Optimist Economy is the anti-doomscroll economics podcast. Work rules, tax fairness, healthcare, housing costs, retirement security — the economic forces shaping American life have real problems. But also real solutions. Each week, economist Kathryn Anne Edwards and editor Robin Rauzi break down one problem and solution with data, history, humor, and a belief that tools to build a better economy exist. We just haven't tried them. New episodes on Tuesdays. ✨ Support the podcast at: optimisteconomy.com ✨ Ask questions or share your economic worries with us at: optimist.economy@gmail.com
About 18% of U.S. GDP every year gets spent on health care. Half of that, 9%, is coming from the government, which is about the whole cost of other countries’ public health programs. In other words, for what the U.S. spends on Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA benefits, and the tax write-off for employer-sponsored plans, we could have free basic health insurance for everyone . This is why the co-authors of the 2023 book “We’ve Got You Covered” describe the current health insurance system as a total tear-down. We could have universal insurance coverage for all with no tax hike if we started building from the ground up. Chapters : 0:00 Announcements 0:58 Retcon — Costco cashier's $33/hr job and career security 2:49 Terms & Conditions — Political economy, Cost Sharing, Gatekeeping 7:45 The Big Pilcrow: “Americare… Just Enough” 8:08 Healthcare vs. health insurance — why this is really an insurance/payer fight 12:53 We have 5+ public health programs already 17:07 Health economist Amy Finkelstein's research: "It's a tear-down, not a fixer-upper" 19:55 The proposed system — universal basic coverage + letting “rich people rich" without letting them opt out 28:11What Americans would love or hate 40:44 This health world changed a lot since Obamacare 43:20 Executive Orders — Airport boarding pass warnings, living-roof bus stops 45:20 Spiritual Sponsors — Resurrection fern, Aunt Fern 46:42 Credits Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Just-in-time scheduling lets an algorithm decide when — and whether — millions of people work. Surveys find 40% of shift workers (mostly in retail and food service) don’t know their schedule a week in advance. They can also get sent home mid-shift or asked to be on call, unpaid. Studies show that more than 50% of hourly workers’ income swings up to 30% month-to-month, making it hard to budget for rent, qualify for benefits, or plan. A landmark study done at The Gap a decade ago proved stable schedules boost not only morale, but sales, so this isn't even bad for business. We already have fair workweek laws in many big cities, but this is a no-brainer for an update to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Chapters : 1:01 Announcements — Review shoutouts, Benevity donor thanks. 2:15 Retcon — July 4th recap, AI job-loss predictions walked back. 7:29 Terms & Conditions — Just In Time scheduling and clopening. 10:21 The Big Pilcrow: Underwork — Why part-time and shift workers get scheduled unfairly. 13:50 How the BLS tracks part-time hours by industry. 17:05 Economic vs. non-economic part-time reasons. 25:05 The Gap Study — Predictive scheduling boosted sales 7%. 28:22 Consequences — Income volatility and benefits fraud traps. 32:06 Fair workweek law and bills 35:20 Labor market regulation as low-cost policy. 41:59 Executive Orders — Credit card charge names, smaller jar lids. 43:52 Spiritual Sponsors — WaPo editorial takedown, new yoga studio. 48:12 Credits Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? We have clips on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Follow us on social media, now including Facebook! We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Optimist Merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Nobody has more riding on any changes to Social Security than people under 40. The trust fund is currently projected to run dry in the fourth quarter of 2032, but it could be sooner. Every election, starting in November, selects the lawmakers who will shape the program’s future. Neglecting to fix its finances will mean an automatic 22% cut to everyone's benefit. But for Millennials and Zoomers, what’s at stake isn't your elders’ monthly check — it’s the only life insurance, disability insurance, and old-age poverty insurance guaranteed to follow you through every job you'll ever have. Chapters : 1:21 Announcements — Unbleeped feed, subscribe reminders. 2:23 Retcon — Seed OK savings accounts follow-up. 4:36 Terms & Conditions — Social insurance vs. private insurance. 8:42 Big Pilcrow — Under 40? Time to tune in to the Social Security debate. 11:51 Youth Skepticism — Why young people have always doubted Social Security, and how that's politically exploited. 16:56 OBBA Impact — How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut Social Security's revenue. 18:37 Immigration Trends — Deportations and lower immigration also hurt. 21:11 Elections Have Begun — Social Security as a live political battleground. 22:35 First Beneficiaries — What studies of early recipients tell us. 30:36 Otherwise Uninsurable Risks — Death, disability, savings, longevity, inflation. 33:17 Paid Family Leave — Could Social Security's model extend to paid leave? 34:21 Claim Ownership — Youth should own this program. 37:08 Cuts by Geography — Rural states will get hit hardest if cuts come. 38:27 Executive Orders — Casting ages, cosmetic disclosure. 40:22 Spiritual Sponsors — World Cup, Jeopardy! triumph. Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
