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We're talking economics on this episode of Union Talk, but you won't need a Ph.D. to join the conversation. This episode focuses on how the economic policies of President Trump and Elon Musk hurt working and middle-class Americans—many of the same people who voted for Trump hoping he would help reduce costs and help working people achieve a better life. Economic expert Damon Silvers joins to set the baseline for the damage Trump and Musk are doing, and teachers Greg Cruey and Ternesha Burroughs share what their communities in Minnesota and West Virginia are experiencing. The group also discusses the labor movement's role in moving an agenda for broad-based opportunity and ensuring working people and their children have a shot at the American dream.
In a matter of a few days, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed when a panic set in, causing a run on deposits. “The blue chip VCs suggested something, then that leaked to other ones, then other ones — we had all our investors calling us and basically demanding we pull our cash,” one source told Ryan Grim. This week on Deconstructed, Grim is joined by Damon Silvers, who has been involved in trying to prevent financial fraud and crisis for more than 20 years. He was the deputy chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the 2008 bank bailout, and was formerly the policy director of the AFL-CIO.Grim and Silver discuss what led to a rush of Silicon Valley Bank depositors withdrawing all at once, the subsequent fallout, how the weakening of Dodd–Frank in 2018 paved the way for the current banking crisis, and what reforms are needed to prevent a future and even bigger economic catastrophe.If you'd like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give, where your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.And if you haven't already, please subscribe to the show so you can hear it every week. And please go and leave us a rating or a review — it helps people find the show. If you want to give us additional feedback, email us at Podcasts@theintercept.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. On this episode, Ph.D. student Nai Kalema and MPA alumni Justin Beirold talk to IIPP Visiting Professor of Practice, Damon Silvers. For over 30 years, Damon has been a leading voice in the US labour movement. He tells Justin and Nai how he got involved in labour activism during the dining hall worker strikes and anti-apartheid protests when he was an undergraduate at Harvard. He talks about how the labour movement has changed over his career, and how we are now at a crucial inflection point for aligning the objectives of unions, environmental activism, and innovation policy. As Damon is also a scholar of constitutional law, he also provides a lengthy explanation of the recent right-wing supreme court rulings in the US, and how we might be able to overcome them. This is a long interview - the longest we have done so far on this podcast. But it is also a really good conversation! So rather than cutting it into pieces, we've provided a few time stamps so you can skip around if you desire. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Damon Silvers! ******* - 3 min 40 sec: Damon's life journey, undergraduate labour activism. - 29 min 30 sec: the anti-apartheid movement - 35 minutes: How Damon started working for unions - 44 min 30 sec: The past, present, and future of the organised labour - 59 min 30 sec: Joining IIPP, and his lectures on "Climate Change, innovation, and the labour movement." - 1 hr 33 min: The US Supreme Court rulings of Summer 2022 ********Guest Bio: Damon A. Silvers a Visiting Professor in Labour Markets and Innovation at the UCL IIPP. He is on sabbatical from the AFL-CIO where is has served as the Director of Policy and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO. He joined the AFL-CIO as Associate General Counsel in 1997. From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Silvers served as the Deputy Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP. Mr. Silvers has also served on the Treasury Department's Financial Research Advisory Committee, as the Chair of the Competition Subcommittee of the United States Treasury Department Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession and as a member of the United States Treasury Department Investor's Practice Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets. Mr. Silvers led the successful efforts to restore pensions to the retirees of Cannon Mills lost in the Executive Life collapse and the severance owed to laid off Enron and WorldCom workers following the collapse of those companies. He served from 2003 to 2006 as pro bono Counsel to the Chairman of ULLICO, Inc. and in that capacity led the successful effort to recover over $50 million related to improperly paid executive compensation. Mr. Silvers received his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School. He received his M.B.A. with high honors from Harvard Business School and is a Baker Scholar. Mr. Silvers is a graduate of Harvard College, summa cum laude, and has studied history at Kings College, Cambridge University. Recorded in Summer 2022 *******-Check out Damon's IIPP lectures on Labour, Innovation, and Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34XWAmzeJ0 -Blog: "The End of the Roberts Court" https://damonsilvers.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-roberts-court -Follow Damon on Twitter:@DamonSilvers -See Damon's full bio: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/people/damon-silvers Learn about our hosts: - Justin Beirold - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/justin-beirold - Nai Kalema - https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/nai-lee-kalema -Follow IIPP on Twitter: @IIPP_UCL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/ -Production and music by Justin Beirold
