Retail Politics Podcast

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S01E25 Rabbi Josh Yuter, Politics of Religious Faith Mar 28, 2021

Show notes

The Volatile Blend of Worship and Politics

When Politicians Use God to Justify their Positions

March 28, 2021– The Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields goes international for the first time, interviewing one of the world’s top Jewish influencers, Rabbi Josh Yuter in Jerusalem, who cautions against the use of God to support political positions.

“I do think, and this is something that bothers me from both the left and right, that when politics and religion get confused and overlap in that it’s hard to find the difference between the two...it is easy to corrupt that.”

Yuter discusses killings by various faiths carried out in the name of God and the impact of the coronavirus on the Jewish faith.

Join us.

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Listen to the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields athttp://www.retailpoliticspodcast or on Apple or Spotify.

S01E24 Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Politics of the Opioid Crisis Mar 21, 2021

Show notes

The Slaughter of the Americans

Over 500,000 Drug Overdose Deaths Equal to COVID Losses

March 3, 2021 – Despite 500,000 Americans dying from opioid painkiller overdoses in the last 25 years, prescriptions continue being written aggressively while the federal government fails to regulate it, a leading medical expert on the issue told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields Sunday.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said the chief contributor to the crisis is the federal Food and Drug Administration, who approved the drugs and continues to fail to regulate them.

“Opioid makers and distributors, in their greed, lead to massive losses of life,” Kolodny said. “Had the FDA been doing its job from the beginning, we would not have an opioid crisis today.”

Kolodny and families of overdose victims are calling for President Joe Biden to not appoint interim FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock as the permanent director. Woodcock’s division failed to police opioid makers and approved the powerful painkillers to be more easily used, Kolodny said.

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Listen to the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields at http://www.retailpoliticspodcast or on Apple or Spotify.

S01E23 Colm O’Comartun, Politics of Ireland Mar 13, 2021

Show notes

March 13, 2021– Twenty years after a Northern Ireland peace agreement ended a three-decade civil war between Catholics wanting to join the southern Republic and Protest unionists with loyalty to Great Britain, a new battle has emerged on the economic front.

Great Britain has severed ties with the Economic Union in Europe – known as Brexit – whose impact is washing ashore on the island of Ireland and Northern Ireland, threatening to undermine economic gains that blossomed from the peace, said Colm O’Comartun, former director of the Irish Institute at Boston College.

“It exposed in many ways... how little the British government thinks about Northern Ireland,” O’Comartun told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields. “They entered into the Brexit process without acknowledging or understanding constitutional and international agreements.”

O’Comartun, who attained an undergraduate and graduate degree in political science from University College Dublin, also reflects on Irish history and the best movies to watch for St. Patrick’s Day.

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Listen to the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields can be heard at: retailpoliticspodcast.com and on Apple and Spotify.

S01E22 Daniel DiSalvo, Politics of Bullying Mar 07, 2021

Show notes

Cuomo's Choose Fear Over Love

Bullying New York Governor and CNN Anchor Brother Damage Dad’s Legacy

March 6, 2021 – The current political troubles of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – now accused of sexual harassment and fudging COVID nursing home death numbers -- stem back to the year 1512, said Daniel DiSalvo.

“The great Italian philosopher, Machiavelli’s phrase, was ‘choose to be loved or feared,’” the chair of the City College of New York’s political science department told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields on Sunday.

“Cuomo has mostly chosen fear,” he said.

Machiavelli is most known for writing the book, The Prince. Andrew and his CNN anchor brother, Chris, are the sons and princes of the former legendary Democratic New York Governor Maria Cuomo, beloved for his intelligence, wit, and public service to the poor.

Chris Cuomo has gotten into angry scrapes with people off camera, launching into a profanity-laced tirade after a heckler called him Fredo, a reference to the weak brother in the classic Italian mob movie, The Godfather.

He later accosted a Long Island bicyclist who admonished him for failing to wear a mask and quarantine after contracting COVID while appearing on his show telling Americans to follow COVID protocols.

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The Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields can be heard at retailpoliticspodcast.com and on Apple and Spotify. Shields is a former congressional correspondent and author of the new book: The Front Row: My Jagged Journey Recording American History from Reagan to Trump, now available on Amazon.com.

S01E21 Ken Herman, Politics of a Texas Size Storm Feb 28, 2021

Show notes

All-Encompassing Texas Disaster Affected Everyone

Ice Storm Bordered on “cataclysmic” Catastrophe Levels, Writer Says

February 28, 2021– The Texas legislature is holding marathon sessions to adopt standards that would protect its citizens from deadly electric service outages that happened in a recent snow and ice storm.

Millions of Texans lost service in an unexpected blizzard that killed over 80 people and resulted in electric bills of over $10,000.

“It was the most snow in Austin since 1949,” Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Ken Herman of the Austin American-Statesman, told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields on Sunday. “This impacted everyone in Texas in some way...It was an all-encompassing disaster you couldn’t escape.”

Herman discussed how the Texas decision in 1999 operated on its own independent grid – unconnected to regional or national grids – doomed Texas consumers. Herman said the state’s decision to deregulate the industry also caused lax oversight required in other states.

Herman also discussed Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s decision to run to a vacation spot in Cancun, Mexico, while his constituents suffered, noting that Cruz’s many detractors are pummeling him. Herman remembered a Cruz description from former Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken.

“I like Ted Cruz more than my fellow Senators like him,” Franken said. “And I hate him.”

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Listen to the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields athttp://www.retailpoliticspodcast or on Apple or Spotify.

S01E20 Martin DeAngelis, Politics of Print Media Feb 21, 2021

Show notes

Pillaging Papers, Donald’s Demolition, Losing Limbaugh

News Industry Chastened by Hedge Fund Purchase of the Chicago Tribune.

