Unjerked Podcast

Unjerked E38 Welfare Part 2

0:32 flood insurance
3:04 dollar figures (2) (3) (4)
5:45 eligibility tapering
8:23 process complexity
9:41 crime reduction
10:23 health
10:35 elderly services
11:30 keynesian economics
14:06 birth rates (2) (3)
19:29 economic growth?
19:49 labor mobility
20:41 migration?
22:49 fraud
23:49 gaps: gig worker healthcare options
25:14 admin blast
25:30 negative income tax & inefficiencies
28:23 social security reform
29:03 eligibility by work background
29:40 supply subsidies
30:03 Internet comments

Unjerked E37 Welfare Part 1

Unjerked E36 Taxes Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about taxes in the United States. Why do we have them? What are the different types of taxes? What are the best tax policies? This is part 2 of 2 episodes.
We discuss the tax rate of different income quintiles, both before and after transfer payments. We then discuss the net fiscal contribution each US state makes to the federal government. Next, we go over the tax rates at which government revenue is maximized, as well as the tax rates which maximize GDP growth. Next, we go over ways in which wealthier people evade taxes. We discuss the conceptual framework of corporate vs individual income vs capital gains tax. Wealthier people often avoid capital gains tax by borrowing money using stock as collateral.
We discuss several reform ideas, to include transitioning from a sales tax to a VAT tax, transitioning from property tax to land tax, closing loopholes, and finding better ways to tax capital gains (to include removing step up cost basis).0:56 Tax rates before and after transfers
3:00 State net contribution
8:55 Revenue maximizing tax rate
10:33 Revenue maximizes capital gains tax rate
11:25 GDP growth maximization (Pg 12-14) (2)
14:48 Why wealthy can pay lower taxes (1) (2) (3)
18:05 Corporate tax avoidance
19:12 Capital gains tax
20:30 Real estate
22:13 Reform ideas (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
23:54 VAT tax
26:33 land tax (1) (2) (3)
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Unjerked E35 Taxes Part 1

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about taxes in the United States. Why do we have them? What are the different types of taxes? What are the best tax policies? This is part 1 of 2 episodes.
First we talk about the reason why taxes exist and an international comparison of rates. Then, we talk about trends in federal rates over time. During the 19th century, the US had an extremely low rate, consisting mostly of tariffs. This changed with the introduction of the amendment allowing for a national income tax, with additional increases during the New Deal era. Interestingly, a much larger percentage were paid by high income earners and by corporations. Over time, this has shifted more towards a higher share being funded through payroll taxes and by lower income earners.
We then talk about the various federal taxes in the United States, to include the income, payroll, excise, capital gains, estate, and more. Finally, we discuss some of the state taxes which exist, and what those rates look like. Overall, there is no clear trend in terms of which states have higher rates than others. Oftentimes, when a state has a lower rate in a certain category (e.g. property), they will have a higher rate in another (e.g. income).
2:22 Intro
3:45 Why taxes exist
11:06 Public goods
11:23 Wealth redistribution?
12:13 International comparison
13:30 Global corporate tax
15:36 Federal tax over time
16:07 shift in percentage types of tax (tariff, etc) (2)
19:15 effective rates by income (2)
23:02 Actual effective tax rate in the 1950s
24:38 Deadweight loss vs social services
28:10 Federal tax types (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)
32:37 State taxes (1) (2) (3) (4)
 
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Unjerked E34 Prisons Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about prisons in the United States. Why are so many people in prison? What are some resolutions to this?  This is Part 2 of 2 episodes.
We first start going over the various actual causes of the incarceration problem in the US. This mostly revolves around tough on crime legislation, to include three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and strict probation and parole violation punishments. Interestingly, the research tends to suggest these policies also do not decrease the crime rate.
We then talk about racial dynamics, to include disparities in arrest vs incarceration rates. Then we go over recidivism by type of crime. Following this, we go over the various mental health conditions which disproportionately affect incarcerated individuals, to include mood disorders and schizophrenia. Then we look at the correlation between personality disorders and incarceration. Finally, we talk about some reform ideas, to include better social support programs which reduce crime rates, less severe punishments for minor parole and probation violations, replacing short prison stays with community service or house arrest, replacing cash-bail with risk-based bail decisions, reducing private prisons, etc.
0:29 Public safety
2:45 Three strikes laws
5:30 mandatory minimums (2)
6:52 Probation
8:07 Racial dynamics (2) (3) (4)
11:11 Rate of being pulled over during the day and at night by race
12:15 Recidivism
12:47 Mental health and crime (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
17:18 Dark triad (2)
19:38 NPD (2)
20:32 Cluster A/B/C disorders (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
26:10 reform ideas

Unjerked E33 Prisons Part 1

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about prisons in the United States. Why are so many people in prison? What are some resolutions to this?  This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.
We first discuss the imprisonment rate by country across the world. Unfortunately, the US is one of the highest in the world, superseded only by a handful of other countries. We then discuss where prisoners are incarcerated in the United States. Most prisoners are held either in local jails or in state prisons, with much fewer people in federal prisons.
Then we discuss the causes and non-causes of the high incarceration rate. Non-causes include private prisons and prison labor. Although they are controversial policies, they are not the driving factor behind high incarceration. Marginal causes include the drug war - they are not a leading cause of incarceration, but do contribute to a degree to the incarceration rate. The real causes of high incarceration include tough on crime policies such as three strike laws, mandatory minimum sentences, strict probation and parole requirements, and more.
5:51 Imprisonment rate by country 
10:33 Prison rate map
13:00 Where prisoners are at
15:11 Non-causes
18:41 The sort-of causes
20:46 Real causes
22:08 Mandatory min
22:41 Pre-trial detention
26:12 Probation & parole
28:33 Reddit/twitter arguments
 
