If Disaster Comes, Could You Weather the Storm?

Coming up on today’s show:

• From a natural disaster like Hurricane Harvey, to an unexpected broken bone, are you financially prepared for an emergency? For a look at financial preparedness among American families, The Takeaway turns to Jonathan Morduch, co-author of “The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty,“ Courtney Collins, lead reporter on KERA’s One Crisis Away project, and John Gerzema, CEO of Harris Insights & Analytics.

• It’s been 40 years since Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg released “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday and The Takeaway, examines the cultural impact of Spielberg’s seminal sci-fi film about three people who believe in the existence of alien life.

• On Wednesday, the annual Hajj pilgrimage began for nearly 2 million Muslims from around the world. But this year, the Hajj is even more beset by political strife than in the past, as Qatar remains in a bitter dispute with Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities have also reportedly placed restrictions on Syrian citizens looking to take part in the spiritual event. Dilshad Ali, editor of the Muslim Channel at Patheos.com, explains.

• With so many changes to the American economy over the past several decades, the conventional wisdom on how to gain access to the middle class doesn’t always seem to be panning out. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich analyzes how we define the middle class in 2017, and better ways to think about viable “alternative paths” to reaching that point.

• It’s been almost a week since Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. Vernon Loeb, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, has been on the front lines of the storm from the beginning. Amanda K. Edwards, a native Houstonian and current Houston City Council Member-at-Large, has been out on the streets across the district checking in on how people are doing.  They examine Harvey’s devastation, and what it has done to a city that has been pushed to its breaking point.  

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.