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Optimist Economy: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards and co-host Robin Rauzi talk about the fundamentals of the economy and how to build a better future one problem and solution at a time. Our premise is that the United States has remarkable economy — and yet for tens of millions of Americans it is not performing up to its potential. It could be more open to aspiring workers, less hostile to change, safer for workers, less risky for retirees, and so on.
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- 3 days ago58 min
About That College Grad Who Can’t Find a Job…
(Originally aired 7/1/2025) Newly minted college graduates are having a harder time landing that first job than in recent years. Is it AI? Is college useless? Is it a crisis? (No. No. And not yet…) College graduates under 27 still have significantly lower unemployment rates (5.8%) than high school graduates of the same age (6.9%). What economist Kathryn Edwards finds worrying is that these new workers, who are typically a lagging economic indicator, may in this case be a bellwether of a weakening economy. Support the Optimist Economy podcast by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack, or donating at https://buymeacoffee.com/optimisteconomyComplete show notes with links to articles and data at optimisteconomy.com.You can also find Optimist Economy on: TikTok YouTube Instagram --------Read More: The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates [New York Fed, 2025] Hires, from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey [St. Louis Fed, 2025] Downskilling: changes in employer skill requirements over the business cycle [Labour Economics 2016] Upskilling: Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful? [The Review of Economics and Statistics 2020]
- 1 weeks ago42 min
Should We Cherish the Ultra-Wealthy? (a.k.a. ‘The Cornfield’)
A certain kind of wealthy American has been griping out loud lately — about taxes, about progressive cities, about how unappreciated they are for the jobs they create, the stuff they buy, and the tips they hand out. A narrative is coalescing around them too: that the top 10% of earners now do so much of the spending, the U.S. economy relies on them. But an economy that depends so much on the people at the top isn't the healthy one the country deserves — it’s just wearing a nice suit.Chapters:00:00:56 Announcements: Q&A episode questions wanted 00:01:18 Retcon: The 86 debate; FDR's full "calamity howling executives" quote 00:05:32 Terms & Conditions: Wealth Effect and Zugzwang 00:09:26 Big Pilcrow: Should we cherish the ultra-wealthy?00:36:41 Executive Orders: Retire "mummies"; union credits on red carpets 00:39:34 Spiritual Sponsors: Mellow Cello podcast; enormous floral arrangementsFurther ReadingMoody's claim that the top 10% of earners now drive nearly half of consumer spending in the WSJ:https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/us-economy-strength-rich-spending-2c34a571The Minneapolis Fed on what the underlying data actually shows. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2026/have-us-consumers-gone-k-shaped-a-review-of-the-dataWealthy part-time New Yorkers reacting to a proposed pied-à-terre tax in the Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/3283eaab-e9cf-41e6-a028-5a02fb6f4615The Wall Street Journal on second-home taxes spreading from New York City to other states, including the San Diego homeowner who'd like to be cherished. https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/taxes-on-second-homes-are-springing-up-across-america-93a64448Full reading list at https://optimisteconomy.substack.com Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
- 2 weeks ago48 min
No Overtime for the Supervisor of Sandwiches
It wasn’t just hourly factory jobs that were supposed to come with a 40-hour workweek. Even salaried jobs were supposed to get overtime pay, though very few do do anymore. Overtime protections are the only legal mechanism enforcing work-hour limits, and for 50 years, the salary threshold that determines who qualifies to receive overtime has been left to erode. Employers found another workaround too: just call the sandwich maker a "sandwich manager." Now, the new no-tax-on-overtime deduction isn't protecting workers — it's rewarding the kind of overwork it was overtime was originally designed to punish. Fixing the law governing overtime would be a huge and instant boost not just to the U.S. economy, but to our work-life balance.Chapters:00:01:43 Announcements00:02:32 Retcon: Economic data reliability00:05:54 Terms & Conditions: Tenterhooks; Perquisite 00:08:23 Big Pilcrow: Overtime 00:45:27 Executive Orders: Badge of shame for working past 40 hours; more colorful cars00:46:52 Spiritual Sponsors: Awesome first bosses; Faraday e-bike Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch clips on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
- 3 weeks ago44 min
Can the U.S. Go ‘Cashless?’
