Just Asking Questions

Bob Murphy, an economist and senior fellow at the Mises Institute, dives into the controversial issue of national debt and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). He discusses how the U.S. national debt has surged to alarming levels, prompting questions about economic stability. Murphy explains MMT's perspective that government deficits can bolster private sector prosperity. He also critiques the efficiency of government spending, addresses rising skepticism toward MMT amid inflation concerns, and contrasts economic theories that shape public perception of debt.

How's the economy actually doing? In 2022, economists forecasted that we'd be in a recession by now. Did it ever actually happen, though? Prices got higher, interest rates ticked up, but mass layoffs never really happened and gross domestic product growth chugged on. People mostly weathered the turbulence. Joining us today to talk about all that and to speculate on what effects former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris' proposals might have on the economy is Kyla Scanlon. She worked as a macroeconomic analyst at Capital Group before founding Bread, a financial education company. She has built a large social media following by teaching finance and economics via YouTube, Instagram, Substack, and TikTok. She recently published her first book In This Economy: How Money and Markets Really Work. As we came out of the pandemic, we experienced inflation beyond what most millennials have seen in their lifetimes. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to attempt to achieve a soft landing—using the power of the central bank to cool a hot economy without causing a recession. We start by asking Kyla: "We're in an election year. How do you think voters should perceive the current state of our economy?" Sources referenced in the conversation: Financial Times: 2022 prediction of a recession. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDPC1) | FRED | St. Louis Fed COVID did not rescue the Armageddonists from underperformance purgatory Just Asking Questions with Nate Silver University of Michigan: Consumer Sentiment (UMCSENT) | FRED| St. Louis Fed 12-month percentage change, Consumer Price Index FiveThirtyEight: Which Economic Indicators Best Predict Presidential Elections? Kyla Scanlon: Why We Have a Housing Crisis Homeownership rates among Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X. Harris-Walz economic agenda press release Harris press release about her "$25k downpayment assistance" plan Kyla Scanlon: The TikTok Girl is Right: Modernity and the 9-to-5 Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Kyla Scanlon: What's Actually Wrong With the Economy? appeared first on Reason.com.

How do Democrats define "freedom"? Just asking questions.  It's Democratic National Convention week, so we wanted to talk about what's been unfolding there so far: the rhetoric, the thematic choices, and what it all reveals about the Democrats' 2024 agenda. How should we state-power skeptics and liberty appreciators view that agenda? We invited Jane Coaston to discuss all that with us this week. She's a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and a former politics reporter at Vox, and she exhibits self-described "libertarian tendencies." Sources referenced in this episode: Overall freedom in the 50 states Personal freedom in the 50 states Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Jane Coaston: What Is 'Freedom' to Democrats? appeared first on Reason.com.

César Báez, a commentator on Venezuela's political situation, and Daniel Di Martino, an expert and founder of the Dissident Project, delve into the recent controversial presidential election. They explore the stark discrepancies between the regime's claims and the opposition's tallies. The podcast highlights the violent crackdown on protests, the implications of systemic corruption, and the shifting public sentiment towards the Maduro regime. Additionally, it discusses the potential for military dissent and the ramifications of U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan citizens' lives.

How likely is a Kamala Harris presidency? Just asking questions.  Join Zach Weissmueller, Reason senior producer, and Liz Wolfe, Reason associate editor, at 12:30 p.m. ET for a live discussion on their show Just Asking Questions with Nate Silver, statistician and author of the new book On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything. Silver founded the renowned polling aggregator and politics website FiveThirtyEight and now runs his own Substack, Silver Bulletin. They'll discuss Vice President Kamala Harris' rise in the polls, the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as a vice presidential candidate, the "long, strange political shadow of 2020," and how Silver's experience as a gambler, as documented in his new book, affects his view of the world. Watch the full conversation above or on Reason's YouTube channel. Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Nate Silver: How Likely Is a Kamala Harris Presidency? appeared first on Reason.com.

