Building the Dream

It's been a while y'all. We have a great guest on the show today. Jerusalem Demsas policy reporter at http://vox.com and co-host of the weeds podcast. is joining us to discuss why America can't have nice things. At "Building the Dream" we love discussions that help us to identify the barriers and obstacles to building the future we deserve. This is one of those conversations. Enjoy. 

Yesterday our famously divided Senate passed a bill. Not just a bill to rename a post office but a bill that aims to help the US compete with China for world domination. We had the chance to sit down with Samuel Hammond of the Niskanen Center to discuss what exactly is in "The Endless Frontiers Act". We talk about where it hits the mark and where it misses. Spoiler alert, it mostly misses the mark. 

Saikat and I discuss recent inflation fears with New Consensus' Bob Hockett. 

The US Mask industry is struggling and some manufacturers are on the verge of going out of business. We talk about how the the Biden admin could prevent this and why they should. 

Zack and Corbin shoot the sh*t for a while. 

With the Covid-19 outbreak slowing down here at home our instincts may be to slow down.  But we aren't out of the woods yet. The virus rages on across much of the planet.  On this episode we talk about what a slowdown in  vaccine production would mean  to the US and the rest of the world We talk about the costs in lives, quality of life, and economic output. We make the case for not slowing down and instead going bigger. Zack gets specific when talking about people on the Biden team that could make the difference and how we might be able to encourage them to do so. Hope the audio isn't too bad....

We are back from a little break with a great interview. We had the chance to interview author, Kim Stanley Robinson about his new book "The Ministry for the Future". Robinson, discuss his process, how sci-fi has changed impacted our society and how he sees his own role in using fiction to impact our future. I hope you enjoy the episode. 

Folks, this here is a fun and light hearted episode where I talk with Saikat and Zack about restarting America's economic engines and rebuilding our manufacturing capacity as a way to compete with China for global position. We also have a little fun looking deep into Thomas Friedman's soul vis-à-vis an editorial he recently published where he examines US/China relations. And as a bonus we also get a Friedman story from Zack (spoiler alert Friedman was mean). But wait there’s more, in the midst of it all we discuss ways that the Biden admin could use the upcoming infrastructure bill as a downpayment on a newAmerican century. Is a manufacturing renaissance a path to peace over the decades to come?

Should the Biden admin send masks to every American household? Are we getting ready for the next pandemic? We talk about this and more. 

On this episode we had the chance to chat with co-host of Pod Save America and former Obama staffer, Tommy Vietor. We talked about building a stronger Democratic Party, how to best message our successes and other lessons we've learned along the way. Enjoy?

Corbin and Saikat give credit where credit is due. They talk about the wins in the Covid relief bill and what the Democrats are doing right. There is a critique or two about the way the Democrats are communicating the package and their hesitancy to do the hard sale to the American people.

We discuss, among other things, an idea for a reality show. It's kinda like AGT meets Nathan for You but instead of looking for entertainers we are looking for Senate candidates. Corbin is excited. Others (Saikat) are skeptical. Zack is just cynical. Good ep. Enjoy?

How long must Missouri tolerate its oat milk latte-drinking, yoga pants-wearing, Ivy League elitist Senator, Josh Hawley? An announcement is made. Stories are told. Good episode.

We did an episode talking a bit about how Biden can lead right now. Today, Corbin and Zack delve a bit deeper and talk about how, exactly, Biden could be leading and why it's so incredibly important. Plus, we discuss a few ideas for what we can do to get the message across better. Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

We had to speak up. This is an emergency episode. We could no longer sit and watch the train wreck that is near continuous wasted messaging opportunities. From the rapidly declining covid cases and radically ramped up vaccinations numbers to the crisis in Texas Biden keeps missing moments for leadership. Moments to show the American people that electing Democrats is a good thing. We get into the weeds about how they could do things a little differently and heap praise in the things they are doing great at. We also hock some cashew butter and rope sandals. Enjoy!

