Conversations with Jim Zirin

Conversations in the Digital Age with Jim Zirin – Alan Greenspan served as Federal Reserve Chairman from 1987 to 2006. For many, he was the architect of American prosperity. For others, he was to blame for the 2008 financial crisis. Sebastian Mallaby, author of The Man Who Knew—The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, tells Zirin that Greenspan failed to take action to avert the crisis.

Conversations in the Digital Age with Jim Zirin – In the 1970s, Nina and Tim Zagat as a hobby began to survey restaurant goers. They then processed the surveys and produced an eponymous restaurant guide that flourished into a major brand and a multi-million dollar business. They tell Jim how they did it with marketing skills and promotional instincts, and even disclose a few business secrets.

Conversations in the Digital Age with Jim Zirin – In his new cable talk show “Star Talk,” astrophysicist extraordinaire Neil deGrasse Tyson combines hilarity, pop culture, celebrity guests and science to the joy of his many fans. He tells Jim Zirin that levity combined with gravity is a recipe for learning about the universe, and just plain fun.

Conversations in the Digital Age with Jim Zirin – Tony Award-winning musical revivals like South Pacific and The King and I. Riveting drama at Lincoln Center Theater like Awake and Sing! and Oslo. Grand opera at the Met. Few modern theatrical directors have shown the range and depth of Bart Sher. He tells Jim Zirin how he makes his work resonate with contemporary political themes.

Kelli O’Hara came to New York from a small town in Oklahoma. She climbed every mountain, rocketing to stardom in the Broadway musical theater, and winning the coveted Tony as Best Leading Actress in the 2015 revival of The King and I. She tells Jim Zirin how she has acted out serious contemporary themes, all the while preserving the enduring musical values of the American songbook.

True justice cannot be administered in every case, but when something goes wrong in our system, the outcome can be horrific. Top lawyer and former prosecutor Joel Cohen, author of the blockbuster book, Broken Scales, reflects on 10 cases of possible injustice, and tells Jim Zirin that we need to do better with our justice system.

A spectacularly successful entrepreneur, patriotic philanthropist, public servant in the Carter White House, and talk show host, David Rubenstein is a man for all seasons. He profiles his career with Jim Zirin, shares his economic forecast, assessment of the world situation, philanthropic passion, and what he sees as his legacy.

Peter Georgescu arrived in America as a refugee from Communist Romania and is now CEO of one of the largest advertising agencies. He has written a dynamite new book entitled Capitalists Arise!, arguing that society must correct the inequity that the richest 1% of our citizens own more wealth than the bottom 90%. Georgescu tells Jim we have to fix it or risk civil disorder.

In 1978, gifted writer Ken Auletta profiled for Esquire the pugnacious attorney Roy Cohn whom he called the "personification of evil." Cohn died in 1986 discredited and disbarred. Donald Trump was a Cohn client and close friend. He called Cohn his mentor. Ken Auletta tells Jim Zirin some of the dirty tricks Trump learned at the feet of the master of the smear.

American University History Professor Allan Lichtman is popularly known as the “prediction professor,” who accurately predicted the outcome in seven of the last nine presidential elections. The author of a fascinating book, The Case for Impeachment, he tells Jim Zirin that President Trump will be impeached before the end of his first term.

In 2016, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass foresaw a “world in disarray” with daunting challenges in the presidential inbox. Today, as we face a spur-of-the-moment summit with North Korea, possible roll-back of the Iran nuclear deal, trade war with China, and tensions with the Russians over Syria, complicated by a domestic cloud over the presidency.

In a brilliant new book, LBJ Domestic Adviser and Carter Cabinet Member Joseph A. Califano, Jr. sees an American government broken by the partisan divide. He tells Jim we the people must act now to fix our polarized politics stalled by corrupting campaign finance, unfair partisan gerrymandering and deep differences in American society.

David Brooks wrote a much-discussed Op-ed entitled “Trump’s Lizard Wisdom” in which he argued that Donald Trump’s mobster ties in business equipped him to deal with the thug minds running parts of today’s world. Council on Foreign Relations director of studies James M. Lindsay tells Jim Zirin that Trump's bull-in-a-china-shop techniques are fraught with peril.

What will come of the Iran deal, the opening of the Jerusalem embassy, Trump's China stance, the meeting with Kim Jong-un? What will happen in the mid-term elections? If the House flips, will the new Congress file a bill of impeachment? Political analyst, pollster, author and Fox News contributor Doug Schoen tells Jim that the answers are the stuff polls are made on.