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Unjerked E32 Healthcare Costs Part 3

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why are there supply constraints? Do these cause issues?  This is Part 3 of 3 episodes.
We first discuss the constraint on the supply of doctors due to the bottleneck of residency slots funded by the government. Because of the unprofitability of residents for hospitals, most of the supply of residents relies on subsidies from the Center For Medicare Services. Unfortunately, the annual number has been held constant since the 1990s. This leads to increased salaries for doctors which contribute to higher healthcare costs. Then we discuss certificate of need laws, which restrict the supply of hospitals in many states. Afterward, we discuss hospital administrative bloat, which is notably higher than in most other countries.
We then go over some broader healthcare topics in the United States. These include the role of food subsidies, which tend toward refined simple carbs in the United States. We talk about the structural issues caused by an aging population, the difficulties with rural healthcare, and the negative effects private equity can have in the industry. Then, we discuss various possible solutions to reduce costs, to include increasing residency slots, negotiating drug prices at the governmental level, and more. Finally, we critique some common arguments seen online and why the are generally not valid.
0:50 Supply of doctors and residency bottleneck
4:28 Certificate of need laws
7:11 Hospital admin bloat
9:35 Food subsidies
10:50 Aging population
11:28 Rural healthcare
12:48 Private Equity
15:45 Possible solutions
24:52 Task shifting
25:41 Problematic counterarguments (2)
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Unjerked E31 Healthcare Costs Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go?  This is Part 2 of 3 episodes.
We first go over some online arguments and claims related to healthcare. These include claims that the health system is either too free market or not free market enough, the high cost of admin, the theater of hospital cost negotiation, the role immigrants play, the lack of preventative medicine, profit motives, insurance being a scam, and more.
Next we talk about market failures in the healthcare system. These include the steep demand curves due to the critical nature of healthcare, information asymmetry, opaque pricing, the inability to shop for the best service during an emergency scenario, and more. Then we talk about how most vital industries (water, electricity, food, etc) are regulated due to similar market failure risks.
Then, we talk about how high drug prices in the US exist because of the lack of drug price negotiation due to politics. We then discuss pharmacy benefit mangers and the role they play in the drug market. Finally, we discuss the fee for service and pay for value systems, and how the current pay for value system could be leading to unnecessary scans and procedures.
0:40 Online arguments about healthcare
7:25 Initial responses to online arguments
12:09 Market failures
19:25 How other vital industries are regulated
22:08 Drug price negotiations
28:50 Pharmacy Benefit Managers
31:26 Fee for Service vs Pay for Value
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Unjerked E30 Healthcare Costs Part 1

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go?  This is Part 1 of 3 episodes.
 
We first discuss the history of universal healthcare, starting in the late 1800s with Otto von Bismarck's reforms in Germany. Then we go over the concept of an insurance death spiral, and why insurance systems across industries are often mandatory. We then talk over the various systems, to include the Beveridge model, Bismarck model, National Health Insurance model, and out of pocket model. Afterward, we discuss why universal healthcare does not lead to authoritarian government control. We discuss how Americans put more money toward health spending than any other nation, while having worse health outcomes compared to peer nations. Then, we discuss where exactly your healthcare dollar goes. Major factors include higher drug spending, higher doctor salaries, and more administrative bloat.
 
3:16 Top level causes
6:24 Start of universal healthcare
8:40 Insurance death spiral
11:51 Beveridge model
12:40 Bismarck model
14:45 National health insurance
15:35 out of pocket
15:49 US system
17:11 why universal healthcare does not lead to autocracy
20:06 GDP spend on health vs outcomes (2)
21:57 Increasing spend over the years across most countries
24:03 avoidable death per 100k
25:51 GDP per capital vs healthcare spend
26:38 Health spend per capita per year
27:09 Where your health dollar goes
29:53 What is driving higher costs in the USA
35:02 Who owns hospitals in the USA?
 
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Unjerked E29 Are We Worse Off Part 2

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about whether we are worse off now than we were in the past. In what ways are we better off than we were 70 years ago or 140 years ago? In what ways are we worse off? Overall, are we as a society in a good or bad place right now?  This is Part 2 of 2 episodes.
Unlike the first episode, the second episode goes over ways in which we are worse off. The include a dropping personal savings rate, rising housing costs, and rising healthcare costs. There are also rising existential risks in terms of climate risks, pandemics, and more. We also discuss the growth of misinformation and mental health issues due to social media. Finally, we discuss probably the largest way in which society is becoming worse - the loss of social bonds in terms of friendships, relationships, and more. We then discuss the rise in deaths of despair, growing mistrust in institutions, and more.
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0:30 Personal savings rate
1:46 Households that are cost burdened in terms of housing
5:11 Healthcare costs (2)
8:43 Existential risks
13:56 Social media (2)
14:35 Friendship and human connection (2)
20:51 Substance abuse (2) (3) (4)
22:44 Deaths of despair
23:26 Lack of trust in institutions (2)
26:15 Fertility
32:00 Follow up discussion on mistrust of institutions
40:18 Are poor American wealthier than medieval kings?
47:56 Climate anxiety
52:00 Decline of US GDP
54:51 Inequality & debt crisis
 
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