Zack and I talked about where we are now. How likely is it that Biden will make the most of hist first week post-impeachment?Will he take credit for Democrat’s early successes in fighting Covid? Will he offer a plan to move our economy forward? Zack and I talk about how Biden could capture this moment and lead the country away from Trumpism.

I spoke to award winning journalist Idrees Kahloon about how Covid has impacted the communities he covers. We talk housing, food, and jobs and how Americans are handling the crisis. Idrees is the US policy correspondent at The Economist covering domestic politics and policy. Prior to that, he worked on The Economist‘s data journalism team. Enjoy the show.

Our friends over at New Consensus recently released an op-ed in CNN with some ideas for how Biden can fix the vaccine bottlenecks now and ramp up vaccine manufacturing to inoculate everyone in America--and even the world. We spoke with Isaac Larkin, Demond Drummer, Robert Hockett, Amy Ramirez and Zack Exley (this time speaking on behalf of New Consensus) about how we can speed up vaccination, and why it could mean the difference between COVID-19 being history a year from now, and COVID-19 being something we deal with every year forever.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

This week, we launched a campaign to primary Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in 2024. In this episode we: discuss the new kind of politics we're dreaming of that can win in states like AZ and WV, the kind of leader that could win in those states, listen to some buttery-smooth ads that WV neighbor Corbin Trent has recorded, and talk about Joe Manchin’s chances of winning in 2024 if he is the Democrat running.Also, Saikat wants to know whether you think we should call our new brand of politics "neo-Americanism," while Corbin is rooting for "industrial populism." You can vote on our Twitter feed: @buildingpod We hope you enjoy this episode!

Over the Christmas holiday one of my cousins was locked up for violating the terms of her probation. Due to the holiday's she is still there awaiting a bail hearing. Thought this time she hasn't been provided clean underwear or basic hygiene products. The way we treat people that are held in our "justice system" is terrible. In this episode I talk with Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Messenger about how much we exploit those we jail. We discuss the fees that land you in jail, the fees for being in jail, and the terrible conditions you face once you are in jail.

Catherine Flowers knows her shit and she has committed herself to making sure we know it too. For years now, Catherine has taken on the herculean task of exposing the impacts of extreme poverty on the people of the United States. I had recently had the opportunity to sit down with her for a conversation. This episode is that conversation. Enjoy?

I know there is a lot going on. This episode has nothin to do with any of it. It's about being a hillbilly and media depictions of hillbillies and a shitty book/movie. Dan Riffle and I watched and read this terrible piece of shit book/movie called "Hillbilly Elegy" so you can take it off of your to-do list.Dan and I have conversation about that and what it was like to grow up in the South and rural Ohio. We really took one for the team here so I hope you enjoy the conversation about the shared pain of growing up in a crumbling community, the struggle of addiction, and just how wrong the guy who wrote this book got it. For those of you who have never heard of Dan Riffle he's a really cool dude. I've had the privilege of working with him for a number of years going back to my days at Justice Democrats. He currently serves as AOC's policy guy.

We are launching a new show y'all. It's called "Building the Dream: No Excuses." Now that the Democrats control the House, Senate and Presidency, they should have no excuses for inaction. Our country has some big problems to solve, and Joe Biden campaigned on big promises to solve them. But we fear that Democrats might try to find ways to get out of it -- and just today, we saw Senator Joe Manchin declare that he would be against $2,000 relief checks for struggling Americans, something an overwhelming number of Americans of both parties support.We are changing the name of the show because we're changing the focus of the show. We are going to talk about the big solutions that Democrats can actually do right now with their new power, we'll tell you when Democratic leadership is trying to find excuses to not do it, and we will tell you how only 5 members of the House of Representatives could strategically fight for the American people and get real big things done. But most importantly, we will tell you you can join the fight to save this country. Tune in.

