Out of Order

We rate the Democratic National Convention, discuss which parts of it matter, and why.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz recently gave a high-profile interview on CNN (which, we checked after the fact, garnered 6.3 million viewers the night it aired). We took the opportunity to discuss it.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded over $100 million to cities and towns that have dismantled zoning obstacles to building more housing.

The Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping bill led through Congress by Democrats in 2022, included a provision to allow the government to negotiate prices for Medicare drugs. This week, news came out that the program will save $6 billion between the government and individual co-pays in its first year, 2026. That's the case with ten drugs in 2026, but the list will expand from there.

Last week, Ukrainian armed forces invaded the Kursk region of Russia, taking hundreds of square kilometers of land. We discuss why they made this move and how it changes the outlook of the war.

The recent jobs report for July showed unemployment rising to 4.3% while 115,000 jobs were added, far below economists' estimates of 175,000. Does this mean we're heading for a recession?

A couple pieces of news came out suggesting it might become even harder for China to acquire semiconductor technology from the U.S. We break it down.

We break down judge Aileen Cannon's decision to throw out the Trump documents case, where he kept classified documents at his home in Florida after his presidency. We analyze her argument, including the legal precedent for it, and whether this will be the end of the case.

Arizona tried a program to give vouchers for private schools to anyone who wanted them. It didn't go how they expected.

The new ruling Labour party in the U.K. is implementing rules requiring cities to zone for much more, denser housing. We're pumped.

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for ethical violations that include taking expensive gifts from political actors. We discuss how it matters.

The U.K.'s election resulted in a sweeping win for the Labour Party, taking down the Tory majority after they spent 14 years in power. We discuss how it happened, what's in store for the country next, and more.

French citizens went to the ballot box for two rounds of voting in late June and early July, leading to a victory for the leftist coalition and a quite stunning defeat for the far-right National Rally. We discuss how it happened, what comes next, and what this might mean for French policy.

Joe Biden suffered a quite disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump at the end of June. Since then, calls for him to drop out of the race have come strong and fast from media figures, millionaire donors, and elites in the Democratic party. In this video, we ask and answer lots of questions: How bad was Biden's debate performance really? Should he withdraw from the race? If so, who should run in his stead?

Project 2025, an authoritarian playbook published by the Heritage Foundation for the use of any Republican president who may take office, includes plans to eliminate the Head Start Program. Head Start is publicly funded child care - it fills in gaps left by the private sector in rural areas. The program has served over 40 million people to date, including 833,000 in 2023.

Amazon management has rejected the validity of its new union for nearly two years, instead fighting long legal battles against needing to recognize them. It's gotten to the point where the union can barely fund itself. Fortunately, the teamsters have decided to step in and help.

The Biden administration has announced new measures to protect illegal immigrants who are married to American citizens and have been in the country for at least ten years from deportation. In addition, the measures will establish a path to citizenship for those immigrants. Needless to say, we're fans of the policy.

Russia's state-owned natural gas company lost money for the first time ever in 2023 because the European market stopped buying, and they are not optimistic about their prospects for a rebound.

The U.S. is putting sanctions not only on Russian financial institutions, but secondary sanctions on any other companies that do business with Russian institutions. We discuss the fallout.

The EU finished an investigation into the Chinese EV industry and determined they would need to place tariffs of up to 37% on certain companies to maintain competitiveness. We discuss the fallout.

After gains by the far-right in the European Parliament elections, French President Emmanuel Macron called for elections at the end of June. The far-right national rally is polling strongly.

News outlets made a big deal last week about the gains made by far-right parties in the European Parliament elections. We think this swing to the right is more important for certain countries, namely France and Germany, than it is for the governance of the EU as a whole.

The overall consumer price index didn't change at all in the month of may, a very encouraging sign in the Fed's fight against inflation. We break down the May CPI report and the Fed's meeting later in the day

President Joe Biden presented a plan to produce a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, but right from the get-go it seems shaky.

India just held the biggest election in history. Exit polls showed a huge win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP party, but they ended up losing out on an outright majority in the parliament. That result is probably good for India's democracy, but might hurt its economy.

The African National Congress (ANC), the political party founded by Nelson Mandela, which ended apartheid in South Africa and has ruled the country for the last thirty years, lost its parliamentary majority in elections last week. While they are still the largest party, they will now have to form a coalition with competing parties to govern. This signifies a shift for South Africa, which needs to look forward with policy that addresses its rampant crime, inequality, and poverty.

Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan state court. We run through the somewhat complex reasoning behind the crime and then analyze the political and institutional fallout.

The Financial Times reported that a deal for a new gas pipeline from Russia to China has stalled over pricing talks. China not only wants heavily subsidized domestic prices for Russia's gas, they also want only a small percentage of the total capacity. The reality is, Russia needs China, but China doesn't need Russia.

A new report cites sources close to Vladimir Putin saying he wants a ceasefire in the Ukraine war with the lines frozen at current areas of control on the battlefield. Is this true, or is there another reason this information leaked to the press?

The state of Colorado passed four new housing laws meant to address their housing shortage. There's one in particular that excites us. Tune in to find out what they did.

Over a year ago, the term "vibecession" was coined. It refers to the concurrent phenomena of a very strong U.S. economy according to all the typical measures (unemployment, GDP growth, stock market gains) and a populous that mostly thinks the economy is doing poorly. This isn't the first time we've discussed this topic, but a new poll brought us back here. So we wonder: why is the vibecession still so strong?

