• Listen to the entire program

KPFK Fund Drive Day 12
Poll numbers in the fast-approaching mid-term elections show that a slim majority of likely voters prefer Republicans and Tea-Party-affiliated candidates for Congress. A new Gallup analysis shows an even more grim scenario for Democrats who lag behind the GOP by 11 points if voters turn out in high numbers. But if there is low turn-out, Democrats fall behind 17 percentage points. Midterm elections generally draw fewer voters than Presidential elections. Meanwhile, with the Great Recession as the central point of voter disaffection, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is getting ready to implement a policy to stimulate the economy. The Washington Post calls the move “risky.” Bernanke plans to encourage investing in stocks and other so-called safe-debt instruments which ostensibly will reduce the cost of capital, allowing businesses to expand and eventually create jobs. But what most economists and the mainstream media ignore is that even while most stock holders of large corporations are seeing relatively healthy growth of their dividends, very few jobs are being created. The continual infusion of cash at the top refuses to trickle down, even slowly, to the bottom 90% of Americans.

While Tea party numbers continue to swell, American progressives have attempted to mobilize and challenge the growing influence of the extreme right. However, as veteran journalist and author Chris Hedges describes in his latest book, The Death of the Liberal Class, American liberalism is dying. The progressive institutions that have largely represented the interests of the poor, the working class, and the middle class—universities, the press, trade unions and the liberal Church—are being dismantled. Hedges brings home an analogy to Tsarist Russia, Germany and Yugoslavia as he points out the enormous consequences that the fall of the middle class could have on the rest of American society.

The Death of the Liberal Class will be officially published by Nation Books on November 1st. But today you can order your copy through KPFK. Chris Hedges spoke just 6 days ago about his new book at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in New York. His entire address on DVD is our thank you gift to you.

Thank you Gifts:

The Death of the Liberal Class – book – Chris Hedges – $125 pledge
The Death of the Liberal Class – a talk by Chris Hedges – DVD – $75 pledge
The Death of the Liberal Class Book-DVD Pack – $175 pledge

Free Add-ons with Pack: Subscription to Mother Jones Magazine, while supplies last!

Call 818-985-KPFK (5735) or visit www.kpfk.org to make a pledge.