Blog

President Obama Admonishes Wall St., Asks for Reform

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

The President spoke at noon eastern at Cooper Union in New York’s East Village.

A few paragraphs from the President’s prepared remaks (full text linked here):

A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business, or save for retirement. What happens here has real consequences across our country.
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The Black President Trap

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

“For every factual attack, there are a thousand possibilities…and all of them strike down together.”

It’s a line from China Mieville’s speculative fiction novel The Scar, but it could easily describe today’s politics.

President Obama has been described as a socialist and tool of banks and big business; a “racist…who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture” and someone who “hasn’t done much for their [i.e., African-Americans'] bottom line” because “so-called black leaders are much more interested in invitations to the White House…than in raising any kind of ruckus that might benefit people in real trouble. Read More »

Got Stories? “The Value: What Matters More than Money”

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

I’ve been experimenting with a new multimedia reporting/profile series called “The Value.” It airs both on public radio via WNYC’s syndicated show The Takeaway, and online at http://www.thetakeaway.org.

The idea is to ask: what’s worth more than money? In some cases, like Anna Deavere Smith, it’s mastery of craft and storytelling. In others, it’s adventure (in Antarctica!); service to people who’ve survived the civil war in Sri Lanka; or creating an urban oasis.

I’m limited by the fact that there is no travel budget, so the series has to be where I am: mainly NY, but also, in the coming weeks, DC, Baltimore, Miami, Northern and Southern California, and St. Louis.

I would LOVE suggestions for stories. Email me via the “contact” link on the top right of this website.

Here are the first four episodes of The Value.