Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Benjamin Shestakofsky, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss his recent book Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on presidential polling, the Harris, Trump and RFK campaigns, the DOJ v. Google II, IRS funding, the GOP’s government shutdown, Israel’s slaughter of its own citizens on October 7, the murder of Aysenur Eygi, and the end of the “return the hostages” pretense for Israel, before listening in to Fox’s suggestions for Trump ahead of tomorrow night’s debate. Professor Benjamin Shestakofsky then joins, diving right into the rise of Venture Capitalism out of late 1970s/early ‘80s reforms that shifted economic and corporate power to financiers and investors, such as the opening of pensions to riskier assets and dropping capital gains taxation, pushing businesses to put a much greater emphasis on stock prices and the promise of immediate growth instead of production or sustainability. Next, Professor Shestakofsky tackles his time working within and researching the world of venture capital, giving some practical examples of the risky and unsustainable mentality that drives the industry, stepping back to walk through some of the extreme examples of the exploitation it relies on, including obscuring the failed promises of their technologies by relying en masse on low-wage human labor – be it in the Philippines or Las Vegas. Expanding on this, Benjamin walks Sam and Emma through the impact the VC revolution has had on undermining the quality of services and helping to spur the “enshittification” of the internet, before wrapping up with some alternatives to this Silicon Valley mentality and the policies that can be used to incentivize that change.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch Trump flounder in the face of more legitimate sexual assault allegations and unpack his absurd statements on gender-affirming surgery… in schools, and his platforming (alongside much of the media) of the ridiculous Venezuelan gang story out of Colorado. They also discuss the progression of the Harris campaign and the state of polling ahead of the first presidential debate, and watch Dave Rubin, noted beneficiary of millions in Russian money, struggle with the concepts of taxation, wealth, and equality, plus, your IMs!

Follow Ben on Twitter here: https://x.com/bshestakofsky

Check out Ben’s book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/behind-the-startup/paper

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