As government spending swells to 34.5% of GDP—up from just 3% in 1929—our economy’s innovation is getting tangled in bureaucratic red tape. In this episode, inspired by my Substack essay ‘When Government Pays, Innovation Decays,’ we explore how federal cash rewires businesses to chase contracts over customers, pulls talent into politics over progress, and leaves us questioning the true cost of this sprawl—especially as Elon Musk stirs the pot. Tune in to unpack why shrinking government might just unleash America’s next big ideas.

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