Happy Hour Econ

Episodi

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  Slavery, Capitalism, and the Historical Record 28.09.2026 31min

  A recent CNN debate put a pointed question before a national audience. Is capitalism bound up with racism and slavery? Slavery predates writing, and it predates capitalism by thousands of years, yet a growing body of scholarship argues that the modern American economy rests on the forced labor of enslaved people. In this week's Happy Hour Econ, Lou and Phil test those claims against the historical record and revisit what the defenders of slavery themselves had to say about free markets.
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  Sanctions Impossible 21.09.2026 19min

  Nothing says we're doing something quite like a fresh round of economic sanctions. They're cheap, they're popular, and they let politicians look tough without adding much pain at home for Americans. But do they actually work? From Iran to Cuba, with oil tankers quietly dodging the rules in between, Lou and Phil look at who really ends up picking up the tab when a nation gets cut off. Pour something strong and press play on this episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  Oh, Canada 14.09.2026 23min

  Somewhere between tariffs, resurrected 1930s legislation, and a rebranded Great Lake, the United States decided to start a trade war with its most polite neighbor. Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act—yes, that Smoot-Hawley—has been dusted off from the legislative graveyard to justify slapping Canada with tariffs nobody can quite explain the reasoning behind. Lou and Phil sort through the legal mess, the retaliatory liquor store bans, and a history lesson on the one war America actually lost, all while asking who really foots the bill when two friendly countries start slapping tariffs on each other. Pour yourself a drink and settle in for an episode that's equal parts economics lecture and international incident.
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  Dolly Parton: An American Success Story 07.09.2026 29min

  Dolly Parton was so beloved that her passing briefly brought the nation together. She was a country music icon and savvy entrepreneur who built a genuine business empire from a childhood spent in a one-room Appalachian cabin. Lou and Phil look at how she held onto her publishing rights when so many artists signed them away, turned a struggling stretch of Tennessee into a tourism powerhouse with Dollywood, and quietly gave away hundreds of millions of books through her Imagination Library. It's a rags-to-riches story that somehow undersells just how much she actually built. Pour one out for Dolly and tune in for Lou and Phil's full toast.
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  Not In My Cloud (Or Backyard) 31.08.2026 30min

  Is it "dā-ta center" or "dăt-a center"? Lou and Phil can't agree, but they're united on one thing: these giant server farms have become the most contested real estate in America. Between grid strain, water bills, and surveillance worries, there's plenty to be suspicious of, and just as many overblown claims borrowed straight from old fights over Bitcoin and net neutrality. Settle into your favorite seat at the bar for the full conversation on this week’s Happy Hour Econ with Lou and Phil.
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  No Edu-crats Left Behind 24.08.2026 29min

  More money, more administrators, worse outcomes—that's the trend line in American education, and Lou and Phil want to know how everyone keeps missing it. They talk about school choice as an actual accountability mechanism, why a college diploma isn't automatically worth its debt, and why the guy in charge of the budget has zero incentive to leave any of it unspent. Lou and Phil deliver the full lecture on this week's episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  Speakeasy Economics 17.08.2026 24min

  Free speech and free markets run on the same fuel: information. When the government steps in to control what can and can't be said, it's not just a free speech problem—it's an economic one, stifling the open exchange that lets markets and democracy both function. Lou and Phil explore the long, messy history of speech suppression in America, from Alexander Hamilton's grudge against newspaper editors, to the use of social media, to a certain retired public health official whose private diary tells a very different story than his public press briefings. Pour a drink and tune in to this episode of Happy Hour Econ to hear Lou and Phil sort out who's really doing the talking, and who's been quietly doing the silencing.
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  Jones Act, Dead Weight 10.08.2026 29min

  The Jones Act has been quietly taxing Americans for over a century, and it's finally getting some attention now that it's been suspended since March. Lou and Phil trace this WWI-era shipping law from its origins as a favor to a handful of politically connected shipbuilders to its very costly present-day legacy in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and beyond. From there they turn to tariffs, where Phil makes his case that tariffs are little more than government-sanctioned favoritism, quietly shifting costs onto consumers to protect a narrow set of special interests, complete with a Supreme Court showdown and a "trade deficit emergency" that raises more questions than answers. Grab a drink and settle in for an economic history lesson with Lou and Phil on this episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  You'll Own Nothing (And Like It) 03.08.2026 25min

  "You will own nothing and be happy." That was one politician's prediction for 2030, floated in an essay for the World Economic Forum in 2016. Between Amazon Prime deciding which movies you get to keep and every song, show, and subscription living somewhere in a cloud you don't control, we might already be there. Lou and Phil trace it all back to Thomas Jefferson's edit of John Locke's theory of life, liberty, and property, and ask what happens to the pursuit of happiness once everything you own is really just a license somebody else can pull. Grab a drink you still technically own and join Lou and Phil for this week's episode of Happy Hour Econ to find out whether owning nothing is progress, or just renting with better branding.
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  Taco 'Bout a Recall 27.07.2026 26min

