Episode

1/8 The “Fantasy Economy” w/ Neil Kraus

January 8, 2024

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Neil Kraus, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, to discuss his recent book The Fantasy Economy: Neoliberalism, Inequality, and the Education Reform Movement. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s continuing strikes in Lebanon, the growing death count in Gaza, Congress averting a government shutdown and funding wars, Medicare, Wayne LaPierre’s reign over the NRA, and another brewing Boebert scandal, before parsing through the new footage from January 6 (now three years out), and the evolution of the GOP’s attempt to spin it. Neil Kraus then joins, diving right into the fantasy of the neoliberal consensus that has reshaped the economy, and our education system, in the interests of corporations and the wealthy, exploring, in particular, how it has manufactured an antagonistic relationship between the public and our education system. Expanding on this, Professor Kraus tackles the myths that the political class has perpetrated against education, pinning the blame on the system for everything from employment and wages to failing industry, before stepping back to tackle the failures of these myths, and how they obscure the role of general economic conditions. After assessing the neoliberal-libertarian coalition in the attack on public and higher education, Neil, Sam, and Emma discuss whether we are at the end of the neoliberal consensus, and what it will take to swing the political fight over education.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma discuss Donald Trump’s theories on magnets, Obamacare, and the Civil War – each growing in concern – watch Mehdi Hasan’s final sign-off on NBC, and get another British masterclass on the weaponization of white feminism. Brett Weinstein and Dave Rubin discuss the trauma of being blocked by Elon Musk, Cory from Branton breaks Sam’s heart, and Rocko in the UK expands on the implications of insurrection, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Neil’s book here: https://tupress.temple.edu/books/the-fantasy-economy

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