April 16, 2025

Jason Furman: Why Everyone Is Wrong About the Economy

53 minutes

Today's guest is Harvard economist Jason Furman, who was one of former President Barack Obama's chief economic advisers and an architect of the Affordable Care Act. These days, he's in the news for his withering critique of former President Joe Biden's dismal economic record and two-fisted attacks on President Donald Trump's trade policy. We talk about Furman's defense of global markets, Obamacare's unfulfilled promises, and why he now thinks the national debt and AI are bigger deals than he used to believe.

0:48— The failure of Bidenomics and the "neoliberal delusion"

6:00— The neoliberal coalition breakdown

9:37— Trump's post-neoliberal economics

13:08— Biden's biggest economic failures

16:25— Why "free money" is a bad thing

18:28— The Age of No Accountability

20:19— Why tariffs make no sense

23:52— How Furman "zigzagged" on debt

29:42— How to get politicians to take the debt seriously

36:32— How to fix Social Security and Medicare

39:58— Has Furman changed his mind about Keynesian economics?

43:10— Furman's background and the future of Economics

46:50— Furman's outlook on AI

50:16— The Luddite impulse towards technological advancement

Today's sponsor:

The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy in an age of intellectual conformity and groupthink. It doubles as a live taping of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie. The next one is Tuesday, May 6, and features investor and Open To Debate founder Robert Rosenkranz, author of The Stoic Capitalist: Advice for the Exceptionally Ambitious. Go here to buy tickets and go here to http://https//opentodebate.orgsign up for Reason's NYC Events newsletter.

Photo credits: CNP/AdMedia/Newscom, Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press/Newscom, Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Newscom