Two days after the inauguration of Taiwan's new president, The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China ran joint navy and air force drills on the northern, eastern, and western sides of the island. We discuss their reasoning for these drills and how they might play into a future invasion of Taiwan by China.

After winning a unionization vote at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, the UAW sought to keep their momentum going with a win at a Mercedes plant in Alabama. However, they lost the vote, with 56% of votes going against unionizing. We discuss how it went down, and whether this will affect future unionization efforts.

Chinese businesses are facing headwinds everywhere in the world at the moment. At home, they're struggling with weak demand, as their consumer base doesn't want to spend money because of the real estate crisis and low confidence. Abroad, buyer markets like the U.S. are becoming more and more protectionist as they look to carve out space for their own manufacturers to compete on the world stage.

Ebrahim Raisi, president of Iran, died in a helicopter crash last week. We discuss how this affects Iran's government and politics, and whether it will have any effect on the U.S.'s posture towards the country.

Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel's centrist party, has issued demands for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet, threatening to leave the governing coalition if he does not. The demands include more concrete plans on how to secure Israeli hostages held by Hamas and how to govern Gaza.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for several leaders of Hamas and Israel in the wake of the war in Gaza. We discuss how this move leaves Israel even more isolated on the world stage, and may accelerate deglobalization by leading countries out of step with the U.S. and Israel ideologically to go their own way in other matters as well.

Russia's military has pressed its advantage in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, as the Ukrainians await military aid from the recently passed resolution in Congress. The morale of Ukraine as a country may hinge on Kharkiv's survival.

Senator Jon Tester from Montana is facing one of the toughest re-election campaigns in the Senate this year, the fate of which could decide which party controls Congress. One crucial constituency for him is Native Americans, who make up about 6% of the population of the state. Their support for Tester is clear, but whether they will turn out to vote, is less so.

President Joe Biden recently unveiled a new swathe of tariffs on China after a yearslong review of Trump's tariffs which initiated this trade war. We discuss the effects on the economy, on the green transition, on the politics and whether any of these are at all a good idea.

We analyze the April inflation report and discuss the mixed signals it sends about the economy. Wages have increased by 3.9% over the past year, resulting in real wage gains of 0.5%. There's also a welcome decline in the cost of food at home. However, car insurance prices have significantly risen at a 21.6% annualized rate, driving inflation higher. Retail sales were flat for the month, contrary to the expected 0.4% increase, suggesting consumers are spending less. This is positive news for the Federal Reserve, which aims to moderate consumer activity, but challenges remain in balancing consumption to sustain GDP growth. The prospect of rate cuts in 2024 appears more feasible.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) passed a new rule to dictate how regional transmission organizations plan, pay for, and site new developments to the grid. Transmission is one of the biggest obstacles the U.S. has in achieving its green transition goals, so this is a huge deal.

United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain wrote an op-ed proposing that unions across the country align to have their contracts expire in 2028, in order to maximize labor's leverage with a general strike if management does not meet their demands. This would be the biggest move for labor we've ever seen in America, and might lurch us towards the equity of a system like the social democracies of Nordic countries.

The U.S. dollar has recently been rising in value of late due to higher-than-hoped-for inflation in the U.S. and a continually strong economy. We discuss what this means for the U.S. and other economies around the world. ⁠Patreon⁠ with exclusive content: Patreon

At the inception of the COVID pandemic, the Trump administration instituted the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, creating subsidies for households that couldn't afford reliable internet access. The Biden administration extended those benefits in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Now, the benefits are about to expire, and Congress will likely allow them to. We discuss why, and whether that's a good idea. ⁠Patreon⁠ with exclusive content: Patreon

The EPA passed a new rule requiring the majority of a power plant's carbon emissions to be eliminated by 2032 at the risk of being taken off the grid. It's a big step forward in the federal government's battle against climate change.

Time Magazine recently published a long-form interview done with Donald Trump, discussing his policy ideas for a second term. There's a lot of rambling and self-adulation. Besides that, we go over some of the most interesting points to us, and whether they might actually bear out if Trump were elected. If you like our brilliant insights, you should OBVIOUSLY subscribe. If you really REALLY like us, you can support the show by becoming a ⁠Patreon⁠ supporter: Patreon. We also post exclusive content there, so check it out!

The Biden administration released new rules to modify the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to speed up infrastructure project approvals via multiple mechanisms. NEPA has been one of the biggest obstacles to progress in building what we need for the green transitions, as its environmental reviews often add years to projects and have not taken climate change into account up to this point. These rules are truly a dream for our hopes for the green transition, and we're super excited!

Greece's Supreme Court has ruled that the far-right Spartan party is simply a rebrand of the previous neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, and that its members are looking to circumvent the previous ban placed on that openly Hitler-loving party. Count this as a win for protecting democracy.

President Biden has rescheduled marijuana from a schedule I to a schedule III drug, a move that is long overdue but still doesn't go far enough. Schedule I had weed on the same level as heroin, while Schedule III puts it on the same level as codeine. We discuss the ramifications. If you like our brilliant insights, you should OBVIOUSLY subscribe. If you really REALLY like us, you can support the show by becoming a ⁠Patreon⁠ supporter: Patreon. We also post exclusive content there, so check it out!