The New Liberal Podcast

As the United States continues to rapidly vaccinate and nears the end of the COVID pandemic, Jeremiah shares some personal reflections on a year of living through a global pandemic. How did the pandemic change us? What were the medical, social, economic, medical and emotional tolls from the last year?  What did we learn about our government and ourselves?  Should a year of pandemic living make us...

How much do social media personalities matter in the broader political culture?  How do they influence the public?  If they do matter, what does it mean for the future?  Twitch streamer and 2021 Neoliberal Shill Bracket Champion Bastiat joins the podcast to discuss how politics is discussed on social media.  We talk about how social media influences young people's politics, the relationship betwee...

Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) joined the Neoliberal Project for a Twitch livestream to discuss his plan to address climate change. He and Neoliberal Project director Colin Mortimer discussed carbon taxes, carbon capture technology, and regulations for 'super-pollutants' as ways to address climate change.  They also discussed housing policy, and take viewer questions from from the stream's live...

Can charter schools help improve America's education system?  Tressa Pankovits and Curtis Valentine from the Reinventing America's Schools Project at PPI join the show to discuss charter schools and school choice.  What's the value in having local autonomy and experimentation in schools? How do you guard against potential downsides to charter schools? Ultimately, how can charter schools help impro...

The economic benefits of immigration seem clear, but what if immigrants could harm our institutions?  CATO's Alex Nowrasteh joins the show to discuss his new book 'Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions'.  We talk about the fears that immigrants could lead to more terrorism, less freedom, and more corruption. Is there any evidence for those fears? Do immigrants actu...

Transit expert Alon Levy joins the show to talk about why building public transportation is so difficult and expensive in so many parts of the world. Why does New York lead the world in how expensive their subways are? Why is it difficult for certain countries to learn best practices from other countries?  Which countries get it right, and what practices do they use that allow them to build more e...

How did the New Democrats help pass the COVID relief bill, and how do they plan to maintain the Democratic House majority in 2022? Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10), a leader of the New Democrat Coalition, joins the show to discuss the New Dems and more. We discuss whether bipartisanship is still possible in today's Congress, why the GOP is so focused on obscure culture war fights, and how histor...

Has the way that Americans think about rights caused our politics to become more polarized and destructive? Columbia Law Professor and Facebook Oversight Board co-chair Jamal Greene joins the podcast to discuss his new book, "How Rights Went Wrong".  Should we consider rights to be absolutes?  Which rights count as rights, and what happens when one right bumps against another? We discuss how the A...

A Patreon-exclusive episode, now unlocked!  Why are so many Americans dying in the opioid crisis?  RAND Corporation researcher Bryce Pardo joins the podcast to discuss the history of the opioid crisis and fentanyl.  We discuss why fentanyl is so much more dangerous than previous opioids, how the transition from other drugs to fentanyl took place, and what sort of policy can be implemented to slow...

This week's episode is a joint episode of the Neoliberal Podcast and the PPI Podcast!  Guest host Colin Mortimer sits down with Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read to talk about the ways Oregon is using its treasury to help Oregonians.  They discuss the ins and outs of what a State Treasurer does, how to use the state's investment power to help citizens, and how behavioral 'nudge' programs can incr...

How and why is China imprisoning millions of Uighurs in their western province of Xinjiang? BuzzFeed News journalists Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing join the podcast to talk about how their reporting uncovered a vast network of secret internment camps in Xinjiang.  We discuss how they found the camps despite coverups from the CCP, what life is like for Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in...

Why exactly does the US spend so much more on health care than any other rich country?  PPI's Arielle Kane joins the podcast to break down all the reasons that the US system costs so much.  We discuss how the insurance system leads to layers of bureaucracy, the many ways in which health care markets are subject to market failures, and much more as we unravel the US health care industry. Check out...

Patreon-only episode, now public by popular demand!  Which of the Child Allowance plans would most help families?  Matt Bruenig of the People's Policy Project and Sam Hammond of the Niskanen Center join the show to discuss both Mitt Romney's and the Democrat's child benefit plans.  We discuss the benefits of universal plans vs targeted benefits, which programs and tax breaks might be ended to pay...

