The Politics Guys

This week, Mike and Jay start off with a look at the Senate tax bill, which passed by a vote of 51-49, with 'no' votes from every Democrat and one Republican (Tennessee's Bob Corker). Jay is a lot more optimistic about the economic growth potential of the cuts than Mike is, though they both agree that corporate tax reform is necessary. They also agree that there will be a House-Senate compromise l...

Mike talks with Daniel Golden, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Daniel Golden, author of Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities (http://amzn.to/2n34ACy) They discuss how widespread spying is (a lot more widespread than Mike thought, that's for sure), if schools that are recruiting more international students are more vulnerable, how Trump a...

Mike and Jay start off this week with a discussion of net neutrality in the wake of the FCC's move to revoke Obama-era rules that prevent internet service providers from privileging content from certain providers over others. Jay argues that this is a welcome backing off of government regulation that is not only more fair to ISPs but should result in greater investment and better outcomes for cons...

Mike and Jay open by discussing what, for Mike, was crushing news - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Rob Cordray announced that he would be stepping down. Mike points out that since its creation as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, the semi-independent CFPB has been a strong advocate for consumers. He laments that this this will largely cease under Trump-appointed...

This week's show opens with Mike and Jay taking a look at the current state of the Republican tax reform bills in both the House and the Senate. Mike points out - once again - that it's a horrible idea to ram a huge, complex tax bill through only weeks after it was introduced, and that the measure is essentially a big tax cut for businesses and the rich that will be paid for by future generations...

Mike talks with Dan Flynn, Editor in Chief of Food Safety News (http://www.foodsafetynews.com/) about the Food Safety Modernization Act, whether FDA inspections are tough enough, if regulations are unfair to smaller farms, and the state of food safety regulation in the Trump administration. Food Safety News on Twitter | https://twitter.com/foodsafetynews We hope you'll check out the sponsor of tod...

This week Trey and Jay start by taking on the Senate's proposed tax plan. It differs from its House counterpart. Trey worries about the deficit and Jay focuses on growth. Next they turn to the major Democratic wins in Virginia, New Jersey, and Maine. Both hosts agree that they are not necessarily representative of the country as a whole, but they do point to the Trump problem all Republicans now f...

For the one-year anniversary of President Trump's election, we brought back Mike's friend Joe, who Mike talked to in the 'A Trump Supporter Speaks' episode in October of 2016. (http://politicsguys.com/a-trump-supporter-speaks/) At the time, Mike thought it would be good to hear from an actual Trump supporter (as opposed to an 'anyone buy Hillary' Trump voter) to get a sense of how Donald Trump con...

In this week's extended episode Trey and Mike start off by discussing the GOP Tax Plan. They begin by analyzing the content of the plan. As to the policy itself, Trey is optimistic, but worried about the $1.5 trillion debt increase. Mike sees both positive and negative aspects to the bill, but overall sees the plan as problematic. Then it's time to talk Mueller's indictments. Both Trey and Mike se...

Mike talks with Carter Dougherty, Communications Director of Americans for Financial Reform. They cover a lot of ground in their conversation, including: - Congress overturning the CFPB's arbitration rule - the Equifax security breach - the 2008 financial crisis & Dodd-Frank - government bailouts - prosecutors' unwillingness to go after financial firms - Wall Street's influence in Washington A...

This week, Mike and Jay start by talking about President Trump's declaration of the opioid crisis as a public health emergency. Mike wonders about the timing of the announcement, which came out a week before the president's opioid commission is scheduled to release its final report, and hopes that significant federal funding will soon follow. Jay thinks federal action may help at the margin, but i...

Mike talks with Luis Perez-Breva, a successful serial innovator and director of the Innovation Teams Program at MIT. Dr. Perez-Breva holds degrees in Chemical Engineering, Physics, Business, and Artificial Intelligence. He's an expert in the process of technology innovation, an entrepreneur, and the the author of Innovating: A Doer’s Manifesto for Starting from a Hunch, Prototyping Problems, Scali...

