The Capitalisn't Of The U.S. COVID Response, With Bethany McLean

Capitalisn't

University of Chicago Podcast Network

Stigler Center, Chicago Booth, Socialism, Antitrust, University Of Chicago Podcast Network, Growth, 087667, Policy, Monopoly, Professors, Distortion, Research, Competition, Capitalisnt, Inequality, Promarket, Politics, Policymaking, Special Interest, Economics, Efficiency, Regulations, Chicago, Business, Markets, University Of Chicago, Kate Waldock, Capitalism, Friction, Bethany Mclean, Government, Macroeconomics, News, Education, Waldock, Georgetown, Microeconomics, Luigi Zingales, Zingales, Finance, Ucpn

4.5 • 584 Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In her brand new book, "The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind," Bethany and her co-author Joe Nocera argue that the COVID-19 pandemic was not simply a natural disaster but also a man-made one. Based on rigorous research and compelling storytelling, Bethany, who is renowned for her incisive reporting, reveals uncomfortable truths that have emerged from the pandemic about capitalism, inequality, and corporate power. In this one-on-one conversation with Luigi, she dissects the policies, decisions, and systemic structures that exacerbated the pandemic's fallout for the most vulnerable in society, shedding light on who benefited and who was left to fend for themselves.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Bethany McLean.
0:03.8	Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed's a good idea?
0:09.2	And I'm Luigi Zengalis.
0:10.8	We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.
0:16.3	And this is Capital Isn't, a podcast about what is working in capitalism.
0:20.1	First of all, tell me, is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed?
0:24.6	And most importantly, what isn't?
0:26.7	We ought to do better by the people that get left behind. I don't think we should have
0:30.5	killed the capital system in the process.
0:33.3	Today's episode is very special because we're going to discuss a new book by Bethany and Joe
0:39.0	Nossera about the COVID pandemic and what is revealing about America.
0:44.5	Though the format will be a bit different, essentially I will ask Bethany a bunch of questions
0:48.6	and at the end we see whether we can arrive to a common view.
0:52.6	Starting with the beautiful, bold title of the book,
0:56.2	The Big Fail, What the Pandemic Reveal about Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind.
1:03.3	Now, even if you don't read the book, you probably guess that who is left behind are the poor.
1:08.6	But even after reading the book, I have to say, I have some
1:11.2	doubt on who is failing here? Is it Trump, the government, the capitalist system, democracy,
1:17.7	the experts, all of the above? Bethany, who fails here?
1:22.1	My overall view is that it's the failure of leaders to set the right rules and the failure
1:26.9	of leaders to lead, mainly the failure of leaders to set the right rules and the failure of leaders to lead,
1:28.1	mainly the failure of government. They hid behind epidemiologists rather than stepping forward and saying
	...

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