RealClear Radio Hour: Political Disasters in Science and Economics

This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Marc Edwards and Dan Liljenquist recount politically induced disasters from the perversion of science to the pension crisis.

My first guest is Marc Edwards, Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at Virginia Tech. Marc discusses institutional scientific misconduct in academic and government-funded science and details how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created and covered up both the D.C. and Flint, Michigan, lead and drinking water crises. He describes how upper management cultivates a culture of corruption to promote their policy agency agenda, risking loss of public trust in science. 

Up second is Dan Liljenquist, former Utah state senator and president and founder of Liljenquist Strategies. Dan shares how he successfully spearheaded pension reform in Utah, which earned him Governing magazine’s 2011 Public Official of the Year award. He suggests how chronically underfunded pension programs in states nationwide can avoid the risk of structural bankruptcy such as Puerto Rico suffered this year. 

You can hear the discussion by listening to the full show as-aired on iTunes, or you can check out the podcasts hosted on YouTube and SoundCloud. Make sure to check back next week for another episode of RealClear Radio Hour.

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