America's infant formula shortage is very strange and very embarrassing. Nationwide, more than 40 percent of formula is out of stock, and in many states, like Texas and Tennessee, more than half of it is gone. What's going on? The immediate cause is the shutdown of a Michigan plant. But shutdowns and recalls happen all the time, and they rarely cause a national crisis like this. Economist Scott Lincicome says the real culprit lies in America's trade and regulatory policy. He explains how we got ...
May 18, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Crypto crashes, rate hikes, recession, fears, and inflation prints: The U.S. economy is in a very bizarre place right now, and Derek needs help explaining it. Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson of Ritholz Wealth Management are back on the pod to reconvene the economic roundtable. We play a game of "Finish the Sentence": The single most shocking stock market stat is …? The long-term bull case for crypto is ... ? The worst sign for the US economy is … ? The BEST sign about the US economy is …? If you...
May 17, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 53
The stock market is absolutely gross right now. Everything is down, except (as loyal listeners know) the CATAN portfolio. Crypto has cratered, growth stocks have been ravaged, and hedge funds are imploding. Why is this happening? Is this Dot-Com Bubble 2.0? And what does it mean for the future of the U.S. economy, investing, and tech? Investor, entrepreneur, and podcaster Jason Calacanis joins the show. He gives us a brief history of the 21st century tech industry, explains why this is like and ...
May 11, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 52
This might sound like a hot take but it's not: In 50 years, when historians look back on the crazy 2020s, they might point to advances in artificial intelligence as the most important long-term development of our time. We are building machines that can mimic human language, human creativity, and human thought. What will that mean for the future of work, morality, and economics? The bestselling author Steven Johnson joins the podcast to talk about the most exciting and scary ideas in artificial i...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Sometimes, people ask “why study history?” How about this: American history is the weapon being used to strike down Roe Vs Wade. In the leaked draft of the Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe, conservative Justice Samuel Alito writes that Roe invented a right to abortion that cannot be found in early American history. Is he right? And what’s the true history of abortion in America? That’s the subject of today’s episode—a fast, factual guide to how we got to this moment, reviewing the ...
May 06, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 50
The Supreme Court is poised to end the era of Roe. In a leaked draft of a majority opinion, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed constitutional protections of abortion rights. What would happen to abortion rights in its absence? Which states would shutter their clinics? Which states might expand protections? How does the growth of nationwide access to abortion pills fit into all of this? And why was the draft leaked in the first place? This ...
May 04, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Morgan Housel, author of 'The Psychology of Money' and a partner at Collaborative Fund, joins the show to play stock doctor and diagnose what's killing tech stocks. Then we debate the odds of an imminent recession and talk about how China's bizarre year could weigh on U.S. growth. Finally, we go through all the good reasons and the not-so-good reasons for cancelling student debt. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Morgan Housel Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...
May 03, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 48
This week we have the NFL draft, which is an annual exercise in failure. Every year, some NFL team makes a disastrous quarterback decision but also overlooks a potential star. Why is it so damn hard to predict QB play in football? Are scouts stupid, or is the future just unknowable, or is hiring fundamentally chaotic, or is there something specific about quarterbacking that makes it uniquely difficult to forecast? The economist David Berri joins to share his research on why scouts are terrible a...
Apr 29, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 47
What can save Netflix? Who killed CNN+? What the hell is going on between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis? It's a big media hellscape roundup. Rich Greenfield, general partner at LightShed Ventures, forecasts a rocky future for streaming. Nick Papantonis, a reporter for WFTV in Orlando, explains that Florida's war against Disney might have some surprising collateral damage. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Rich Greenfield and Nick Papantonis Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad ch...