(Originally aired 6/24/2025) One in five workers in the United States was born in another country. Without them, the country’s prime-age workforce would be shrinking, and thus so would our economy. So the calumny (Terms & Conditions) directed at immigrants is at odds with the basic fact that the U.S. needs them. What about depressing wages? Research finds such a mixed bag of results that the overall effect is about zero. Indeed, if the goal is to save “American jobs” or help American workers, there are a lot more effective ways to spend $185 billion than on a massive crackdown on immigration rules. Chapters : 00:02:34 Announcements 00:05:55 Retcon 00:10:43 Terms & Conditions 00:12:21 Big Pilcrow 00:43:07 Executive Orders 00:49:12 Spiritual Sponsors Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
It’s the United States’ semiquincentennial … and one of us is not feeling it. The other is literally carrying a flag in her bag — and that’s just her road flag. Kathryn Anne Edwards makes her case for optimism right now: The U.S. is undergoing one of the most dramatic demographic and cultural shifts of any industrialized nation. Americans agree that Congress is broken. And the people's agenda on wages, childcare, money in politics, and Social Security polls above 80%. Maybe this isn’t a backslide. It's just what clearing the air looks like. Chapters : 00:01:21 Announcements 00:04:10 Retcon: More on the national anthem 00:06:36 Terms & Conditions: Origin of "the melting pot" 00:08:01 Big Pilcrow: Make Robin Optimistic about America 00:48:17 Executive Orders: End gerrymandering; mandatory hearings on supermajority issues 00:50:03 Spiritual Sponsors: Knicks celebrations; bourbon in Louisville Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Facebook somewhere (search for it), on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
We can’t give financial advice. Or feedback on your 20-page tax proposal. But economist Kathryn Edwards did take a run at nearly 20 listener questions in under 60 minutes. Among them: Why care about birth rates if robots are taking all the jobs? What happens if the AI bubble bursts? Will the dollar collapse? Can the bond market sway the White House? Plus: Why the minimum wage matters even if it doesn’t alleviate most poverty and how to argue for universal free school lunch. Chapters : 1:43 — AI & birth rates 2:57 — AI & birth rates (cont.) 5:43 — AI bubble burst 8:11 — The experience of inflation 11:20 — Minimum wage & poverty 13:55 — Job loss after 50 17:30 — Productivity squeeze 21:00 — CEO pay ratio cap 21:49 — Could the dollar collapse? 26:59 — Bonds & the Fed 28:35 — Debt ceiling fix 31:12 — Trump Accounts vs 401k 34:42 — Tax dollar waste myth 36:46 — Universal school meals 40:11 — Part-time for new parents 42:28 — Fighting monopolies 44:14 — Policy ideas for Texas 47:34 — Mamdani goes federal? 50:43 — Top 1% wealth myth Dis-save a bit to help Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Unbeeped episodes at the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Short videos on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . We are on Facebook. Search for us. Get in on the Optimist chat on Substack. Get on the wait list for our next batch of hats: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Get in touch: optimist.economy@gmail.com
This might be the most dangerous economic assertion circulating today: the high inflation from 2021-2023 was caused by government stimulus. The talking point on the right goes: the third COVID-era stimulus checks landed in March 2021, prices took off, case closed. Of course reality is more nuanced. And most serious estimates pin only a point or two of the inflation peak on the bill; the rest was supply chain chaos, a global chip shortage, and the Ukraine war. The pandemic caused the worst job loss on record — and the response produced the fastest labor-market recovery we've ever had, because policymakers went big. The danger is that they remember the inflation and forget the recovery. Chapters : 00:01:14 Announcements 00:03:24 Retcon: Q1 GDP Revised 00:04:50 Terms & Conditions: Output Gap, NAIRU, "The Long Depression" 00:11:49 Big Pilcrow: Is Recession Recovery Getting Blamed for Inflation? 00:42:14 Executive Orders: Parallel parking licenses, FIFA ticketing ban 00:45:52 Spiritual Sponsors: Small hardware stores, handwritten letter to OE Support Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com/donate Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Or search for us on Facebook. Chat with Optimists on Substack. Hats, tees and totes: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Reach us at: optimist.economy@gmail.com
Thirty million Americans, more or less, work for themselves. They freelance, do gig work, have solo LLCs, or — as a certain economist says — participate in “ non-employee employment.” The economics of their situation is harder than it needs to be. Making self-employment more viable is good for everyone in the labor market, because when workers have options, they also have more power. Plus: Kathryn Anne Edwards testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, and a congressman implied she wasn't a real American. She has thoughts. Chapters : 0:00 — Start/Announcements 1:21 — Retcon: Bad banks, good overtime, and testifying before Congress (again) 18:17 — Big Pilcrow: Freelancers & non-employer businesses 44:42 — Executive orders: national anthem singing rules, Congressional attendance policy 47:20 — Spiritual sponsors: Supportive listeners and horchada + cold brew coffee 49:01 — Credits Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