Welcome to Valuable Conversations with the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. On this episode, MPA alumni Justin Beirold sits down with Ph.D. candidate Nai Kalema. If you have been following this podcast, you heard Nai as co-host on several episodes, including our conversations with George the Poet, George Aye, and Damon Silvers. But today is all about Nai. Nai is a brilliant scholar and practitioner, who has been working for years on topics including global development, innovation, and strategic design. Her Ph.D. thesis is about digital transformation and determinants of health and their relationship with Digital Identity systems in Kenya and Uganda. The recording of this episode was unusual. Typically we book a guest, record the episode, and then I lightly edit it before release. But with Nai it went a little differently. I first interviewed her when we just started working together on the podcast, in November 2021. In that conversation, we talked about her life - growing up in Minnesota, attending George Washington University, and watching the Black Lives Matter movement emerged in her home state after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We discussed her work at MIT and Harvard on global development and innovation policy, and how she got interested in design. And she told me why she chose to attend IIPP for her Ph.D. research. We also talked about her research. But this is where we changed things up. By the time I was ready to release the episode, quite a lot of time had passed. And most importantly, Nai has made enormous progress in her research - including narrowing down her topic to health and digital ID systems in Kenya and Uganda. So what you are about to hear is two interviews: one on her life journey and background, and a second one, recorded nearly a year later in October 2022, where we dig in deep on the research: Digital ID, the fact that both Biometrics and Eugenics were both invented at UCL by the same person - Sir Francis Galton - and some of the bigger picture concepts like data colonialism. Because this episode is long, I've included time stamps if you want to skip around. Nai is so awesome that I have tried to work with her as much as possible. It is worth noting that along with George the Poet, Nai is the first black PhD student at IIPP. And as we discuss in the conversation, I think she is the perfect person to assume that mantle. I've learned so much from her, and I'm so grateful for her hard work and time. I hope you enjoy my conversations with Nai Kalema. *****-3 min: Nai's life journey, education, working in development and innovation -34 min: why Nai chose IIPP for her Ph.D. research -48 min: Design Justice -55 min: Nai's Ph.D. research on digital ID and health in Kenya and Uganda.***** -Recorded in two conversations: November 2021 and October 2022 -Learn more about Nai: - Nai Kalema https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/nai-lee-kalema - Follow Nai on Twitterr: @NaiKalema -Learn about our host: - Justin Beirold https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/justin-beirold - Justin's Twitter: @VibeEconomy -Follow IIPP on Twitter: @IIPP_UCL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/ -Production and music by Justin Beirold
Broadcast on May 5, 2022 Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith Hayley Brown, VP for Organizing at the Nonprofit Employees Union (NPEU): Reproductive rights are workers rights, and abortion access is a labor issue (Read NPEU's statement here); Damon Silvers on “Labor, Climate Change, and Innovation” and why working people are central to any solution to the climate change crisis. Plus labor news headlines: D.C. Circulator drivers strike for second day amid negotiations; Apple workers in Maryland seek unionization; Amazon Workers Urged to Fight On After Staten Island Union Push Fails; Starbucks will raise wages again — but not for unionized workers; White House to host union organizers representing Amazon, Starbucks workers; Jorts the Cat vs. Scabby the Rat: Rising Labor Movement Needs New Mascots. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @NonprofitUnion @hayleycbbrown
On this week's show, which originally aired April 22, 2018, Joe Uehlein reveals the longstanding connections between labor and the environmental movement; Patrick Dixon interviews Peter Cole on the IWW's 1923 West Coast strike, Damon Silvers on the arrest of Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery in 1944, and Saul Schniderman on Ida Mae Stull, the country's first woman coal miner. Today's music features Joe Uehlein and the U-Liners singing “You Can't Giddy Up By Sayin' Whoa” and “Power.” Earth Day 2022: Labor is participating in the Fight For Our Future Rally For Climate, Care, Jobs, And Justice, Saturday, April 23 at 1PM in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Hosted and produced by Chris Garlock. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory #FightForOurFuture #EarthDay