Is the future of the GOP more libertarian, nationalist, or, somehow, both? Joining us today is Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur, author, and former presidential candidate. He's been making a hard pitch for what he's called a "libertarian-nationalist alliance" for the past several months. He was at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention where he tried to convince libertarians to vote Republican. Reason's Zach Weissmueller also saw Ramaswamy at the Republican National Convention, where he was trying to convince MAGA supporters to be more libertarian. Reason's Stephanie Slade saw him make his case for "national libertarianism" at the National Conservatism Conference. That event was also attended by vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, who has a different vision for the conservative movement. Those dueling visions are the subject of today's episode. Note: This episode is plagued by technical issues due to a software malfunction. With the exception of an approximately nine-minute section (which is marked in the episode), the full conversation is intact. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher. Sources referenced in this conversation: Vivek Ramaswamy's full talk at the National Conservatism Conference J.D. Vance's full talk at the National Conservatism Conference "Vivek Ramaswamy Debuts 'National Libertarianism' at NatCon 4," by Stephanie Slade Vivek Ramaswamy: Don't "replace the left-wing nanny state with a right-wing nanny state." "What I Learned From Paleoism," by Llewellyn Rockwell Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Vivek Ramaswamy: Is There a Libertarian-Nationalist Alliance? appeared first on Reason.com.

The past month has been one of the most tumultuous in modern American political history: a devastating face-plant in a televised presidential debate, an attempted assassination of an ex-president favored in the polls to win reelection, a COVID-19 infection of the sitting president and his subsequent exit from the race, and an endorsement and loads of money pouring into the campaign of a previously unpopular vice president. What was going on behind the scenes that led us to this moment? This week on Just Asking Questions, Liz Wolfe and Zach Weissmueller are joined by Alex Thompson, who writes about Joe Biden's White House for Axios. He's had a number of scoops about the internal goings-on in the Biden White House despite the fact that, according to previous guest Dave Weigel, Thompson has been pushed away for his previous reporting on Biden's declining health. They discuss the internal politics behind Biden's decision to drop out, the prospects for Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement in the 2024 presidential race, the media's insistence that Harris was not the president's "border czar," and the reluctance of former President Barack Obama to endorse Harris. Liz and Zach also react to Biden's exit speech, Harris' recent rally, and musician Charli XCX endorsing Harris as "brat." Sources referenced in this conversation: Biden drops out on X Axios: "Scoop: Biden doubted Harris' election chances" Axios: "Scoop: Biden changes walking routine to Marine One" Axios: "Harris border confusion haunts her new campaign" Charli XCX on X: "kamala IS brat" 18–34s Harris vs. Trump, CNN (July 22–23): "CNN Poll: Harris improves on Biden's performance against Trump in early look at new matchup" 18–34s Quinnipiac (July 19–21) Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Alex Thompson: Why Did Biden Drop Out? appeared first on Reason.com.

Where does former President Donald Trump want to take this country? As the Republican Party coronates Trump as its presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, there will be a lot of talk about Trump's vice presidential pick, his dominance in the polls, and the decline of President Joe Biden. But what about policy? What is the Trump agenda? Trump's opponents implore us to fear Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation proposal that they characterize as a vengeful, authoritarian power grab. Trump himself waves that away and tends to focus more on his plans to levy tariffs on foreign goods, deport illegal immigrants, and yes, finally build that wall. Neither Trump nor the Democrats seem interested in talking much at all about our soon-to-be $35 trillion national debt, which has eclipsed our total national gross domestic product for the first time since World War II.   To help us anticipate what an increasingly likely second Trump term might look like, and help explain how Trump 2024 is even possible all things considered, we've invited Mary Katharine Ham, a conservative political journalist and commentator at Fox News and on her own podcast Getting Hammered. We wanted to talk with her because she's Trump-critical, but also understands the conservative mind and movement as someone who's been immersed in it for years. Note that this episode was recorded on Friday, July 12, 2024. A new introduction by Zach Weissmueller was recorded on Tuesday, July 16, contextualizing this conversation in light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher. Sourced referenced in this conversation: Project 2025's Official Site Joe Biden's campaign website page on the project Understanding the National Debt | U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data Brookings Institute: Data on how the suburbs voted in 2020 St. Louis Federal Reserve: Gross Federal Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product The U.S. Justice Department Is Not Independent | The Center for Renewing America Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts on the War Room, July 2, 2024 Steve Bannon on Tucker Carlson's podcast, June 11, 2024 Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) on Just Asking Questions Timestamps: 00:00 Context for this pre-recorded episode 02:11 Setting the Tone for the Episode 03:08 Analyzing Trump's 2024 Agenda 05:41 Key Issues for the Suburban Vote 09:03 Trump's Vice Presidential Pick 14:04 Abortion and the 2024 Election 20:58 Libertarian Appeal and Trump's Strategy 28:58 National Debt Concerns 33:24 Navigating the Political Spectrum 36:29 Project 2025 42:45 Concerns Over Expanding Executive Power 47:26 Vengeance vs. Accountability in Politics 01:01:35 The State of the 2024 Election 01:04:22 Final Thoughts and Reflections Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Mary Katharine Ham: What's Trump's Agenda? appeared first on Reason.com.

