How can we reshape the American economy? Zachary and Emma speak with Chris Hughes, Facebook co-founder, Chair of the Economic Security Project, and author of “Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy.” Chris discusses the differences between marketcraft and Trump’s tariffs, how marketcraft has succeeded with antitrust and anti-monopoly laws, and historical examples involving marketcraft, including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the CHIPS and Science Act.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Journalist Bridget Read joins Ravi to explore the dark side of multi-level marketing schemes - and why they’re more dangerous and widespread than most people realize. In her new book Little Bosses Everywhere, Read breaks down how these so-called business opportunities often lure in vulnerable people, turning dreams of entrepreneurship into financial traps. Ravi and Bridget discuss why MLMs thrive despite dismal success rates, how they’ve reshaped American society, and what they reveal about the American obsession with hustle culture and belonging.
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Learn more about Ravi's novel and upcoming events: GARBAGE TOWN
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Notes from this episode are available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
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China sounds downright Reaganesque and is acting like a more stable, attractive trading partner than the country that launched a trade war. And even though Trump loves play-acting businessman, and calling CEOs by their first name, no one on Wall Street and no one who studies economics likes his continuing tariffs—they know they hurt American companies and American consumers. And the uncertainty is paralyzing. Meanwhile, the GOP will use fancy terms to try to paper over their budget, which would hurt the working class and dramatically increase the deficit—all for tax cuts.
University of Michigan's Justin Wolfers joins Tim Miller.
Tevi Troy joins us today to talk about his article, "In Praise of Big Pharma," but first we talk about Trump's trip to the Middle East and whether Israel will ever make its final push into Gaza. Give a listen.
The majority of people listening to this episode are hearing it on an iPhone. As most of us can attest, the iPhone is so central to our lives that if we lose it, we feel totally unmoored from our ability to function in the world.
It’s hard to explain how ubiquitous the iPhone is—and how much of a behemoth Apple is. Apple sells over 60 million iPhones in the U.S. a year, and one plant can make as many as 500,000 iPhones per day. And in 2024, the company brought in a total revenue of $391 billion.
The rise of Apple and the iPhone did not happen by accident. The fact that we all walk around with the most sophisticated technology in our pockets—at a cost of about a thousand dollars each—is the result of two forces: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, and China, our largest geostrategic and economic rival.
Few people are more prepared to discuss the symbiotic relationship between Apple and Communist China than Patrick McGee, a longtime business journalist who has covered Apple for the Financial Times. McGee is the author of Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company.
And Patrick makes the case that Apple became the world’s most valuable company by wedding itself—and its future—to an authoritarian state. As the president and others talk about decoupling from the country, Apple’s exposure in China isn’t just a liability for the company—it’s a liability to our national security, our own workforce, and our future.
Today on Honestly, Bari asks Patrick how China came to dominate Apple’s manufacturing supply chain; how its totalitarian system and labor practices lured Apple to it; and how Apple’s decades-long transfer of knowledge and capital into China has made it nearly impossible to leave. Also, why the conventional wisdom—which is that Apple would not exist but for China—actually works the other way around. As Patrick argues, China would not be China without Apple.
Header 6:The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this article.
Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories.
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a bribe! President Trump, just before setting off on a tour of the Gulf states, announces that he plans to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family — one of the largest and most brazenly corrupt gifts ever received by an American president. House Republicans finally release details of their proposed cuts to Medicaid, but will their plan to cut the health insurance of 9 million Americans find enough support from moderates and hard-liners? And, of course, there's more tariff news, with the administration announcing a 90-day-pause (kind of) in the trade war with China. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy talk about Democrats' response to Trump's shiny new bribe, Stephen Miller's recent attacks on habeas corpus, and why the president's new drug pricing executive order isn't a serious solution to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Then, Tommy sits down with his doppelgänger, Rob Sand, to talk about Sand's campaign for Iowa governor.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
Tech reporter Mike Isaac returns to the show for a round-up of the latest AI news. From collegiate cheating to funeral planning, Mike helps us make some sense of how this wonderful emerging technology is reshaping human society in so many delightful ways, and certainly is not a madness rune chipping away at what little sanity remains in our population’s fraying psyche.
We’re doing another call-in show with Matt for the midweek, so if you have any questions or comments, send an UNDER 30 SECOND voice recording to calls@chapotraphouse.com
We also have some new merch going up at chapotraphouse.store this Weds, May 14. So keep your eyes out for that!
Trump can't abide flying around in crusty, old Air Force One. Qatar—funder of both Hamas and the leading U.S. college Gaza protest group—just happens to have a spare, pimped-out 747 lying around, which they'd like to gift to Trump so he can use that instead. Pay no attention to the complete hypocrisy of an administration that says that students protesting for Gaza are a threat to our foreign policy. Plus, Trump's fake drug price cap, the White House caves to China on tariffs, Herr Miller becomes the leading voice for disappearing people, and Bill tells Tim he's rethinking his position on "Abolish ICE."