Nate Mook is the CEO of World Central Kitchen. World Central Kitchen is is an organization founded by chef José Andrés that has been providing meals to people in the wake of natural disasters since 2010. WCK fed Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria, Texans after Hurricane Harvey, federal workers after the government shut down in 2019, the Grand Princess cruise ship that was quarantined off the coast of San Francisco due to a COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, and many others. In 2020, they have focused their efforts on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by using and staffing local restaurants to provide the meals, thereby creating jobs for unemployed restaurant workers while also feeding millions of people at risk of going hungry. To date, they have provided over 33 million meals in over 400 cities. We chatted with Nate about how he got into this work, how they manage to solve seemingly intractable problems that even FEMA was unable to, and how we should be thinking about food policy in this country so that we don't need to rely on organizations like World Central Kitchen to keep people fed.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Anand Ghiridharadas is the bestselling author of Winners Take All, MSNBC contributor, and author of The Ink. We chatted with him about how Democrats should be fighting now and next year to solve the current poverty and hunger crisis, and what the consequences of failure are if Biden doesn't manage to get the job done.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Jonathan Alter is journalist, Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker, and best-selling author who has interviewed and written biographies of multiple American Presidents. His latest biography is about Jimmy Carter -- you can buy His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life from Indiebound here. But in this interview, we talked with Jonathan Alter about a book he wrote in 2006. In The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, Alter digs deep into the characteristics, experiences, and leadership style that allowed FDR to bring the nation back from the brink of total collapse. We thought now, as millions of Americans face hunger and abject poverty, and a new President comes into office, would be a good time to talk to Jonathan to see if there is anything we can learn from FDR's leadership for the trying times we have ahead of us.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Alexandra Rojas is the executive director of Justice Democrats. In this past election cycle, Justice Democrats racked up enough wins that there are now 10 Justice Democrats in Congress. We talked with Alexandra Rojas today about what those 10 members can do, the plan for 2022, and the new memo Justice Democrats put out painting a clear strategy Democrats could take to win in 2022 and 2024.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Corbin and Saikat talk about Corbin's experience getting tested for COVID-19 and the poverty and hunger crisis in America.Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Happy Thanksgiving! We took short a hiatus from the podcast to spend more time at our day jobs at New Consensus. We developed and pushed out a memo to the Biden transition team that details how he could lead a multi-trillion dollar economic rebuilding project even if Democrats don't win the Senate races in Georgia. In this episode, we delve into the details of that plan. We recorded this episode at the beginning of that process right after the election when we were first putting this plan together, so some of it may sound a little dated.You can read the full memo here: https://newconsensus.com/projects/building-back-better-without-the-senateYou can also read a more digestible version of it in this op-ed Saikat wrote: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/biden-build-better-senate/Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Hunter Walker is the White House Correspondent for Yahoo News, the largest news website in the world. But Hunter has also been in a unique position as a journalist for this moment. For whatever reason, Donald Trump has been calling him up for the last decade to pitch him stories. So for better or worse, he has followed Donald Trump as a journalist more closely than perhaps anyone we can think of. Today, we talked with Hunter to see if he could give us any insight into how Trump's mind might work and how the media will cover today. We're all concerned that Donald Trump won't concede even if he is losing big. We interviewed Professor Lawrence Douglas in a previous episode to get the legal rundown of how that plays out. But we know that a lot of what actually goes down will be determined by the actions of the media and Trump himself. So how WILL the media react today? And what will Trump do?Subscribe to the newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the main host of ABC's Shark Tank. He's been open that he considered running for President as an Independent in 2020. Today, we talked with him about what the he feels are the biggest problems facing America and what a President Cuban would do about them.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Lawrence Douglas is the James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College. In his new book, "Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020," he goes into detail on all the possible scenarios in front of us if Trump loses the election but refuses to concede.In this episode, we drill down on a few of the more likely scenarios with him to figure out just how worried we should be -- and what we can do to prepare now.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Jeff Stein is the White House economics reporter for the Washington Post. Over the past several months, he's been the go-to source for information on what the government is doing to provide relief to millions of unemployed Americans and bankrupt businesses. Today, we chat with him about the state of the current relief bill being worked out between Mnuchin and Pelosi. We talk about what's in it, what the hold up is, and the world of hurt we're facing if they don't reach a deal by election day.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Today, we have a very special episode for you as we dive deep into the life of our very own Corbin Trent (whose first name actually IS Brian)! Zack, Saikat and Corbin met each other on the Bernie Sanders 2016 Presidential campaign when Corbin was organizing Tennessee for Bernie with nothing more than his car and willpower. From that, he went on to co-found Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, the organizations that recruited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among others to run for Congress. He went on to be Communications Director for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 campaign as well as for her congressional office, where he was pivotal in launching the Green New Deal and creating the media moments that allowed it to become a national sensation. In this episode, we dive into Corbin's life leading up to the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. We find out how a guy running a furniture components factory and machine shop ended up going all in on a political revolution and completely transforming what people think of as feasible in America.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Daniel Marans is a political reporter at Huffington Post who most recently wrote about how Trump campaigned on a new kind of economic agenda, but has completely failed to enact it (Trump Promised A Break With GOP Trickle-Down Economics. He Delivered More Of The Same). On today's episode, we talked with Daniel about what Trump promised on the campaign trail and why, despite all his bullying and intimidation tactics, he has only managed to deliver on the least popular and most divisive parts of his agenda.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

