HeyJaredOptimist Economy
Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards and co-host editor Robin Rauzi talk about the fundamentals of the U.S. economy and how to build a better future one problem and solution at a time.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 1, 2026
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- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
The U.S. is in the Hole. Will We Stop Digging? (opens the original)
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(Originally aired June 10, 2025) The national debt is $36 trillion. That could be a panic-inducing big number. So maybe it will help to understand how we ran up that debt. We've blown 37% of it on tax cuts, with precious little to show for that. But 28% went to stabilize the economy during two major crises (in ‘08-’09 and during the COVID pandemic), which is when you do want the federal government to pull out its credit card. Good news is we don’t have to get the debt to zero. We just need to ge
Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising: The Invitation (Ep. 1) (opens the original)
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Optimist Economy is on break this month, but we know that optimist listeners are interested in tales of economic history, issues of inequality and movements for change. So we thought some of you might enjoy "Occupy!" a six-part narrative series about Occupy Wall Street, the 2011 protest village that lasted nearly two months and turned a spotlight on systemic economic inequality in the U.S. --- EPISODE 1: An Invitation In 2011, a handful of skeptical New Yorkers answer a call to Occupy Wall Stree
Stop Donating Your Vacation Days to Your Boss (opens the original)
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Nearly 90% of private-sector workers get paid vacation days from their job, but a Pew survey found 46% leave at least some of it on the table. Government survey data also show that the share of workers who are on vacation in any given week has fall by about half between 1980 and 2022. Blame thin staffing, guilt culture, and “PTO bundles” that push people to ration days between vacation days and sick leave. The fix exists elsewhere: the European Union, for instance, guarantees 20 paid days a year
The Government is Already Paying for Your Health Insurance, Buddy (opens the original)
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About 18% of U.S. GDP every year gets spent on health care. Half of that, 9%, is coming from the government, which is about the whole cost of other countries’ public health programs. In other words, for what the U.S. spends on Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA benefits, and the tax write-off for employer-sponsored plans, we could have free basic health insurance for everyone . This is why the co-authors of the 2023 book “We’ve Got You Covered” describe the current health insurance system as a tota
Mr. Justin Time Sets a Cruel Work Schedule (opens the original)
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Just-in-time scheduling lets an algorithm decide when — and whether — millions of people work. Surveys find 40% of shift workers (mostly in retail and food service) don’t know their schedule a week in advance. They can also get sent home mid-shift or asked to be on call, unpaid. Studies show that more than 50% of hourly workers’ income swings up to 30% month-to-month, making it hard to budget for rent, qualify for benefits, or plan. A landmark study done at The Gap a decade ago proved stable sch
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