Cash is dirty, inconvenient, and so last century. Some 70% of Americans under age 50 think its days are numbered. But we still need those greenbacks, if as an alternative to banks. More than 4% of households are “unbanked,” and three times as many are “underbanked,” meaning bank services mostly don’t work for them, so rely on services like check cashers or payday lenders. And that's before you get to the racial disparities in who banks approve for credit. Reviving banking services at the post office might be one way to help the unbanked and keep from handing yet more power to the finance sector. Chapters:00:00:48 Announcements00:02:30 Retcon: Semiquincentennia 00:03:35 Terms & Conditions: ChexSystems, Unbanked00:05:46 Big Pilcrow: What’s keeping the U.S. from going cashless?00:38:28 Executive Orders: Regulate youth sports schedules; Airline baggage fees by weight.00:40:56 Spiritual Sponsors: Artemis splashdown; Friends with season tickets. Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video clips available at the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. You can also search for us on Facebook and chat with other Optimists on Substack. Consume leisure while donning Optimist merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Have a questions for our next Q&A? Send it to optimist.economy@gmail.com
- May 5, 202658 min
The 2026 Economy: Make it Make Sense
Consumer sentiment is in the basement. Jobs aren't being added. Prices keep climbing. GDP barely grew at the end of 2025, and a ‘meh’ 2% last quarter. Shouldn’t this be a recession? Not so far. Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards walks through the clear cause of each bad number: Tariffs explain the prices and foul mood. Mass deportations explain the jobs. The government shutdown explained last quarter. Still, knowing the passing reasons for economic pain doesn't make it hurt less. And none of it changes the long-term economic reforms we still need.Chapters: 00:01:06 Announcements00:01:57 Retcon: Wealth at retirement00:03:52 Terms & Conditions: Recession, Slack, Tight, Loose, Goodflation/Badflation00:09:10 Centerpiece: What is going on with the U.S. Economy right now? The vibe is don’t panic. But don’t not panic. 00:53:38 Executive Orders: Free work parking. Legislators do their own taxes.00:55:00 Spiritual Sponsors: Genre-specific bookstores and great newstands Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Hey, we are on Facebook! Follow us! Or, on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Or on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. You need this hat: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Send us your economic questions and concerns at optimist.economy@gmail.com
- Apr 28, 202649 min
Progress is a Long Game
(Originally aired 5/06/25) What sparks progress? The right political conditions? Social pressure? Economic upheaval? In response to two listeners’ questions, we say… both none of those and all of the above. As an example, we talk through just one bit of the New Deal in the 1930s, which was the law to limit child labor. That movement started decades earlier, and continued decades afterward. For those keeping score at home, this a sneaky third installment of Kathryn’s 68-part series on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Chapters: 00:01:08 Announcements00:01:43 Retcon00:03:58 Terms & Conditions00:07:03 Centerpiece00:42:56 Executive Orders00:46:25 Spiritual Sponsors Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Follow us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Or on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Shirts, caps and totes, oh my!: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Reach us at optimist.economy@gmail.com
- Apr 21, 202646 min
The Great Wage Stagnation
Average U.S. wages have barely budged since the early '80s — and if you account for today's labor force being older and more college-educated, wage growth basically disappears. Economists have cycled through explanations: workers lacked technical skills, then couldn't compete with global labor, then lost the policies that once lifted paychecks, like strong unions and a meaningful minimum wage. The latest chapter is monopsony — the idea that as employers consolidate, people have fewer choices of where to work, and fewer places to land if they lose a job. Fix the market, and the paychecks follow.Chapters:00:00:45 Announcements00:01:01 Retcon: Double Taxation and Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act00:03:10 Terms & Conditions: Monopsony, Septel00:07:07 Big Pilcrow: Why Aren’t Wages Growing?00:40:37 Executive Orders: Reverse Billing, Leaked Chat Table Readings00:42:49 Spiritual Sponsors: Dole Whip, Sad Songs, Being Recognized in the Wild Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Follow us on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Andy says look at the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. Get that excellent hat at: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic anxieties, executive orders or spiritual sponsors? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
- Apr 14, 202645 min
Tax Reform Gone Wild
From California to Washington to New York, states are trying to tax the very rich. The press keeps rehashing whether millionaires and billionaires will flee those states. Wrong question. The more important one is why we’re improvising tax policy state to state when it’s the federal government that should be dealing with health care, child care and affordability—all of which are national problems. Meanwhile, some Senate Democrats are proposing to take even more people out of the tax system entirely. None of these specific proposals make income taxes simpler or fairer, but they do suggest there’s an appetite for reform. ---Chapters:00:01:18 Announcements00:02:33 Retcon: Occupational Licenses00:06:16 Terms & Conditions: Progressive00:07:59 Big Pilcrow: Everyone Wants to Tax Millionaires00:38:23 Executive Orders: Unreadable Menus and Tax Complainer Merch00:41:42 Spiritual Sponsors: Dream Robin & the Nobel Laureate’s WNBA Contract Make Optimist Economy economically viable: https://optimisteconomy.com We have faces on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. The party is at the Substack chatroom. In lieu of a “I’m better than you… because I pay taxes” T-shirt, can we offer you an Optimist Economy one?: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economics questions, anxieties, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com
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About Optimist Economy
Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards and co-host Robin Rauzi talk about the fundamentals of the economy and how to build a better future one problem and solution at a time. Our premise is that the United States has remarkable economy — and yet for tens of millions of Americans it is not performing up to its potential. It could be more open to aspiring workers, less hostile to change, safer for workers, less risky for retirees, and so on.
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