Talk Policy To Me

As Congress struggles to pass a spending bill that includes some of the biggest climate legislation the U.S. has seen, there's another big hurdle the country needs to clear to make big moves on climate change —the electric grid.

In this episode, reporter Elena Neale-Sacks talks to energy policy expert Steve Weissman, environmental scientist Grace Wu, and energy equity researcher Daniel Raimi, to better understand how the grid needs to change to better adapt to the effects of climate change and mitigate future effects.

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-502-talking-trade-offs-and-the-electric-grid

Today's episode explores the new wave of "rights suppressing laws" with New York Times Op-Ed writers and legal scholars Jon Michaels and David Noll.

Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/opinion/texas-abortion-law.html

Season 5 of Talk Policy To Me is dropping soon, with new hosts Noah Cole and Amy Benziger. Listen and subscribe!

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/season-5-trailer

In this final episode of TPTM Season 4, we say goodbye to hosts Reem and Colleen and hello to the incoming Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, Dr. David C. Wilson.

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-415-talking-with-david-c-wilson

Cash transfers discourage work, price ceilings and floors (like the minimum wage) are economically inefficient, and trade makes everyone better off.

If you've ever taken a basic economics course in high school or even in college, these were probably the major takeaways. But these are myths --dire oversimplifications at best, and outright inaccuracies at worst --that often represent the most basic building blocks of conservative arguments against critical safety net policies. In this episode of Talk Policy To Me, GSPP economist Hilary Hoynes and TPTM reporter Reem Rayef unpacked the most nefarious myths to surface the truth about the impacts of economic policies, and imagine a better way to teach and learn economics.

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-414-talking-lies-your-high-school-econ-teacher

CONTENT WARNING: This episode involves mention of police violence against people of color.

Since the 1970s, Black police officers have formed informal unions in response to racism within their departments and in the greater community. In this episode, reporter Elena Neale-Sacks talks to an economist, a law professor, and a former president of a Black police union to better understand the purpose these organizations serve, their limits, and the ways in which they differ from police unions with bargaining power, like the Police Benevolent Association and Fraternal Order of Police.

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-413-talking-black-police-unions

As vaccine rates rise and health experts give more public activities the stamp of approval, people have begun shifting from private spaces to public ones. Today, we're talking about what public spaces are and the policies that govern them. We'll also talk about the unhoused folks for whom the distinction between public and private space is less clear.

Archival audio from YouTube user Saul Rouda.

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-412-talking-public-spaces

On this episode of TPTM, we're talking philanthropy yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Since the Gilded Age, philanthropists have positioned themselves as gracious, charitable forces in society who are experts in identifying and solving our social ails. But the institution of philanthropy has had its critics from day one. What are the origins of modern philanthropy in the US, and how did they lead us to where we are today? What role (if any) does philanthropy have in a democratic society? And if there are real problems with philanthropy, how should we address them? Should we focus our efforts on implementing regulations and reforms of modern philanthropic institutions? Is our goal to tear down the institution of philanthropy writ large, and put in place a (potentially erosive) wealth tax? Or should we rely on rich people to voluntarily spend down their wealth? Colleen and Reem will dig in to explore the past, present, and possible futures of modern philanthropy in the US.

Want to learn more? Check out these follow-up resources:

• Resource Generation's Class Privilege Quiz, Giving Pledge, and Class Definitions and Income Brackets
• Resource Generation's National Partners, Movement for Black Lives and Center for Popular Democracy
• The Revolution Will Not Be Funded by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
• Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva
• Read Laila's op-ed on the Goldman website
• Find Sophie Dover on Twitter

Philanthropy and Social Movements podcast series by Harvard Kennedy School students

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-411-talking-philanthropy-yesterday-today-and-tomorrow

With over 100 million users and counting in the US, TikTok is beginning to play a major role in the political education and mobilization of its young user base.

In this episode, which was written and recorded in the aftermath of the November 2020 election, Talk Policy to Me reporter Noah Cole spoke with Aidan Kohn-Murphy and Toni Akande, two of the teens who run the "Gen Z for Change" TikTok page. Aidan and Toni touched on how they used traditional organizing practices to get out the vote through TikTok in the last election cycle, the tradeoffs between producing popular and substantive political content, and where they think the future of online political mobilization is headed. Noah also heard from four additional political TikTok creators during a speed round of questions on politics, policy, and online civic engagement.

More info on:

• Gen Z for Change https://genzforchange.us/ https://www.tiktok.com/@genzforchange
• Quentin Jiles https://linktr.ee/Qrjiles https://www.tiktok.com/@quentinjiles
• Elise Joshi https://www.tiktok.com/@elisejoshi
• Matthew Rein "The Dem Hype House" https://www.tiktok.com/@thedemhypehouse
• Colton Hess "Tok the Vote" https://www.tokthevote.com/ https://www.tiktok.com/@tok.the.vote

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-410-tok-policy-to-meyouth-political-mobilization-through-tiktok

Last summer, as a part of the public reckoning with racialized police violence, chants and mantras like "Whose Streets? Our Streets" and "We Keep Us Safe" and "We Are The Change We've Been Waiting For" resounded in the streets and all over social media.

What would it mean to take these slogans seriously? To actually imbue people and communities -- rather than political representatives and corporations -- with the power to create and change the world around them?

Talk Policy To Me reporter Reem Rayef delved into the practice and philosophy of anarchism, in search of an answer. In this episode, Reem speaks with Bryce Liedtke (friend, anarchist, GSPP alum, and Policy Director of the Scout Institute) about how he reconciles the principles of anarchism with his work in the policy space. Then, we hear from Dana Ward (anarchist, professor emeritus at Pitzer College) about the historical and philosophical origins and transformations of anarchism, in the United States and around the world.

Additional Reading

• The basics of anarchism as defined by Kim Kelly in Teen Vogue
• Dana Ward's Anarchy Archives
• Are You An Anarchist? by David Graeber

See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-409-talking-anarchism-and-direct-action