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PODCAST

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich exposes where power lies in our system — and how it"s used and abused. robertreich.substack.com

news politics

All Episodes

4:28

Vladimir Putin's despicable war and Jerome Powell's...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/03/03

If Europe and the United States do what must be done next to contain Putin’s despicable invasion – blocking Russian exports of gas and oil – energy prices will soar. That means consumers will have less money to spend on everything else. This could well push the U.S. economy back into recession.Which makes all the more bizarre Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statement yesterday to the House Financial Services Committee that he will propose increasing interest rates at the central bank’s

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2:39

Office Hours: What should we be prepared to sacrifice...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/03/02

When I was in elementary school in the 1950s, I was periodically required to “duck and cover” by huddling under my desk in case the Soviet Union dropped an atomic bomb on my town. If I didn’t survive, I was also issued a dog tag with my name and address to help my parents identify my body. (I remember thinking that if the bomb dropped my parents wouldn’t be around to identify me anyway.) The whole thing was terrifying. Years later, when I had my own children, I learned that the only means by which

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6:23

Who cares about Biden's first State of the Union?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/03/01

In a few minutes, Joe Biden will give his first State of the Union address. It’s his best opportunity between now and November’s midterm elections to shape the narrative — describing the key choices ahead and explaining where he’s leading America. But there’s far more at stake than mere politics. Biden needs to frame not only what he’s accomplished and wants to accomplish but also what America stands for at this precarious point in our nation’s history. That should be the choice between democracy

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5:43

The Putin-Trump Axis

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/28

The world is currently and frighteningly locked in a battle to the death between democracy and authoritarianism. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin issued a new threat to the West — telling his defense minister and his top military commander to place Russia’s nuclear forces on alert. It is a new cold war. The biggest difference between the old cold war and the new one is that authoritarian neo-fascism is not just an external threat. A version of it has also taken over one of the major political parties in

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4:08

In containing Putin, we must not lose sight of...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/26

In the midst of Putin’s attack on Ukraine, it’s hard to keep our minds on domestic priorities — such as protecting voting rights, delivering economic security, and fixing our woefully expensive and unfair healthcare system. Yet maybe this is exactly the time to focus on these domestic goals. Doing what’s right for our people strengthens our moral authority to defend democracy and human rights abroad. Protecting voting rights lends credibility to our claims of the superiority of democracy to

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7:56

Eight Sobering Realities about Putin's Invasion

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/24

We must do what we can to contain Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. But we also need to be clear-eyed about it, and face the costs. As I’ve said before, economics can’t be separated from politics, and neither can be separated from history. Here are eight sobering realities: 1. Will the economic sanctions now being put into effect stop Putin from seeking to take over all of Ukraine? No. They will complicate Russia’s global financial transactions but they will not cripple the Russian economy

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5:17

Putin's war, economic uncertainty, and socialism for...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/22

The stock market is gyrating wildly in light of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, but Wall Street traders are doing just fine. Bad news is good news for traders who make money off volatility. After all, in the year of Delta and Omicron, climate chaos, Trump Republican attacks on democracy, bitter divisiveness, a calamitous exit from Afghanistan, and accelerating inflation, the Street’s biggest banks have reaped record profits. Bonuses are through the front Porsche. Hundreds of traders have racked up

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4:22

Why Democrats will retain control of the House and...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/21

Happy Presidents Day. It’s a good day to contemplate whether Joe Biden has a prayer of keeping a Democratic House and Senate next year. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I think he does. Yes, I know: Republicans are suppressing votes, Democrats are hopeless at messaging, Biden’s poll numbers are in the basement. But let me give you ten reasons why I think there’s a decent chance Democrats can maintain control of both the House and the Senate, and maybe even gain some seats. First: It’s likely that

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2:02

The Investor’s View - Wealth & Poverty Class 2

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/18

Hello again, friends. Thank you for joining me for the second week of my Wealth and Poverty class. In today’s class, we begin to explore why such inequalities have soared since the late 1970s and early 1980s. The questions we’ll focus on today are: How did the market for financial capital contribute to inequalities of income and wealth? Did the accepted purpose of the American corporation change over the last fifty years, and, if so, when and how? More generally, for whom should the corporation

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5:21

Could you possibly invent a more expensive and less...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/17

For many years, my right ankle has been losing cartilage that keeps my ankle bones from scraping up against each other. The result: increasing inflammation and pain. An orthopedic surgeon suggested replacing the ankle with an artificial one, but the procedure is costly, takes months to heal, and requires lots of physical therapy. So I’ve taken a different route. I cut way back on sugar, began an exercise program aimed at strengthening the muscles around my ankle, and lost twenty pounds. Now, six

