Bidenomics: Embracing the Failure (Audio: Podcast)
Talk about embracing the suck. This week President Biden announced he is attempting the impossible by running on his economic accomplishments. But there’s a slight problem: The American people are very unhappy about the economy and rate the President very low on his handling of the economy. And while IPI President Tom Giovanetti begrudgingly gives Biden points for audacity, IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews goes through the statistics and the news ain’t good. Here’s a tip: Be alert to the lie that Biden came into office during a terrible economy. In fact, the economy was robustly recovering when Biden took office, and he poured trillions of stimulus on an already demand-constrained economy.
If You Want a President of Color, You'll Have to Vote Republican (Audio: Podcast)
IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews surveys the presidential contestants (thus far) and observes that, if you want a President of color, your only choice is Republican. And not only is the Democrat field exclusively white, it also skews geriatric. While the Democrat field is old, white and wealthy, the Republican field is younger, more ethnically diverse, and more economically representative of the American people. Funny, huh? With IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
Back to Basics Teaching and Embracing New Voting Methods (Audio: Interview)
Merrill Matthews joins KMED’s Bill Meyer talking about New York school’s return to phonics and the dilemma of “modern” voting methods.
Can Republicans Win in '24? (Audio: Interview)
Merrill Matthews joins WAVA's Don Kroah to discuss actions Republicans can take to win the 2024 election including the acceptance of early voting and mail in voting.
Thoughts and Experiences with Chat GPT and AI (Audio: Podcast)
As a think tank that follows tech policy closely, we’ve been aware of the issues and the debate around AI, but finally this week found time to try to use it as a tool, and the results were pretty jaw dropping. IPI President Tom Giovanetti shares anecdotes with IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews, and they discuss whether we should be excited, afraid, or some combination of both. And Tom has another chance to talk about permissionless innovation vs. the precautionary principle.
Republicans Should Be Willing to Vote by Any Means Necessary (Audio: Podcast)
IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews discusses his recent (6/21/23) piece in The Hill about how Republicans need to stop rejecting early voting, mail-in voting and other means of voting. Let’s make sure they are secure and aren’t open to fraud, but it’s counterproductive and self-defeating to boycott voting methods that are used by your opponents. Parties and candidates need every vote possible in order to win elections. With IPI President Tom Giovanetti.
The Perpetual-Emergency President (Audio: Interview)
On the The Rod Arquette Show, Merrill Matthes explains how President Biden, under the pressure of progressives, has become the perpetual-emergency president to circumvent Congress.
IPI Policy Basics: In Politics, Compromise Is a Virtue, Not a Vice (Audio: Podcast)
IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains at least part of the current dysfunction of Congress, and the dysfunction of the Republican Party, by explaining that while compromise may be a vice in religion, theology and ethics, compromise is the essence of democracy. Compromise is simply negotiation, and negotiation is necessary for self-government. Otherwise, we fall into the biggest concern of the Founders; namely, that a faction gains political power and then rules over their opponents. We see this play out when parties think they can only accomplish things when they control both Congress and the White House until the next midterm election. And we end by reading former Senator Phil Gramm’s recollection of how compromise was necessary for the Reagan agenda to become law and whip inflation, grow the economy, and win the Cold War.
Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right (Audio: Podcast)
Solo today, IPI President Tom Giovanetti talks through the Trump indictment for obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI, explains why this is different than the Biden and Pence document situations, and agrees that Hillary Clinton should also have been indicted. But two wrongs don’t make a right, and letting Trump flaunt the law just because Hillary did would set a terrible precedent and firmly establish a two-tiered justice system.
What's Going On with the Supreme Court? (Audio: Podcast)
Not a review of this term’s cases, but rather using today’s surprising Supreme Court decision on the Alabama districting case, IPI President Tom Giovanetti explains that it is oversimplistic to see the current court as a “6-3 conservative court.” Rather, there are several different judicial approaches and philosophies in the mix, which suggests something more like a 2-4-3 court. And IPI Resident Scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews reminds us that it’s the progressive justices, not the conservatives, who almost always vote as a predictable bloc. And maybe those who so vilified Supreme Court nominee Bret Kavanaugh should think again, since Kavanaugh seems to be less willing than most to be at the vanguard of a conservative agenda. And Tom reminds us of one of his favorite points, namely that the Supreme Court is NOT engaged in a “power grab,” but rather is actually refusing the temptation to make policy from bench and is insisting the Congress actually do its job.
Total Records: 995
