Today on The Signorile Show!

3:35pm ET -  Five years ago a massive earthquake struck Haiti and killed more than 200,000 people and displaced another 1.5 million.  In the months following the disaster the international community came together and pledged $10 billion in relief, roughly enough to give every single Haitian a check for $1,000.00.  However according to Jake Johnston, a Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, most of that money has instead went to Beltway firms located in DC, Maryland and Virginia, who have been hired to handle everything from housing construction, rubble removal, health services, security and more making it so that for every $1 that USAID has spent, less than one penny went directly to Haitian organizations, be it the Haitian government or in Haiti’s private sector.  Jake joins us today to discuss the problem of how humanitarian aid is spent; you can also read an article that he wrote all about this for the Nation.  You can also follow Jake on twitter.

4:05pm ET - Earlier this week, President Obama gave his 6^th State of the Union Address to the nation, which was well received by his base for touting both progressive accomplishments and proposed policies.  However, without mentioning it by name, the President brought up the Trans Pacific Partnership during his speech, a move that would ship jobs overseas among other things.  My guest, Russell Berman of The Atlantic, joins us now to discuss the President’s call to have the “trade promotion authority” he mentioned Tuesday and how he’ll have to have a fight with his own party to get it.  You can also follow Russell on twitter.

4:35pm ET - New York City is one of the most walkable cities in the world and has always been a magnet for writers. While many novelists, poets, and essayists have enjoyed long walks in New York in order to gain inspiration, not all of them have had favorable impressions.  Joining us today to discuss his new book Walking New York:Reflections of American Writers from Walt Whitman to Teju Cole a study of over a dozen writers who walked the streets of New York and wrote about their impressions of the city in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry is Stephen Miller.


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