Broadcast on February 10, 2022 Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith Reports from the folks who are organizing a union at, yes, Union Kitchen here in Washington, DC, and at Starbucks in Virginia. Then, with the PRO Act blocked in the U.S. Senate by Republicans, has President Biden found another way for American workers who want to organize? Actually, he's found almost 70 ways; we hear more from Damon Silvers at the AFL-CIO. Today's music: Union Town, by The Nightwatchman himself, Tom Morello. Plus labor news headlines: Portland averts major municipal strike as city, union reach 11th hour agreement; Stop & Shop Union Negotiations Are Underway; A Las Vegas bartender was robbed at gunpoint. His bosses made him pay back the stolen money, a lawsuit says; ‘Unions benefit all of us': new Biden plan encourages federal workers to unionize; Starbucks Fired Union Leaders In Memphis. Will Labor Law Protect The Workers? Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella and Ciera Shine. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @UKworkersunited @UFCW400 @sbworkersunited @SBuxUnionFrstHl #Starbucks campaign
Broadcast on August 12, 2021 Hosted by Ed Smith This week's show: AFL-CIO director of policy and special counsel Damon Silvers remembers his friend and colleague AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka, who died on August 5. PLUS: The San Francisco Mime Troupe's Tales of the Resistance Episode 5: "Passion... For Justice!" Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @RichardTrumka Pass the #PROAct @SFTroupers
Protecting the Right to Organize three votes from passage in the U.S. Senate. Today's labor history: "Battle of the Viaduct." Today's quote: Damon Silvers. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO Pass the #PROAct @DamonSilvers @POTUS Supported by our friends at Union Plus; founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
Protecting the Right to Organize three votes from passage in the U.S. Senate. Today's labor history: "Battle of the Viaduct." Today's quote: Damon Silvers. @wpfwdc #1u #unions #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO Pass the #PROAct @DamonSilvers @POTUS Supported by our friends at Union Plus; founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
Broadcast on July 22, 2021 Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith This week's show: AFL-CIO director of policy and special counsel Damon Silvers reports on the labor federation's week of action on the PRO Act…”Breaking the Shell” reports on the hardships faced by Mexican crab pickers on Maryland's Eastern Shore; we talk with Mari Perales Sánchez, one of the report's authors…Plus: Jeff Bezos thanks the little people, Scabby the Rat lives to see another day, workers at Frito-Lay, Uber and Lyft strike and all the latest labor news headlines. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO Pass the #PROAct
Guests: include KIM KELLY, Teen Vogue's labor columnist, DAMON SILVERS, AFL-CIO director of policy and special counsel; GEORGE MANN, Folksinger/Songwriter; plus Labor History in 2:00.
Damon Silvers - AFL-CIO Director of Policy and Special Counsel, Biden Transition Team Federal Reserve, joined the Labor Radio Podcast Network’s livestream labor coverage of the 2020 Election. The Labor Radio Podcast Network is both a one-stop shop for audiences looking for labor content and a resource for labor broadcasters and podcasters. Resources include a weekly podcast summarizing shows produced by network members, marketing on social media, a website listing network shows and how audiences can find them, a database for contacting expert guests, access to a private listserv for Network members, and a weekly video call to increase solidarity and support amongst members. Follow the conversation using the hashtag #laborradiopod or visit us at www.laborradionet.org.
Coalition of Labor Union Women president Elise Bryant, racial justice, labor and international activist Bill Fletcher, Jr. and AFL-CIO policy director Damon Silvers share their perspectives on the 2020 election from labor's point of view on last week's first-ever livestream broadcasts by the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO @DamonSilvers @CLUWNational @BillFletcherJr Edited by Evan Papp; produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru: Harold Phillips
Episode 5 featured Damon Silvers, special counsel at the AFL-CIO. From the echoes of corporate power in the 1920s to the reverberations of the 2008 crisis, from workers' rights to the instability of the financial system, this was an exciting journey through the past and future of the labor market. One takeaway: America's economic system was built to fail its people in a pandemic.
Episode 5 featured Damon Silvers, special counsel at the AFL-CIO. From the echoes of corporate power in the 1920s to the reverberations of the 2008 crisis, from workers’ rights to the instability of the financial system, this was an exciting journey through the past and future of the labor market. One takeaway: America’s economic system was built to fail its people in a pandemic.
Oscar-winning director Julia Reichert, interviewed by 9 to 5 founder Karen Nussbaum; the AFL-CIO’s Damon Silvers, on how the Montgomery Ward CEO was busted for unionbusting; Saul Schniderman celebrates May Day and Mother Jones’ birthday. "Mother Mends" by The R.J. Phillips Band. Produced by Chris Garlock; to contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.
