America Trends Podcast

America Trends•americatrendspodcast.blubrry.net

Society & Culture

A podcast focusing on the social and political trends shaping our future.

Last refreshed: August 23rd, 2025 at 6:47 PM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

EP 891 A Longtime Washington Insider Provides His Perspective on How D.C. is Functioning

Attorney Ira Shapiro is a man who has seen it all in Washington. As a long-time U.S. Senate staffer, he has written three books about the upper chamber. The collection has been described by one scholar as an ‘epic trilogy’, capturing sixty years of Senate history. He was the chief U.S. trade negotiator with Japan and Canada in the Clinton Administration and now he shares his vast knowledge of the affairs of the U.S. Capitol on Substack with a post titled “Truth Be Told.” I wanted Attorney Shapir...

Aug 22, 2025•39 min

EP 890 U.S. Supreme Court Tells Plaintiffs to Take Another Approach to Challenging Trump Policies

Many lawsuits have been brought against the second Trump Administration on the basis of overreach of its authority in trying to enact policies. President Trump declared victory over ‘radical left wing judges’ when the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the concept of the ‘universal’ injunction, wherein one lower federal court can make a ruling which then becomes the law of the land. This process has been used by courts to address issues of presidential power under this and previous administrations...

Aug 20, 2025•37 min

EP 889 A True Crime Case Which Shows the Hold the Genre Has on Americans

In 2019, the quiet suburb of New Canaan, Connecticut was shocked by the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a mother of five who vanished one morning after dropping her kids off to school. In 2020, her husband Fotis Dulos–with whom she was locked in a contentious divorce–and Fotis’s lover, Michelle Troconis, were charged with Jennifer’s murder, despite the fact that to this day Jennifer Dulos’s body has never been found. There has been a fascination with the events and facts in the Dulos case and i...

Aug 18, 2025•38 min

EP 888 Brain Gain to US Quickly Becoming a Brain Drain

America is a leader in scientific pursuits. This fact that is underpinned by much evidence. While the United States represents only 4 percent of the world’s population it accounts for over half of science Nobel Prizes awarded since 2000, hosts seven of the Times Higher Education Top 10 science universities, and has introduced to the world firms like Alphabet (Google), Meta and Pfizer that have parlayed federally funded discoveries into billion-dollar enterprises. Yet, many of the scientific achi...

Aug 13, 2025•37 min

EP 887 Evil Regimes Require Many Ordinary People Just Doing Their Jobs

The type of extensive evil that went on under Adolf Hitler back in the 1930’s and 40’s requires an apparatus that enlists ‘average’ Germans of the era doing their jobs. No one man could have done it alone. Bringing this story forward, in authoritarian regimes around the globe there are people looking away at the inhumanity of their actions, becoming unthinking about its moral consequences, in pursuit of career advancement and other common things. Our guest, Elizabeth Minnich, a student of and te...

Aug 11, 2025•41 min

EP886 Beverage Container Recycling Made Easier

Ten states in this country have container deposit legislation, popularly called “bottle bills”. The first one was passed in Oregon decades ago. Container deposit legislation requires a refundable deposit on certain types of recyclable beverage containers in order to boost recycling rates. First these measures were seen as an antidote to litter and an environmentally sound move. As some states, like mine in Connecticut, have increased the rate from a nickel to a dime for returning those cans and ...

Aug 07, 2025•33 min

EP 885 The Doctor Will See You Now, When Scheduled–Really

Do you ever go to your primary care physician and are seen on time? In a modern-looking facility? Without the doctor having his or her hand on the door to signal a need to get to the next patient? In our sophisticated society, do you think we can get it right in combining cutting-edge technology in combination with the warmth of human connection to keep people coming back for more and sending their friends and families? And never do we need that tandem to work better on our behalf than in the fi...

Aug 04, 2025•38 min

EP 884 Supermarkets and Grocery Preferences Are Changing

Just as big box retail stores have given way to more boutique and on-line retail environments, grocery shoppers are drawn these days to stores with a curated selection of essentials at lower prices. Stores like the brother rivals of Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s are examples. Do we really need 10 choices of olive oil? Too much choice can be overwhelming. Our guest, Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru, also tells us that omnichannel shopping is becoming the norm, as we transition, post-pandemic, to a se...

Jul 30, 2025•37 min

EP 883 Homelessness Remains a Daunting Challenge

Gallup ranks homelessness as one of Americans’ top three concerns. As it dovetails with the affordable housing crisis in this country, more and more people recognize how they, themselves, are a paycheck away from instability as it relates to having a roof over their heads. The homelessness we are experiencing today finds its roots in policies in the 1980’s which shred many safety nets. Given long waiting lines for federal low-income housing only about a quarter of those eligible for assistance a...

Jul 28, 2025•37 min

EP 882 The Long Tail of Trump’s Economic Policies

Whether your focus is on tariffs, the independence of the Federal Reserve or the reconciliation law and its tax and debt implications, the first six months of the second Trump Administration will have far-reaching effects on the American economy. Perhaps, it’s most important to watch the bond market reaction to the falling value of the dollar in relation to other currencies to forecast whether America’s dominance as the world’s economic engine is stalling. Given all that has transpired since his...

Jul 23, 2025•40 min

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android