Apr 26, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Charlie Warzel, author of the Galaxy Brain newsletter at The Atlantic, joins to talk about what Elon Musk will do to Twitter and how his acquisition could change media, tech, and politics. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Charlie Warzel Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 26, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 45
The United States is experiencing an extreme teenage mental-health crisis. It is one of the most troubling and fascinating social phenomena in the country today. From 2009 to 2021, the share of American high-school students who say they feel “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” rose from 26 percent to 44 percent, according to a new CDC study. This is the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, joins the podcast to ...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 44
The White House has a big youth problem. Since the day of his inauguration, Joe Biden’s approval has declined by about 7 points among Americans over 50—and by an astonishing 19 points among Americans under 35. The pollster and politics writer Kristen Soltis Anderson joins the show to talk about Biden's eroding approval among young people and what it means for November. Then she and Derek talk about what liberals don't get about conservatives, why Democrats overrate the political power of Donald ...
Apr 19, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 43
What’s happening in China’s largest and richest city right now is quite unbelievable. Shanghai is now several weeks into a government lockdown to stop the spread of COVID variants. In a metro with roughly the population of the state of Texas, residents cannot go outside. They cannot walk to grocery stores or pharmacies to pick up essential medicine. If they test positive for COVID, they are removed from their families and taken to quarantine facilities, where conditions are reportedly hellish. A...
Apr 15, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Well, that escalated quickly. Days after Elon Musk become the single largest individual shareholder of Twitter, he has offered to buy the company and take it private. Wait, what? Derek welcomes Stratechery writer Ben Thompson (no relation) to break down the news. Ben explains why Twitter is one of the most important companies in the world, why it's so undervalued, and what Musk could do with it privately. Then we make some predictions. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ben Thompson Producer: Devon Man...
Apr 14, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 41
On today's show, we start with Ten Good Minutes on the extremely funny and very chaotic saga of Elon Musk vs. Twitter. Last week, Musk bought enough Twitter shares to become the company's largest individual shareholder. Then, Twitter announced that Musk would become a board member. Then, Musk tweeted a bunch of embarrassing things about Twitter, suggesting the platform was "dying" and that its headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter. Then, Twitter announced that Musk would not b...
Apr 12, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 40
There is an epidemic of bad behavior sweeping the country. In 2020, homicides increased by a record-high rate. Last year, pedestrian and vehicular deaths went up by a record-high rate. There have been more attacks in hospitals, schools, and stadiums and more unruly airline passengers than any time on record. What on Earth is going on? Today’s guest is Olga Khazan, a staff writer at The Atlantic. She and Derek talk about how America lost its damn mind and review the most obvious and most interest...
Apr 08, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 39
America has never grown at a slower pace than right now. Not only have deaths soared in the pandemic, but immigration is falling and our birth rate is near a record low, as well. Why is this happening? And why is population growth so great, anyway? Today’s guest is Matthew Yglesias, the author of the Slow Boring newsletter and the book 'One Billion Americans.' In this episode, we talk about why politicians won’t prioritize family policy and immigration in D.C.; why population growth is good for ...
Apr 05, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 38
This week, the Washington Post reported that Facebook’s parent company Meta has been paying a Republican consulting firm to slime the reputation of its social media rival TikTok. According to emails shared between Meta and Targeted Victory, Facebook sought to blame TikTok for viral hoaxes that actually started on Facebook and then urged various journalists and politicians to amplify these hoaxes. Today’s guests are the journalists who broke the story: Taylor Lorenz and Drew Harwell. They explain...
Apr 01, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 37
On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation that prohibits much classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. The law is called “Parental Rights in Education,” but its critics—which include Democrats, Hollywood, and many outspoken employees of the Walt Disney Company—call it “Don’t Say Gay.” What does the law actually say? And how has it created a firestorm at Disney? In this episode, Derek talks to Dana Goldstein, a New York Times reporter, about the detail...
Mar 29, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Derek talks to The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum about Zelensky’s global appeal, the roots of Putin's lust for empire, and Ukraine’s prospects for victory. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Anne Applebaum Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 25, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Economic crises are piling up. U.S. inflation was surging before Russia invaded Ukraine. Since the war began, commodity prices have spiked, with gas screaming toward $5 a gallon. And now China is facing a new COVID wave. What is happening, and how will it end? Jason Furman, chief economic adviser to the Obama administration and professor of economics at Harvard University, is back on the pod to answer our burning economic questions, like, “Are we headed back to the 1970s?” Host: Derek Thompson G...
