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Featured Guests

Alan Charney
Program Director
US Action
Chuck Collins
Senior Scholar/Coordinator of Working Group on Extreme Inequality
Economy, opportunity, inequality, aggressive financial disgorgement policies, surcharge on incomes and wealth over $5 million
Institute for Policy Studies
Danny Schechter
Founder and Executive Editor
Influences of U.S. media, dumbing-down of citizenry by U.S. media; how media covers war, potential for threat against freedom of press in war time; media coverage of the Iraq War,US and Iraqi casualties; media tactics of Bush administration; embedded journalists
MediaChannel
Dean Baker
Co-Director
General economic picture, economic stimulus package of Fall 2001, airline bailout package, stock market, Social Security, consumer price index, economic policy, Federal Government's economic data on prices, employment, corporate profits, and the GDP, Failure of globalization and IMF and World Bank policies to promote economic growth or reduce poverty; failure of the IMF to promote international financial stability; undermining of Social Security and other public pension systems by the World Bank.
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director
Jobs and wages, housing, unemployment insurance, equitable tax policy, lifting children and their families out of poverty
Coalition on Human Needs
Dedrick Muhammad
Senior Organizer/Research Associate
Racial wealth divide, working, poor and middle class concerns, tax shifts, disproportionate affect of public service cuts on communities of color, federal budget, economic inequality, racial wealth disparities, subprime mortgage crisis
Institute for Policy Studies
Emira Woods
Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus
development, Liberia, African development and international financial institutions; foreign policy; G8 and droping debt to Africa; debt relief plans and their hidden consequences
Foreign Policy In Focus
Heidi Shierholz
Economist
Obama's plans and how they fit into the economic picture , Labor markets, Economic Inequality, Economics of Gender, Poverty
Economic Policy Institute
James Galbraith
Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
Economic inequality, macroeconomic reform, public policy, government and the problem of economics; inequality and global unrest
Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
Jared Bernstein
Senior Economist
Low-wage labor market, minimum wage, income and wage inequality, poverty, education, family income inequality, trends in employment compensation, Katrina, effects of the Davis Bacon Act on wages and reconstruction, impact of immigration on wages, wage and economic data used to write immigration policy.
Economic Policy Institute
John Cavanagh
Director
Globalization, economics, global economy, international economics, alternatives to economic globalization, trade, trade deficit, trade and development, trade agreements, energy, World Trade Organization, Chinese world trade
Institute for Policy Studies
Manuel Perez-Rocha
Associate Fellow
Devastating toll the U.S. economic crisis is taking on Mexico, Latino immigrants in the U.S., NAFTA and other trade policies that limit the power of governments to prevent and respond effectively to financial crisis
Institute for Policy Studies
Marvin Silver
Senior Campaign Manager
Tax policies of the Bush Administration like cutting programs that primarily benefit the poor and middle class in order to finance tax cuts for the wealthy and special interests
US Action
Mike Lapham
Responsible Wealth Program Director
Wealth and economic justice, tax policy, Responsible Wealth, unemployment, fair taxes, living wage, greater corporate accountability, broadened asset ownership
Responsible Wealth
Nomi Prins
Senior Fellow
Wall Street bailout, subprime mortgage crisis, global and domestic economic crisis
Demos is a non-partisan public policy
Robin Broad
Professor of International Development
How market-based policies failed and instead wreaked economic, environmental and social havoc in poorer countries, better ways forward
American University, School of International Service
Ross Eisenbrey
Vice-President
Labor and employment law, occupational safety and health, pension policy, economic budget issues
Economic Policy Institute
Tony Avirgon
Global Policy Network Organizer
Advocacy campaigning, International organizing, Media relations, Environmental, labor, economic justice, and development issues, G-20 & G-8
Economic Policy Institute
William Spriggs
Professor and Chair, Economics Department
Economic equality, anti-discrimination enforcement, employment policy, labor relations, labor standards and minimum wage, small business development, African American community concerns, poverty, labor markets, international labor and human rights, racial disparities and civil rights, job training, minority business, and social insurance
Howard University

Life, Liberty and Security of Person

60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Issue Area:


Life, Liberty and Security of Person

On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted by Eleanor Roosevelt, was adopted by the United Nations after World War II. This month, the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Declaration, looking back on 60 years of human rights history while looking forward to ensuring all people have a right to dignity, fairness and opportunity in the U.S. and around the world.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights upholds that all people have basic rights that should be afforded them, including healthcare, housing, freedom from torture and slavery and a right to privacy, among others. Fundamental human rights are engrained as a core value in our founding documents, which ensure all citizens inalienable rights that cannot be repealed. Today, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are rights that all U.S. citizens deserve, regardless of race, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation and physical and mental ability.

While we have come a long way in the U.S. over the last 60 years, there is still progress to be made on many fundamental human rights issues. Many people in the U.S. today are not able to feed themselves, stay in their homes or provide for their families� needs, and the problem is getting worse because of the recession. Forty-six million Americans are without health insurance and millions are losing their homes. During the campaign, President-elect Obama reasserted healthcare as a basic human right and emphasized our responsibility to help Americans in need.

In a recent press conference, Obama stated that foreign policy issues facing the U.S. are as much a priority as the economic crisis. The U.S.�s image as a defender of international human rights was shattered during the Iraq War when pictures circulated the globe of U.S. military officials torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. As president, Obama will be faced with this legacy of U.S. sanctioned torture and other human rights abuses. He promises to close Guantanamo and end the indefinite detention of prisoners. Will Obama act on his pledge to champion international human rights and reform U.S. policies?

In a recently published op-ed for CNN, Former President Jimmy Carter asserts that, with new leadership in Washington D.C., the U.S. can repair our reputation and reaffirm our commitment to international human rights protections. We can also improve human rights here at home by ensuring that all Americans are treated with dignity and fairness, and have equal access to opportunity in the U.S.

What are the fundamental rights afforded to all people in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? What can the U.S. do to protect human rights at home?

("Life, Liberty and Security of Person" are from Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)