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2:13

Office Hours: What does today's rightward extremism...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/16

I got my start in American politics about 50 years ago. America was in many ways a different country then, but my political views weren’t all that different than they are now. I was against the Vietnam War and the military-industrial complex, pro civil and voting rights, and against the growing power of big corporations. That put me just left of the center. Today I’m much further left of center than I used to be — because the “center” has moved to the right and the right has become far far more

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1:22

Want to be inspired? Watch this

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/15

I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been inspired by the young Starbucks baristas who are leading the charge to unionize the company. The number of unionizing stores has risen to seventy-two since the fall. The weekly spate of new Starbucks election filings represents a breakthrough for labor.Starbucks executives are counterattacking. Last week, they fired seven Memphis baristas who had led the organizing in that city. I urge you to watch my interview with leaders of the Starbucks baristas (just

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4:47

A valentine for you

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/14

When I began this newsletter almost five months ago I had no idea what I was doing. I still don’t. But your enthusiastic response, thoughtful comments, and helpful feedback have guided me — and continue to make it all worthwhile. It has been a journey into the unknown. We’re figuring it out together. A big thanks to you. I hope you’re finding my course on inequality (which began here last Friday, and will be continuing for the next 13 weeks) helpful. I hope you’re also finding useful (and sometimes

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10:28

Personal History: Why Labor Secretary Marty Walsh...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/12

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says he’s ready to step up to the plate and help end Major League Baseball’s lockout. My advice to Marty, as former labor secretary to the current one: Stay away from baseball. I wouldn’t touch another baseball labor dispute if Babe Ruth asked me in person. In 1995, the owners and players were at loggerheads, too. I tried to mediate. Bill Clinton (on phone): “Bobby, this is Bill. How you doing on the strike?” Translated: What the hell’s going on? The World Series may be

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8:57

How do employers shaft workers? Let me count the ways.

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/10

More inflation buzz today. The U.S. consumer price index for January rose at an annual rate of 7.5 percent, the largest such increase since 1982.Yes, prices are increasing. But would you prefer a recession? As a practical matter, that’s the choice the Fed gives us. When the Fed puts on the brakes, it often pushes the economy into a ditch. (Anyone remember when Paul Volcker “broke the back of inflation” by putting the economy into a tailspin?) A recession will cause far more hardship for many more

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6:44

How can we be so publicly miserable and so privately...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/08

Many people tell me America is going to hell. But when I ask them how their own lives are going, they say pretty well. This discrepancy between how people feel about America’s public life and their own private lives is wider today than it’s been since the late 1960s. Then, our public life was marked by assassinations, riots, an escalating war in Vietnam, and the deeply flawed Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. But our private lives featured love-ins, Woodstock, and the Beatles. (I know; I was

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8:02

The Week Ahead: The Four Horsemen of the Neoliberal...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/07

The biggest stories this week are likely to be the continuing standoff between NATO (led by the United States) and Putin in the Ukraine, the new Russo-Chinese detente, and the Republican Party’s continuing drift toward Trumpism. One way of tying these together to reveal a larger pattern is to talk about the expanded Child Tax Credit. You heard me right. The fate of the expanded Child Tax Credit illustrates a basic problem that runs through all this. Let me explain. Even before the pandemic, more

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1:46

Caption contest resumes next Sunday. Today,...

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/06

Thank you so much for joining me in this community. It’s an experiment in group learning and teaching about the American system — and it’s succeeding far beyond my expectations. Your interest and enthusiasm make it all worthwhile. Please let others know!In preparation for my course on Wealth and Poverty, which starts Friday on this page, you may find useful the documentary below. It’s called Inequality for All. I made it a few years ago with the talented director Jacob Kornbluth. It’s won many

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4:58

The Fed is about to shaft American workers

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/04

Today’s January jobs report is heightening fears that a so-called “tight” labor market is fueling inflation, and that therefore the Fed must put on the brakes by raising interest rates. This line of reasoning is totally wrong. Among the biggest job gains in January were workers who are normally temporary and paid low wages (eg, leisure and hospitality, retail, transport and warehousing). Employers cut fewer of these low-wage temp jobs than in most January’s because of rising customer demand combined

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7:35

So you don't think labor unions have a future?

The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich ·

2022/02/03

As former secretary of labor, I’m always interested in the annual count of unionized workers issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year’s count shows that the 70-year decline of unions continues. The share of unionized American workers dropped from 10.8 percent last year to 10.3 percent now. The rate among private-sector workers hit a new rock bottom of 6.1 percent — about one-seventh of its level in the middle of the 20th century.How to square this with the huge surge in labor activism

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