Mar 22, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Russia’s military isn’t just a little bit bigger than Ukraine's—it has three times more armored vehicles; four times more ground forces; five times more tanks; and 10 times more aircraft. But for now, David is holding up against Goliath. How is this happening? And how long can Ukraine hold out? Russia military analyst Rob Lee and diplomacy expert Max Bergmann explain how Ukraine is shocking Russia—and the world. Host: Derek Thompson Guests: Rob Lee and Max Bergmann Producer: Troy Farkas Learn mo...
Mar 14, 2022•22 min
Three in four Americans say the U.S. and its allies should ban Russian aircraft over Ukraine by establishing a “no-fly zone.” Dozens of foreign policy experts agree. So do many Ukrainians. Is this the policy that could end the war, or is it an idea that could end human civilization as we know it? (Maybe it's both.) The author and foreign policy critic Robert Wright joins the podcast to debate the pros and cons of a no-fly zone. Host: Derek Thompson Producer: Troy Farkas Learn more about your ad ...
Mar 10, 2022•35 min
Imagine running from your home, from a foreign army, knowing that every decision you make could be the difference between life and death—stay or flee? Turn left or right? Leave at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m.? That is the world in which today’s guests live. Five Ukrainians who live in—or have recently fled from—Kyiv tell Derek what it’s like living in the Ukrainian capital, escaping to Poland, and returning to Kyiv to fight the Russian army. Host: Derek Thompson Producer: Troy Farkas Learn more about your a...
Mar 08, 2022•21 min
There are two wars happening right now. There is a military conflict led by Vladimir Putin in Eastern Europe that we should all hope ends as soon as possible. And there is an economic and cultural war—the world vs. Russia—that we should also hope ends as soon as possible. In today’s episode, two guests discuss each theater of war. Paul Poast, a University of Chicago professor and expert on the economics of war, joins to discuss the latest from the war on the ground. And Robin Wigglesworth, a glo...
Mar 02, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Things are moving very, very fast in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine—and in the global response to punish Russia. The U.S. and Europe are not engaged in a literal war against Putin, and hopefully nothing like that will come to pass. But this weekend, they announced a series of unprecedented sanctions and economic penalties that could destroy the Russian economy. These policies are designed to get Putin to end the war before he conquers Ukraine. But they could crash the Russian economy and t...
Mar 01, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Quagmire. Regime change. Conquest. Empire. World War III. Derek considers five ways that the war in Ukraine could end with Paul Poast, a professor of foreign policy and war at the University of Chicago. This is Part 2 of our two-part Ukraine coverage today. For more on why Putin attacked and how war could change the world, check out the previous episode in this feed. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Paul Poast Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Feb 25, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Derek explains why three years—1989, 2008, and 2014—are the key to understanding why Putin is willing to take a massive risk in invading Ukraine. Then, Derek asks five expert guests to walk him through the most important second-order implications of a long major conflict. What are the most important ricochet effects that nobody is talking about? How could the war transform Europe? How could it destabilize Africa and the Middle East? How will it change U.S. politics, or kick off a 21st Century Co...
Feb 25, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 27
All-star VC Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital joins the show to talk about picking winners and losers, tech's rough start to the year, and his four favorite mottos for detecting BS and seeing reality clearly. Finally, Derek and Josh play a game of "Overrated or Underrated?" for the metaverse, NFTs, and space travel. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Josh Wolfe Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Feb 22, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak. Jerry Rice's gazillion receiving records. Which of these athletic achievements is the most impressive in American sports history? And are any of them the most impressive ever? The Ringer's Ryen Russillo joins the pod to debate the most impressive achievements in football, basketball, baseball, and individual sports. Then, after making selections that will almost certainly infuriate at least half of all listeners, the guys comp...
Feb 18, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 25
