Season 2 · Episode 47

Are Rich People Better Than You? Why Everything We Think We Know About Good Economics Might Be Backward, With Nick Hanauer

Reaganomics, the prosperity gospel, and the pedestalization of the ultra-rich.

The Money with Katie Show · Morning Brew

November 16, 20221h 21m

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Show Notes

It turns out Americans have been asking the wrong question: It's not, “What’s the difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots,’” but rather…“How did those in the 0.1% end up having it all?”

To paraphrase my guest, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer (https://nickhanauer.com/), “How do [rich people like me] manage to grab an ever-increasing piece of the pie? Is it because rich people are smarter than we were 30 years ago? Is it that we’re working harder than we once did? Are we taller? Better-looking? Sadly, no. It all comes down to one thing: economics.”

My thesis? Capitalism is the economic system that creates wealth, and good economic policy is what ensures that all that wealth doesn’t accrue to a very small group of people.

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Transcripts can be found at https://www.podpage.com/money-with-katie-show/.

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Mentioned in the Episode

Nick Hanaeur's TED Talk "The Dirty Secret of Capitalism": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th3KE_H27bs
Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson's The Winner-Take-All Economy: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class: https://politicalscience.yale.edu/publications/winner-take-all-politics-how-washington-made-rich-richer-and-turned-its-back-middle
Jared Bernstein & Karen Kornbluh's paper “Running Faster to Stay in Place: The Growth of Family Work Hours and Incomes": https://www.upi.com/Business_News/2004/07/20/Workers-put-in-more-hours-just-to-keep-up/79691090369058/
Reaganomics, FDR, & deregulation: https://origins.osu.edu/history-news/time-end-deregulation?language_content_entity=en
"Reaganomics Killed America's Middle Class" from Salon: https://www.salon.com/2014/04/19/reaganomics_killed_americas_middle_class_partner/
Marginal tax rates in 2022: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets
CEO pay 300x the average worker: https://aflcio.org/paywatch
Reagan quotes via the Reagan Foundation: https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/reagan-quotes-speeches
"The Myth of the Welfare Queen" from The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/article/154404/myth-welfare-queen
The Commodity Futures Modernization Act & the 2008 financial crisis: https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/723/
The 2000-2001 California electricity crisis: https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/content/pubs/report/R_103CWR.pdf
"Voodoo economics": https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/voodooeconomics.asp
US GDP & tax revenue in the 1980s: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDP
Wealth inequality & GDP growth from OECD: https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/inequality-hurts-economic-growth.htm
Federal debt under Reagan: https://mises.org/library/sad-legacy-ronald-reagan-0
Revolve's Gestalt University: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/resolves-gestalt-university/id1463123745?i=1000510150469
RAND Corporation on wealth transfers: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-1.html
"The Prosperity Gospel, Explained" from Vox: https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/1/15951874/prosperity-gospel-explained-why-joel-osteen-believes-prayer-can-make-you-rich-trump
"Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles" from Vice: https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7amyn/amazon-denies-workers-pee-in-bottles-here-are-the-pee-bottles
Nick Hanauer in The New Republic, "Biden's Plan to Tax Rich People Like Me is the Best Way to Grow the Economy": https://newrepublic.com/article/163852/tax-rich-people-grow-economy