The Boomcession: Booming on Paper. Brutal in Real Life. (with Matt Stoller)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

News, Business, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when the economic data says one thing, but people’s lives say another? This week, Nick and Goldy talk to Matt Stoller about what he calls a “Boomcession”—the disconnect between headline economic indicators and how the economy actually feels for most people. They go straight at the disconnect: why the numbers say everything’s fine… and people say otherwise. If the economy is supposed to work for people, why do so many people feel like it isn’t? Matt Stoller is the research director at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. He writes the Substack newsletter BIG, focused on monopoly power, corporate concentration, and political economy. Social Media: @matthewstoller.bsky.social @matthewstoller Further reading: The Boomcession: Why Americans Hate What Looks Like an Economic Boom Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy Organized Money Podcast 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:14.8	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.
0:23.2	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.
0:44.2	How you doing, Nick?
0:45.7	You feeling good about the economy?
0:48.1	Things going well for you, or are you struggling?
0:51.3	Things are fine.
0:52.7	Things are fine.
0:58.3	Yeah? It's your consumer's sentiment is up.
1:06.0	I wouldn't say it's up. It's not down. Uh-huh. Are you, are you, are you, I'm joking, of course, because you're pretty much totally insulated from the economy at this one in your life. Correct. Right. It's not
1:12.6	going to change your standard of living one way or another. And, you know, somewhat, thanks to you
1:18.7	Nick, I'm relatively insulated, certainly much more insulated than I used to be, especially now
1:26.7	that I have a heat pump and an electric car, and my
1:31.6	electricity is provided by municipally owned socialist Seattle City Light, which is not out there
1:39.0	trying to ream every cent out of us, and instead is providing some of the cheapest greenest energy in the
1:46.8	country. So I'm not feeling the oil shock these days. But you can't say the same thing,
1:54.3	apparently, about a majority of Americans out there. Yeah. And one of the really interesting
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Civic Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Civic Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.