Broadcast on March 5, 2020 Hosted by Chris Garlock & Damon Silvers, subbing for Ed Smith, who's away this week This week's show: JUDY CONTI; Coronavirus and worker rights JOANNA BLOTNER; Paid Sick Leave GARY MOUSSEAU, RN; report from the frontlines Music: Big Ovaries baby Case Closed, with DAVID SCHLOSS Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Chris Bangert-Drowns
Antonio Andreoni (SOAS), William Lazonick (SOAS), Mike Best (University of Massachusetts Lowell), Colin Haslam (Queen Mary University of London), Damon Silvers (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations), Deborah Johnston (SOAS) Chair: Antonio Andreoni, SOAS University of London Presenter: William Lazonick, SOAS University of London Panel Discussion: Mike Best, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Colin Haslam, Queen Mary University of London; Damon Silvers, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations Innovation by Britain’s firms will be a key determinant of national success in an increasingly competitive global environment for high-value industries. As Britain considers how to develop an industrial strategy ‘fit for the future’, however, the decline in long-term productivity in the UK continues to puzzle managers, academics and policy-makers. Recent research has highlighted the need to examine sectoral dynamics and include questions of industrial policy in a relevant historical context. Such work has helped to focus on the specific British industries and firms where issues of competitiveness, productivity and innovation need to be studied in detail. Conceptually, however, it remains necessary to enhance our understanding of the interplay between the development of innovative capabilities and the specific governance conditions that are required to generate sustained productivity growth at firm and industrial-ecosystem level. Developing such capabilities in innovative enterprises requires the commitment of financial resources to collective and cumulative learning processes within both the firm and its ecosystem. This commitment relies on the abilities and the incentives of those executives who exercise strategic control over the corporate allocation of financial resources and returns. We thus need to consider whether strategic decision-making within UK firms over the past two decades has been influenced by destructive financialization practices. The GoFinPro project has added to existing research into issues of productivity and innovation in UK industry by conducting historical firm-level research in order to build comparative studies of firms and sectors to examine the potential influence of financialisation practices on the development of UK firms within their sectoral and national specificities. The key manufacturing sectors of pharmaceuticals and aerospace were chosen to investigate indicators that link changes in corporate governance and financial behaviour to innovative capabilities and productivity performance. The GoFinPro Conference to be held at SOAS will bring together academics, policy makers and industry experts to discuss the findings of the study. The comparison of financialisation metrics of top UK firms with those of US and other European countries will consider how such practices have influenced productivity and competitiveness and what policy measures have facilitated or encouraged their adoption. The sectoral studies highlight the specific dynamics that explain why some UK firms have become more prone to value extraction that is not justified by value creation. The implications of the findings for future UK policy on corporate governance will be subject to debate. The GoFinPro project has been funded by the Gatsby Foundation and has been carried out at SOAS University of London in collaboration with Institut Mines Telecom Business School in France. Speakers: Deborah Johnston (SOAS) Antonio Andreoni (SOAS), William Lazonick (SOAS), Mike Best (University of Massachusetts Lowell), Colin Haslam (Queen Mary University of London), Damon Silvers (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organisations) Released by: SOAS Economics Podcasts
Damon Silvers, the Policy Director and Special Counsel at the AFL-CIO believes that with the Supreme Court slated to rule on Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees in June-July 2018, financial stability—not technology—is the biggest threat to America’s labor movement. Silvers tells Bill Kerr that he’s a technology optimist: technology can actually help strengthen the role of labor if it boosts productivity.
Nicole Sandler broadcasts live from Netroots Nation. On Day 2, guests included the Rev. Dr. William Barber, Credo's Becky Bond, Congressman Keith Ellison, economist Stephanie Kelton, Stephanie Taylor of the PCCC, Damon Silvers of the AFL-CiO, and many others!
The state of Virginia has not voted for a Democratic President since 1964, but this year its 13 electoral votes are up for grabs as late polls show the race too close to call. NOW on PBS goes behind the national polls and punditry and into living rooms of real Virginia voters to learn how they'll be making their decisions. Military families, retirees, and blue-collar workers of all political stripes share their concerns about faith, the war, and making ends meet in troubling economic times. Also on the show, an update on the economic crisis. As the government expands its protective reach into the private sector, now including banks, how will this ease the financial burden on private citizens? NOW checks in with the AFL-CIO's Damon Silvers, who has been closely involved in Congressional negotiations for the financial rescue plan, for answers and insight.
The government's historic proposal to bail out the U.S. banking system is raising as many questions as it is offering solutions. Some in Congress are warning against reacting too quickly; others want conditions that protect homeowners, increase oversight, and limit the compensation of corporate executives. But the number one question on the minds of Americans: How will this affect me? NOW on PBS goes inside the round-the-clock efforts in Washington to craft a bailout plan of historic dimensions. NOW's cameras follow AFL-CIO Associate General Counsel Damon Silvers as he works to get help for working Americans in addition to bailing out financial firms in distress. Silvers, an architect of the major provisions Congressional Democrats are pushing for in the bill, provides key insight on the stake ordinary working Americans have in the fate of this proposal, and on what comes next.