What if President Joe Biden drops out? Just asking questions.  Biden is facing increasing pressure from his own side to drop out of the 2024 race, which nearly every poll taken since his disaster debate performance last week shows him losing. The latest RealClearPolitics average has him down by about 3.5 percentage points nationally. Several Democratic congress members have called for him to step aside. So have Democratic megadonors. Much of the national press, once dismissive of those pointing out Biden's mental deterioration, has turned on him.  So where do we go from here? To help us begin to answer that, Just Asking Questions invited David Weigel, a political reporter for Semafor, and previously for The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Slate, and Reason. Weigel talked with Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe about the media's slow acknowledgment of Biden's deteriorating condition, Biden's turn against the Democratic "elite," getting "coconut-pilled" on a Vice President Kamala Harris candidacy, and what a contested Democratic primary might look like. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher. Sourced referenced in this conversation: 2024 General Election: Trump vs. Biden Polls | RealClearPolling The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden | New York Magazine Trumpworld Trots Out Another 'Cheap Fake' Video of President Biden | The Daily Beast  Biden described by a special investigator as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" in February 2024 Replacing Biden: How it would work | Semafor   Timestamps: 0:00 - intro 1:28 - How bad is Biden losing? 4:58 - How long has Biden been cognitively impaired? 6:58 - How much medical info should the White House release? 11:46 - Why didn't the DC media say something sooner? 32:06 - Media gaslighting Biden's decline as "cheap fakes" 39:10 - The media has turned on Biden 48:13 - How does Zach feel about voting for Biden? 50:35 - Biden's pushback to the press and the Democratic "elite" 56:41 - Why Democrats are turning on Joe Biden 1:05:26 - Getting "coconut pilled" on a Kamala Harris candidacy 1:15:00 - How would removing Biden actually work?   Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Dave Weigel: What If Biden Quits? appeared first on Reason.com.

Are the boys okay? For much of history, parents have preferred boys, perceiving them as the providers, the family legacy, the heirs to the throne. A dark consequence of China's 36-year-long one-child policy was a 120 boy to 100 girl birth ratio. But in 21st-century America, the script seems to have been flipped. The New York Times has run headlines like "Wanting Daughters, Getting Sons" and "It's a Boy, and It's Okay to be Disappointed." Boys are falling behind in school, are more likely to display behavioral problems, and are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of violence. Shifting gender norms, changing conceptions of masculinity, and the pitched political battles around these questions have made boyhood—and parenthood—that much more complicated. Raising boys these days ain't easy. Today's guest knows this all too well. Ruth Whippman is the author of BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, and the mother of three young boys. The book is about her experience as a modern "BoyMom" living in the hyper-progressive Bay Area, as well as what she learned from studying the psychological and sociological research on boys and from talking to boys and men across the country and the political spectrum about their experiences and, importantly to the theme of this book, their feelings. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher. Sourced referenced in this conversation: The New York Times: Wanting Daughters, Getting Sons The New York Times: It's a Boy, and It's Okay to Be Disappointed Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to fit expected patterns for STEM Poverty hurts the boys the most: Inequality at the intersection of class and gender Loneliness around the world: Age, gender, and cultural differences in loneliness Provisional Estimates of Suicide by Demographic Characteristics: United States, 2022 Andrew Tate's 10 Rules of Life on Rumble (discussed at 55:28) Timestamps: 00:00 Intro Monologue 01:24 Introducing Ruth Whippman 02:20 Nature vs. Nurture in Boyhood 05:31 Emotional Vulnerability in Boys 06:31 Parenting Strategies for Boys 09:56 Cultural Shifts and Gender Preferences 14:01 Raising Boys in Progressive Areas 27:28 Challenges Boys Face in School 41:34 Traditional Masculinity and Emotional Connection 45:47 The American Psychological Association's Stance on Traditional Masculinity 53:16 The Hero's Journey and Masculine Expectations 55:28 Andrew Tate's Influence on Young Men 01:04:18 High Agency Worldview and Self-Help for Men 01:14:17 Promoting Emotional and Relational Skills in Boys 01:16:19 Final Thoughts and Reflections Producer: John OsterhoudtThe post Ruth Whippman: How Is Masculinity Changing? appeared first on Reason.com.