Checks and Balance from The Economist

While America’s focus has been on the presidential election, the race for Congress is even more volatile. With razor-thin majorities in the House and the Senate, both chambers might flip in November. What does that mean for governing? And how will the outcomes of these elections shape the next presidency? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by The Economist’s Aryn Braun and Jessica Taylor from The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s not long since America was widely thought to be on the brink of recession. Instead the economy expanded by 3% in 2023, and continues to defy expectations. But why aren’t voters happier with Joe Biden’s economy? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by The Economist’s Simon Rabinovitch and Neale Mahoney, professor of economics at Stanford University. Thank you to the William J. Clinton Library and the UVA Miller Center for some of the audio used in this episode. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has launched strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East, in response to an attack on a base in Jordan where three US troops died. How close are America and Iran to war? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by General Frank McKenzie, former commander of US Central Command, and The Economist’s Anton La Guardia. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America has launched strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East, in response to an attack on a base in Jordan where three US troops died. How close are America and Iran to war? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by General Frank McKenzie, former commander of US Central Command, and The Economist’s Anton La Guardia. Get a world of insights for 50% off—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Biden’s chances against Donald Trump in November do not look good. He is unpopular and his age puts many Americans off. How did it come to this? And what can the Democrats do about it? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by Congressman Dean Phillips, who is primarying Mr Biden, and The Economist’s Edward Carr. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the election were held tomorrow, Donald Trump would probably be the favourite to win. How should we be thinking about the race with a year to go? And how can the world outside of America prepare itself for the possibility of a second Trump term? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by Vanderbilt University’s John Sides and The Economist’s Ed Carr. Checks and Balance will be recording a live show in Philadelphia later this month. Find out more and get your ticket here. Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On foreign policy, trade and immigration, the Republican Party wants America to push the world away. This is a departure, but also a return to what the party used to believe. How did the Republican Party go from isolationism to internationalism and then back again? And what does that mean for America’s foreign policy? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, and The Economist’s Edward Carr. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Podcast transcripts are available upon request at podcasts@economist.com. We are committed to improving accessibility even further and are exploring new ways to expand our podcast transcript offering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

California is overhauling its mental-health system. The state exemplifies two broad shifts in mental-health care in America: the building of more beds and an expansion of involuntary treatment. What is the best way to treat severe mental illness? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by The Economist’s Aryn Braun, who speaks to Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, and Darrell Steinberg, the mayor of Sacramento. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years the US has facilitated a warming in relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours but, after Hamas attacked Israel, that is under threat. What should America’s Middle East strategy be now? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. They’re joined by Economist colleagues Anton La Guardia, James Bennet and Josie Delap. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America doesn’t have enough homes. The “yes in my backyard”, or YIMBY, movement believes that making it easier to build is the best solution. To what extent would building more help solve America’s housing problem? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Daniel Knowles. They’re joined by YIMBY activist Sonja Trauss and law professor Michael Allan Wolf. The Economist’s Stevie Hertz reports from New York. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once again, Donald Trump won a primary debate by skipping it. Where is Mr Trump taking the Republican party next? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and James Bennet. They’re joined by historian Rick Perlstein, The Economist’s Andrew Miller and The Economist’s Adam O’Neal. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“We have no greater friend, no greater partner, no greater ally than Australia,” declared Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, during a recent visit down under. Is that really true, and how is the threat from China reshaping America’s relationships in the Indo-Pacific? John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Anton La Guardia. They’re joined by Eleanor Whitehead, The Economist’s Australia correspondent. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. The Economist Live is coming to New York and Washington, DC this October. Learn more about our live events. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Biden likes to boast that he is the most pro-union president in American history. His fondness for unions, though, has been tested by a wave of strikes. In office, President Biden has regularly voiced support for workers, and handed unions more power. But white working-class Americans, once his party’s reliable base, now mostly vote Republican. Can Democrats win back working-class voters? The Economist’s Simon Rabinovitch assesses Joe Biden’s union credentials. The Economist’s James Bennet ponders one of the great “what-ifs” of American political history. And political scientist Ruy Teixeira considers how Democrats could solve their working class problem. