Mostly Economics Podcast #20: Fighting the Anti-Vaccine, Climate Denial Machine with Michael Mann and Peter Hotez

Climate scientist Michael Mann and vaccine researcher Peter Hotez discuss their book "Science Under Siege," examining how plutocrats, petrostates, press, pros, and propagandists undermine scientific truth. They reveal how wealthy individuals fund anti-science campaigns, authoritarian regimes spread climate denial, and mainstream media enables false equivalency between facts and conspiracy theories. The conversation covers the deadly consequences of vaccine misinformation, the Serengeti strategy of targeting individual scientists, and why 200,000 Americans died needlessly from COVID. Mann and Hotez argue this assault on expertise threatens democracy itself, while offering solutions for scientists to become more visible public advocates for truth. -- Follow Dean Baker on: X: https://x.com/DeanBaker13 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/deanbaker13.bsky.social Follow Center for Economic and Policy Research X: https://x.com/@ceprdc IG: https://www.instagram.com/ceprdc/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/CEPRDC/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ceprdc.bsky.social