Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Latest Episodes:

Congress looks to the CBO for economic expertise. Is that a mistake? (with Mark Paul) Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

The Congressional Budget Office, the institution that furnishes cost-benefit analyses for federal legislation under consideration by Congress, has a really hard job. But some of the assumptions they rely on to predict economic consequences are just plain weird. Economist Mark Paul leads us through the strangest practices at the CBO, including their (untrue) claim that public investment is only half as productive as private investment and the complete lack of peer-reviewing of reports that can signal the death knell for a bill.

Mark Paul is an Economist at the New College of Florida and a Fellow at the Berggruen Institute.

Twitter: @MarkVinPaul

Further reading:

The Velocity of Money https://pitchforkeconomics.com/episode/the-velocity-of-money-with-ann-pettifor

Two new studies published about the Seattle minimum wage ordinance https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/02/06/two-new-studies-published-about-the-seattle-minimum-wage-ordinance

U.S. employers are charged with violating federal law in 41.5% of all union election campaigns https://www.epi.org/publication/unlawful-employer-opposition-to-union-election-campaigns

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Debunking deficit myths (with Stephanie Kelton) Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Modern Monetary Theory is an attempt to accurately describe how government debt and complex financial systems actually work and it can help us responsibly use our resources. No one is more knowledgeable on the subject than returning guest, Professor Stephanie Kelton. On this episode, originally released in 2020, Kelton explains the myths surrounding MMT and what a new understanding of the budget could do for our economy.

Stephanie Kelton is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University. She is the leading expert on Modern Monetary Theory. Her book, The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy, shows how to break free of flawed deficit thinking.

Twitter: @StephanieKelton

The Deficit Myth: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781541736184

Learn To Love Trillion-Dollar Deficits: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/opinion/us-deficit-coronavirus.html

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

The economic case for universal health care (with CA Assemblymember Ash Kalra) Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

The United States spends far more on healthcare costs than other industrialized countries, yet we continue to have wider gaps of coverage and report worse health outcomes. California Assemblymember Ash Kalra is paving the way for a better system in his state through the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, which at the time of recording had been advancing through the state legislature for nearly a year. The night before this episode posted, the Bill died in the Assembly — but Assemblymember Kalra's thoughts on how a state-based single payer system would work, the hurdles it faces, and how such a program could become the blueprint for national health care reform can still inspire future lawmakers and activists to find new paths forward for health care in America.

Ash Kalra represents California’s 27th District. In 2016 he became the first Indian American to serve in the California Legislature in state history and was re-elected to his third term in 2020.

Twitter: @Ash_Kalra

Single-payer healthcare proposal fizzles in California Assembly: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-31/single-payer-healthcare-proposal-fizzles-in-california-assembly

Assemblymember Ash Kalra, Author of AB 1400 CA Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, Releases Statement: https://a27.asmdc.org/press-releases/20220131-assemblymember-ash-kalra-author-ab-1400-ca-guaranteed-health-care-all-act

Universal health care bill advances in California Assembly: https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2022/01/12/universal-health-care-bill-advances-california-assembly

‘CalCare’ begins its long crawl to passage:

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2022/01/12/calcare-begins-its-long-crawl-to-passage-495692

California Democrats Revive Universal Health Care Bill, Paid For By Tax Increase:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/01/06/universal-health-bill-california-democrats-tax-increase/

Fundamental health reform like ‘Medicare for All’ would help the labor market:

https://www.epi.org/publication/medicare-for-all-would-help-the-labor-market/

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Why privatizing public goods is bad for democracy (with Donald Cohen) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Even in the middle of a pandemic, trickle-down politicians still love to claim that the free market is the best way to resolve human problems and that the government can't be trusted to serve the public good. But when we privatize public health, utilities, and other shared necessities, we hand over control of those public goods—the things that we all need and that we need everyone to have— to for-profit entities that don’t answer to the public. Donald Cohen, an expert on privatization, shares examples and talks about the consequences of privatization in America.