(Originally aired 7/1/2025) Newly minted college graduates are having a harder time landing that first job than in recent years. Is it AI? Is college useless? Is it a crisis? (No. No. And not yet…) College graduates under 27 still have significantly lower unemployment rates (5.8%) than high school graduates of the same age (6.9%). What economist Kathryn Edwards finds worrying is that these new workers, who are typically a lagging economic indicator, may in this case be a bellwether of a weakening economy. Support the Optimist Economy podcast by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack , or donating at https://buymeacoffee.com/optimisteconomy Complete show notes with links to articles and data at optimisteconomy.com . You can also find Optimist Economy on: TikTok YouTube Instagram -------- Read More: The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates [New York Fed, 2025] Hires, from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey [St. Louis Fed, 2025] Downskilling: changes in employer skill requirements over the business cycle [Labour Economics 2016] Upskilling: Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful? [The Review of Economics and Statistics 2020]
A certain kind of wealthy American has been griping out loud lately — about taxes, about progressive cities, about how unappreciated they are for the jobs they create, the stuff they buy, and the tips they hand out. A narrative is coalescing around them too: that the top 10% of earners now do so much of the spending, the U.S. economy relies on them. But an economy that depends so much on the people at the top isn't the healthy one the country deserves — it’s just wearing a nice suit. Chapters : 00:00:56 Announcements: Q&A episode questions wanted 00:01:18 Retcon: The 86 debate; FDR's full "calamity howling executives" quote 00:05:32 Terms & Conditions: Wealth Effect and Zugzwang 00:09:26 Big Pilcrow: Should we cherish the ultra-wealthy? 00:36:41 Executive Orders: Retire "mummies"; union credits on red carpets 00:39:34 Spiritual Sponsors: Mellow Cello podcast; enormous floral arrangements Further Reading Moody's claim that the top 10% of earners now drive nearly half of consumer spending in the WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/us-economy-strength-rich-spending-2c34a571 The Minneapolis Fed on what the underlying data actually shows. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2026/have-us-consumers-gone-k-shaped-a-review-of-the-data Wealthy part-time New Yorkers reacting to a proposed pied-à-terre tax in the Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/3283eaab-e9cf-41e6-a028-5a02fb6f4615 The Wall Street Journal on second-home taxes spreading from New York City to other states, including the San Diego homeowner who'd like to be cherished. https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/taxes-on-second-homes-are-springing-up-across-america-93a64448 Full reading list at https://optimisteconomy.substack.com Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
It wasn’t just hourly factory jobs that were supposed to come with a 40-hour workweek. Even salaried jobs were supposed to get overtime pay, though very few do do anymore. Overtime protections are the only legal mechanism enforcing work-hour limits, and for 50 years, the salary threshold that determines who qualifies to receive overtime has been left to erode. Employers found another workaround too: just call the sandwich maker a "sandwich manager." Now, the new no-tax-on-overtime deduction isn't protecting workers — it's rewarding the kind of overwork it was overtime was originally designed to punish. Fixing the law governing overtime would be a huge and instant boost not just to the U.S. economy, but to our work-life balance. Chapters : 00:01:43 Announcements 00:02:32 Retcon: Economic data reliability 00:05:54 Terms & Conditions: Tenterhooks; Perquisite 00:08:23 Big Pilcrow: Overtime 00:45:27 Executive Orders: Badge of shame for working past 40 hours; more colorful cars 00:46:52 Spiritual Sponsors: Awesome first bosses; Faraday e-bike Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch clips on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Cash is dirty, inconvenient, and so last century. Some 70% of Americans under age 50 think its days are numbered. But we still need those greenbacks, if as an alternative to banks. More than 4% of households are “unbanked,” and three times as many are “underbanked,” meaning bank services mostly don’t work for them, so rely on services like check cashers or payday lenders. And that's before you get to the racial disparities in who banks approve for credit. Reviving banking services at the post office might be one way to help the unbanked and keep from handing yet more power to the finance sector. Chapters : 00:00:48 Announcements 00:02:30 Retcon: Semiquincentennia 00:03:35 Terms & Conditions: ChexSystems, Unbanked 00:05:46 Big Pilcrow: What’s keeping the U.S. from going cashless? 00:38:28 Executive Orders: Regulate youth sports schedules; Airline baggage fees by weight. 00:40:56 Spiritual Sponsors: Artemis splashdown; Friends with season tickets. Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video clips available at the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . You can also search for us on Facebook and chat with other Optimists on Substack. Consume leisure while donning Optimist merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Have a questions for our next Q&A? Send it to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Consumer sentiment is in the basement. Jobs aren't being added. Prices keep climbing. GDP barely grew at the end of 2025, and a ‘meh’ 2% last quarter. Shouldn’t this be a recession? Not so far. Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards walks through the clear cause of each bad number: Tariffs explain the prices and foul mood. Mass deportations explain the jobs. The government shutdown explained last quarter. Still, knowing the passing reasons for economic pain doesn't make it hurt less. And none of it changes the long-term economic reforms we still need. Chapters: 00:01:06 Announcements 00:01:57 Retcon: Wealth at retirement 00:03:52 Terms & Conditions: Recession, Slack, Tight, Loose, Goodflation/Badflation 00:09:10 Centerpiece: What is going on with the U.S. Economy right now? The vibe is don’t panic. But don’t not panic. 00:53:38 Executive Orders: Free work parking. Legislators do their own taxes. 00:55:00 Spiritual Sponsors: Genre-specific bookstores and great newstands Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Hey, we are on Facebook ! Follow us! Or, on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Or on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. You need this hat: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Send us your economic questions and concerns at optimist.economy@gmail.com
(Originally aired 5/06/25) What sparks progress? The right political conditions? Social pressure? Economic upheaval? In response to two listeners’ questions, we say… both none of those and all of the above. As an example, we talk through just one bit of the New Deal in the 1930s, which was the law to limit child labor. That movement started decades earlier, and continued decades afterward. For those keeping score at home, this a sneaky third installment of Kathryn’s 68-part series on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Chapters: 00:01:08 Announcements 00:01:43 Retcon 00:03:58 Terms & Conditions 00:07:03 Centerpiece 00:42:56 Executive Orders 00:46:25 Spiritual Sponsors Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Follow us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Or on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Shirts, caps and totes, oh my!: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Reach us at optimist.economy@gmail.com
Average U.S. wages have barely budged since the early '80s — and if you account for today's labor force being older and more college-educated, wage growth basically disappears. Economists have cycled through explanations: workers lacked technical skills, then couldn't compete with global labor, then lost the policies that once lifted paychecks, like strong unions and a meaningful minimum wage. The latest chapter is monopsony — the idea that as employers consolidate, people have fewer choices of where to work, and fewer places to land if they lose a job. Fix the market, and the paychecks follow. Chapters : 00:00:45 Announcements 00:01:01 Retcon: Double Taxation and Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act 00:03:10 Terms & Conditions: Monopsony, Septel 00:07:07 Big Pilcrow: Why Aren’t Wages Growing? 00:40:37 Executive Orders: Reverse Billing, Leaked Chat Table Readings 00:42:49 Spiritual Sponsors: Dole Whip, Sad Songs, Being Recognized in the Wild Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Follow us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Andy says look at the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Get that excellent hat at: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic anxieties, executive orders or spiritual sponsors? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
From California to Washington to New York, states are trying to tax the very rich. The press keeps rehashing whether millionaires and billionaires will flee those states. Wrong question. The more important one is why we’re improvising tax policy state to state when it’s the federal government that should be dealing with health care, child care and affordability—all of which are national problems. Meanwhile, some Senate Democrats are proposing to take even more people out of the tax system entirely. None of these specific proposals make income taxes simpler or fairer, but they do suggest there’s an appetite for reform. --- Chapters : 00:01:18 Announcements 00:02:33 Retcon: Occupational Licenses 00:06:16 Terms & Conditions: Progressive 00:07:59 Big Pilcrow: Everyone Wants to Tax Millionaires 00:38:23 Executive Orders: Unreadable Menus and Tax Complainer Merch 00:41:42 Spiritual Sponsors: Dream Robin & the Nobel Laureate’s WNBA Contract Make Optimist Economy economically viable: https://optimisteconomy.com We have faces on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . The party is at the Substack chatroom. In lieu of a “I’m better than you… because I pay taxes” T-shirt, can we offer you an Optimist Economy one?: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economics questions, anxieties, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Americans used to move a lot in search of opportunity. But in 2024, the share of Americans who moved at all hit a 76-year low. Barely 2% of us moved across state lines. Some of that is by choice: people are more rooted, and that's not nothing. But when workers stop moving, rich cities pull further away from poor ones, wages stagnate, and the gaps between thriving labor markets and struggling ones get harder to close. And when there’s a shock to a local labor market, moving is an important release valve. Fixing a fraction of this worker mobility breakdown could improve the labor market for everyone. Chapters : 00:00:33 Opening 00:01:45 Retcon: Trump Accounts & Career Pivots 00:07:27 Terms & Conditions: Spatial Equilibrium 00:09:55 Big Pilcrow: Does it Matter to the U.S. Economy if We Don’t Move from Place to Place? 