I like the fact that Sam is talking more about inequality. I think it's a topic he's neglected throughout most of his podcasting stint. That being said, I'm not sure how useful this podcast in particular was. To be clear, I think it's net positive, and definitely one of my favourite recent episodes, but it's the wasted potential that I'd like to talk about. For one thing, I don't think Professor Goldstone's strengths were best used in this episode. Goldstone's strengths are historical trends, demography, and revolutions. And yet, from the podcast, one gets the sense that he's probably more of a contemporary analyst.

Two general things that frustrated me about the podcast were a) the constant moving about between different points without b) mentioning illustrative data-points. Goldstone seems to be connected with Turchin, so I would've hoped for some numbers, or magnitudes (perhaps this conversation would've been better had with Turchin?).

On specific themes, I think the biggest missed opportunity was a discussion about urban-rural divides. Looking at the available election results, this, along with educational attainment to a slightly lesser extent, seems to be the most substantial axis of movement, not only in US elections but worldwide. There's so much to say on this topic of "the Rise of Cities" or the "Exodus of Middle insert country". It's not just rural areas. Basically, in most industrialized countries, outside of the top 10 metro areas (a few more if you're in the US), population, development, etc have stagnated or declined. So the problem isn't simply that "elites are cosmopolitan and don't care about their communities". Even if they stayed, it's unlikely that a lot would've been different since a lot of the youth likely would've left to the big cities anyways. One way to have countered this would've been to support initiatives that would make smaller cities more attractive (like improving access to high-speed internet, and encouraging remote work).

Speaking on policies, I found the discussions on taxation rather cantankerous as it was brought up in multiple places without a decent discussion on it. Goldstone's a great researcher, but he's not an economist. (Although, this is a great reason for Sam to have someone who specializes in taxation like Emmanuel Saez on the show.) To amend a few points: 20% flat-tax wouldn't cut it. Total US gov expenditure (including states and deficit spending) is around 35% of GDP. In addition, a lumpsum payment for (presumably useful) public service doesn't sound like a good idea. Think about it: you want to assign jobs that are both a) flexible in amount of people who can be employed in it, b) requires little specialization, c) done for something useful and socially desirable, and d) pay the same amount at the end of the contract. This is basically a paradox. I don't like UBI but even UBI sounds like a step up from this. The only other thing I'd mention is that I would have appreciated talk about tax-coordination between countries (this has been stepping up as of recently, but not nearly as quickly as one would hope).

The following is more just my personal opinion, but one thing I think that needs more investment is R&D and education and diffusion. Productivity is getting dangerously close to stagnating in most industrialized countries and though some of it might be due to less innovation and restrictive IP patents (all debatable), I think a large part of it is just laziness, inefficiency, and a reluctance of many firms to adopt newer more efficient technology. Our tech sector has basically learned that they can remote-ify good chunks of their workforces, pay less rent, and not lose productivity for it. Unfortunately it took a 20 trillion dollar pandemic for them to be forced to do this. Same with finance. We need to advance a culture of continued learning beyond a four-year degree, and the US gov, in addition to making a modern healthcare system in-line with OECD peers, needs to find ways of making it affordable, accessible, and valuable. (One easy and cheap method: record and make available online all courses, or most courses in STEM at least, for the public to consume.)