Warts And All The Boiling Frog podcast

32:40

This episode examines the political debates around public health and public health policy. It is a perfect case study to illustrate so many of the principles covered in earlier podcasts, such as capitalism, externalities, risk, paranoia, and the dumbing down of America.

The Boiling Frog

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Trade Wart 29:02

23 weeks ago29:02

29:02

Welcome to The Boiling Frog reboot! The first 26 episodes were examinations of general topics, such as understanding capitalism, how social psychology belies the principles of capitalism, and how this all shapes political dialog. The new podcasts will look at specific policies of the new administration and use those as case studies to illustrate the real-life impact of those general concepts. We start with tariffs, a word that Donald Trump loves and is already deploying across multiple sectors and trading partners. The principles we examine go back to two earlier podcasts – our very first one, Laissez Frog , which was about capitalism in general, and our 21st episode, Greenbacks , which was about taxes.…

The Boiling Frog

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Jimmy Hoppa 37:02

2 years ago37:02

37:02

This podcast is all about labor unions – why they exist, their history in the U.S., a brief comparison with unions in other countries, the pros and cons of unions, and the larger political implications of their existence. This is a controversial topic in U.S. politics, with many voters (and most elected officials) falling squarely into the “pro-union” or “anti-union” camp. But as with most issues, the truth is much more nuanced and complicated. Labor unions in the U.S. formed – and largely still exist – because of failures in market capitalism. As discussed in our very first podcast , capitalism is based on a number of principles to ensure resources are most efficiently allocated, but in real life those principles are rarely met. This is particularly pronounced in the labor market, which is fraught with friction and often monopsony employers.…

The Boiling Frog

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Jump for Joy 29:16

2 years ago29:16

29:16

Building off the prior podcast on learning from the past, this discussion is all about success and failure. We all know the common wisdom that we all learn more from failure than from success, but of course we don’t strive to fail all of the time!

The Boiling Frog

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The Toad Not Taken 33:40

3 years ago33:40

33:40

We all spend a lot of time thinking about the past, often when we're trying to make a decision in the present. Sometimes that reflection ends up complicating our decision-making. Why is that? And if we want to avoid repeating past mistakes while also not preventing ourselves from taking new paths, what's the proper way to use our knowledge of the past?…

The Boiling Frog

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Polliwog Polymath 34:03

3 years ago34:03

34:03

What makes someone an expert? And how is expertise different from intelligence? This podcast is all about expertise, how we acquire it, how do people view others’ expertise, and the notion of expertise transference from one domain to another. We touch on a number of psychological phenomena, including the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability at a task overestimate that ability.…

The Boiling Frog

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It’s Not Easy Paying Green 32:41

3 years ago32:41

32:41

This podcast is the sequel to Greenbacks, where we discussed why we have taxes, the different types of taxes, and the pros and cons of each type. In this podcast, we delve into the evolution of the tax system and look at the debates surrounding the level of tax rates, specifically some of the false choices presented in political discussions. And we delve deeply into one of the most famous “tax revolts” in U.S. history, California’s Proposition 13.…

The Boiling Frog

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Greenbacks 28:24

3 years ago28:24

28:24

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin This podcast is the first in a two-part series on taxes. This episode is meant to be an overview of why we have taxes, the landscape of both taxing agencies and taxable agencies, as well as the different types of taxes. (It is recommended that listeners start with The Boiling Frog’s very first podcast on capitalism before listening to this one).…

The Boiling Frog

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Hops and Dreams 28:10

3 years ago28:10

28:10

For the tenth episode, your favorite pond dwellers decided to take a break from the normal, big-picture, topic-based discussions and instead shared their personal pet peeves, including both important as well as some silly issues. This twentieth episode is also a diversion from the normal format, but your amphibious friends decided to do the “opposite” of pet peeves – in this case talk about reasons to be hopeful about the future. This was certainly a challenging discussion as previous podcast discussions could lead all of us to be very pessimistic about the fate of American democracy and our planet.…

The Boiling Frog

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Toad to the White House 39:40

3 years ago39:40

39:40

This episode is a deep dive into the foundational requirement of a democracy – having elections and voting. Despite the founding (and often touted) principles of American democracy, it is shockingly inconsistent how we implement it. All U.S. citizens do not have an equal voice, the result of structural inequities in the system (e.g., the U.S. Senate), the leveraging of power to maintain power (e.g. Gerrymandering), the influence of money in primarily privately-funded elections, and a stubborn reliance on 18th and 19th century tools to solve 21st century problems.…

The Boiling Frog

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Waste, Frog and Abuse 35:53

3 years ago35:53

35:53

It’s a fairly common trope – and often an overused campaign line – that government is “wasteful.” But what does it mean to be “wasteful” (or “efficient” for that matter), and is it true that governments aren’t good stewards of our money? As you can imagine, the answer isn’t as straightforward as it may appear. And if there’s one thing we at the Boiling Frog love to do, it’s dive into things that aren’t straightforward! So have a listen to our latest podcast, Waste, Frog and Abuse!…

The Boiling Frog

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Leap of Faith 38:50

3 years ago38:50

38:50

The intersection of religion and politics, particularly in the U.S., has presented a series of issues and challenges. Starting with a very brief overview of the origin and history of religion, and how it has impacted human societies, we then dive into how religion and politics interact in the U.S. We explore that interaction in depth by focusing on Roe v. Wade and how Donald Trump was able to forge alliances with many fundamentalist Christian churches despite not living the kind of life those churches encourage their adherents to live. Given the importance and value of religion to so many people, what can we do to both accentuate the benefits and minimize or manage the risks it poses, particularly in the political sphere?…

The Boiling Frog

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Frogs and Prayers 34:30

3 years ago34:30

34:30

In our current political climate, it seems like both policymakers and ordinary citizens are prone to use a label for something that sounds intelligent or interesting on the surface, but often masks a lack of substance or critical thinking. This matters more than you might think! If you'd like to know why, check out the latest installment from your amphibious friends at The Boiling Frog.…

The Boiling Frog

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A Frog by Any Other Name 40:53

3 years ago40:53

40:53

It seems like every public facility – whether it be a building, bridge, airport, school, or park – is named after someone. Naming public things is so common, so accepted as a practice, that we don’t even think about why we do it, let alone debate whether we should or how we should do it. But is it as simple and straightforward a thing to do as we all seem to think? Or are there consequences which should be considered? In this podcast Seth and Mark debate the pros and cons of naming.…

The Boiling Frog

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Croak and Dagger 25:42

3 years ago25:42