BROADCASTS.com

The role of corporations is looming large in the presidential campaign. Today, we learn about the history of corporations from author and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff, who says since the Middle Ages, corporations have tried to prevent the rise of a middle class. A historian who writes about FDR links him to President Obama in terms of the paranoid hatred that both engendered among Republican extremists. And Bill Press talks with Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont and the National Journal’s Major Garrett about “sequestration” and the “fiscal cliff.”

Douglas Rushkoff

Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff has written a book called, “Life, Incorporated.” In it he explains how corporations that arose in the Middle Ages have, through today, acted against the interests of the middle class. http://www.rushkoff.com/

Sally Denton

Historian Sally Denton traces “the paranoid style” in American politics from FDR straight through to President Obama. While things were worse in the Thirties, she says, Obama was slow to recognize the depth of hatred emanating from his political opponents. http://www.sallydenton.com/

Peter Welch

Bill Press talks with Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont and the National Journal’s Major Garrett about “sequestration” and the “fiscal cliff.” http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://welch.house.gov/