, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, along with colleagues from Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with a grant from the USDA, has been studying how plastics are getting into the food that we eat. Plastics are routinely found in agricultural soils and irrigation water.  Tiny shards can slip through water treatment plants into the public water supply and end up in fertilizers, as well.  Agricultural products not only absorb the plastic particles but also increase the accumulation of heavy metals, lead and cadmium, as well as PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals.’ Increasing health risks to humans include heart attack, stroke and colon and lunge cancer.  It’s a distressing picture. Dr. White describes what his research is finding and ways to remediate the problem.

There is a crucially significant case now before the U.S. Supreme Court which may be decided within days or months.  The timing will determine whether its impact is felt in this Congressional cycle (2026) or 2028.  It deals with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark civil rights statute that was re-authorized by Congress nearly by acclamation in 2006.  Even Chief Justice John Roberts, no friend of the law, said at the time that while the Court struck down Section 5 of the Act in 2013 (a provision that required states to get approval from the federal Department of Justice in order for certain states and local jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to redistrict) that Section 2, prohibiting racial gerrymandering, would still be on the books to protect the rights of those populations.  If Section 2 protections are gone, the Voting Rights Act is, in effect, gutted and unworkable as envisioned and has operated over the last sixty years.  Between 12-19 Congressional seats in the Deep South, now represented by Black legislators, could be absorbed into White conservative districts.  To discuss this possibility is David Daley, America’s leading expert on gerrymandering, a Senior Fellow at FairVote (fairvote.org) and author of a number of books on the subject, including his latest “Antidemocratic:  Inside the Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.”

If more Americans regularly saw primary care doctors, many lives–and billions of dollars–could be saved.  The preventative care they provide is crucial as a foundation to the entire health care system.  Yet, the fee-for-service model is an inefficient one and should be replaced by a value-based approach, according to Dr. Troyen Brennan and adjunct professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the author of “Wonderful and Broken: The Complex Reality of Primary Care in the United States.”  He goes on to explain the value-based model in our podcast and forecasts a movement in that direction in the coming years.  And he pays great homage to primary care physicians in the book while recognizing that they are underpaid, overworked, and often incentivized to move into higher-paying specialties while patients face provider shortages and many live in ever-growing primary-care deserts.

 America has had a federal policy described as housing first when dealing with those persons who have no roof over the head and live on the streets.  It is multifaceted problem which requires a bundle of services to help people get their lives in a better place.  And while affordable housing is a big problem in America, the behavioral antecedents, like mental health and addiction, must be addressed as well.  President Trump recently signed an executive order called Ending Disorder on America’s Streets, which is meant to put resources into a more comprehensive approach than what we have done in the recent years. It remains to be seen if this approach will result in greater focus on the range of services that will be required to address the surge of homeless people in America.  Joining us to discuss the issues is Michele Steeb, the founder of the Free Up Foundation and visiting fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness Initiative.  She, along with David Flanagan, is the author of “Answers Behind the Red Door: Battling the Homeless Epidemic.”

Seventy years after Brown vs. Board of Education and the movement to promote educational equality, race and class remain the most reliable predictors of educational achievement in America.  In attempting to address this divide, school reformers have turned to solutions like charter schools, vouchers and other innovations designed to build more choice into the system.  Yet, school choice and conservative and liberal approaches to it have changed over the years.  The inside story of how the school choice movement emerged in the 1990’s presents a situation where Black activists joined forces with conservative lawmakers. Yet today’s school choice movement has evolved, championed by Republicans, conservatives, and faith-based organizations who have taken school choice to a very different place.  And liberals have generally shown a skepticism about many choice options which might starve the public schools of resources.  As test results continue to disappoint, new alliances and approaches may be needed.  We’re joined by Joseph Viteritti, the Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College, and author of “Radical Dreamers: Race, Choice, and the Failure of American Education,” to discuss.

There’s so much that we don’t know about the life, topography and potential of our oceans since only 25 percent of these bodies of water have been mapped in any significant way.  Given that oceans account for 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, we have a long way to go in determining the richness of the ocean and what it can mean to humans in helping to sustain our expanding food, energy and resource needs.  Our guest, James Bellingham, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy and the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of exploration robotics and he is also the author of “How Are Marine Robots Shaping Our Future?”  A contributor on the book is Claudia Geib.  In it he describes the work of these autonomous underwater vehicles and how they are fast changing how humans explore and work in the ocean.  It’s a competitive environment worldwide as these robots race to collect data vital for climate science, offshore energy, aquaculture and business and military applications.  It’s an important conversation about a little discussed advance in science and has implications for our efforts to better understand humans’ prospects in deep space.

