This episode's current events:

This week's deep dive was on Germany's economy since World War II. First, we examine the German miracle, when West Germany's economy exploded in the 1950's. Was it due to reconstruction? Was it due to a currency change? Was it due to neoliberal policies? Or was it something else? Then, we look at the economy of post-Cold War Germany. We discuss the challenges of reunifying West Germany with a much poorer east Germany and liberalizing the former state-run East German economy. Then, we look at how Germany has grown since, its strengths and its weaknesses, and why it is struggling right now. Finally, we connect it all to the new budget released by the German government for 2024 after a crushing ruling from the country's highest Court prevented it from using pandemic funds, leaving a 60 billion euro gap.

This week's current events:

In this week's deep dive, we discuss public housing, including its history and its current iterations in a few different countries. We focus on a few specific examples, including Berlin, Vienna, New York, and France, to examine what kind of systems work and which do not. We compare publicly owned and developed housing to demand-side subsidies, a different approach to make affordable housing. Finally, we assess what kind of public housing program could ever succeed in the U.S.

This week's current events:

Our deep dive this week is about charter schools. A relatively new phenomenon, starting in the 1970s and 1980s, charter schools are options for families to send their kids to which lie outside of the normal school district, but take some of the local district funding. Charter schools are different because they are more flexible in what they teach, the amenities they offer, and how they compensate their teachers. Their results have been mixed, but positive overall - yet, progressives hate them. We have a heated debate on whether charter schools should be expanded, or the money used for them should be retained for district public schools.

This week's current events:

For our deep dive, we discuss social wealth funds. What are they? Where have they been implemented successfully? How could we use them in the U.S.?

This week's current events:

Our deep dive this week is about how unions work for people and the economy at large. We take a look at the evidence of unions' effects on wages, benefits, innovation, inequality, and more.

This week's current events:

This week's deep dive covers United Auto Workers, from their inception in 1935 to now. We cover the power of the union, how they were taken over by the Administration Caucus, the decline of union power in the late 1970's, the scandals faced in the 2000's, and the resurgence happening right now.

In this episode's deep dive, we discuss tax evasion, based off a new report that came out in October. We analyze the major avenues for tax evasion, how much tax revenue is lost because of them, and how any loopholes could be closed.

#politics #liberal #mikejohnson #speaker #speakerofthehouse #gdp #economy #afd #uaw #israel #israelpalestineconflict #gaza #funding #tax #taxevasion #congress

This week's current events:

In this episode's deep dive, we closely examine the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict, starting with the horrific events of October 7th and then going back over 100 years to see how we got here. We ponder whether there are any answers to a situation that has become so complicated. It was a very difficult conversation, but an important one.

NOTE: Like our last episode, this one was recorded on October 6th. In the past two weeks, Ben was on vacation and then Anthony was, so we haven't recorded recently. Our next episode will be released on October 25th, covering a slew of current events and doing a deep dive on the history and current situation between Israel and Palestine.

This week's current events:

In this week's deep dive, we looked at who funds Ukraine. While the EU and the U.S. are the biggest contributors, other eastern European countries have given the largest amounts by percentage of GDP, as they face annihilation if Russia defeats Ukraine and decides to move further west. However, that seems like it might change with far-right populism quickly rising in the region. Who are these contributors? Who exactly would withhold funding? What is their reasoning? We answer these questions and more.