What exactly do modern neoliberals believe?  Colin Mortimer, director of the Center for New Liberalism, joins the podcast to discuss his recent Substack article titled "What Neoliberals Believe".  We discuss the core values in neoliberalism, institutions, the social welfare state, markets, immigration, trade, climate change, housing, and much more. To read Colin's piece, head to: https://exponents...

Why was the COVID vaccine rollout so slow to begin with?  What's being done to speed it up?  Vox senior correspondent German Lopez joins the podcast to talk about what's going on with vaccine distribution in the United States.  Did the Trump administration even have a plan? Is the Biden administration's target ambitious enough?  What strategies are the fastest rollouts using to vaccinate people qu...

Jeremiah shares the best books he read in 2020, part two of a two-part episode.  Part two contains the show's top six 2020 book recommendations, for books that address some of society's biggest questions: Why are we polarized? Wow do people respond to pandemics? Why do good people have bad political beliefs? How can we defend liberalism from authoritarianism? How did societies become rich?  Also i...

Jeremiah shares the best books he read in 2020, part one of a two-part episode.  Non-fiction works on economics, politics, psychology, biology, society and internet culture are discussed, as well as some of Jeremiah's favorite recent science fiction novels. Make sure to check out part two to hear every recommendation.  You can find part two here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-neoliber...

How should the the government regulate sex work? Should sex work be legal, or decriminalized? What are the biggest issues facing women in this industry? Sex work policy journalist and advocate Cathy Reisenwitz joins the podcast to talk about how the state deals with the 'oldest profession', and what changes she believes society should make. We discuss current laws, how police and other institution...

Jeremiah discusses the events of January 6th in an emergency episode recorded late on the night of the 6th. This episode is less polished and more raw than usual. It discusses the armed invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters, and their attempt to subvert democracy, on the night that those events took place.  It also discusses the larger context of the Republican party's factions, behavior, an...

Can the Republican party be saved? Why do so many Americans find Trump an acceptable candidate? What are the Lincoln Project's plans in a post-Trump world?  Reed Galen, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, joins the show to discuss all this and more as we try to figure out how to best fight Trumpism in the future. Further Reading: "The Fight Against Trumpism is only Beginning" https://www.washington...

How did America's housing crisis get so bad, and what can be done about it?  Housing policy expert Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute joins the show to discuss.  We chat about how exclusionary zoning makes housing shortages worse, why overly-long approval processes might be an even bigger factor than zoning, and how the political dynamics within different neighborhoods of big cities make it...

On today's episode, Colin Mortimer, the Director of the Center for New Liberalism, is joined by two special guests. First is Adam Hartke, the co-owner of a music venue in Wichita, Kansas, and the co-chair of the advocacy committee at the National Independent Venues Association. We talk about what it has been like to be a music venue owner during this pandemic, suffering the brunt of the economic f...

Jeremiah is joined by the co-hosts of The Grifter Report, Connor Fletcher and Dylan Meisner, to answer key questions in the wake of Donald Trump's loss. Who's out there taking advantage of the 'stolen election' narrative? Which Trump-world stooge is making the most outlandish, insane claims? Who's swindling the most money for doomed 'election integrity' fundraisers? And what on earth is "Blue MAGA...

What are the current deficiencies in the US social safety net?  What's the difference between welfare and social insurance?  How can we modernize a run-down set of bureaucracies and systems?  Sam Hammond of the Niskanen Center joins the show to discuss his ideas about why these systems function the way they do, and how we can best fix them. Part 2 coming soon, exclusively for our Patreon subscribe...

Should Democrats be encouraged or dismayed by their 2020 election performance? Who's correct in the Democratic Party fight between AOC and the moderate Dems?  Polling and election analyst David Shor joins the podcast to talk about the 2020 election, including why the polls missed in the Midwest, the most important demographic shifts we've seen, and how Democrats need to message their policies to w...