  Something's rotten in the produce aisle. Or at least, something is sending half the country's stomachs into open revolt. As a cyclosporiasis outbreak takes down Taco Bell's lettuce supply (and a lot of taco fans along with it), it's turning into more than just a recall story. Lou and Phil trace the whole thing back to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the FDA's surprisingly cynical origin story, and why market incentives might police food safety better than any government regulator. Grab a seat—maybe skip the salad—for this episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  Cool Hand Lou (and Phil) 13.07.2026 25min

  It's the peak of summer, and while half the country is cranking the AC, the mayor of New York is asking his constituents to embrace the heat for the good of the grid. Meanwhile, across the pond, entire cities are stuck sweating it out... in restaurants, hotels, even hospitals... because installing an air conditioner has become a bureaucratic nightmare. Is staying cool really the enemy of climate progress, or just an easy target for policymakers looking for control? Join Lou and Phil on this week's Happy Hour Econ as they get into why keeping cool might be the most radical thing you do this summer.
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  World Cup Runneth Over 06.07.2026 17min

  The World Cup has landed on American soil (with a little help from Canada and Mexico), and suddenly the whole world is discovering what U.S. locals take for granted—free refills, blasting AC, and the sheer, unbottled majesty of a Buc-ee's. But amid all the cultural exchange and ranch dressing diplomacy, there's a bigger question lurking behind the confetti: is hosting the world's biggest sporting event actually a good financial decision, or just an expensive party with really good branding? Lou and Phil break down the economics of subsidies, spectacle, and soft power on this week's Happy Hour Econ. Just don't ask them to explain the offside rule.
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  Who Wants to Be a Trillionaire? 29.06.2026 26min

  Elon Musk is officially the world's first trillionaire. Cue the outrage. But Lou and Phil aren't exactly reaching for the pitchforks. That’s because when you actually look at where that wealth comes from, the story gets a lot more complicated than the internet would have you believe. From Starlink satellites spooking people in the night sky to SpaceX cafeteria workers sitting on surprise fortunes, there's more going on here than a greedy villain origin story. Join Lou and Phil as they unpack what a trillion dollars actually means, and whether the people most upset about it have done the math on the almost $40 trillion the government owes.
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  No Taxation Without Representation (We Mean It) 22.06.2026 25min

  Happy Birthday, America! What better way to celebrate 250 years than by arguing about taxes? Turns out the Founders had some thoughts on the matter. Lou and Phil dig into the surprisingly economic origins of the American Revolution, and why the tariff debate happening right now looks a lot more familiar than anyone in D.C. wants to admit. Also, was the Revolution actually just class warfare against billionaires? AOC thinks so. Phil has receipts.
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  In Fed We Trust (Sort Of) 15.06.2026 33min

  The Federal Reserve: everyone's heard of it, nobody really knows what it does, and somehow it controls your mortgage rate. Lou and Phil crack open the black box of America's central bank—what it's supposed to do, and its, uh, mixed track record of actually doing it. Also: is there a world where it just… doesn't exist?
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  Lights, Camera, No Thanks 08.06.2026 23min

  Hollywood has a problem. Star Wars just posted its worst domestic opening in the Disney era, the cost of an afternoon or night out at the multiplex keeps climbing, and somewhere in a boardroom, nobody seems to be connecting the dots. Lou and Phil grab a seat to break down why the movie industry keeps flooding the market with slop, ignoring the sovereign consumer, and acting surprised when nobody shows up.
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  That’ll Cost You 01.06.2026 24min

  Vacations? In this economy? Rising inflation, spikes in fuel prices, airline closures (RIP Spirit Airlines), and a whole host of other factors have people feeling the budget crunch as schools let out and summer looms. But we all need a break sometimes, so we just put the plane tickets—or admission fees or tanks of gas or nice lunches—on the credit card. Convenient, sure, but at what cost? Join comedian Lou Perez and economist Phil Magness as they chat about debt, summertime, and you on this week’s episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  Tax the Rich! 25.05.2026 29min

  We already tax the rich. Like, a lot. The top 1% pays over 40% of their income in federal taxes while shouldering more than 80% of the federal government's revenue. So why does everyone keep yelling "tax the rich" and "pay your fair share" as though it's not already happening? Lou and Phil follow the money and the rhetoric to uncover who's really behind the push for wealth taxes, what they're actually after, and why the same policies that failed spectacularly in Europe are now being repackaged for American cities and states. Spoiler: billionaires have moving trucks, and they're not afraid to use them.
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  California, You Used To Be Cool 18.05.2026 34min

  Used to be, California was a land of freedom and opportunity. A place where you could go to escape the oppressive regulatory regimes of the East. Today, it’s a different story. “Petty” crimes get ignored while burdensome regulations are strictly enforced. The money from high taxes gets spent on projects that never materialize. Join Lou and Phil as they chat about the absolute state of California on this week’s episode of Happy Hour Econ.
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  Housing Histrionics 11.05.2026 21min

  “The rent is too darn high.” We hear a lot about a “housing affordability crisis” in the U.S. And to be fair, in some places around the country, particularly certain urban areas, the cost to rent or buy a place to live is very steep. But not everywhere. So what’s really going on here? Is it a supply-and-demand issue? Landlords and sellers just being greedy? NIMBYs run amok? Well, it’s complicated. But Lou and Phil are on the case.