Kurt Andersen | Evil Geniuses Rigged the Political Economy, Re-Wrote the Rules, and Soured Americans on Government

Trickle-Down Socialism

Pat talks to Kurt Andersen about his book: Evil Geniuses, the Unmaking of America. Andersen is the author of novels such as Fantasyland. He co-founded Spy Magazine, was managing editor of Time magazine, lead host of NPR's studio 360 and he's covered the politics and architecture beat for various publications. While he was aware of the widening wealth gap throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, it wasn't until he wrote Fantasyland and started research for Evil Geniuses that he saw the intentionality and deviousness of the systematic way in which corporate interests have shaped our political economy over the last 50 years.

Evil Geniuses examines coordinated efforts to achieve conservative economical and political changes in the United States from the 1970s to 2020, and discusses how the resulting unfettered laissez-faire approach to capitalism has resulted in an extreme level of economic inequality.

In addition to talking about the history of how the system was rigged, how Americans were taught to distrust the government, and how taxes and regulations have been systematically slashed since the 1970s, Andersen explains in the interview some potential solutions to wealth inequality: Universal Basic Income, Boosting Union membership and Union power, worker Co-operatives, removing the profit motive from healthcare, and more.

In the open, Dan is back! We went for a longer discussion this episode to provide plenty of discussion around some of the key issues that Pat and Kurt Andersen discuss in the interview. We discussed the current Infrastructure Bill as well.

This episode was edited, mixed, and mastered by CMoney Burns. For help with your audio needs, feel free to contact him on Twitter at @CMoneyBurns

Further reading on this topic:

The Powell Memo: https://law2.wlu.edu/deptimages/Powell%20Archives/PowellMemorandumTypescript.pdf

Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan by Kim Phillips-Fein

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2751831-invisible-hands

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30011020-democracy-in-chains

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