Ari Rabin-Havt has spent nearly two decades working in and around Congress. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Bernie Sanders before playing a pivotal role in Sen. Sanders' 2020 run for President as the Chief of Staff. He's the author of two books: Lies Incorporated and The Fox Effect, and was previously the host of The Agenda on SiriusXM. Ari's an expert on Senate rules and procedures as well as the politics that run DC, so we chatted with him about what Democrats could do about the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, what they could do if Trump tries to steal the election, and what he thinks they actually will do.Get on the email list to get more content and exclusive episodes at buildingthedream.substack.com.

The Federal Reserve was originally set up to be America's development bank. But somehow along the way, it lost its course. Join us as we chat with Professor Bob Hockett about his ideas on returning the Fed to its roots so we can go back to investing in all of America.---Professor Hockett is the author of Financing the Green New Deal: A Plan of Action and Renewal and Money From Nothing: Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve. He is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, Professor of Public Affairs at Cornell University, and Regular Visiting Professor of Finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. He teaches, writes, publishes and advises in the fields of Enterprise-Organizational and Financial & Monetary Law and Economics, among other fields. He has advanced degrees in Law, Economics, Philosophy, and Finance. He is also Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital, a boutique investment bank in New York City and a Director of both the Public Banking Institute and the Digital Fiat Currency Institute. In the latter connection, his Inclusive Value Ledger (‘IVL’) proposal, which would institute a public digital payments platform and associated system of digital wallets and currency at any ‘level’ of government that adopted it, is under consideration by the New York State Senate and Assembly. And his Digital Greenbacks proposal, which would function as a Treasury-administered IVL at the national level, is under consideration in both Houses of the US Congress. Hockett has previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund (twice), clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and is a Fellow of New Consensus and The Century Foundation and a Commissioned Author for the New America Foundation. He has also frequently consulted for and testified before the U.S. Congress (Senate Banking and House Financial Services in particular) and consulted for multiple government instrumentalities at the federal, state, and local levels, including the Fed, the Treasury, and the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Most recently he has helped draft multiple pieces of high-profile legislation for each of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In policy circles he is probably best known for helping develop the Green New Deal white paper and finance plan for Representative Ocasio-Cortez; the Public Housing Green New Deal Act for Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders; the Loan Shark Prevention Act for Senator Sanders and Representative Ocasio-Cortez; the Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act, the STOP Walmart Act, and the Corporate Democracy Plan for Senator Sanders; the Stop Excessive CEO Pay Act for Senator Sanders and Representatives Lee and Tlaib; the Accountable Capitalism Act for Senator Warren, and the eminent domain plan for underwater mortgages adopted by many U.S. cities after the financial crashes of 2008-09.

