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On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research.

The stock market plunged again losing more than one thousand points at the same time as Congress raced to avert another government shutdown. Instability within the government and in the larger economy has become a hallmark of the crises looming in the United States.

In this segment, “Underreported America,” the hosts look at some of the less widely covered stories from around the country. A few days ago, a livery driver in New York City committed suicide in front of City Hall, apparently as a result of his inability to make a living under current taxi and livery regulations. The hosts look at regulations and the advent of ride-sharing. Johnice Earle, a business agent with the Washington DC Taxicab Association, a part of Teamsters Local #922, and the President and Secretary of the DC Taxicab Association, join the show.

Today is another installment of “Criminal Injustice,” where the hosts talk about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Brian and John speak with Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Paul Wright, the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News.

The US and its allies struck Syrian government forces with air and artillery fire last night, killing more than 100 Syrians. This is the deadliest confrontation in Syria so far that involved the US military. Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins the show.

Negotiations between the Venezuelan government and opposition in the Dominican Republic were indefinitely suspended, as the opposition meets today to decide whether to participate in a controversial presidential election in April, despite the barring of its two strongest candidates. Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, joins Brian and John.

A federal judge in Oklahoma recently gave a woman guilty of passing bad checks and possessing drugs a choice: Be sterilized or go to prison for a longer stretch. She was sterilized. Eesha Pandit, a writer, activist, and co-founder and managing partner at The Center for Advancing Innovative Policy, joins the show.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke for eight hours on the floor of the House yesterday about the Dreamers, the longest House speech in American history. Regardless, they still will not be protected in the proposed bipartisan budget deal. Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that most Dreamers never got their citizenship because they were “lazy.” Brian and John speak with Isabel Garcia, co-founder of Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cyberwarfare chief said unequivocally yesterday that Russia hacked into the election systems of a number of US states in 2016. The state election commissions, however, said that was simply not true and there was no evidence of any hacking, from Russia or from anywhere else. Joe Lauria, a journalist, political commentator, and author of the book "How I Lost, By Hillary Clinton," joins the show.