
Populism might not be what you think
22 September 2022 - 33 minsPopulism is often vilified - but it’s origin is far more noble than you might think - and we might all need a bit more populism moving forward! Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast.
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Why Are We All So Broke?
We’re earning more, spending more, and yet we feel worse off. This week, we explore why the vibes feel recessionary even as the data tells a different story. Ireland’s tax take is at a record high, €88 billion in total, with €25 billion from income tax, €20 billion from VAT, and €23 billion from corporation tax. Government spending has surged from €60 billion to €100 billion in just a couple of years. Disposable income grew by 5% last year, but inflation hit 7%. Wages are up, but prices have risen more. We dive into how this mismatch plays out in real life. While older homeowners have seen the value of their assets rise and their debt burden shrink, younger people are being creamed, dealing with high rents, high living costs, and little to no ownership. The economy is technically doing well, yet people feel squeezed. If we’re working more, consuming more, and the state is taking in more than ever, why do we all feel so broke? Maybe the problem isn’t economic, maybe the vibes are telling the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 mins
8 July Finished

Who Killed the Living City?
After travelling through Montreal, Bilbao, and Vilnius, cities alive with colour, sound, and soul, I returned home and felt the contrast sharply. Dublin, like many cities across the developed world, feels hollowed out. Despite booming economic growth and over €150 billion sitting idle in savings accounts, our capital is crumbling. Streets are lifeless, dereliction is everywhere, and policy seems paralysed. So what went wrong? This week, we explore how bad incentives, not bad people, kill cities. Drawing on historical revivals like Temple Bar, we propose bold 21st-century solutions: tax breaks to bring buildings back to life, amnesties to release hoarded property, and a new savings product that lets the public invest directly in urban renewal. If the private sector won’t build, let the public fund it. Then we turn to global markets, where Trump is gearing up to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell and slash interest rates. But he may learn the hard way: the bond market, not the White House, sets the tempo. If confidence cracks, long-term interest rates could skyrocket. Urban decay and global volatility are two sides of the same economic coin. Can we change course in time? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
39 mins
3 July Finished

Content, Culture & the Bottom Line: How Finance is Killing the Avant-Garde
Are we living through the death of innovation? We’re back in HQ asking a tough question: has culture stagnated, and if so, is economics to blame? We explore the twin juggernauts of our age: financialisation and tech. From Florence under the Medicis to Hollywood in 2023, we trace how once-risky bets on the new have been replaced by spreadsheets and streaming algorithms. In 2023, all of the top 10 highest-grossing global films were sequels, spin-offs, or remakes. Back in 2005, 40% of top films had original scripts; now it's less than 10%. Meanwhile, only 27% of all streamed music is new, and catalogue music made up 70% of US consumption by 2021. We ask: who owns culture now? What happens when Spotify, Marvel, and private equity become the A&R men of our era? And could the rise of AI, which looks backwards by design, make this even worse? Join us as we unravel how economics may be drowning out the avant-garde. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
31 mins
1 July Finished

Has the Balance of Global Power Just Shifted to Israel?
Has Israel just become the undisputed power in the Middle East? After a lightning-fast 12-day conflict, oil prices fell instead of spiking, Iran backed off with symbolic missile strikes (after giving the U.S. a heads-up), and Russia is suddenly too nostalgic about its expats in Tel Aviv to pick a side. We unpack how this war, short, sharp, and stunning, shifted the entire balance of power in the region. Why didn’t the Strait of Hormuz crisis materialise? Why are markets pricing in peace while Gaza burns? And what does this all mean for Iran’s regime, which now looks more cornered than combative? We also take a surprising detour through France, exploring how language is shaped by power, and why the poor speak more languages than the rich. Is this the start of a new Middle East? Or just the next chapter in a permanent struggle? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
32 mins
26 June Finished

The Dollar, the Ape & the End of an Empire
Live from a packed GAA hall at the Dalkey Book Festival, this episode tackles one of the wildest questions in economics: how did humans, flimsy, anxious apes, end up running the world, and why did we invent money to do it? We dig into the evolution of money as a collective hallucination hardwired into our psychology. Along the way, we unpack how 90% of dollars exist only digitally, how the pandemic rewired our sense of value, and why the dollar’s global dominance might be nearing its final act. From Mesopotamian beer tabs to the Fed’s modern firepower, we trace the story of money as a force that built empires and could just as easily unmake them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
40 mins
24 June Finished

Memoirs of an Arab Jew
In this powerful episode recorded at the Dalkey Book Festival, we sit down with Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, whose memoir The Memoirs of an Arab Jew weaves together the personal and political. Born in Baghdad and expelled to Israel, Shlaim dismantles the dominant Zionist narrative and shares a forgotten story: that of the Arab Jews, rooted in the Middle East for millennia, fluent in Arabic, and often alienated in the state built in their name. Shlaim explores British colonial meddling, the legacy of the Holocaust, and what he calls Israel’s transformation from a refuge into a settler-colonial project. He also offers explosive insights into Mossad’s alleged role in the exodus of Iraqi Jews. This is a conversation about historical amnesia, and why the trauma of the past can’t justify injustice in the present. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
49 mins
19 June Finished