Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey and the anonymous Banker Bill are joined by Chelsea Rodriguez, Deputy Campaign Manager for the Fred Wellman campaign in Missouri’s second congressional district. Once the mandatory chastising of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s recent declaration that he “is the house now” is out of the way, Chelsea breaks down Missouri’s recent illegal gerrymander scandal and why she’s convinced it’ll net Democrats not one, but two additional seats. Banker Bill explains why St. Louis is an economic engine that should not be underestimated. And Kobi is left searching for real-world examples of data centers that actually do right by local communities.

The Wall Street Journal’s Gavin Bade asked to come on Is It Bad For The Economy? to ask: Are data centers Trump’s green new deal? Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey and the anonymous Banker Bill discuss whether the energy revolution AI requires is worth it, what it would take to get American communities on board, and whether Trump stands a chance of doing what the Green New Deal could not: get the American people to buy in.This episode originally streamed on the Lincoln Square Podcast Network here.

Our national debt just hit a record $40 trillion, and Kobi’s least favorite Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, is playing games. Bond investors, the final bosses of finance who held Trump back on Liberation Day, are not happy. Even Bessent’s former boss, Stanley Druckenmiller, is calling him out. Just as data centers are starting to offer some bonds of their own.

For years our national debt has been a political cudgel Republicans used to argue that we can’t have nice things, but Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey asks the anonymous Banker Bill and special guest economics content creator John Polonis if this moment really is different. Is the bill finally coming due?

Like, review, and share — and go follow John Polonis for more of the sharpest, most nonpartisan breakdowns of markets and money:

* 📈 Substack: polispandit.substack.com

* 🎵 TikTok: @polispandit

* 📸 Instagram: @polispandit

New York City's democratic socialist mayor is making progress on his promise to slash business regulations by 50% and whittling away at a massive budget shortfall. Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey thinks it’s time for moderate capitalists to rise too the challenge, and even Banker Bill thinks it’s starting to sound, "pretty pro-business." Are we really going to let a socialist out-executing establishment Democrats on the economy?

Kobi and Banker Bill break down why Zohran Mamdani's early fiscal forays — plus a heated debate on whether the Fed should hike rates into an energy-driven inflation spike, why 30-year yields just hit 20-year highs, and whether the AI infrastructure boom is in the "late innings" before the bill comes due.

My fellow Americans,

It is with a heavy heart that I apologize for getting you this episode so late. We take our commitment to getting you an episode every other Wednesday as sacred. Last week we failed. It won’t happen again (it totally will, but hopefully we can go another year+ before the next one).

Please enjoy this update on the second round of the Iran war, Kevin Warsh’s probationary period, and Trump's too-little-too-late campaign to try and generate trust for data centers.

The economy’s growing at 2.7%. Unemployment’s still under 5%. Is the economy about to improve just enough to keep Trump out of trouble in the midterms?

The anonymous Banker Bill breaks down another set of rosy economic numbers, while Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey thinks the only economic number that matters to voters is inflation. And even Banker Bill has to admit that inflation isn’t getting better anytime soon. Then: is the AI boom a bubble waiting to pop, or the next Uber-and-DoorDash-style industry finding its footing? Plus — Lisa Cook’s Fed fight, the DSA primary upsets in New York and Denver, and why “the economy is us” might be the only rule that actually matters this election cycle.

Is It Bad for the Economy? New episode every other Wednesday.

The American healthcare system spends $5.3 trillion a year — 18% of GDP — and somehow everyone still feels squeezed. In this deep-dive episode of Is It Bad for the Economy?, Democratic Strategist Kobi Tirey is joined by Sy Mukherjee (veteran healthcare reporter, senior life sciences communications strategist) and Banker Bill to untangle the real dysfunction: not "socialism vs. capitalism," but vertically integrated monopolies that own your insurer, your pharmacy benefits manager, and your doctor — all at once. They cover the Warren-Hawley Act, why breaking up UnitedHealth Group may need to come before Medicare for All, the 30-year chart that shows hospital costs outpacing inflation every single year except during COVID, what Democrats must get right before 2028, and what the Trump administration is accidentally doing correctly. This is the honest, unfiltered healthcare policy conversation most podcasts are too scared to have.

The entire financial world revolved around one question yesterday: Which version of Trump’s new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, was going to show up at his first Fed meeting?

OG Inflation Hawk Kevin Warsh?OrThe guy who was willing to say whatever Trump wanted to hear to give him the job?

To Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey’s shock, it was the latter. Kobi actually had some nice things to say about Trump’s new Fed Chair for once. But even if Kobi liked what he heard, Banker Bill wasn’t impressed. Warsh’s “no forward guidance” policy means his presentation was also light in substance, and inflation is still too damn high.

We invited Wall Street Journal trade reporter Gavin Bade back to do a postmortem on the trade war. His answer: it’s not over. New tariffs are coming in late July — more legally durable than before, covering almost every US trading partner, and framed around forced labor and Chinese industrial overcapacity. The kind of thing that’s hard to argue against without sounding like you support slavery.

Gavin breaks down why Jamieson Greer has quietly become the most powerful person in US trade policy, why Lutnick has been pushed to the side, and why the administration’s biggest reversal — on China — tells you everything about how they operate when they can’t coerce someone.

Plus: Is the AI bubble about to pop and are all these IPOs the insiders cashing out before people notice? Credit card delinquencies, car repos, and why the stock market’s gains are masking a deteriorating picture for the middle 80%. And the data center question Democrats are fumbling — with a closing argument from Kobi on the window that’s rapidly closing.

Is It Bad for the Economy? is the podcast where a Democratic strategist, an anonymous Wall Street banker, and occasionally a very good journalist try to figure out who’s actually winning and losing in this economy.

Your 401k is about to become exit liquidity for SpaceX insiders — and your electric bill is already 19% higher since ChatGPT launched. Democratic strategist Kobi Tirey and anonymous Wall Street banker Bill break down the SpaceX IPO, what Tesla’s valuation actually means, and the inflation data nobody’s framing correctly: strip out energy and prices are fine. Put energy back in and you can see exactly who’s responsible.

Also: why is Jeff Bezos suddenly so friendly with Trump? We have a theory.

Plus a look at the electricity price chart that should be front-page news — 30% up in five years from a boring utility, and it’s only going higher.

Is It Bad for the Economy? is the podcast where a Democratic strategist and an anonymous Wall Street insider agree on more than you’d expect.