Xander and Erik advocate for two different positions on the appropriate response by the US government to the coming recession, an exercise in a passionate and respectful disagreement, and an opportunity for Xander and Erik to share what we actually believe needs doing, as well. Stay safe, everyone.

Climate change will, in addition to all of its other havoc, cause major changes to the geopolitical future. The entire board will change.

It’s Iowa Caucus time, which means people make hay by predicting a brokered convention!

…But what is a brokered convention? How does it work? How likely is it?

Today we discuss the process, history, and (soooorrrrrta) likelihood of brokered conventions… and marvel at how bafflingly complicated the whole primary process is. Hopefully some good immunization from the chaos and punditry of the next 9 months.

Recently Erik saw an article in which nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says an obsession with looking at GDP has become a problem:

“The world is facing three existential crises: a climate crisis, an inequality crisis and a crisis in democracy,” he writes. “Yet the accepted ways by which we measure economic performance give absolutely no hint that we might be facing a problem.”

“If we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing,”

Do we need to reconsider how useful GDP can be as a measure of economic health?

Amid the hard facts of distrust and violence between police and some communities in the US, debate descends into fanatical screaming between two tribes. We forget the solution we all want: effective policing with great community relationships. Today we interview Lisa Broderick, who founded Police2Peace, with a radically simple experiment to help our police and communities cooperate like never before.

How does the process of impeachment work? What actions are impeachable? How’s it worked in the past? We cover all of these questions and more.

We had the pleasure of hosting Alanna McCargo, VP of Housing and Finance Policy at the Urban Institute to help us answer a listener question about wealth inequality, and Xander came across an incredible article with an important question: how does real estate impact the ongoing wealth gap between white Americans and Americans of color? And what drives the ongoing housing gap?

The answer is…. pretty darn complicated. Thanks as always to the Urban Institute for the really enlightening conversation and great questions. Alanna is awesome; this is definitely worth a listen!

With the Democratic 2020 Primary heating up (already), serious proposals about more free stuff in America have come to the front of the national conversation. What would free college look like? What about free healthcare? What would the impact be? We take an ever-so-shallow look at all of these to help you navigate through a few of the proposals.

There are, as usual, structural reasons why the election cycle is so long. This year’s is bigger and earlier than ever. Has it always been this way? If not, what happened? FIND OUT HERE.

What have been the long term consequences of US and allied drug policy? In this episode we look at both domestic demand (The “War on Drugs” and foreign supply (The “Drug War”) efforts, and the results that have come from them.

This is all in a response to questions from listener Russell Waldman; keep them coming, everyone!