It’s Valentine’s Day, so we’re digging into the thing that’s at the heart of President Biden’s vision to reshape the American economy: industrial policy.
After the U.S. ghosted industrial policy decades ago, it’s become a hot topic again. Biden championed the Inflation Reduction Act, ballyhooed the CHIPS and Science Act and announced rules requiring federal infrastructure projects to use only American-made materials — all with the goal of spurring the country’s manufacturing industries. But, is Biden’s vision for the U.S. economy a perfect match?
On the show today: Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic and host of The Ringer’s “Plain English” podcast, makes us smart about the evolution of industrial policy in the U.S. and why Biden’s “Buy American” is a great political slogan, but not a perfect policy in practice.
In the News Fix, we’ll discuss the economic costs of romantic scams, Donald Trump’s first official challenger in the Republican presidential primary and unionization efforts at Tesla.
Later, we’ll hear from a listener on giving preloved items a second chance. And, a professional matchmaker tells us how to be smart about finding a partner.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
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- “Don’t ‘Buy American'” from The Atlantic
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- “Joe Biden’s Innovative Attempt to Reshape the American Economy” from The New Yorker
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- “Is Industrial Policy Making a Comeback?” from the Council on Foreign Relations
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- “A Tale of Two Industrial Policies” from Foreign Affairs
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- “A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems” from The Atlantic
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- “Romance scammers’ favorite lies exposed” from the Federal Trade Commision
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- “Nikki Haley announces 2024 White House run” from Politico
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- “Tesla Workers in Buffalo Begin Union Drive” from The New York Times
What’s something you’ve been wrong about lately? We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question! Leave us a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART, and your submission may be featured in a future episode.