What does America do well?

After the long holiday weekend, we have a few Independence Day-themed listener questions to answer. We’ll get into the supply chain for fireworks, as well as that potential stumper from the episode title. And we’ll talk about private equity and the housing market and COVID-19 and the labor force.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

More about our theme music, “The Informant”

“The Labor Market May Be Tighter than the Level of Employment Suggests” from the Dallas Fed

And some more relevant numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

“Wall Street isn’t to blame for the chaotic housing market” from Vox

“Institutional investors are stiff competition for homebuyers” from Marketplace

“Investment Firms Aren’t Buying All the Houses. But They Are Buying the Most Important Ones.” from Slate

“A fireworks shortage has prices surging and customers racing to stock up ahead of the Fourth of July weekend” from Insider

“Fireworks Are Pricey and in Tight Supply This July Fourth” from The Wall Street Journal

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