We got a chance to sit down for an amazing conversation with “Rising’s” Krystal Ball. Krystal co-hosts “Rising” on HillTV is a best-selling author, a political writer, a former congressional candidate, and CPA. She has her finger on the pulse of the progressive movement.

Leah Stokes is a political science professor and climate researcher who has spent decades working not just on the nitty gritty of climate policy, but also on the political forces that stop climate change legislation from becoming reality. We chatted with her about her take on the Biden climate plan, why utilities and fossil fuel companies aren't innovating on their own, and what private companies like Google are doing currently to address climate change.Check out Leah's new book, Short Circuiting Policy! She also has an essay coming out in a new book on September 22. You can pre-order that book -- All We Can Save -- now.Join our newsletter at buildingthedream.substack.com!

We had the chance to sit down with incoming Congressman Jamaal Bowman. He recently shocked the political world when he beat powerful incumbent Eliot Engel. Never heard of Engel? Don’t feel bad. The voters in his district hadn’t either. We talk about the dumpster fire that is 2020, how the left can build power, and a whole lot more. Have a listen. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

Rana Foroohar is a Global Business Columnist and an Associate Editor at the Financial Times and CNN’s global economic analyst. We sat down with her to talk about the importance of manufacturing, how to rebuild American industry, and why the free market hasn’t blazed into action to provide everyone with enough N95 masks to stay safe from COVID-19. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

Listen now (60 min) | On today’s episode, we got a chance to sit down with the amazing Marianne Williamson. Marianne has done it all. She’s a bestselling author, political activist, former presidential candidate, and spiritual thought leader. We talked about the role of leadership, systemic failures, the DC bubble, and the Biden campaign. We also touched on the state of the progressive movement and our path out of our current economic and social turmoil. We hope you enjoy the show. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

This was our second attempt at doing a live call-in show. We were talking with folks about what Biden and Harris’s message is for voters. We asked callers what they think Biden and Harris are promising. We heard about inheritance taxes, legalizing pot, and self-actualization. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

Today Margaret Klein Salamon joins us to talk about saving the planet with a World War 2 scale economic mobilization. Margaret leads organizational strategy for The Climate Mobilization and Climate Mobilization Project. In this role, she has helped catalyze a burgeoning worldwide Climate Emergency Movement. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

Ryan Grim is the Washington, D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept and author of We’ve Got People. He’s well known for doing breaking investigative journalism of the kind that most mainstream media outlets don’t touch. Recently, he broke the cover on a plot by the Massachusetts Democratic Party to smear Congressional candidate Alex Morse. Previously, he broke the story on Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations against Brett Kavanaugh during Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings.In this episode, we talk with Ryan about why good investigative journalism seems to be so rare, how he thinks about access to powerful figures when reporting truths that those powerful figures won’t like, and where he thinks the progressive movement can go. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

Listen now (42 min) | Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

# Episode Notes Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

In this very special first interview, we talk with Alexandra Rojas, the Executive Director of Justice Democrats. A couple weeks ago, Justice Democrats pulled off a huge victory when their candidate, Jamaal Bowman, defeated one of the most powerful, pro-war Democrats in the House, Eliot Engel. Tomorrow, Justice Democrat Cori Bush faces off against another very powerful Democrat in a primary election. She is a huge underdog in the battle, but we’ll ask Alexandra how she’s feeling about it, and also about how she thinks we can get the big stuff in this country done, and why primary elections are so important. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

To fix America’s biggest problems, we think a new generation of leaders need to take power democratically in the system we’ve got. What’s the best way to do that? Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

When COVID-19 hit America, the bottom fell out of our economy. As millions of Americans started losing their jobs, our government did the unthinkable: they actually come together to pass a real relief package. That bill was the CARES Act, and perhaps the most consequential part of that package was giving every unemployed American an extra $600 a week. It was a lifeline for millions. Unfortunately, that $600/week is set to expire in less than a week, and Congress has not been able to come together on a solution to keep it going. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com

We talk about the Fox News interview with Donald Trump and about the upcoming expiring unemployment insurance extension. Get on the email list at buildingthedream.substack.com