For tonight's conversation with Great Minds Thom Hartmann is joined by Ellen Brown. Ellen Brown is an attorney and the president of the Public Banking Institute and Author Web of Debt.

In this week's Conversations with Great Minds Harriet A.Washington joins Thom. Her book Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself is an exposé of the medical industrial complex's rush to own and exploit the raw materials of human life - including your body tissue and DNA! Her book "Medical Apartheid" documents how people of color - particularly African Americans - have been subjected to everything from medical experimentation and vivisection to the denial of medical services from the days of slavery to today.

In this week's Conversations With Great Minds we'll meet a true pioneer who may well help revolutionize your relationship with our healthcare system. For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds I am joined by Dr. Peter Beilenson. He currently heads up the Health Deparment in Howard County, Maryland where he and his team have launched the Healthy Howard Intiative - a program that joins individuals, businesses, schools, community organizations and government to ceate and make accessible healthy alternatives in many different aspects of daily life for county residents. For 13 years he served as the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City in Maryland where his vision led to expanded drug treatment programs, improved immunization compliance, a wide range of extremely effective lead poisoning prevention initiatives, juvenile violence prevention, and the creation of the state-wide initiative for universal health coverage in Maryland called "Health Care for All" He is also the founder of "The Evergreen Project" - an initiative that was inspired by a provision in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and seeks to create healthcare co-ops that cut costs to both patients and providers while making sure that excellent health care is avaialble to communities. Dr. Beilenson was chosen as an Utne Reader visionary in 2011 - joining a distinguished list of individuals who - as described by the Editors of the publication - "are world visionaries who don't just concoct great ideas but also act on them."

In this week's Conversatiosn with Great Minds - Thom Hartmann is joined by Professor Frances Fox Piven who envisioned the 99 percent movement over a year ago. For the past thirty years - she has been a professor of political science and sociology at the Graduate Center at The City University of New York. She gained notoriety for an article she co-wrote with sociologist Richard Cloward in 1996 that advocated increased enrollment in social welfare programs in order to collapse the dysfunctional parts of that system and force reforms - leading to a guaranteed annual income. This political strategy is now known as the "Cloward-Piven strategy" and has been a hot topic of discussion in recent years. Professor Piven has served as the President of the American Sociological Association and is currently an honoray chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. And she is one of the people responsible for the fact that you can now register to vote at the DMV - In 1983 she co-founded Human SERVE, an organization with the goal of increasing voter registration by linking vehicle registration with access to social services and voting. Human SERVE's initiative was incorporated into the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 - more commonly known as the "Motor Voter Bill" - and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, Professor Piven is the author of a dozen books - the latest being "Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven?: The Essential Writings of the Professor Glenn Beck Loves to Hate."

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom Hartmann is joined by Professor Gar Alpervitz. Professor Alpervitz is a historian, political economist, activist and author. He is currently the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland and a former Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books on the atomic bomb and atomic diplomacy and his articles have appeared in leading American publications - including the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation Magazine, and the Atlantic and he is a frequent featured guest on major cable news programs. After completing his Ph.D. from Canbridge University - Professor Alpervitz served as a legislative director in both houses of Congress and as a special assistant in the State Department. He is also the president of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives and is a founding principal of the Democracy Collaborative, a research institution focused on initiatives that promote the democratization of wealth. His latest book is "America Beyind Capitalism" - a book that has been described as "one of the most important books of the decade." Professor Gar Alperovitz goes beyond capitalism with worker coops, public banks and local economies.

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds I sit down with Gunnar Tomasson. Gunnar was originally born in Iceland - but now resides in nearby Maryland. He studied at both the University of Manchester and Harvard University - before going on to become a senior staff member with the International Monetary Fund from 1966 to 1989. Currently - Gunnar is a financial consultant - and with global markets around the world in turmoil - and the nation of Iceland taking a unique approach to shoring up its' economy - he can offer some much needed insight into solutions to get us all out of this mess. He knows a thing or two about world economies, their debts and the revolutions that followed bankrupt countries. He'll cover the collapse of Iceland and what can we can learn from that.

David Cobb, Democracy Unlimited & Move to Amend joins Thom Hartmann. This week - Portland, Maine became the latest city in America to pass a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizens United and declare that corporations are not people. Joining a long line of other cities from Los Angeles to Boulder to New York that have passed similar resolutions. For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom Hartmann is joined by a man who's been intrumental in raising awareness of this issue - and organizing today's Occupy the Courts rallies across America - David Cobb. He is a lawyer, political activist, and engaged citizen. He has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, run for political office himself, and even been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. Currently, David is the National Projects Director of Democracy Unlimited - and he's the Spokesperson for Move to Amend - the organization that spearheaded today's day of action. And in 2004 - David was the Green Party's candidate for President.