Ohio Governor John Kasich made history yesterday - as Ohio became the first state in the history of this country to sell a state-owned prison to a for-profit private corporation. The Lake Erie Correctional Institute opened up in 2000 - and at the end of this year will be officially owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America - also known as CCA - which shelled out $72 million bucks to buy the facility from the state - and will now get paid for every single new prisoner they lock up. Cliff Schecter joins Thom - he is the National Progressive PR strategist at Libertas LLC.

The United States Post Office is on the verge of shutting down. According to the New York Times - the Post Office is quickly running out of cash and may be forced to shut down this winter. While the media story line is that the Post Office is dealing with the problem of trying to remain profitable in a world of decreasing paper mail - the real cause is actually something much, much different. Consider that this year - like every year since 2006 - the Post Office is legally required to make a $5 billion annual contribution to a retirement account to pay for future retirees who aren't even born yet. For more on this Thom Hartmann is joined by Chuck Zlatkin - Legislative and Political Director of the New York Metro Area Postal Union.

We learned this week that Wall Street needs to lawyer up - because the Federal Housing Finance Agency is filing suit against more than a dozen of the nation's biggest banks - accusing the banksters of selling junk-mortgage securities to investors - which was the trigger of Bush's 2008 financial crisis. Mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost more than $30 billion after the banksters hustled them into buying these piles of mortgage junk - and now the government is coming to collect. But I'm going to ask them to hold off for just a little bit on filing this lawsuit - because it just so happens - I'm holding my own trial against the banksters tonight - as well as a slew of other corporate criminals.

Jamie Weinstein, Daily Caller & Joe Madison & Lisa De Pasquale all join Thom for a rumble on the topics of the day.

Dr. David Graeber, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London on his book - Debt: The First 5000 years. The First 5000 years. How the concepts of debt and credit have defined human history and what this means for our current credit crisis and the future of our economy.

Dr. David Graeber, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London on his book - Debt: The First 5000 years. How the concepts of debt and credit have defined human history and what this means for our current credit crisis and the future of our economy.

Anthropologist and author, Dr. David Graeber joins Thom for the first half hour in "Conversations with Great Minds." They discuss his latest book "Debt: The First 5000 Years", which chronicles how the concepts of debt and credit have defined human history and what this means for America's current credit crisis and the future of the economy. Later, Thom talks about the recent jobs report in the weekly rumble.

Thom rants about how the presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's "job creation" plan slightly mimics Paul Ryan's "Medicare Busting" scheme and ONLY benefits the nation's wealthiest population.

More wars, more billionaires, and a devastated middle class - this is what the billionaires who've seized control of Dwight Eisenhower's once-proud Republican Party are offering us today - this is their vision of America. For thirty years - they've campaigned and spoken openly about their dislike for our government - that extraordinary gift that was created by the Founding Fathers is, as Reagan said, the "problem and not the solution" to our problems. They're anti-American.

"Your Take - My Take" is the part of our show where you get a chance to make yourself heard.

Bisphenol A or BPA is a chemical that they body reacts to as if it were a synthetic estrogen. It's commonly used in polycarbonate plastic and resin-lined food and beverage containers here in the United States, where it's still legal - it's been outlawed in Europe. It can be found here in almost anything packaged in flexible soft plastic or lined with plastic - from baby bottles to lunch containers and even soda cans and energy drinks. But a new study shows pretty solidly that BPA can trigger hormone-responsive gene changes in people. The authors of the study have concluded that BPA is active in humans and that it can be linked biologically to hormone signaling and related disorders in humans and that includes things like diabetes, thyroid disease and obesity.

Raed Jarrar, Iraqi-American blogger and political analyst joins Thom Hartmann. So much for shock and awe - a new Wikileaks release details shock and horror in Iraq. One of the latest leaked state department cables - alleges that back during Bush's presidency in 2006 - US troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians - including 5 children - and 4 women - and then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence. At the time - Bush's military officials denied the incident. But as this Wikileaks release shows - a UN special investigator uncovered evidence to the contrary, noting that morgue reports showed that all victims were handcuffed and shot in the head execution style.

Dan Gainor, Business and Media Institute, joins Thom Hartmann. Rick Perry is a big government "socialist!" While Governor Good Hair is on the campaign trail touting his impressive record of job creation - census data shows most of that Texas job creation was thanks to...the government. Between 2009 and 2010 - Governor Rick Perry added a higher percentage of government workers than any other Governor in the country - hiring more than 17000 new government workers. Of course this is the same guy who claims the government can't create jobs. But his actions show Rick Perry seems to get the simple economic truth that the government is the employer and spender of last resort when the economy falls on hard times. So why isn't he preaching this message now that he's running for the White House?

If you live in Michigan - and you've fallen on hard times - you're screwed. Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is donning his reverse Robin Hood hat - stealing from the poor to give to the rich. The Governor is expected to sign legislation that cuts the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in Michigan from 60 weeks to 48 weeks. As a result - on October 1st - more than 11000 desperately poor people in Michigan will lose a critical lifeline. However, at the same time - Rick Snyder wants to toss his CEO corporate donors a nice fat tax break - signing into law an 86% tax cut on corporations that will cost Michigan $1.7 billion. Thom is joined by David Selig - Conservative Commentator and advocate for Republican Governors who screw over their constituents.

Former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, Michele "Are you hypnotized" Bachmann and the Pima County Republican Party.