Waking up from the American Dream
How the top institutions in America are “committing malpractice” by fostering a toxic version of success. Amazon’s tax bill is in – prepare to get mad. We hear about the criminalization of homelessness and of proposed changes to Title IX.
Listen to the full show by clicking the play button above, or check out one of the show’s segments below. You can also subscribe to The Record on your favorite podcast app.
Casey Gerald, There Will Be No Miracles Here
There’s a way to tell Casey Gerald’s story that sounds like a Sandra Bullock movie or a motivational speech: a young man grows up in difficult circumstances, goes to Yale on a football scholarship, and goes on to Harvard Business School and a job on Wall Street. And that story, says Gerald, would completely miss the point. In his book, There Will Be No Miracles Here, he tells his story in his own words. It’s an indictment of the mythical American Dream.
Amazon's 2018 tax return (emphasis on return)
You might be procrastinating on filing your taxes this season. Take a page out of the book of your timely neighbor Amazon, whose return is already in. Total tax bill: $0! Or, depending on how you count, negative $129M, the size of their tax rebate. How are they doing this? We asked Carolyn Adolph, host of the KUOW podcast Prime(d).
Kroman on the criminalization of homelessness
Here’s a statistic on disproportionate imprisonment that you may not have heard. About 1% of Seattle’s population is homeless. But people who are experiencing homelessness make up roughly 20% of people in our jails. Crosscut’s David Kroman looked into these numbers and spoke with some of the people behind them.
Title IX changes
US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has proposed changing the definition of sexual harassment under Title IX, which would change how schools respond to complaints. Among other changes, misconduct would need to be “severe,” “pervasive,” AND “offensive,” rather than just one of the three as in the current law. Valery Richardson is the Title IX Coordinator at the University of Washington, and she has some concerns about the proposed changes.