Donald Cohen is the founder and executive director of In The Public Interest, a national resource and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting. He's also co-author of the new book The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back.

Twitter: @donaldrcohen12

The Privatization of Everything: https://bookshop.org/books/the-privatization-of-everything-how-the-plunder-of-public-goods-transformed-america-and-how-we-can-fight-back/9781620976531

Why Privatization is Worse Than You Know: https://publicseminar.org/2022/01/why-privatization-is-worse-than-you-know/

Opinion: The pandemic proved that privatization can’t provide enough public goods—like vaccines, education, justice, and a sustainable planet: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-pandemic-proved-that-privatization-cant-provide-enough-public-goodslike-vaccines-education-justice-and-a-sustainable-planet-11640027547

The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back: https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/privatization-everything-plunder-public-goods-transformed-america-can-fight-back-bookbite/31594/

A Conversation With Donald Cohen, Author of ‘The Privatization of Everything’: https://capitalandmain.com/a-conversation-with-donald-cohen-author-of-the-privatization-of-everything

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s Twitter: @NickHanauer

Ending the tipped minimum wage (with Saru Jayaraman) Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

In most states, tipped workers are not subject to the minimum wage. Why? Because it’s legal to pay tipped workers a subminimum wage as low as the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour. As long as any worker in the country can be paid less than the minimum wage, the minimum wage is meaningless. Saru Jayaraman, a leader in the national fight for one fair wage, lays out the path forward.

Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage, an organization that fights to raise wages and working conditions for all tipped and service workers She is also the Director of the UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center and the author of One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America.

Twitter: @SaruJayaraman

New Year to bring higher minimum wages in record number of states and cities: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/higher-minimum-wages-2022-in-record-number-of-states/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

Arkansas waitress fired after $4,400 tip shows why tipping at restaurants has to stop: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/arkansas-waitress-fired-after-4-400-tip-shows-why-tipping-ncna1286076

When the minimum wage isn’t enough: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/economy/when-the-minimum-wage-isnt-enough/

Seven facts about tipped workers and the tipped minimum wage: https://www.epi.org/blog/seven-facts-about-tipped-workers-and-the-tipped-minimum-wage/

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Did the Federal Reserve’s policies make inequality worse? (with Christopher Leonard) Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

When the Federal Reserve makes money, where does it go? Turns out, the Fed’s hands are tied—it can’t do anything other than assume that the new money will trickle down into the hands of ordinary Americans through Wall Street’s coffers. And according to journalist Christopher Leonard, that’s put the United States’ economic stability at risk and accelerated income inequality.

Christopher Leonard is a business reporter and executive director of the Watchdog Writers Group at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He is the author of Kochland: The Secret History of the Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America. His new book is The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy.

Twitter: @CLeonardNews

The Lords of Easy Money: https://bookshop.org/books/the-lords-of-easy-money-how-the-federal-reserve-broke-the-american-economy/9781982166632

How Nov. 2, 2010 Made the Rich So Much Richer: https://time.com/6112931/federal-reserve-wealth-inequality-recession/

The Fed’s Doomsday Prophet Has a Dire Warning About Where We’re Headed: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/28/inflation-interest-rates-thomas-hoenig-federal-reserve-526177

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

How the radical right weaponized ideology (with Nancy MacLean) Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

If it seems to you like the ultimate goal of the most extreme conservatives is to undermine democracy and cripple democratic institutions—well, according to historian Nancy MacLean, you’re right. This week, MacLean unpacks the meteoric rise in popularity of the radical right’s ideas, and offers a way forward for progressives, based on lessons from successful social movements throughout American history. This episode was originally released in July 2020.

Nancy MacLean is an award-winning scholar of the twentieth-century U.S. and the William H. Chafe Distinguished Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University. Her book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, was a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the National Book Award, and The Nation magazine named it the “Most Valuable Book” of the year.

Twitter: @NancyMacLean5

Democracy in Chains: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781101980965

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer