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When a Silicon Valley entrepreneur developed a tax break intended as a way to incentivize the rich to invest in underserved communities, the idea was pushed into law with little scrutiny or

When a Silicon Valley entrepreneur developed a tax break intended as a way to incentivize the rich to invest in underserved communities, the idea was pushed into law with little scrutiny or fine-tuning and few safeguards against abuse. With an unbeatable pair of high-profile sponsors and deft political marketing, the Opportunity Zone became an unnoticed part of the 2017 Trump tax bill. In his new book Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age, bestselling author David Wessel follows the money—starting from this Opportunity Zone initiative—to see who profited from the plan that was supposed to spur development of blighted areas and help people out of poverty. His findings? The Las Vegas Strip, the Portland (Oregon) Ritz-Carlton, and the Mall of America. In other words, lucrative areas where the wealthy can place their money profitably and avoid capital gains taxes. Wessel provides vivid portraits of the proselytizers, political influencers, consultants, real estate dealmakers and individual money-seekers looking to take advantage of this opportunity. He looks at the cities in which the Opportunity Zone initiatives have failed, as well as a few where they have succeeded, and offers a lesson on how a better-designed program might have helped more left-behind places. Join us as David Wessel, offers an in-depth analysis of the bill he faults with keeping the rich richer—revealing the gritty reality of a system tilted in favor of a few while leaving many out in the cold. NOTES Photo by Jay Mallin. OCTOBER 19, 2021 SPEAKERS David Wessel Senior Fellow and Director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution; Author, Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age; Twitter @davidmwessel In Conversation with Lenny Mendonca Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors 💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/commonwealthclub 📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events 🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/membership 💰 DONATE NOW: https://support.commonwealthclub.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 📺➕📻 Watch & Listen https://www.commonwealthclub.org/watch-listen CWC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub/ CWC Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cwclub/ CWC Twitter https://twitter.com/cwclub The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

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On October 18 Dr. Sharon Blackie explored stories, myths, fairy tales, and archetypes illustrating the transformative potential of time spent in inner inquiry, and how doing so might help to shift

On October 18 Dr. Sharon Blackie explored stories, myths, fairy tales, and archetypes illustrating the transformative potential of time spent in inner inquiry, and how doing so might help to shift the collective mindset. She highlighted ways of using the old stories to reflect on today's challenges.

During this interactive session, we discussed how time spent in solitude and in nature helps us to listen, participate in a reciprocal relationship with the animate world we belong to, and to deepen our sense of kinship. The session concluded with the challenge to attendees: what are the foundational shifts we need to make to participate in the larger possibility of metamorphosis?

Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer, psychologist, and mythologist. Her highly acclaimed books, courses, lectures and workshops are focused on reimagining womens’ stories, and on the relevance of myths, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today. To learn more about Dr. Blackie's work, please visit: https://sharonblackie.net/

Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist. Her highly acclaimed books, courses, lectures and workshops are focused on reimagining womens’ stories, and on the relevance of myths, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today. To learn more about Dr. Blackie's work, please visit: https://sharonblackie.net/

Karen Doyle Grossman, is the Executive Director for the Garrison Institute. She was the founding Vice President, Social Innovations at Mercy Corps, a $400 million international organization operating in 44 countries. In this role, Karen created and directed Mercy Corps’ work to advance highly scalable, double bottom line solutions. At the Aspen Institute, Karen launched the Institute’s Young Leadership Initiative for executives under the age of 45. She served as associate director for the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, leading multi-year initiatives to document, evaluate and fund innovative anti-poverty strategies in the United States. There, Karen created and founded MicroMentor, the world's largest community of entrepreneurs and experienced volunteer business mentors: https://www.micromentor.org/

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Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist, best-selling author, and solar-powered goatherder. He's reported from five continents for the Washington Post, Wired, Salon, the New York Times, Outside, NPR, and US News and World Report. A one-time New Yorker, Doug now resides at the Funky Butte Ranch in Silver City, New Mexico. Published on Sep 27, 2013

He talks about our indigenous gene, the I-gene, that connects us to nature, key to awakening this gene is getting outside and spend time connecting to your i-gene in this hurried digital age and live in both worlds.  TEDx ABQ, September 2013.

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Where does your garbage go when you throw it away? Away for the residents of Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington is the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington Oregon. Sustainable Today visited this mammoth site to see how it works and how you can limit the amount of waste that is buried. We also visited the new power plant under construction at the site that will generate electricity from the methane gas pulled from the landfill. Related subjects:

• Garbage, Landfill, methane, power, sustainability, environment

 

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A crisis is unfolding off the West Coast of the United States. Whales, just like this one, are getting entangled in fishing gear as they swim along their migration routes. Once entangled, these

A crisis is unfolding off the West Coast of the United States. Whales, just like this one, are getting entangled in fishing gear as they swim along their migration routes. Once entangled, these whales can drag heavy traps and lines for weeks — if not months — before they fall victim to their wounds. As they struggle to swim, feed, and make it to the surface to breathe, the tough ropes cut deep into their flesh and bone, leading to life threatening infection and disease. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Join Oceana in protecting whales from deadly entanglements in the Dungeness crab fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

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Shima Abadi is a Professor of Oceanography, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Washington.  Her research focuses on ocean noise,

Shima Abadi is a Professor of Oceanography, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Washington.  Her research focuses on ocean noise, including sound source localization, acoustical imaging, and animal bioacoustics. Dr. Abadi has received two awards from the Acoustical Society of America; she is currently working on mitigating seismic airgun noise, analyzing ocean ambient noise, and developing algorithms for analyzing data collected by large underwater networks.

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Despite California legislation to address global warming, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase. Four degree annual temperature rise is what we may expect. Randy Hayes,

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