The Realignment: M+S on Big Technology Podcast, End of the Year Series, and More...
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Saagar and I just wrapped another recording with friend of the show Alex Kantrowitz’s Big Technology podcast. It should be out next week. We’ll resume our discussion episodes next week to take us into the midterm elections.
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End of the Year Series/December Show Plans
Recording daily episodes during the first month of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the most useful and informative period of my time hosting the show. As I’ve started to show plan for the end of the year, I’m having a hard time wrapping all of the year’s themes into our typical number of episodes.
Therefore, I’d like to do another round of daily episodes in December, except focused on topics beyond Ukraine: nuclear power, the new space race, social media, China after the Party Congress, etc…If you have any suggestions, reply to this email or comment below.
As always, I appreciate your input!
This Week’s Episodes
305 | Nick Santhanam: The Return of Manufacturing and a Better, Faster, Stronger America
304 | Shadi Hamid: The Problem of Democracy
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It looks likely that the GOP is going to ride a red wave in to control of Congress and a clear repudiation of the Democratic approach to the problems of the country.
But that begs a question that no one seems to be asking: what can we expect from the GOP to address Americans simmering economic anger.
It seems to me that House investigations on Fauci or Hunter Biden will have the same effect as the 1/6 committee. They will feel like a distraction in the face of real problems affecting millions of people.
Conversely, I have really heard any real economic plans to address inflation/uncertainty.
I would like to hear someone talk about what ti expect from a GOP Congress that is limited by having to get past the presidential veto.
I've enjoyed the focus on manufacturing and re -shoring for several episodes. One related issue I'd like to see you dig into with some guests is whether our education system can produce the kinds of skilled technology professionals in the quantities needed. That's partially a question of whether there are limits to how many people can be trained into those jobs and what it means if they can't. There's a lot of research I see glimpses of around the edges of the mainstream discussion suggesting some elements of student learning may be fixed, or even partially genetic. What would it mean for industrial policy if that was true? Any discussion of the idea (which I'm not sure I agree with, to be clear) seems verboten. But it would challenge the unstated assumption they job shortages automatically benefit Americans.
I also found Marshall a little glib in his discussion of the trucker shortage with Mr. Santhanam. As I understand it, much of that shortage has little to do with automation or labor supply and is mostly driven by a business model that relies on low pay and high churn among drivers.