00:39:10 Executive Orders: Frances Perkins miniseries; Sleep Shaming; Election Day Weekend 00:43:07 Spiritual Sponsors: The National Consumers League motto ("Investigate, Agitate, Legislate"); ACFC’s winning start READ MORE: The increasingly mobile US is a myth that needs to move on | Aeon Essays Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home? | Pew Research Center Job Changing and the Decline in Long-Distance Migration in the United States | Demography | Duke University Press The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions Population & Migration | Economic Research Service Stranded! How Rising Inequality Suppressed US Migration and Hurt Those Left Behind Invest in Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Faces visible on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Where’s the party? On our Substack chat. Represent your optimist side: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Email your economic questions, concerns, or executive orders to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Fourteen questions. Zero softballs. Listeners from Tacoma to Montreal wrote in to ask about retirement savings, taxing capital gains, home-buyer assistance programs, corporate profits in the tariffs era, what one state employee can or cannot accomplish, and whether meaningful economic reform will arrive before Millennials drop dead. And more. The inbox did not disappoint. 00:00 Announcements 01:59 Is a retirement savings crisis brewing? 04:32 Tax credits for first-time home buyers… good idea? 08:10 What if tax breaks for capital gains only applied to new investments? 13:39 Explain the $1,700 tax credit scholarship program in OBBA? 16:23 Are institutional investors wrecking the housing market? 21:37 What quick policy moves could reverse worsening inequality? 27:32 Will meaningful reform arrive before Millennials retire? 30:56 Is a hotel tax the right way to fund a stadium? 33:05 Can I move the needle on labor policy from inside the system? 35:08 Why has the responsibility and risk for employment shifted onto workers? 37:50 Is fixing the care economy easier than we think? 40:47 Do rent caps work? 44:50 Can we prevent price gouging by companies? 47:53 If states roll out good policies, does the federal government need to do it too? Still have questions, concerns, or worries? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com Keep Optimist Economy podcasting: https://optimisteconomy.com See our faces on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Commune with fellow Optimists on our Substack chat . We’re on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . There’s a t-shirt in your size here. https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy
The corporate income tax rate got hacked nearly in half by the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act. So nine years later, how’s that working out? Corporations’ effective tax rate (about 9%) is lower than what the average American household pays (about 14.5%). After-tax corporate profits have hit record highs for the last four years — about 9% of GDP, a figure not hit since 1929. Workers' share of total national income, by contrast, is at a 70-year low. If corporate taxes go back up, some companies may threaten to reincorporate somewhere cheaper. Call that bluff. Someone else will deliver the toilet paper and make the coffee. Donate to keep Optimist Economy going: https://optimisteconomy.com Video clips are on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Consume leisure with us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Or meet other Optimists on our Substack chat . Feel like dis-saving? Our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
Switchboard operators. Typists. Secretaries. Lots of factory workers. The economy has a long history of technology slowly eliminating not just jobs but entire occupations. The U.S. also has a long history of not doing a lot to help those thrown out of work by major economic shifts. Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, who literally wrote her dissertation on unemployment insurance (her professional assessment: "it sucks"), makes the case for a wholesale rebuild that triages joblessness, distinguishing between those who need time to job hunt and those who need to pivot to a new career. Donate to keep Optimist Economy going: https://optimisteconomy.com Video clips are on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel . Consume leisure with us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy . Or meet other Optimists on our Substack chat . Feel like dis-saving? Our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Send your economic questions, concerns, or executive orders to optimist.economy@gmail.com
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