Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner, and I wanted to say thanks for the overwhelming

response to our most recent episode, which was called 10 Myths about the U.S. tax system.

There were a lot of good suggestions for follow-up episodes, and we will certainly keep those

in mind. One of the joys of

making this show is going after stories that simply seem interesting and worthwhile without

any set agenda to follow, and you never know which episodes are going to strike a chord like this

one did. Today, we have gone into the archive to play you another episode that struck a chord

when it was first published. It's called Should America Be Run by Trader Joe's. We have updated

facts and figures as necessary. I should note that Trader Joe's did not participate in the

making of this episode. Their executives don't tend to give interviews. Although we did

receive a note from then CEO Dan Bain after we first published this episode in 2018, he wrote,

You pose a question, should America be run by Trader Joe's? We are pretty sure such work would

likely require a coat and tie. We like Hawaiian shirts, so we will pass. Thanks. Let me know what

you think of this episode. You can always leave a comment on your podcast app or send us an email to

Radio at Freakonomics.com. As always, thanks for listening.

Let's play Shark Tank today. You're the investors.

Shark Tank, if you don't know, is the TV show where people pitch business ideas to famous investors. You might be Mark Cuban or Mr. Wonderful.

You're trying to decide, would you invest?

And that is Michael Roberto.

He's a business professor at Bryant University, formerly of the Harvard Business School.

There's one lecture he likes to start by giving his students this fictional shark tank pitch.

I'd like to open a new kind of grocery store.

...