My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (the executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), discussing this past —especially tough — week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. Today’s conversation touches on talking to young children about mass shootings, what we can learn from the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, Trump losing credibility in the primaries, how we confront fatalism, if we should worry about Biden’s ratings, and the fact that many p...
May 28, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast I think about those 19 children who were murdered in their classroom on Tuesday, and feel the need to go back to basics — to the common good. Given the the difficulty of enacting sensible laws to reduce gun violence — which reflects in part the deepening split between Americans who believe in democracy and those who are throwing in their lot with Trump authoritarians — the question I keep coming back to is: what can we can do to rekindle a sense of common good? One of the most important initiati...
May 26, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yesterday, the Game Workers Alliance (a union of quality assurance workers at Activism subsidiary studio Raven Software) won their vote to form a union. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is. The games industry is large and growing. Quality assurance testers do the grunt work of rooting out bugs and potential problems in the weeks and months before games are released publicly. These jobs are typically among the lowest in the game industry, with demanding workloads finding and catalog...
May 24, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The richest person in America tweeted last week that Democrats have “become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.” Hello? Democrats are the party of division and hate? What planet has Elon been living on? Meanwhile, the second-richest person in America (Jeff Bezos) tweeted that the Democrats’ proposed tax hikes on the rich will not tame inflation and their proposed spending would worsen it (he’s wrong, and I’ll explain why in another post). In ad...
May 23, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action), exploring the lows and few highs of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. Today our conversation touches on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) being held in Budapest, why Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have it out for President Biden and the Dems, what Doug Mastriano’s Pennsylvania primary win could mean for the 2024 election, what’s h...
May 21, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Decades ago, America’s wealthy backed a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism, and constitutional democracy. But today’s billionaire class is pushing a radically anti-democratic agenda for America — backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting, and even questioning the value of democracy. Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom a...
May 19, 2022•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello friends, In 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly lied that between 3 and 5 million unauthorized immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. In the last few weeks, Trump has resurrected his lie during campaign rallies for the Republican primary candidates he has endorsed — whipping up fears of “ open borders and horrible elections, ” and calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box. Trump endorsees have been amplifying the lie. J.D. Vance, the Trump-backed winner of ...
May 17, 2022•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a comment on this past Saturday’s post, Paula OH said: “It’s a very tough time. We need a hope machine! Anyone know how to build one?” My answer to Paula is a resounding: “yes!” And in a moment I’ll give Paula and you some hammers, nails, and solar panels to build one. First, though, I want to validate your discouragement. We expected COVID to be gone by now. We thought the minimum wage would be raised by now, that bold measures to slow climate change would be enacted by now, that pharmaceuti...
May 16, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast My informal weekly coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action), exploring the lows and few highs of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. If you somebody who might enjoy a conversation over coffee, please share. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe...
May 14, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello again, friends. After pro-choice protesters showed up outside the homes of Justice Samuel Alito and two other justices — peacefully chanting while walking in the street that lacked sidewalks — the editorial board of the Washington Post described such protests as “problematic” because they “bring direct public pressure to bear on a decision-making process that must be controlled, evidence-based and rational if there is to be any hope of an independent judiciary.” I’m sympathetic to this vie...
May 12, 2022•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello friends. I hope you’re reasonably well, under the circumstances. Today I want to talk to you about leaks. I’ve had a lot of experience with them. I spent almost half my adult life in Washington. Justice Samuel Alito’s first draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade — which was leaked to Politico — was dated February 10. It is probably obsolete by now, as other justices have had time to offer critiques, dissents, and revisions. But according to another leak from the Supreme Court — this one occ...
May 10, 2022•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast My informal weekly morning coffee with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and Executive Director of Inequality Media), exploring the lows of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. If you know others who might enjoy a conversation over coffee, please share. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe...
May 07, 2022•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision to reverse Roe v. Wade (an early draft of which was leaked Monday) doesn’t ban abortions; it leaves the issue to the states. As a result, it will put another large brick in the growing wall separating Blue and Red America. Some say we’re on the verge of a civil war, but that’s not right. It won’t be a formal secession (we tried that once), but a kind of benign separation analogous to unhappily married people who don’t want to go through the trauma of a forma...
May 05, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The beginning of May before midterm elections marks the start of primary season and six months of fall campaigning. The conventional view this year is Democrats will be clobbered in November. Why? Because midterms are usually referendums on a president’s performance, and Biden’s approval ratings are in the cellar. But the conventional view could be wrong because it doesn’t account for the Democrats’ secret sauce, which gives them a fighting chance of keeping one or both chambers: Trump Sauce. Ac...
May 03, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Consider the larger pattern. Putin invades Ukraine. Trump refuses to concede and promotes his Big Lie. Rightwing politicians in America and Europe fuel white Christian nationalism. Rightwing television pundits encourage racism and spur bigotry toward immigrants. Police kill innocent Black people with impunity. Powerful men sexually harass and abuse women. Politicians target LGBTQ youth. CEOs who are raking in record profits and pay give workers meager wages and fire them for unionizing. The rich...
May 02, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast My informal weekly coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and Executive Director of Inequality Media) exploring the highs and lows of the week. As usual, pull up a chair and bring your morning cup. If you know others who might enjoy a good conversation over coffee, please share. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe...
