Search Engine

Latest Episodes:

Why is it so hard to tax billionaires? (Part 2) Oct 18, 2024

Show notes

We reveal the one weird trick some billionaires use to pay less in federal income taxes than you do. And we explain the consequences faced by the person who leaked the tax returns of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Taylor Swift, thereby enraging some of the most powerful people in our country.

Support the show at searchengine.show!

Why is it so hard to tax billionaires? (Part 1) Oct 18, 2024

Show notes

A rogue IRS contractor leaks the private tax returns of the country’s wealthiest citizens to a reporter. That reporter, ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger, learns that some of our billionaires are paying as little as zero dollars in federal income taxes. The story of how this country came up with an income tax in the first place, and how the wealthiest discovered an opt-out strategy.

Support the show at searchengine.show!

Death, Sex & Money x Search Engine Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

This week, we're sharing an episode of a show we love, Death, Sex & Money. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. We'll be back with two new episodes of our own next Friday.

The Mystery of the Vape Shop Kratom Oct 04, 2024

Show notes

This week we have for you ... not a whodunnit, but a what did I do? A listener tries a substance he doesn’t know much about and not long after, his life begins to change. Afterwards, he wonders — what was that, and why was it so easy to get? Search Engine investigates.

Support the show over at searchengine.show!

Is everyone pretending to understand inflation (or just me)? Sep 20, 2024

Show notes

The single issue that might decide the upcoming presidential election also happens to be: very confusing. Political economist Mark Blyth helps us understand: how inflation starts, how inflation is stopped, and shares his theory about why the powers-that-be may be just as confused about inflation as we are.

Support the show: searchengine.show

A stubborn lunatic’s guide to making great art Sep 13, 2024

Show notes

25 years ago, The Sopranos, the best television show ever created, premiered. This week, a new documentary called Wise Guy asks the question: how did a show considered so risky & uncommercial even get made? We’re interviewing Wise Guy director Alex Gibney about that question, and about how stubborn lunatics like him and David Chase got to make the projects they wanted to make.

Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.

Can I microdose veganism? Sep 06, 2024

Show notes

If you care about animals, but don't want to stop eating them... what's the least you could do while doing the most good? That question, posed to The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey, leads us to a pair of true crime stories about animals. Turkeys plummeting wildly from the sky and a private investigation involving a small brown cow.

Links to Annie Lowrey's Reporting

Tossing a Bird That Does Not Fly Out of a Plane

The Truth About Organic Milk

Links to Live Events

Brooklyn Live Event with Freakonomics - Thursday, September 26th

Amsterdam Live Event with Podimo - Thursday, October 3rd

What's the best phone to do crimes on? Aug 16, 2024

Show notes

For years, the must-have phone for the discerning drug trafficker or hitman was a brand you may not have heard of: AN0M. Reporter Joseph Cox tells us the story of the AN0M phone, its sudden rise and shocking fall, and the shadowy group behind its invention.

Joseph's new book:Dark Wire.

Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.

Is there a sane way to follow this election? Aug 09, 2024

Show notes

We are in an eighty-eight day sprint to the Presidential election. How would you follow this story if you wanted to actually understand something, instead of, like me, just feeling very anxious several times a day? We talk to Ezra Klein about how he follows elections and his own strange role in this election cycle.

If you'd like to check out some of Ezra's election coverage this year, here are some good places to start.

Democrats Have a Better Option than Biden (February, 2024)

Are Democrats Right to Unite Around Kamala Harris? (July, 2024)

Is Tim Walz the Midwestern Dad Democrats Need? (August, 2024)

And if you'd like ad-free episodes of Search Engine, and bonus episodes, head to searchengine.show!

The End Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

A trip to Greenland, a chance encounter with Coolio, and the end of the world. (This summer we’re publishing some of our favorite episodes from our previous series, Crypto Island.)

Support the show over at searchengine.show!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected