The majority of U.S. workers aren’t compensated anywhere near the value that they actually create for society, while the few who make the most money often work the least and contribute very little. Decades of neoliberal thinking has twisted one of the foundational American beliefs—the idea that hard work eventually reaps great rewards—into a celebration of g ... Show More
Jul 28
The Good Life Economy (with Elizabeth Wilkins)
What is the economy for — GDP, corporate profits, or people? This week, Nick and Goldy talk with Elizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, about Roosevelt’s new Good Life Agenda and why so many old assumptions about markets, government, and growth are sudde ... Show More
41m 55s
Jul 14
Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics: Austerity Politics (with Clara Mattei)
This week, we’re continuing our archive miniseries, Myths That Built Trickle-Down Economics, with the myth that austerity is responsible economic policy. We’re revisiting this conversation now because the austerity playbook is still very much alive. The Trump administration and D ... Show More
48m 51s
Sep 2021
How employers steal from workers — and get away with it | Rebecca Galemba
When you work, you expect to be paid for it. Except, for millions of Americans employed across a range of industries like restaurants and construction, that's not always the case. Anthropologist Rebecca Galemba explores the multibillion-dollar problem of wage theft and how employ ... Show More
10m 17s
Feb 2022
Elizabeth Anderson, "Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) (Princeton UP, 2019)
One in four American workers says their workplace is a "dictatorship." Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are-private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives. Many employers minutely regulate workers' spe ... Show More
50m 1s
Nov 2021
The Case Against Loving Your Job
<p>The compulsion to be happy at work “is always a demand for emotional work from the worker,” <a href="https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/sarah-jaffe/work-wont-love-you-back/9781568589398/" target="_blank">writes Sarah Jaffe</a>. “Work, after all, has no feelings. Capitalism c ... Show More
1h 22m
Oct 2024
The case for good jobs — and why they're good for business too | Zeynep Ton
Many of the jobs that keep the world running — like cleaning bathrooms, picking up trash, caring for the elderly — pay so poorly that workers can barely make ends meet. Nonprofit leader Zeynep Ton is intent on changing that, showing why everyone wins when companies pay their peop ... Show More
17m 14s