LIVE FROM DC: The Magic Wand Question — Policy Pitches for Working People

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

News, Business, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you could order a presidential administration to do one specific thing to improve the lives of working people — what would it be? At Democracy Journal’s recent conference in Washington, DC, Nick and Goldy heard some of the country’s leading economic thinkers take their best shot at that magic-wand question: one idea, three minutes, no BS. The result is a rapid-fire lineup of bold proposals — from fixing Social Security and raising wages to reclaiming time, strengthening unions, and rethinking what “affordability” really means. This week, we’re sharing some of our favorites with you. This episode is a quick policy lightning round packed with big ideas, sharp arguments, and plenty to discuss. Elizabeth Garlow is a Senior Fellow at New America focused on economic policy and the future of work, with research centered on time, caregiving, and policies that improve everyday economic security. Jim Kessler is the Executive Vice President for Policy at Third Way, where he works on economic reforms aimed at expanding wealth-building opportunities and retirement security for working families. Thea Lee is a visiting fellow at American University and a longtime labor economist specializing in worker rights, trade policy, and labor standards in global supply chains. Heidi Shierholtz is president of the Economic Policy Institute, where she focuses on wage growth, labor markets, and policies that strengthen workers’ bargaining power and reduce inequality. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	The rising inequality and growing political instability that we see today are the direct result of decades of bad economic theory.
0:10.6	The last five decades of trickle-down economics haven't worked.
0:14.7	But what's the alternative?
0:16.3	Middle-out economics is the answer.
0:18.6	Because the middle class is the source of growth, not its consequence.
0:23.1	That's right.
0:28.7	This is pitchfork economics with Nick Hanauer, a podcast about how to build the economy from the middle out.
0:36.9	Welcome to the show.
0:42.6	Hey, Pitchfork listeners, Goldie here. A couple weeks ago, Nick and I attended a conference in
0:48.8	D.C. in which our friends at Democracy Journal packed some of our nation's leading progressive thinkers into a room.
0:56.1	And one of the more interesting sessions was a series of three-minute speeches from a dozen or so
1:02.0	attendees answering the question, if you could order a presidential administration to do one
1:08.7	specific thing to improve the lives of working people, what would it be?
1:14.4	That's what we here on the pod used to call the benevolent dictator question. Before that,
1:20.5	manlevelin Dick and the White House gave all types of taters a bad name. Now we call it the magic
1:26.8	wand question. And in the remainder of this episode,
1:30.3	we're going to present some of our favorite answers. It's like a poo-poo platter of many
1:35.6	TED Talks designed to please the palette of economic policy wanks like you. But before I give up
1:42.2	the mic, I'd like to offer a little policy appetizer of my own.
1:46.8	For if I could order a presidential administration to do just one specific thing to improve
1:52.7	the lives of working people, well, I would radically reform the tax code to eliminate all
1:59.8	personal income tax deductions. And I mean all of them,
	...

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