Pod Ideas

I have a 45 minute drive to work and a 45 minute drive from work. I have plenty of time to listen to podcasts of debates, interviews, talks, etc... Here are a few moderately controversial topics.

Economic Disparity
Health and mortality are strongly affected by poverty and income disparity
Low social status seems to cause a slew of health effects
Heart disease, obesity, early mortality
Adjusting mortality rates for income disparity in the US has a greater affect than curing all cancers
Perceived ability to control one's life is a deeper and more fundamental factor
Relative control (relative to those in your society)
Skills such as reading, writing, speaking, and socializing seem to increase the sense of perceived control
Happiness indexes correlate inversely with the size of the gap between rich and poor
Japan and France, despite heavy smoking, fatty foods, and/or drinking have low and falling rates of heart disease and cancer
High status non-human animals forced into a low status position showed the same health effects as low status animals (shows that status affects health rather than health affecting status)

Effects of Affirmative Action
Unprepared students in tough academic environments have a very high attrition rate – they are self-ejected out of future study
Diversity can be good and bad
Educational and enlightening for some
Stressful and discouraging for others
All girls schools
African-American schools
Social stigma
Study of employer responses in which 50% of resumes were assigned distinctly black names and 50% were assigned distinctly white names showed that education and employment history were almost completely insignificant

Global warming/ Climate change
What is the evidence that it is happening?
Ice cap melts
CO2 levels
Computer modeling
Can or will we do anything about it?
We will play lip-service, but we probably cannot actually have any effect
What do the experts estimate our capacity is to affect things at this point?
Should we try to help affected communities (coastal regions)?
Assuming climate change is occurring, wouldn't our money be better spent preparing for it rather than trying (futilely) to avoid it?

The US as Global Peacekeeper
The US has the most money/ largest economy
Effect of expense to US economy?
Opportunity cost for other programs (eg effective, reform oriented international aid)
Ingraining and further entrenching the military industrial complex (politically influential companies supplying military goods and services)
Has the highest military expenditures
The US is already playing this role by default, but can it, or should it, continue to do so?
The US is already over-extended
Unpopular in US for regions unrelated to US interests
Unpopular in rest of world for unilateral arrogance
Will further incite unrest and reactionary extremists
US lacks regional knowledge and diplomatic ties
The rise of China as a super-power will complicate any unilateral efforts by the US

Illegal Immigration
one side feels that stricter immigration enforcement is necessary
the other side feels that the laws need to be adapted to the reality of the situation
Numbers for how many illegals are living in the US today range from 7 to 20 million per year, but it is hard to say because they are undocumented.
In favor of stricter enforcement
Uncontrolled competition for low-skill jobs hurts the unskilled population
Having laws that are not enforced undermines the power of law
The drain on social services outweighs any benefit to the economy
Illegals create a criminal society
In favor of changing laws
Current laws are not enforceable
Current laws are inhumane
Current laws are against our economic interests
A disproportionate amount of money goes to protecting against illegal South or Central American immigration under the guise of Homeland Security – when no terrorist has been South or Central American – terrorist came through Canadian border by normal, legal means
Surveys show the percent of people who believe
immigrants are a burden because they take jobs and housing grew from 38 percent to 52 percent.
immigrants "strengthen the US with their hard work and talents" dropped from 50 percent to 41 percent.
"the growing number of newcomers from other countries threaten traditional American customs and values" has grown from 40 percent to 48 percent.
newcomers "strengthen American society" has dropped from 50 percent to 45 percent.

Aid to Africa
Does the current system do more harm than good?
What has been accomplished?
What failures or complications have arisen?
What reforms are needed?
Economy (banking system and fair trade), legal system, media,
Right to private property protected and enforced by law

Russia's Assertion of Power
Poisonings and murders of politicians and reporters
Human rights abuses – Chechnya
"If you are detained in Chechnya, you face a real and immediate risk of torture. And there is little chance that your torturer will be held accountable.", said Holly Cartner, Director Europe and Central Asia division of HRW
They are building modern nuclear submarines
They are opposing the US on many fronts, most notably in supplying Iran with nuclear technology

Democratization
Is it hypocritical to impose democracy by force?
Is democracy suitable for all cultures?
What do we mean by "democracy"?
a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Life, liberty and justice for all through an enforceable legal system

Real Threats in the 21st Century
Disease – global epidemics (pandemics)
Nuclear weapons – more and more countries are acquiring nuclear weaponry
Terrorism
Climate change – rising sea levels causing economic and social stress
What is the global sensitivity to changes in the coastal economies?
Political Simplicity
Complex topics are hard to sell
"Let's kick some ass!" inspires more pride and nationalism than, "Let's continue negotiations"
Sense of international dominance is preferred to being a lackluster political player
Simple solutions frequently do not solve the fundamental problems and actually aggravate them

Problems with Democracy
How much time is required to make an informed decision?
How many people actually take time to research issues?
How does intelligence, as measured, for example, by IQ, influence decision making and voting?
Should "Get out the vote" campaigns be banned?
Encourages uninformed voters to pass their ballots
Increases the influence of sound-bite media messages