The Middle-Out Moment Is Still Here

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Twelve months ago, Democracy Journal announced we were entering the "Middle-Out Moment." A year later—after a brutal election and rising uncertainty—the question isn’t whether neoliberalism is over, but what comes next. In a new symposium titled “It’s Still the Post-Neoliberal Moment,” Democracy brings together leading voices to answer that question. In this episode, we hear directly from some of the smartest contemporary thinkers on how to dismantle corporate power, rebuild trust in government, center care as a public good, and make policy that actually reaches the people it's meant to serve. The stakes couldn’t be higher—and the decisions we make in this moment could mean the difference between widespread prosperity or a negative feedback loop that will be felt for generations to come. Guests include: Nidhi Hegde, Charles Davidson, Shilpa Phadke & Shayna Strom, Harry Holzer, Mary Beth Maxwell, Bilal Baydoun, and Melissa Morales. Further reading: The Middle-Out Moment Is Still Here - Nick Hanauer Anti-Monopoly Is the Path Forward - Nidhi Hegde Financial Secrecy Is a Middle-Out Issue - Charles Davidson Do Not Abandon the Care Agenda - Shilpa Phadke & Shayna Strom Taking the Spending-Inflation Problem Seriously - Harry Holzer Time for People-Centered Policy - Mary Beth Maxwell Good Political Stories Need Heroes—and Villains - Bilal Baydoun On the Need to Go Bigger - Melissa Morales Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer, @civicaction YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Substack: The Pitch

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The rising inequality and growing political instability that we see today are the direct result of decades of bad economic theory.
0:11.0	The last five decades of trickle-down economics haven't worked. But what's the alternative?
0:16.0	Middle-out economics is the answer.
0:19.0	Because the middle class is the source of growth, not its consequence.
0:23.1	That's right.
0:28.7	This is pitchfork economics with Nick Hanauer, a podcast about how to build the economy from the middle out.
0:36.9	Welcome to the show.
0:44.2	Hey, Pitchfork listeners, Goldie here. This time last year, we were really excited about a
0:50.6	symposium in the journal Democracy announcing the middle-out moment. And well, a lot
0:56.4	has happened over the past 12 months, a lot of it truly horrible and thoroughly disappointing.
1:03.5	But we're not giving up. Neoliberalism is still dead and something will replace it. Whether that's a middle-out consensus or the chaotic
1:14.5	nonsense of a Trumpist cult, well, that depends on what we do over the next four years. To this end,
1:21.9	democracy has published a new symposium titled It's Still the Post-Neoliberal Moment, and there's a lot of inspiring
1:30.4	content in there for you to read. On today's episode, you'll hear snippets of interviews from these
1:36.9	authors talking about their own ideas in their own words. There's also a couple good pieces in there
1:43.4	from me and Nick. Nick on why the recent
1:46.4	election was not a repudiation of middle-out economics, and I wrote about something I've been
1:53.0	thinking about for a long, long time, why a public option for housing is the only solution to our nation's affordable housing crisis.
2:03.7	We will, of course, provide links in the show notes. We hope you enjoyed the episode, and we
2:09.6	hope you read the issue in full.
2:16.6	Hi, I'm Nadie Hegday.
2:18.3	I'm the executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -5 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Civic Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Civic Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.