The Top Risks Facing the World in 2018

Coming up on today’s show:

• Every year, Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group, releases his top 10 risk predictions for the year ahead. Today on The Takeaway, Bremmer reviews his predictions from last year, and tells us what he is most concerned about for 2018. 

• Spontaneous protests broke out on the streets of Iran late last week, and have now spread all over the country. Trita Parsi, the author of “Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy“andthe president of the National Iranian American Council, has been talking to people on the ground in Iran about the unrest, and shares what he’s hearing. 

• Republicans raised the federal deficit by nearly $1.5 trillion after passing their sweeping tax legislation. Paul Ryan and many House conservatives are aiming to offset those costs by making drastic cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and food stamps. But Mitch McConnell says that the Senate is not on board. Seung Min Kim, a Senate reporter for Politico, explains. 

• Workers across the country rang in the New Year with a pay bump after 18 states raised the minimum wage on Monday.  Here to help us understand the significance is David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute. 

• California legalized recreational marijuana on January 1st. The new state law could allow hundreds of thousands to wipe their criminal record clean of their drug convictions. Summer Stephan, San Diego County district attorney, has the details. 

• Jessica Bennett of The New York Times and Koa Beck of Jezebel discuss their hopes — and fears — for the future of the #MeToo movement in 2018. 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich