The EDU101’s Podcast

America’s Two Economies: Unpacking the Divide, Policies, and a Path Forward This episode reviews the concluding chapter of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin argues that the United States functions as a dual economy, where a high-wage, highly educated FTE (finance, technology, and electronics) sector serves its own interests while neglecting t...

The Great Divide: How “Dual Economies” and Political Choices Shape Our Unequal World This episode reviews Chapter Thirteen of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin expands his analysis of the dual economy—defined by a prosperous FTE (finance, technology, and electronics) sector and a struggling low-wage sector—linking the decline of the American...

The Dual Economy: Unpacking Personal Debt and National Liabilities This episode reviews Chapter Twelve of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin explores how debt operates at both the personal and national levels within the dual economy, underscoring the stark disparities between the financially secure FTE (finance, technology, and electronics) se...

Invisible Cracks: How Policy and Neglect Broke American Cities This episode reviews Chapter Eleven of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin traces the decline of American urban infrastructure and public services, particularly since the 1970s, linking it to the migration of affluent populations to the suburbs and the corresponding reduction in fed...

America’s Two-Tiered Education System: Is Public School a Broken Promise? This episode reviews Chapter Ten of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin examines the crisis in public education through the lens of the dual economy, showing how disparities between the FTE (full-time equivalent) sector and the low-wage sector are reflected in schools. Th...

Mass Incarceration: The Hidden Costs of America’s Dual Economy and Racial Divide This episode reviews Chapter Nine of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin examines how the dual economy model—divided between the full-time equivalent (FTE) sector and the low-wage sector—shapes government activities, particularly through the rise of mass incarcerat...

Democracy or Plutocracy? America at the Crossroads This episode reviews Chapter Eight of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin examines different forms of government—democratic, oligarchic, and autocratic—distinguishing them by who holds power. While the United States is often described as a democracy, Temin argues that its historical legacy of s...

Unseen Hands: How America’s Ultra-Rich Shape Policy and Power This episode reviews Chapter Seven of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin explores the disproportionate political influence of the extremely wealthy in the United States, focusing on the top 1 percent and even smaller, more affluent subsets. The chapter introduces the “Investment The...

Beyond the Median Voter: Unpacking America's Investment Theory of Politics This episode reviews Chapter Six of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin introduces America’s “triple split”—economic inequality, racial divisions, and gender disparities—and examines how these fractures shape politics and policy. The chapter critically assesses the Media...

Unpacking America's Persistent Inequalities This episode reviews Chapter Five of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin examines the historical and ongoing impact of “racecraft” and gender discrimination in the United States, beginning with the experiences of economist W. Arthur Lewis to introduce the concept of an ingrained American racial system...

The Broken Ladder: How Education Became a Debt Trap, Not a Path to Opportunity This episode explores the growing difficulty for individuals in the low-wage sector to move into the high-wage (FTE) sector through education. Rising tuition costs and shrinking public funding for higher education have left many students burdened with significant debt, which often hinders rather than facilitates upward...

The Unraveling American Dream: How Policy, Race, and Economics Shaped the Low-Wage Sector This episode reviews Chapter Three, “The Low-Wage Sector,” from American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin argues that the low-wage sector in the United States was not an inevitable byproduct of technological advancement but was deliberately created and expanded...

From Bretton Woods to Billionaires: How the 60s & 70s Rewrote America’s Economic Rules This episode examines the turbulent decades from the 1960s through the 1980s, when social upheaval and political realignment reshaped the American economy. It traces how the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War placed heavy strains on President Johnson’s administration, ultimately contributing to the co...

The Dual Economy: How the American Dream Got Divided (and What It Means for You) This episode reviews American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class, focusing on Chapter One, “The Dual Economy.” It introduces Temin’s adaptation of W. Arthur Lewis’s 1954 theory to explain the growing economic inequality in the United States. Temin argues that the American economy...

America's Vanishing Middle Class: How a "Dual Economy" Threatens National Unity This episode reviews American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s introduction to his book The Vanishing Middle Class. It explores the growing income inequality in the United States, arguing that the nation is dividing into rich and poor and shifting from a “one-humped” to a “two-humped camel” income distrib...

The Vanishing Middle Class: A Dual Economy This short debate starts our Temin Series. In this episode, we consider arguments presented by American economist and economic historian Peter Temin's book, The Vanishing  Middle Class. His book explores the concept of a dual economy in the United States, analyzing how it has led to a vanishing middle class and deepening inequality. It posits that America...

The provided text outlines the landmark Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the foundational principle of judicial review in the United States. While the Court found that William Marbury had a legal right to his judicial commission, it ultimately determined that it lacked the authority to grant a writ of mandamus to force its delivery. This conclusion was reached because the l...

In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton advocates for the establishment of an independent federal judiciary as a critical component of the proposed government. He argues that because the judicial branch lacks the power of the "sword" or the "purse," it is naturally the weakest department and requires permanent tenure for judges to resist pressure from other branches. This lifelong appointment dur...

In this episode, we break down a Supreme Court ruling on whether public schools can require elementary students to participate in instruction on gender and sexuality without parental notice or opt-out options. When a Maryland school district removed religious accommodations for LGBTQ+-inclusive storybooks, families from multiple faith traditions challenged the policy. The Court ruled in favor of t...

This Podcast explores the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023) and the deep constitutional divide it revealed over race-conscious college admissions. We examine the reasoning of the majority and concurring Justices, who held that race-based admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate...

The Multiplicity of Legal Orders This episode reviews Chapter Five of Kitty Calavita’s Law and Society, which explores the concept of legal pluralism—the coexistence of multiple legal systems and practices within the same place and time. The discussion highlights examples such as the overlapping layers of federal, state, and local laws in the United States, as well as the complexities of administr...

Is the Eighth Amendment Protection Violated If Prisoners Are Deprived of Basic Sustenance? Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy rules that if a prison deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, the courts have a responsibility to remedy the resulting violation of the Eighth Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia believes that a ruling that may result in the release of 40,...

Is It Unconstitutional for States to Imprison Undocumented Immigrants? Justice Anthony Kennedy argues that a recent state law making it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in Arizona impinges on the U.S. federal government's authority to regulate immigration. Justice Antonin Scalia argues that it is not unconstitutional for a state to supplement U.S. federal immigration law with its own, harsh...

The central question explored in this episode is whether states can constitutionally require physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, making abortion clinics comparable to ambulatory surgical centers. Is It Unconstitutional for a State to Require Physicians Who Perform Abortions to Have Admitting Privileges at a Nearby Hospital and for Abortion Clinics to H...

Are Blanket Prohibitions on Cross Burnings Unconstitutional? This episode explores the constitutionality of blanket prohibitions on cross burnings, specifically referencing the Supreme Court case Virginia v. Black