February 21, 2021– The newspaper industry staggered again last week when the storied Chicago Tribune, which owns several major metropolitan papers across the country, agreed to sell the company to a financial services firm, furthering fears about the future of America’s print media.

Award-winning newspaper columnist, Martin DeAngelis, formerly of The Atlantic City Press, told the Retail Politics Podcast on Sunday that the purchase by Aldan Global Capital will likely result in staff and salary cuts to journalists already reeling from a drastic drop in newspaper circulations and the elimination of 50 percent of the print reporting workforce over the last 15 years.

DeAngelis worked at the Atlantic City paper when Berkshire Hathaway, the financial giant run by legendary investor Warren Buffett, purchased the paper seven years ago, promising to maintain its journalism integrity.

“They came in saying no salary cuts and no staff cuts,” said DeAngelis, who worked at the paper for 32 years. “Four years later, I was a staff cut.”

DeAngelis also dishes on covering former President Donald Trump during his casino days in Atlantic City and reflects on the death and impact of legendary conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Join us...

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The Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields can be heard at retailpoliticspodcast.com and on Apple and Spotify. Shields is a former congressional correspondent and author of the new book: The Front Row: My Jagged Journey Recording American History from Reagan to Trump now available on Amazon.com.

S01E19 Gerry and Brad Celebrate President’s Day By Talking First Ladies Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

February 14, 2021 – A special President’s Day edition of the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields celebrated the works of the nation’s 45 First Ladies, dubbing Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as the gold standard.

“She was an amazing lady because she was like the First Lady to be a dual president,” said host Gerry Shields. “If anybody was to say did we ever have a female president, she would probably come closest.”

Shields recommended the new book, Eleanor by David Michaelis, yet stepped back in time to discuss First Ladies going all the way back to Dolley Madison, who served from 1809 to 1817 and was the first to invite both parties to the White House, an action that eventually resulted in the word: bipartisanship.

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Listen to the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields can be heard at retailpoliticspodcast.com and on Apple and Spotify.

S01E18 Paul Kane, Politics of the U.S. Senate Feb 07, 2021

Show notes

American Democrats’ Thrill Over Taking Senate Premature

Chamber Filibuster Rule Will Make Passing Biden Agenda Difficult

February 7, 2021– American Democrats’ rejoice over a Georgia Senator’s win last month, giving them control of the Senate, is being tempered by a chamber filibuster rule that leaves them ten votes short shy of passing President Biden’s legislative agenda.

Veteran Washington Post congressional correspondent Paul Kane explained the rule on the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields.

Under Senate rules, any member can filibuster legislation, which requires 60 members to end debate and vote. Democrats have 50, leaving them significantly shy of pushing their agenda, Kane said.

“Legislation is still protected, or hindered depending on where you’re coming from, by this 60-vote hurdle,” Kane said.

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Listen to the Paul Kane Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields interview on Apple, Spotify, and retailpoliticspodcast.com

S01E17 Jim Steele, Politics of the U.S. Economy Jan 31, 2021

Show notes

American Economic Inequality at Record Levels

Fairer Tax System, Better Health Care Can Restore the Middle Class

January 31, 2021– The gap between the rich and poor in America is at levels not seen in more than a century as the nation wrestles -- both politically and economically -- over the question of public welfare versus private gain, a legendary investigative reporter said Sunday.

James B. Steele told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields that tax breaks to the rich over the last 40 years have cut their individual contributions to the federal government in half while corporate tax rates have fallen 30 percent.

Those rates must be restored if the gap between the haves and have nots is to be closed, said Steele, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who along with his reporting partner, Don Barlett, wrote the seminal book, America, What Went Wrong?

“What makes America great is certainly capitalism but also the fact that we have the kind of economy that could eventually benefit everybody,” Steele said.

The shift from a factory driven economy to the retail sector has caused wages for the middle class to plummet, Steele said, with the minimum wage not being raised since 2009. The American economy has shifted to being driven by business and the markets away from government direction to ensure all Americans benefit, he said.

A giant crippler to the economy is the cost of health care with 20 million Americans still without the ability to affordably pay for their illnesses, much of which was once paid by employers, Steele said. Four in 10 Americans, if required due to a health emergency, could not raise $400, he said.

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Listen to the Jim Steele Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields interview on Apple, Spotify, and retailpoliticspodcast.com

S01E16 Dennis Culhane, Politics of Homelessness Jan 24, 2021

Show notes

American Billionaires: 744 Homeless: 567,715

Lack of U.S Government Support Leaves One in Three on the Streets

January 23, 2021– In a nation where billionaires earn more than some small country economies, over 200,000 Americans remain living on the streets in conditions called “unfit for human habitation.”

And the problem is getting worse.

Dennis Culhane, the foremost expert on American homelessness, told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields that the number of street homeless has spiked 75 percent in the last six years.

“The biggest crisis that we’re experiencing right now is this huge growth in what we call unsheltered homeless, people who are living outside on the streets or in encampments,” said Culhane, a professor and social science researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

American Homelessness exploded in the 1980s due to high unemployment, factory shutdowns, housing price increases, a rise in substance abuse, cutbacks to government housing programs and the federal closure of mental institutions.

The lack of affordable housing along with the absence of enough mental illness and substance abuse treatment centers continues to plague the nation, Culhane said. Homelessness among veterans has dropped 50 percent due to a commitment of funding from the federal government.

Yet the government has not shown the same political will to extend similar funds for the rest of the homeless population, Culhane said. About 40 percent of funding for homeless assistance in the nation comes through private donations, he said.

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Listen to the Dennis Culhane Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields interview on Apple, Spotify and retailpoliticspodcast.com

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