This week, Mike and Jay start by looking at the bipartisan Senate proposal to stabilize Obamacare markets in the wake of President Trump halting cost-sharing subsidies to insurers, as well as the clever way state insurance regulators are dealing with this major change to the Affordable Care Act. After that, it's a primer on budget resolutions: when they started, what they were intended for, and wh...

To begin the show Trey asks about new information from the presidential election. Specifically, Facebook offered to work with both presidential campaigns but only the Trump campaign agreed to it. Then Trey and Jay respond to listener questions. The first question is about the likelihood of a new WW3 or Civil War. Both agree the likelihood is low, but discuss why it might seem more likely than it i...

Trey and Jay start this week’s show by discussing Trump’s unilateral action to change the Affordable Health Care Act’s cost-sharing provisions. They talk about the actual changes and the policy implications of the action. This leads to a discussion of the demands Trump sent Congress if they want a deal on Dreamers. After that it’s a look at Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse allegations and the impli...

This week, Mike and Jay respond to lister questions and comments: if the Ninth Circuit is really the most overturned appellate court (it depends on how you measure), whether we think market-based reforms can lower health care costs (sometimes), if there's ever a case to be made for affirmative action and political correctness (Mike is much more emphatically 'yes' on this than Jay is, as you might...

Mike and Jay start this week's show by discussing the state of gun policy in the United States in the wake of the tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas. They get into how the United States is different from other rich countries on the issue, whether liberals are being honest in their arguments, the motives of the NRA, what legislative proposals might be effective, if the left really wants to take away...

Mike talks to historian Nancy Koehn, who holds the James E. Robison chair of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Dr. Koehn's research focuses on effective leadership and how leaders, past and present, craft lives of purpose, worth, and impact. She's the author of multiple books, including Ernest Shackleton: Exploring Leadership, The Story of American Business: From the Pages of the...

Mike and Jay start off this jam-packed episode with a look at the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in the wake of a travel scandal. Mike points out that Price joins an unusually large contingent of former Trump staffers for such a young administration, but both Mike and Jay agree that President Trump did the right thing in forcing Price's resignation. Next, it's a look...

Mike talks to economist Glenn Hubbard. Dr. Hubbard is dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. In addition to writing more than 100 scholarly articles in economics and finance, Dr. Hubbard is the author of three popular textbooks, as well as co-author of The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Anc...

This week Trey explains how hurricane Irma had him evacuate the state of Florida and offer thanks to all the listeners who inquired about his family and home. Then Trey and Jay turn to politics and the week's biggest story: Trump's United Nations speech. Trey, despite himself, was a bit impressed, but Trey and Jay disagree over the bigger implications of the speech. Most pointedly, they debate whe...

Jay talks to Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus. Jay and Rep. Jordan discuss the debt ceiling, tax reform, the Obama administration's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and more. As a lead-in to the interview, Mike and Jay talk about the history of the Freedom Caucus. After the interview they discuss Rep. Jordan's policy positions and recommend...

This week, the Guys start off by talking about the potential deal President Trump reached with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that involves allowing Dreamers to stay in the country legally in exchange for enhanced border security. Mike is cautiously optimistic about the proposal while Jay believes that Schumer and Pelosi may be far more interested in a 2018 campaign issue than a...

This week, Mike and Jay respond to a listener who feels Mike was being snide and slanderous to Jay in a recent show, and then move on to an in-depth discussion of political correctness and identity politics. For their discussion, they focus on these four articles: A linguist explains how the far-right hijacked political correctness | http://bit.ly/2jfeL58 The Liberal Crackup | http://on.wsj.com/2j...

his week, Mike and Jay start out by discussing President Trump's decision to discontinue President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They both agree that it's probably a good policy, but that it's also probably unconstitutional, and as such President Trump did the right thing by discontinuing it and urging Congress to enshrine it into law. Next it's a look at President Trumps...