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On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey and Steve Keen, the author of “Debunking Economics” and the world’s first crowdfunded economist.

The stock market yesterday had its largest intraday point drop ever, despite strong economic data that was released last week. What accounts for this volatility? The hosts look at the underlying reasons.

An internal audit of the Defense Logistics Agency by the Big Four accounting firm of Ernst & Young found that the Pentagon failed to keep track of nearly $800 million that it now cannot account for. The auditors said, across the board, the agency’s financial leadership is so weak that it is simply unable to account for its money. Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a senior adviser to the Center for Defense Information, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration, joins the show.

A British court has upheld an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, rejecting arguments that the warrant is moot because Assange is no longer wanted for questioning in Sweden. Brian and John speak with Randy Credico, an activist, a comedian, and the former director of the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice.

Senators John McCain, a Republican, and Chris Coons, a Democrat, have come up with a bipartisan immigration bill that they believe will be attractive to both parties. The White House, though, already has rejected it. But will it still be the basis for real immigration reform? Immigration attorney Alan Diamante joins the show.

The government is set to run out of money again at the end of the week, while Congress scrambles to come up with another continuing resolution. Observers say that the Democrats will not move to shut down the government and instead will seek a standalone bill to address immigration, rather than tying it to the budget. Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist, author, and host of a nationally broadcast talk radio show on Sirius/XM channel 126, joins Brian and John.

The Trump Administration is continuing its internal deliberations over what it euphemistically calls a “bloody nose” policy for North Korea. If fact, it’s a policy to attack North Korea militarily. At the same time, Victor Cha, a Bush Administration official and Georgetown University professor whom Trump had named as Ambassador to South Korea, had his nomination withdrawn after saying that the policy was a bad idea. Meanwhile, a group of Democratic senators have published an open letter saying that the President does not have Congressional authorization to launch any strike on North Korea. Chris Black, an international criminal lawyer who is on the List of Counsel before the ICC, joins the show.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has signaled his support for a coup in Venezuela, praising the history of military rule in Latin America and calling the armed forces an “agent of change”. Brian and John speak with Gloria La Riva, the Director of the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee.