Words & Numbers

Author: Free the People

Words & Numbers is one of the highest-rated economics podcasts in the world. Each episode, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan dig into economics, political science, and current events to explain whats actually happening and why it matters.
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Language: en

Genres: Education, News, News Commentary

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Episode 512: What Do You Meme?
Episode 512
Thursday, 25 June, 2026

Memes are apparently unavoidable, and most of them suck. Here we talk about some of the suckiest ones.00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer00:51 Japan’s Food Tax and Why Groceries Shouldn’t Be Taxed02:38 State Sales Taxes on Food Across America05:04 Flat Taxes, Tax Complexity, and Scotland’s Simplicity06:18 Remembering Historian Gordon Wood07:37 AI Corporations and the Future of Legal Personhood13:30 Foolishness of the Week: Trump’s Repeated Iran Peace Claims18:08 Responding to Socialist Memes19:04 Does Capitalism Create Billionaires Instead of Healthcare?22:11 Obamacare, Health Insurance, and Government Bureaucracy25:24 Why Misleading Memes Spread So Easily29:12 Is Poverty a Product of Capitalism?34:08 Elon Musk, Billionaires, and Wealth Creation42:20 Infinite Growth, Capitalism, and the Laws of Thermodynamics45:55 Why Political Memes Make Public Discourse Worse48:13 Patreon Updates and Closing Thoughts