 Frustration with government is widespread, but neither party has a vision for making things work sensibly, according to our guest, Philip K. Howard, the chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan organization aimed at simplifying government procedures and practices and the author of his new book, “Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America.”  Hidebound rules delay projects and add costs which then keep important supports from government from getting to the people who need them.  For years, Howard has described the reforms that are needed to empower people in government to use their good judgment and put aside the rulebook.  He has classic examples of well-intended legislation never actually moving from good policy to timely practice and implementation, particularly in the sphere of infrastructure enhancements.  In many ways, we are living off the good public works of our great grandfathers.  And shouldn’t the reams of paperwork in health care be shredded to afford doctors more time to focus on patient care?  DOGE wasn’t the answer, he says.  Nor is the Democrat response to protect the status quo.  He offers a way forward in his book and on this podcast.

 Rare earth minerals may be a misnomer.  While they are critical minerals to our modern, digital life, they are not that rare.  The problem is finding them in concentrated places where it is economically and environmentally responsible to mine them.  This group of 17 metallic elements is crucial for modern technologies due to their magnetic and electrical properties.  They can be found in products as diverse as F-35 fighter jets, iPhones, wind turbines, televisions and night-vision goggles. While there are various ways of extracting them, mining is the primary method, though repurposing them from older digital devices is another approach.  With all that said, their value to modern economies cannot be overstated.  And given China’s stranglehold on the global market and the fact that America only has one functioning mine to date, has been a point of great friction in relations between the two nations.  We explore all of these topics on today’s podcast with Ernest Scheyder, the author of “The War Below:  Lithium, Copper and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives.”

  I'm old enough to remember when ABC, NBC and CBS dominated our television viewing and our consumption of electronic news, and that the viewer had to be in front of the television set at an appointed time to receive the information.  Today, the gatekeeper, who once decided when and what type of news content … Read More Read More

 Where did “The Little House on the Prairie” go?  It's probably in foreclosure and will be sold to a private equity company to build nondescript condominiums.  In its place has grown up a powerful factory farming industry which has no particular affinity for the welfare of the farm animals they sell, the workers they often … Read More Read More

 How has the MAGA movement in Trump 2.0 been so resolute in meeting its objectives, as stated in Project 2025, despite the President's own disavowal of the document?  The ideas of the unitary executive, the politization of the federal bureaucracy and the dismantlement of federal programs, such as USAID, has been so stark in contrast … Read More Read More

 The success of AI will make some fortunes.  Displace others from their professional pursuits.  Enhance productivity for corporations.  Take strain off of many in the medical field.  And more.  While we know that the impact of the colliding technologies which enhance deep learning by machines will have a profound impact, in truth we do not … Read More Read More

The staff of  America Trends Podcast  would like to wish all are listeners A very Happy Thanksgiving    Ira Chaleff, an expert in political followership reveals how political followers can make or ‘brake' toxic leaders and what we can do-no matter our political sophistication or where we sit on the political spectrum-to support beneficial leaders … Read More Read More

 Brody Mullins, and his brother, Luke, wrote the much heralded “The Wolves of K Street”, about how the last fifty years of corporate influence in Washington had shifted Washington D.C.'s center of power from elected officials to extravagantly paid operators, using a new bag of tricks, who bent public policy in favor of corporate interests.  … Read More Read More

The doomsday clock is ticking…and who can we blame if the alarm is sounded and we find out it's too late for the human species to recover?  There's a certain irony that all of the good things that science and technology have wrought, bring with them byproducts which are the key ingredients of our own … Read More Read More

And you think your family has some great achievements and enough demerits to warrant a book?  Well, clearly, author and New Yorker writer, John Seabrook's family, has all of that in triplicate and he spells it all out in the eminently readable “The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.”  His grandfather, … Read More Read More

  For more than sixty years, the United States has trained fewer physicians than it needs.  It is expensive and time-consuming to educate a new doctor, and much more expedient to bring immigrant doctors trained in other countries. And that's what we've done.  This all began, in earnest, with the passage of the Hart-Celler Immigration … Read More Read More