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ now and get 50% off your subscription with our limited time offer. You will not be charged until Economist Podcasts+ launches. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Countries with a collective population of four billion will vote for leaders next year. There are fears that recent advances in generative artificial intelligence will make voters more vulnerable to deception than ever. But disinformation has long been a problem, well before the age of deepfakes and large-language models. How worried do we really need to be about AI’s potential to undermine democracy? Chihhao Yu of the Taiwan Information Environment Research Centre explains the threat posed by Chinese misinformation campaigns. We go back to when sensationalist journalism drove America towards war. And Senator Josh Hawley explains why he wants AI to be regulated. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. Runtime: 44 min You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. To help us to continue to improve our podcasts, we’re inviting listeners to participate in some research, particularly those who haven’t filled in one of our surveys before. We’re looking for people to keep in touch with us via WhatsApp over eight weeks. You can sign up here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The perfect weather and booming economy of the City of Angels has drawn in generations of California dreamers. But now America’s second-largest city is getting smaller—losing both population and businesses. As the Hollywood strike has revealed, the high costs of housing, living and running a business are pushing Angelenos away. Can the city reverse the big shrink? But is a smaller Los Angeles even a problem? The city’s mayor Karen Bass and a picketing actor lay out the affordability problems facing the city, while Shannon Sedgwick of the Los Angeles County Economics Development Corporation explains what is behind the business exodus. We revisit the city’s past boom days, and Hans Johnson, of the Public Policy Institute of California, explores how to bring them back. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take a break from the news this week to convene the first ever Checks and Balance Book Club. All summer we’ve been reading three works, picked by the team, from the canon of American literature. In this episode, we’ll present our analysis, hear what listeners thought, and work out what it means to be a Great American Novel. Plus, a very special quiz. If you want to read along, the books we discuss are “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton, “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner and “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. For more reading recommendations, The Economist has published a longer list of Great American Novels, collated from suggestions from our correspondents. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard, Idrees Kahloon and Jon Fasman. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Washington has been busy debating what to do about China. Arguments abound about whether to try to engage with the Communist Party, or to focus on deterrence. Congress continues to debate industrial policy, arming Taiwan and whether to ban TikTok. And as the House’s select committee releases policy suggestions, the Biden administration is forming its own through executive orders. How bipartisan will the next stage of US-China policy be? And what will it look like? Representative Mike Gallagher, chair of the House’s China Select Committee, along with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Democratic ranking member, discuss the committee’s aims and possible achievements. And we go back to another time Congress set America’s China policy. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Biden has been on the road this week, touting his administration’s investment in American manufacturing. His government has embraced a “place-based” industrial policy, explicitly directing tens of billions of dollars to boost struggling regions. The bet is that the money will leave thriving economies and grateful Democratic voters in its wake. Will “place-based” policies help the bits of American that have been left-behind? We join Congressman Ro Khanna on a tour of former manufacturing towns, and he tells us why he thinks “place-based” policies work. And Mark Muro of Brookings charts the history of “place-based” interventions. John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Jon Fasman. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump has been charged with the most serious political crime it is possible to commit in a democracy. A special counsel alleges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results, knowing that his claims of fraud were false. What do the latest charges mean for Donald Trump, and American democracy? Legal expert Sarah Isgur tells us she thinks this will be a difficult case to prove. The Economist’s Steve Mazie profiles the man tasked with prosecuting Trump. And The Economist’s James Bennet considers what this will mean for the 2024 election. Charlotte Howard hosts with Idrees Kahloon and Jon Fasman. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s hot. Over the past month millions of Americans have been sweltering in fierce temperatures. Around a third of the population lives in places where the government has recently issued warnings about extreme heat. How can American cities prepare for an even hotter future? The Economist’s Oliver Morton tells us what causes heat waves. Jeff Goodell, author of “The Heat Will Kill You First”, charts how the invention of air conditioning changed the locus of political power in America. And David Hondula, Phoenix’s Chief Heat Officer, describes how his city is preparing for a future of scorching summers. John Prideaux hosts with Idrees Kahloon and Aryn Braun. You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.