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During Smarsh's turbulent childhood in Kansas in the '80s and '90s, the forces of cyclical poverty and the country's changing economic policies solidified her family's place among the working poor. Her personal history affirms the corrosive impact intergenerational poverty can have on individuals, families, and communities. Combining memoir with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, this is an uncompromising look at class, identity, and the particular...
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Is big government stifling the American spirit? Just about everyone has a reason to question how the size of our government affects the nation's economic and political structure. Is government intervention in everything from financial policy to health care rewarding the "takers" and not the "makers," stifling innovators, entrepreneurs, and business owners? Or has government done too little to support the growing poor and rapidly shrinking middle class?...
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This program, part two of the China New Empire series, picks off where the first episode left off: after the death of Mao Zedong. Though twice purged by Mao for ideological moderation and economic pragmatism, Deng Xiaoping eventually succeeded him as China's new 'Paramount Leader'. Deng's regime saw the emergence of China as the economic powerhouse we know today. As one historian comments: "During Mao's final years it was 'strong nation, poor population.'...
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Generating jobs at three times the rate of the conventional sector, green investments have been a boon not just to the health of the planet but to that of the economy. In this program Alisa Gravitz, co-founder of the ethical consumerism group Green America, speaks with Hazel Henderson about environmentally sustainable economic models. Gravitz warns of a bursting "climate bubble" along the lines of the tech and housing bubbles-especially if the U.S....
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Two Communist Party officials cruise the dusty streets of Ma Bei village in a new Cadillac. Welcome to China at the end of the 20th century. Fueled by profits from private businesses, the town is booming, while at a plant up the road thousands of workers, formerly protected under the communist system, may lose their jobs under privatization. Similar situations are developing all over China, and officials are worried that workers may revolt. So they've...
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In this eye-opening documentary, investigative journalist Danny Schechter traces the connection between corporate wrongdoing, the 2007 housing market crash, and the economic catastrophe that followed the crash. From the mysterious collapse of Bear Stearns, an 85-year-old investment firm that went under in a week, to the shadowy world of trillion-dollar hedge funds, Schechter argues that criminal activity on the part of major financial institutions...
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In 2009, in response to a severe recession, Congress, at the request of Obama, passed a fiscal stimulus. In 2010, amid fears that the economy was slipping back into recession, Congress debated a new jobs plan submitted by Obama. Panelists debate this proposal, and consider whether the original stimulus succeeded. They discuss the longer-term economic problems, and the questions of short versus long-term economic policy.
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America has long been a nation of immigrants, built by the labor of millions who came from other lands. As the words on the Statue of Liberty proclaim, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." But today, the United States is home to millions of undocumented immigrants, and the federal government has been unable to reach a consensus to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Are immigrants taking American jobs,...
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If anyone comes close to rivaling Winston Churchill as the central figure in modern British history, it is John Maynard Keynes. He is often credited with, among other things, helping to save capitalism from the Great Depression, ensuring that the war against the Nazis was properly funded, and building postwar decades of growth and prosperity. Today his ideas remain crucial to the critical debate of our time: should governments borrow and spend their...
13) Nobel Minds 2009
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In this program, scientists from various disciplines sit down together in one room-specifically, the king's library in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. Hosted by the BBC's Zeinab Badawi, ten 2009 Nobel Laureates take part in an inspiring roundtable discussion of 21st-century physics, chemistry, medicine, and other subjects. Viewers meet molecular biologists Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak; biochemists Ada E. Yonath,...
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Growing affluence in Asia, economic development in Eastern Europe, and new approaches to natural resources in Africa-all are major influences on the global financial landscape and all provide ample demonstrations of the IMF at work. This program guides viewers through the history, mission, and real-world impact of the International Monetary Fund. Topics (all with an IMF focus) include China's need to boost domestic consumption and build social safety...
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Based on the economic principle of demand management, London's congestion charge challenges the 20th-century notion that cities should be designed around cars and asks drivers to pay for access to public roads and parking spaces. Thanks to visionary municipal leaders like Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, this plan is the core of a sweeping push to transform London into a transit-efficient and pedestrian-friendly mega-city in time for the 2012 Olympics.
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Ireland never had an industrial revolution-its economy leaped from agrarian gloom into high-tech high-gear almost overnight. This Wide Angle case study visits Limerick, one of the country's largest cities and the epitome of the Celtic Tiger's rise. Once the blighted setting of Angela's Ashes, today's Limerick boasts the glories and the growing pains of all economic boomtowns: heavy foreign investment, a burgeoning services industry, high levels of...
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Its investment in global development programs tops $150 billion. It dwarfs other United Nations agencies both in size and scope. Yet until this two-hour program was filmed, no camera crew had ever been allowed access to the inner workings of the World Bank. This two-part documentary provides a rare glimpse into both the inner workings of the World Bank and its efforts to bring economic stability to Africa. A case study tracks the fortunes of proposed...
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In the 1970s, antidiscrimination legal rights gained in past decades by the civil rights movement are put to the test. In Boston, some whites violently resist a federal court school desegregation order. Atlanta's first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, proves that affirmative action can work, but the Bakke Supreme Court case challenges that policy.
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Were it not for the elemental forces of the Nile River, the great architecture of ancient Egypt and Ethiopia might never have been built. But in today's water-starved world, the river could lead both countries down a destructive path. This program examines lives and livelihoods that depend on the Nile, from the humble to the hugely ambitious. In Egypt, viewers encounter a struggling Cairo fishing family, a father-and-son farming team, and the nation's...