No Time 2 Read!

Have you ever wondered why the world does business in US dollars? Or whether that dominance confers special benefits to the US? Have you heard doomers who claim the dollar is about to be dethroned, most recently because Iran is charging Strait of Hormuz tolls in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan?Well Nobel prize winning economist excels at explaining complex topics like this in layman's terms. This episode is somewhat longer than normal at about 27 minutes. If you prefer to read the original article, here's the link: The Dollar’s Special Status: Sources and ThreatsI'd appreciate it if you'd leave a comment letting me know if you do or do not like these longer, explanatory podcasts.

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 8th and final article where she examines the expansion of presidential power and how to overcome that problem.If you wish to read the article instead of listening, here's the link: Opinion | The Founders didn’t envision a Mar-a-Lago executive branch - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 7th articlewhere Danielle answers some FAQs about democracy renovation.If you prefer to read the article instead of listening, here's the link: Opinion | What is democracy renovation? Here’s what to know. - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 6th articleon the importance of urgently fixing our civic education.If you prefer to read the article instead of listening, here's the link: Opinion | Civics education won’t succeed if we sell kids a broken democracy - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 5th articleon the dangers AI poses for our democracy unless we renovate first.If you wish to read the article instead of listening, here's the link: Opinion | Artificial generative intelligence could prove too much for democracy - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 4th articleon how to free the Supreme Court from pernicious politics.If you prefer to read the article rather than listen, here's the link: Opinion | The Supreme Court needs term limits. Justices can do it themselves. - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series ofarticles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024.  That series was called "Democracy Refreshed".  Here is the 3rd article. In the first two articles she advocated for a larger House of Representatives. In this article she answers the question about whether our Capitol could handle it.If you want to read the article instead of listen, here's the link: Opinion | What the U.S. Capitol would look like with a bigger House - Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a series of articles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024. That series was called "Democracy Refreshed". Here is the 2nd article on how to kill gerrymandering and grow the House.If you want to read the article instead of listening, here's the link: Opinion | How to fix gerrymandering and the electoral college at the same time - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a powerful series of articles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024 on Renovating Democracy. That series was titled "Democracy Refreshed". Here is the first article on why we need to grow the size of the House of Representatives as the first and most important step in renovating our democracy.If you want to read the article instead of listen, here's the link: Opinion | Expanding the House of Representatives would help fix U.S. democracy - The Washington Post

Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen wrote a powerful series of articles for the Washington Post in 2023 and 2024 on Renovating Democracy. That series was titled "Democracy Refreshed". Consider this episode the introduction to the series even though it came at the end. If you want to read instead of listen, you can find that article here: Opinion | Will you join the supermajority for constitutional democracy? - The Washington Post

Audrey Tang is Taiwan’s first Digital Minister and the world’s first nonbinary cabinet minister. Awarded the Right Livelihood Award for “advancing the social use of digital technology to empower citizens, renew democracy and heal divides.In this guest article for The Renovator on Substack, she allows her AI avatar (called "a Kami") to write the article about the 6 elements that are required for any AI that will help our democracy. You can read the full article here: (1) Democracy Needs AI That Listens - by Audrey Tang

In this article from The Renovator by Danielle Allen, she argues that the No Kings rallies are not just "protests" but that we (the people) DO have an agenda that can renovate our democracy in non-partisan ways.Even though this podcast is titled "No Time2Read" I do encourage you to give her article a visual look-see at What Comes After No Kings? - by Danielle Allen.It's hard to fully digest a list of recommendations fully by ear. But I hope you enjoy hearing the good news of ways we can renovate our democracy.

Paul Krugman is a Nobel prize winning economist. He has an unusual ability to explain complex matters in easily understandable terms. In this episode he explains why, if the Strait of Hormuz remains choked off, the high price of auto gasoline is only half of the bad news for our economy.I encourage you to take a look at Paul's Substack where this article was published: $4 Gasoline is Less Than Half the Story - Paul KrugmanYou'll be able to see the charts to which he refers in his article. Obviously those charts can't be replicated in an audio version.

Danielle Allen is the founder of Partners in Democracy and the Democracy Renovation project. She publishes regular articles on Substack. In this episode: The ancient Greeks knew that when "The Furies” appeared they inevitably unleashed cycles of vendetta that were exceptionally hard to end.  Revenge begets revenge.The goal of civilization is to transform the Furies into “thewell-minded ones”.  Operation Epic Furyis an "Epic Fail" on that front.  We must resist the temptation to descend to the level of The Furies. We must protect civilization and be "the well-minded ones".To read this article on Substack, here's the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/therenovator/p/operation-epic-fury-a-civilizational?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email