Bitcoin had been a bit player as people designed their financial portfolios.  Investors would ask ‘is this a scam and am I chasing the latest shiny object?'  But today it seems as if cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology that undergirds it is getting newfound respect.  The second Trump Administration has passed The Genius Act and … Read More Read More

 Many of us are unwitting victims of the private equity industry.  Some by virtue of being employed by companies they have bought whose future success or failure may have no impact on the private equity firm's ability to profit from the leveraged buyout of those companies.  In her new book, “Bad Company: Private Equity and … Read More Read More

 It is said that we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction.  Thus, we have taken some steps to protect endangered species–but clearly not enough.  And while the stories we usually tell ourselves about global warming tend to focus on the damage inflicted on human societies by big storms, severe droughts, and rising … Read More Read More

  It can be hard to explain how the actions of the top .01 percent have severe consequences for the rest of us, but in his book, “Burned by Billionaires,” Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, lays it out chapter and verse.  He demonstrates through words and charts how the rest of us … Read More Read More

 America has many challenges in the health industry.  And while our guest, who came to America as an immigrant, wanted desperately to be part of what he considered to be ‘the best medical system in the world' back in 1975, he no longer holds that view. He says that our system has become too politicized, … Read More Read More

 While the ideal of the American woman was to be skinny, now they need to be skinny and have a glow acquired through some combination of daily yoga, vegan makeup and mushroom coffee or tea.  Gwyneth Paltrow's company, GOOP, in many ways best exemplifies this growing industry which rakes in about $5.6 trillion a year … Read More Read More

Refrigeration is considered to be the most impactful invention in the history of food and drink.  And while we focus on our personal refrigerators there is an entire ‘cold chain' of cold storage warehouses, shipping containers, trucks, and display cases, keeping foodstuffs fresh until we can purchase them.  It's a labyrinth never documented in the … Read More Read More

 Diane Ravitch, Ph.D, is a historian of education.  For decades now, she has written, lectured and been interviewed about her views on a range of subjects related to education reform, including standardized testing, vouchers, charter schools and accountability. Early on, she was a proponent of all of the above. She was part of the leadership … Read More Read More

 While we might think that ambulances are always involved in step on the gas exercises–get the paddles out, extricate from a car wreck or save from the effects of a heart attack, in truth there are many folks in the ambulance because they've run out of luck and have no one to call, excepting 9-1-1, … Read More Read More

Tim Bakken, a civilian professor, and the longest-serving law professor in West Point's history, filed a lawsuit recently in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging a new U.S. Military Academy policy regulating faculty speech, which he alleges violates the First Amendment.  You may recall that Professor Bakken was on … Read More Read More

 The euro survived crises unimagined at its founding in 1992, giving European countries a common currency.  First there was the financial meltdown of 2007-2009, the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2012, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  The European Central Bank (ECB) pushed back against these ill winds with dramatic policy innovations, like buying … Read More Read More

To many, the term “Black Capitalists” tips an equation upside down.  Black people were the labor force that built the infrastructure of American capitalism through the violent dictates of legalized slavery, so is it possible in this moment to see Black people as beneficiaries of this system?  And if they are starting to amass capital, … Read More Read More

Oh, the times they are a changing'.  While the focus in a slew of parenting books has been on infancy, adolescence and the teenage years, little has been focused on as it relates to ages 6-12, which is deemed middle childhood.  To many parents there's a sense that the heaviest lifting for them is over.  … Read More Read More

 There are over 400,000 children in foster care in America, costing the state and federal government over $30 billion a year.  So, is the system working?  It's hard to say the system is failing, but perhaps it's more accurate to say that adults all along the way–from the biological families to a host of caregivers–are … Read More Read More

 Most of what we hear lately about higher education relates to the legal battles between the Trump Administration and Harvard, the nation's oldest university.  And while prior to this the leading issue in the news was student debt and overall affordability of college, there are a number of issues that have come to the fore.  … Read More Read More

  We like to imagine that we are safe and immune from much of what we see on the news.  In the case of wildfires, people on the east coast might see it as a west coast phenomenon.  Yet, there have been such fires in New Jersey and the Carolinas recently.  Even those living outside … Read More Read More

