I have been listening to this podcast for a few years, and as someone who has always been interested in economics and economic policy as it pertains to the working class and to poverty, I have really enjoyed it!
However, I recently listened to the episode with Ingrid Robeyns. I hadn’t heard of her before, but she was totally speaking my language! Her policy suggestions regarding “Limitarianism” are right on, perhaps though with higher wealth and transformative asset limits than what she has suggested.
Nick wasn’t so on board with the idea of limiting wealth. Goldie asked Nick if he’d be willing to entertain the idea of limiting wealth if the ceiling was set at 1B, and he said NO! That single answer changed my opinion of the show completely.
Before that podcast, I might have given four or five stars. But I find the fact that Nick Hanauer feels like even 1B is not enough money absolutely reprehensible. Nobody needs that much money, it is an unfathomable amount of money that cannot even be spent in multiple lifetimes, even if you threw thousands of dollars in the trash every single day.
We don’t need more billionaires polluting the environment with whatever industry they have their greedy little fingers in. We don’t need more garbage merchandise getting manufactured that ultimately end up in landfills or oceans. We don’t need more data centers and bitcoin mining devouring our water resources and heating our planet.
Make the insanity stop.
Look, I find the idea of middle out economics very intriguing. But it has become entirely evident to me that Nick’s interest in economics equality is mostly performative, a way to seem like one of the good billionaires that cares about inequality and poverty, while simultaneously maintaining the status quo. Much like in the way that Nick and Goldie’s good buddy Anand Giridharadas writes about in his book Winners Take All.
Aside from the severe inequality extreme wealth creates economically for people, it has disastrous ENVIRONMENTAL consequences. Scientists recently have been sounding the alarm bells about climate change, and how we are rapidly approaching the point of no return. What is Nick Hanauer going to do with tens of billions of dollars if the earth and its inhabitants are dying from extreme hothouse conditions?
Sure, you can build yourself a solar powered luxurious impermeable mega shelter with all the latest technology, the best insulation and cooling system available, plus an indoor garden and decades worth of emergency rations. But good luck sleeping at night, after you watch regular humans and other creatures die all around you from your icy throne.
Also, put Goldie’s name in the title of the d*mn podcast. Five stars for Goldie.
