Welcome to Texas ProRata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Sponsored by What It Takes, Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, the New York Times bestselling book by Blackstone Stephen Schwartzman.

I'm Jennifer Mack. On today's show, the world's first infodemic and how tech hurdles could trip up this year's

census.

But first, a focus on fracking.

So we are just days away from Super Tuesday in which millions of Americans will vote for who

they want to be the Democrat to take on President Trump in November.

And conventional wisdom right now is that Bernie Sanders will solidify his frontrunner status.

But one issue that hasn't really come up during any of the democratic debates is fracking,

the controversial oil and gas extraction technique that Sanders has pledged to end if elected.

And that matters, particularly in swing states like Pennsylvania, where fracking has helped lead to a jobs boom

and nationwide, where it's helped reduce America's economic and security reliance on foreign

oil.

So Sanders' policy is a full fracking ban on both public and private lands, arguing that

the practice is inherently unsafe, particularly to drinking supplies.

He doesn't want to do this via executive order on day one, like Elizabeth Warren has proposed,

but it is still high up on his environmental to-do list.

So three questions.

First, how will this play politically?

There have been some local moratoriums on fracking in places like Colorado and Pennsylvania,

so political plus, but again, the jobs, political

minus. Number two, how will this play economically? If fracking were banned, even gradually,

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