Pitchfork Economics Podcast

24/04/2025

$80 trillion—the biggest upward transfer of wealth in modern history didn’t just “happen.”

It was the result of deliberate economic choices—deregulation, union busting, tax cuts for the rich, and globalization without guardrails—made by people who told you the market knows best.
https://buff.ly/ie8BR39

23/04/2025

The Director of ICE, Todd Lyons, recently told attendees of the 2025 Border Security Expo that immigration enforcement needs to run “like a business.” That’s a familiar refrain from the folks who seem to despise government the most—and yet always want to be in charge of it. But Lyons took it to a new level when he said he wanted the deportation process to work like Amazon. In his exact words: “Prime, but with human beings.”

Even if we pretend for a second that it’s normal to compare people to cardboard boxes, the whole idea just doesn’t make sense. Amazon delivers from warehouses to people’s homes and businesses—Lyons wants to do the reverse: sn**ch people from homes and businesses and ship them off to warehouse-style detention centers. So right off the bat, the metaphor’s broken. And here’s another thing: Amazon isn’t even that great at returns. Half the time, they just tell you to keep the stuff because it’s not worth the trouble.

And then there’s the workforce. Amazon Prime already involves thousands of human beings working in famously brutal conditions. So, when Lyons dreams of a “Prime-like” deportation system, what exactly is he trying to replicate? The relentless quotas? The tracking numbers? Or the part where people literally collapse on the job?

The guy leading our deportation machine isn’t just morally vacant—he’s bad at metaphors, bad at logistics, and somehow still thinks cruelty equals efficiency.

Make it make sense!

Todd Lyons said he wanted US immigration agency to be ‘like a business’ in its deportation process

22/04/2025

What does “abundance” actually mean—and who is it really for?

In this episode, Goldy and Paul welcome back economic policy expert Mike Konczal to unpack the big new idea dominating political discourse: abundance. They dive into the buzz around Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book “Abundance,” and Konczal’s sharp critique of its deregulatory leanings, missed opportunities, and neoliberal undertones. From housing policy to green energy to the myth that deregulation alone can fix America’s problems, this episode challenges the idea that more is always better, and asks what it would really take to build a future that’s abundant for everyone—not just the rich.

🎧Listen at the following link or wherever you get your podcasts: https://bit.ly/MKonczal

22/04/2025

Broken government is a breeding ground for right-wing populism. When the public sees government failing to solve urgent problems, it erodes trust and allows authoritarian figures to step in with empty promises. If we’re serious about strengthening democracy, we need institutions that work.

20/04/2025

You might not get this from the news coverage lately, but presidential press conferences and social media posts don’t actually impose tariffs or create tariff revenues. In the real world, the taxes actually have to be assessed and collected through systems deployed at ports of entry by U.S. Customs. And it turns out that system isn't working very well. In fact, it just went down last week. Completely. For ten hours.

Now, here’s the incredible part: the system failures can likely be attributed to Elon Musk’s DOGE effort, which arbitrarily eliminated thousands of positions in government, including IT positions. So, in essence, the Trump Administration's high-priority push to dismantle government infrastructure through DOGE is directly sabotaging its own high-priority tariff plans. Apparently, nobody at the White House has realized that dismantling the government makes it much harder to actually govern.

Make it make sense!

A Customs notice reported a glitch in a system shippers use to exempt freight from tariffs. Logistics experts say it is a bad sign for the supply chain.

20/04/2025

Politicians on the left get punished when government fails—because they're the ones who believe in it. The right wants government to fail.

But if Democrats want people to trust public institutions again, they've got to use power effectively, not be paralyzed by fear of past mistakes.

19/04/2025

Trump says he wants to bring back U.S. manufacturing. Perhaps he didn't notice that the U.S. was already in the middle of a manufacturing boom until his chaotic trade threats started spooking investors and freezing manufacturing projects nationwide.

Get the full breakdown from former Biden economic adviser Alex Jacquez in his recent interview with the American Prospect.

A Q&A with Biden industrial-policy official Alex Jacquez on the right way to boost domestic production in critical sectors

19/04/2025

➡️ How do we build big things again—without silencing or steamrolling people in the process?

18/04/2025

The gaming industry's first direct-join union is here!

🎮 United Videogame Workers, backed by , empowers hundreds of video game workers across the U.S. and Canada to organize for better healthcare, fair hiring, and an end to exploitative workplace practices.

The United Videogame Workers union is open to any gaming worker in the US and Canada and will focus on industry-wide job loss.

18/04/2025

Progressives once believed the path to progress ran through robust public institutions. The Tennessee Valley Authority was a response to market failure, as were school systems, highways, and power grids. But over time, the tools of progress became instruments of exclusion and exploitation, and the backlash created layers of process that now stall even the most essential public projects.
➡️ https://bit.ly/Dunkelman

17/04/2025

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009. The Raise the Wage Act of 2025 proposes a gradual increase to $17 by 2030.

This bill would eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth workers, all while injecting $70 billion annually into the pockets of low-wage workers.

EPI’s analysis shows that raising the federal minimum wage to $17 by 2030 would impact 22,247,000 workers across the country, or 15% of the U.S. workforce. The increases would provide an additional $70 billion annually in wages for the country’s lowest-paid workers, with the average affected wor...

17/04/2025

On this week's pod, we explore the two competing forces at the heart of progressivism—one that wants to build big, and one that wants to check power.

Check out this clip where Marc Dunkelman explains, then listen to the full episode at the following link or wherever you get your podcasts: https://bit.ly/Dunkelman

16/04/2025

You pay your taxes.

Oil companies? Congressional Republicans want them to pay less than the minimum.
Literally. They’re trying to exempt Big Oil from the corporate minimum tax in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Because nothing says “freedom,” like rigging the rules for one of the most profitable industries in America.

“I think it is as shameful a thing for me to imagine as is possible now.”

15/04/2025

Why does it feel like we can’t build anything anymore?

In this week's episode, Nick and Goldy talk with author Mark Dunkelman about his new book Why Nothing Works, which examines how well-intentioned progressive reforms created a “vetocracy” that makes major public projects nearly impossible. From Seattle’s decades-long waterfront rebuild to the dysfunction of Penn Station, they explore the messy trade-offs between accountability and action—and ask what it would take to make progress possible again.

🎧Listen at the following link or wherever you get your podcasts: https://bit.ly/Dunkelman

14/04/2025

Amazon is suing to declare the Consumer Product Safety Commission unconstitutional.
You know—the agency that recalls dangerous cribs, toxic toys, and exploding e-scooters.

It’s not enough to have achieved the status of “profitable trillion-dollar company”—they want more profits, even if they have to bulldoze the guardrails keeping toddlers alive.

Today on TAP: Amazon sues to abolish the one federal agency empowered to identify and recall highly flammable little-kid PJs.

13/04/2025

Trickle-downers love to claim that cutting capital gains taxes grows the economy.

But the truth? Capital gains taxes are mostly paid by the top 1%—and cutting them just grows inequality.

Raising capital gains taxes = more investment in real productivity, schools, infrastructure, and renewable energy.
Cutting them = handouts for billionaires.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, increasing capital gains tax rates could modestly improve economic growth by reducing national debt and making investment cheaper.

12/04/2025

Trump: “Workers should have freedom.”

Also, Trump: Strips 750,000+ federal workers of the right to negotiate fair pay and conditions.

When billionaires talk about freedom, they mean freedom to exploit you.

A union representing 150,000 U.S. government employees filed suit to block President Trump from ending collective bargaining.