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The Brian Lehrer Show

Thursday, September 20, 2007
  • (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/daxiang/739794875/" target="_blank">daxiang</a>/flickr)
    (daxiang/flickr)

    Rating the Housing Market

    The Fed just cut interest rates to counteract the sub prime mortgage crisis. We look at how much it might help the New York housing market, in our weekly look at real estate for the month of September. Also, Benjamin Barber on the state of Libya’s democratization; the MTA moves to add cell phone service to subway platforms and proposes new upgrades; we get analysis of Attorney General Cuomo's plan to use the Martin Act to go after energy companies; and we take calls from African-American listeners on the Republican presidential candidates' snub of the Tavis Smiley debate.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Paul Fleuranges, spokesman for the MTA, talks about the the MTA's deal to allow cellphone service in subway stations.

Acting Out

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo invoked the Martin Act this week to tackle five energy companies. Eric O. Corngold, executive deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice talks about the use of the Martin Act. Then, Alan Lewis, partner at Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, and Dale Bryk, senior attorney with NRDC, discuss if this is an innovative use of the Martin Act.

Link to the Attorney General's website with information on the Martin Act
Natural Resources Defense Council
Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP

Rating the Housing Market

Bob Guskind, editor of the real estate blog, Curbed, examines the impact of the fed rate cut on New York's housing market, in our weekly look at real-estate during the month of September.

Democracy in Libya

Benjamin Barber, professor of civil society at the University of Maryland, senior fellow at Demos and the author of Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole (Norton, 2007), discusses the democratization of Libya.

Prof. Barber's Washington Post op-ed
Conference website

Open Phones: Tavis Smiley Debate

African American callers express how they feel about some of the Republican presidential candidates dropping out of Tavis Smiley's debate on PBS.

Subway Talk

Sewell Chan, reporter for The New York Times and blogger for the City Room, tells us about other proposals made by the MTA to improve communication during a crisis in the transit system.

City Room Blog

Uncommon Indicators

The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show wants to hear how the economy is affecting the little things in your daily life. Share your stories and photos of the downturn.

Just Launched! The Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest. All the details here!

The Rocky Road Ahead

The Brian Lehrer Show

Ray Young, the chief financial officer of General Motors, talks about GM’s bankruptcy.

Then, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Greg Williams, former owner of the recently closed Huntington Chevrolet in Huntington Station, NY., discusses the effect GM’s bankruptcy has had on dealerships and their employees.

Tweet If You Use Twitter

The Brian Lehrer Show

Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society talks about what Twitter means and how different groups use it.

What's your take on Twitter? How do you use it? Comment below!

Don't Say That, Literally

The Brian Lehrer Show

John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants discusses the running list the band keeps of "things we can no longer say." (a few examples: "my bad" "don't go there" "one hundred and ten percent" and "voted off the island")

What would be on your list of banned words or phrases? Comment below!

From Denmark with Love

The Brian Lehrer Show

Jesper Grunwald, senior managing editor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, talks about the Danish economy, biking to work, and why the Danes are allegedly the happiest people in the world.

Squatting, Then and Now

The Brian Lehrer Show

As former squats in the East Village make the transition to coops, making homes from abandoned housing is again an issue. Andrew Reicher executive director of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Frank Morales an Episcopal priest involved in East Village/Lower East Side squatting and homelessness activism since the late '70s, and Rob Robinson, a leader of the Housing Campaign of Picture the Homeless, discuss the return of squatting.

Video Picks

The Brian Lehrer Show

Check out some recent video clips of interviews with guests and Brian Lehrer's weekly Web video picks.