As a dog parent, I bristle at doggie dress-ups at the local pet supply store, yet I still eat meat.  Call me a hypocrite.  I accept the critique.  And yet when it comes to animals, there is a stratification as to how we treat them and the title of a book published a few years … Read More Read More

 Let's start with the basics.  What are ‘forever chemicals?'  And so this podcast begins with Professor Matt Simcik, an environmental chemist from the University of Minnesota, trying to explain to me, a layman, what they are.  They have been in the news lately and there are now efforts around the country to limit their use … Read More Read More

 Pneumatic drilling from building sites.  The dull roar of planes overhead.  Your fellow worker's phone conversations in an otherwise silent office.  The suburban drone of lawn mowers and blowers.  Noise seems to be everywhere, and it can disrupt our sleep, ratchet up our stress, destroy our concentration–yet it's a problem we shrug off once the … Read More Read More

While both parties have long histories with gerrymandering Congressional districts for partisan advantage, it's fair to say Republicans have taken it to a new low by interrupting the every ten -year process, based on the census, and doing it at halftime of this cycle.  In the process, they are encouraging Democrats to do the same.  … Read More Read More

 When political discussions take place, they are often focused on how Democrats or Republicans, conservatives versus liberals or red in relation to blue look at an issue.  They leave out a component of the electorate which grows in number and importance year after year–the independent or unaffiliated voter.  In fact, if you really analyze the … Read More Read More

 Can your star quarterback on a powerhouse Division 1 football program get paid as it stands today?  After the recent $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA, which enables universities to directly pay college athletes for their athletic participation, the answer is yes.  First came the NIL ruling in which college players could get paid … Read More Read More

The U.S. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)in 1977 with the key objective of ending redlining, the decades-old practice of neighborhood discrimination by banks against African Americans and others based on race and income.  The race-based rejection of loans to creditworthy residents of redlined neighborhoods delayed the American dream of homeownership for generations.  Our … Read More Read More

  There is irony in a man determined to use the powers of the presidency and the administrative state capacity to disassemble the administrative state, aka ‘the deep state.'  Yet that is what we are seeing with the Trump Administration. The military, Department of Justice, homeland security and ICE are all aspects of the administrative … Read More Read More

   Attorney Ira Shapiro is a man who has seen it all in Washington. As a long-time U.S. Senate staffer, he has written three books about the upper chamber. The collection has been described by one scholar as an ‘epic trilogy', capturing sixty years of Senate history.  He was the chief U.S. trade negotiator with … Read More Read More

 Many lawsuits have been brought against the second Trump Administration on the basis of overreach of its authority in trying to enact policies. President Trump declared victory over ‘radical left wing judges' when the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the concept of the ‘universal' injunction, wherein one lower federal court can make a ruling which … Read More Read More

In 2019, the quiet suburb of New Canaan, Connecticut was shocked by the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who vanished one morning after dropping her kids off to school.  In 2020, her husband Fotis Dulos–with whom she was locked in a contentious divorce–and Fotis's lover, Michelle Troconis, were charged with Jennifer's murder, … Read More Read More

America is a leader in scientific pursuits.  This fact that is underpinned by much evidence.  While the United States represents only 4 percent of the world's population it accounts for over half of science Nobel Prizes awarded since 2000, hosts seven of the Times Higher Education Top 10 science universities, and has introduced to the … Read More Read More

 The type of extensive evil that went on under Adolf Hitler back in the 1930's and 40's requires an apparatus that enlists ‘average' Germans of the era doing their jobs.  No one man could have done it alone.  Bringing this story forward, in authoritarian regimes around the globe there are people looking away at the … Read More Read More

 Ten states in this country have container deposit legislation, popularly called “bottle bills”.  The first one was passed in Oregon decades ago.  Container deposit legislation requires a refundable deposit on certain types of recyclable beverage containers in order to boost recycling rates.  First these measures were seen as an antidote to litter and an environmentally … Read More Read More

 Do you ever go to your primary care physician and are seen on time?  In a modern-looking facility?  Without the doctor having his or her hand on the door to signal a need to get to the next patient? In our sophisticated society, do you think we can get it right in combining cutting-edge technology … Read More Read More

Just as big box retail stores have given way to more boutique and on-line retail environments, grocery shoppers are drawn these days to stores with a curated selection of essentials at lower prices. Stores like the brother rivals of Aldi's and Trader Joe's are examples.  Do we really need 10 choices of olive oil?  Too … Read More Read More