Matt and Liz discuss a frequent and bizarre argument made on behalf of certain kinds of politicians who do bad things -- that they can't help it due to structural oppression that forces them to be brutal. Then they turn to the exhausting and stupid controversy of the moment: the MAGA Kid and the ...
2019-01-23 02:46:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe gang (mostly Matt, apologies in advance) talk about Elizabeth Warren's book The Two-Income Trap. As with most things, the book errs in not recognizing the superiority of the welfare state in solving the problems identified.
2019-01-14 05:22:29 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the delay on this episode. Our daughter started preschool (discussed in episode), creating some issues for us in getting the recording done. We talk generally about our parenting experiences and then turn towards a discussion of AOC's appearance on 60 minutes and the Discourse that foll...
2019-01-12 03:47:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe crew commemorate the anniversary of Josh TPM's porn tweet, talk about liberal paranoia ramping up around the election, and Sawhill's modest proposal to reduce poverty by giving poor woman IUDs, which the NYT gave new life this month.
2018-12-31 14:54:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Liz and Matt are joined by Antti and Joona of Parecon Finland.
2018-12-23 21:12:06 +0000 UTC View Post
In this rare solo episode, Matt outlines his whole vision of what's the chief problem with capitalism and how best to tackle it. He starts with a discussion of capital's share and wealth ownership and then turns towards his neo-Hilferdingist vision of exploiting finance capital to socialize the m...
2018-12-21 23:45:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe zoo crew talks Biden, Democratic Primary generally, Jordan Peterson, the Race Science guy, and "regressive" Climate politics.
2018-12-17 05:18:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe crew return to their old bantering form in this episode. No guests. Just hot topics and chatter.
2018-12-10 13:12:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Liz and Matt have a wide-ranging discussion with citizen advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader. We ask him about his views on recent trends in the Democratic party and play a game: Nader 2000 Platform Item or Fresh New Democratic Idea.
Nader has a new humor book out called How The...
2018-12-10 12:59:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe crew sits down with Tom Frank (Listen Liberal, What's the Matter with Kansas?) and have a sprawling conversation primarily about fascism, the subject of Frank's next book.
2018-12-03 13:41:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe gang discuss Matt's cancellation over his blog post about student debt forgiveness in the first half of the episode.
Will Butler of Arcade Fire comes on in the second half of the program to discuss the suburban gothic, Betomania including The Beto Tweet, and his experiences with Can...
2018-11-27 13:34:11 +0000 UTC View PostIn their thanksgiving special, Liz and Matt eschew hot topics in favor of a full episode on the pitfalls of consumer markets. The jumping off point for the discussion is the recent writing about the Decline of Sex, but your wacky hosts think these articles miss the fact that the Decline of Sex is no...
2018-11-22 16:43:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe wacky crew is at it again. Come for the theme song. Stay for the top notch discussion of politics and culture.
2018-11-16 21:22:55 +0000 UTC View PostLiz and Matt discuss hot topics, Lauren Greenfield's Generation Wealth, and the underrated policy instrument of self-regulation via nationalization threats.
Along with the bonus episode, The Bruenigs produced a record 1 hour and 20 min of content this week. This extra productivity does not get rec...
2018-11-09 00:12:43 +0000 UTC View PostLiz and Matt discuss the midterm results, the early push to run Beto O'Rourke for president, and a new electoral system Matt has cooked up that does not require people to vote.
Patrons only!
2018-11-07 05:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostLiz and Matt discuss Halloween happenings, the DC elections (poorly), the strange socialist posturing in climate policy, a philosophical tension in competition, among other things.
The gas company (aka the Russians) interrupt the podcast midway through by jackhammering the street outside our dwell...
2018-11-02 15:41:08 +0000 UTC View PostLiz and Matt discuss a recent poll showing Democrats have more confidence in Amazon than any major US institution, the opening shots in the pundit effort to distinguish Bernie from Warren, geoengineering, some the Catholic sex scandal, and the CEA's socialism report.
Bernie v. Warren pi...
2018-10-27 19:54:06 +0000 UTC View Post
We discuss the hot topic of the Warren DNA debacle, our 5 year old run in with Gavin McInnes, the Kamala Harris LIFT credit, the superiority of the child allowance over other welfare state programs, Matt's political platform he calls the Family Fun Pack, and then finally Christmas decorations and ou...
2018-10-20 00:15:32 +0000 UTC View PostWe are taking submissions for fake ads to read on the podcast. We did this a bit before and are now bringing it back for patrons in particular.
Here is an example of an ad we read before:
The Hydro Quebec Appreciation Initiative would like to draw your attention, fair listener, to t... 2018-10-14 17:56:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Liz and Matt go through the usual hot topics, discuss an inane survey about "political correctness," and talk about how Liz got in trouble with the internet for saying alcohol consumption contributes to a lot of social problems.
2015 Minnesota State High School All Hockey Hair Team: 2018-10-13 01:16:35 +0000 UTC View Post