Sometimes, pharmaceutical companies mess up. More rarely, the FDA catches them. They write warning letters detailing the problems and post them on the internet for anyone to read. 

On this episode, we are joined by the author of the new blog, Warning Letters. Warning Letters focuses on quality control in the pharmaceutical industry. We learn how FDA keeps our drugs safe, what the process looks like for supplements, and whether or not it's worth it to shell out for name brand vs generic drugs. Check out Warning Letters at warningletters.wordpress.com. 

Today on the podcast, we have Russ Greene. Russ is the former director of government relations and research at CrossFit, a former games athlete, an Arabic linguist, and is currently an associate director at Stand Together, a nonprofit in the DC area. We discuss the current state of American wealth, governance, and fitness. 

The views and opinions expressed on Narratives are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of employers, past or present. 

This week on the podcast we discuss Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America is a 1989 book by David Hackett Fischer. Albion's Seed details the folkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions of Great Britain to the United States and form the foundations of modern American culture. 

What is artificial intelligence? What does it mean for the future of humanity? What is the state of the art today? Will and his brother Glenn cover out two competing visions of how general artificial intelligence will be designed and develop over the coming century. 

This week on the podcast, we review a working paper entitled "The Rate of Return on Everything." We answer the question, which assets tend to have the highest rates of return over time? What is secular stagnation? Why is economic growth important for a large democracy like the United States, and what we can do to improve growth in a decadent society? Are there tradeoffs between growth and inequality? We also talk about Jack Bogle, modern index investing, and how investing in equities contrasts with investing in real estate.

Bobby O'Neal Talton is a 90-year-old award-winning violin maker with a lifetime of experience in the art of creation.  As a boy he built wooden airplanes to fly around the hills of southwest Virginia; as a young married man, he built a house because his family needed a place to live in Springfield. Virginia; as a middle-aged man he moved to banjos, dulcimers. violins, violas and cellos.  Join us as we explore the imagination and creativity of an award-winning nonagenarian artisan.

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