When America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Was this the dawning of a new era, in which America, a nation nearly severed in half by slavery, and whose racial fault lines are arguably among its most enduring traits, would at last move beyond race with the election of Barack Hussein Obama? In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham convincingly argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia. Indeed, the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century.
Host Kathleen Stephenson speaks with Margrit Kennedy, an outspoken critic of the current global economic system and an internationally-renowned advocate of alternative regional and complementary currencies, about her new book "Occupy Money: Creating an Economy where Everybody Wins."
Compound interest and inflation have caused our monetary system to balloon to the point where bailing out banks, large corporations, and even entire countries will not prevent a complete breakdown of the global economy - unless we change the system in fundamental ways. Margrit Kennedy says it's time for a grassroots movement to knock conventional money off its pedestal and replace it with a fresh paradigm that puts people before profits.