Apr 30, 2022•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Guardrails against dangerous lies on Twitter? Now that Elon has total control over one of the major ways Americans find out what’s happening (I know, I know -- Twitter is vapid and filled with smears and jeers, but it has a hugely important role in shaping the news), what can be done to establish guardrails against dangerous lies? It seems likely that Musk will take down the few guardrails that remain on Twitter — but some guardrails are surely needed to prevent malicious harassment or dangerous...
Apr 28, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Trump’s big lie of a stolen election began ricocheting across America in November 2020, Arizona’s Republican attorney general Mark Brnovich (pronounced “Burn-O-Vich”) spoke out forcefully on national television. He told the public that Donald Trump was projected to lose the swing state, and “no facts” suggested otherwise. (At the time I thought to myself “good for him. Maybe more Republican attorneys general will show some spine.”) That was then. Recently, Brnovich — now running for Senate in...
Apr 26, 2022•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elon Musk struck a deal today to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man. Twitter agreed to sell itself to Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. Twitter’s founder and top managers had offered Musk a seat on the board but he didn't take it because he'd have to be responsible to all other shareholders. Now, he doesn’t have to be accountable to anyo...
Apr 25, 2022•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Another weekly informal conversation with Heather Lofthouse (my former student and now executive director of Inequality Media) on the news of the week. Please pull up a chair and a hot mug. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe
Apr 23, 2022•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast We recoil in horror as Putin and his forces wreak havoc and death on Ukraine — before our eyes and in real time. Both Putin and Ukraine President Zelensky repeatedly invoke “nationalism” and “patriotism,” but Putin’s nationalism and patriotism are manufactured to justify this brutal and unprovoked aggression while Zelensky’s words explain astonishing sacrifices now being made by ordinary Ukrainians to protect their freedom, democracy, and homeland. Donald Trump uses the same words, too — as do h...
Apr 21, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Friday, Trump endorsed J.D. Vance in the Ohio Senate Republican primary. This follows his endorsement of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate Republican primary and Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race. The press has framed these endorsements as long-shot bets that “could put [Trump’s] desired image as a kingmaker at risk.” But this misses the point. What’s really at stake for Trump is the selling of Trump and his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. To be endorsed by Trump...
Apr 18, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Heather and I had coffee this morning. As before, please pull up a chair. If you know other people who might enjoy a good conversation over coffee, please share. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe
Apr 16, 2022•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Friends, I hope you’re as well as can be expected in these difficult times. A few days ago I focused on Elon Musk and his designs on Twitter. ( Here’s my post.) This morning, as I predicted, Musk put in a bid to buy the rest of Twitter and take it private. Musk’s bid of $54.20 per share is going to be hard for Twitter to resist, given Twitter’s duty to its shareholders: It’s nearly 40 percent higher than Twitter’s stock price in January, before Musk started buying. Musk says he has lost confiden...
Apr 14, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Memo to President Biden (and the Democrats) From: Robert Reich Re: Inflation Prices were 8.5 percent higher last month than they were a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning — the highest rate of inflation since 1981. The buying power of Americans is being squeezed more and more each day. You must explain what’s happening and put responsibility where it belongs. As America slouches toward the midterm elections, you need an economic message that celebrates your accomplish...
Apr 12, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast We begin another gut-wrenching week watching Putin’s barbarity in Ukraine. The Russian people know little about it because Putin has blocked their access to the truth, substituting propaganda and lies. Years ago, pundits assumed the Internet would open a new era of democracy, giving everyone access to the truth. But dictators like Putin and demagogues like Trump have demonstrated how naïve that assumption was. At least America responded to Trump’s lies. Trump had 88 million Twitter followers bef...
Apr 11, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast This morning I had coffee once again with my colleague Heather Lofthouse (who runs Inequality Media) about the events of the week — Putin, Judge Jackson, and Republicans maneuvers, as well as some personal stuff (including something I’ve never before admitted to publicly). Please feel free to join us. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe...
Apr 09, 2022•Transcript available on Metacast Yesterday, CEOs from America’s largest oil companies appeared before a House committee probing why they’re raising prices at the pump while raking in record profits and spending huge sums buying back their shares of stock. (Last year, Chevron, Exxon, BP, and Shell spent more than $44 billion on buybacks and dividends , and plan to spend $74 billion this year — money that should be used instead to lower prices at the pump.) It’s price-gouging and profiteering, and we’re all paying for it. Republi...
Apr 07, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s Office Hours discussion question: Is a windfall profits tax a good idea? How could it get the political support it needs? Would this be helpful for the Democrats in the midterms? Background: Yesterday I testified before the Senate Budget Committee about the power of American corporations — now enjoying the highest profits in 70 years — to raise their prices. And I endorsed a windfall profits tax. (You can see my testimony below.) Lindsey Graham told me he “couldn’t disagree with me more....
Apr 06, 2022•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast America is on the cusp of the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth in history. As wealthy boomers expire over the next three decades, an estimated $30 trillion will go to their children. Those children will be able to live off of the income these assets generate, and then leave the bulk of them – which in the intervening years will have grown far more valuable – to their own heirs, tax-free. After a few generations of this, almost all of the nation’s wealth will be in the hands of a few...
Apr 05, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
