Unjerked E19 - Corruption - Part 2

Unjerked Podcast

#Podcasting Education #Comedy #Unjerked

1:14:43

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI . Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying mathematical concepts that power modern machine learning, to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives–even if your last math class was in high school. Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency? If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits. Links: Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749 Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing https://anilananthaswamy.com/ Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research https://ksj.mit.edu/ Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0…

рік тому 31:20

MP3•Головна епізоду

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about corruption. What exactly is corruption? What forms of corruption are there? How can it be prevented or mitigated? This is Part 2 of 3 episodes.
Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tunein, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Listen Notes, Podchaser, or Boomplay

44: Revolving door

7:58 Corruption of national vs local politics

8:51 Kids for cash for-profit jail controversy

12:30 amendment pay raise

13:00 term limits and corruption (1) (2) (3) (4)

15:51 Incumbency advantage

18:02 who watches the watchmen?

19:21 Corruption in historical societies

20:40 Pork barrel spending

23:40 Does corruption increase or decrease efficiency?

27:05 jailing politicians

29:19 Corruption in revolutionary societies

38 епізодів

Unjerked Podcast

Unjerked E19 - Corruption - Part 2

Unjerked Podcast

published рік тому

Поширити

MP3•Головна епізоду

44: Revolving door

7:58 Corruption of national vs local politics

8:51 Kids for cash for-profit jail controversy

12:30 amendment pay raise

13:00 term limits and corruption (1) (2) (3) (4)

15:51 Incumbency advantage

18:02 who watches the watchmen?

19:21 Corruption in historical societies

20:40 Pork barrel spending

23:40 Does corruption increase or decrease efficiency?

27:05 jailing politicians

29:19 Corruption in revolutionary societies

38 епізодів

#Podcasting Education #Comedy #Unjerked

Усі епізоди

1
Unjerked E38 Welfare Part 2 39:11

12 днів тому39:11

39:11

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Unjerked E37 Welfare Part 1 39:58

26 днів тому39:58

39:58

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Unjerked E36 Taxes Part 2 40:17

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about taxes in the United States. Why do we have them? What are the different types of taxes? What are the best tax policies? This is part 2 of 2 episodes. We discuss the tax rate of different income quintiles, both before and after transfer payments. We then discuss the net fiscal contribution each US state makes to the federal government. Next, we go over the tax rates at which government revenue is maximized, as well as the tax rates which maximize GDP growth. Next, we go over ways in which wealthier people evade taxes. We discuss the conceptual framework of corporate vs individual income vs capital gains tax. Wealthier people often avoid capital gains tax by borrowing money using stock as collateral. We discuss several reform ideas, to include transitioning from a sales tax to a VAT tax, transitioning from property tax to land tax, closing loopholes, and finding better ways to tax capital gains (to include removing step up cost basis). 0:56 Tax rates before and after transfers 3:00 State net contribution 8:55 Revenue maximizing tax rate 10:33 Revenue maximizes capital gains tax rate 11:25 GDP growth maximization (Pg 12-14) ( 2 ) 14:48 Why wealthy can pay lower taxes ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) 18:05 Corporate tax avoidance 19:12 Capital gains tax 20:30 Real estate 22:13 Reform ideas ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) 23:54 VAT tax 26:33 land tax ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) This is the Unjerked Podcast !…

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Unjerked E35 Taxes Part 1 36:30

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36:30

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about taxes in the United States. Why do we have them? What are the different types of taxes? What are the best tax policies? This is part 1 of 2 episodes. First we talk about the reason why taxes exist and an international comparison of rates. Then, we talk about trends in federal rates over time. During the 19th century, the US had an extremely low rate, consisting mostly of tariffs. This changed with the introduction of the amendment allowing for a national income tax, with additional increases during the New Deal era. Interestingly, a much larger percentage were paid by high income earners and by corporations. Over time, this has shifted more towards a higher share being funded through payroll taxes and by lower income earners. We then talk about the various federal taxes in the United States, to include the income, payroll, excise, capital gains, estate, and more. Finally, we discuss some of the state taxes which exist, and what those rates look like. Overall, there is no clear trend in terms of which states have higher rates than others. Oftentimes, when a state has a lower rate in a certain category (e.g. property), they will have a higher rate in another (e.g. income). 2:22 Intro 3:45 Why taxes exist 11:06 Public goods 11:23 Wealth redistribution? 12:13 International comparison 13:30 Global corporate tax 15:36 Federal tax over time 16:07 shift in percentage types of tax (tariff, etc) ( 2 ) 19:15 effective rates by income ( 2 ) 23:02 Actual effective tax rate in the 1950s 24:38 Deadweight loss vs social services 28:10 Federal tax types ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 ) ( 9 ) ( 10 ) ( 11 ) ( 12 ) ( 13 ) ( 14 ) 32:37 State taxes ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) This is the Unjerked Podcast?…

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Unjerked E34 Prisons Part 2 39:13

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39:13

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about prisons in the United States. Why are so many people in prison? What are some resolutions to this? This is Part 2 of 2 episodes. We first start going over the various actual causes of the incarceration problem in the US. This mostly revolves around tough on crime legislation, to include three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and strict probation and parole violation punishments. Interestingly, the research tends to suggest these policies also do not decrease the crime rate. We then talk about racial dynamics, to include disparities in arrest vs incarceration rates. Then we go over recidivism by type of crime. Following this, we go over the various mental health conditions which disproportionately affect incarcerated individuals, to include mood disorders and schizophrenia. Then we look at the correlation between personality disorders and incarceration. Finally, we talk about some reform ideas, to include better social support programs which reduce crime rates, less severe punishments for minor parole and probation violations, replacing short prison stays with community service or house arrest, replacing cash-bail with risk-based bail decisions, reducing private prisons, etc. 0:29 Public safety 2:45 Three strikes laws 5:30 mandatory minimums ( 2 ) 6:52 Probation 8:07 Racial dynamics ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) 11:11 Rate of being pulled over during the day and at night by race 12:15 Recidivism 12:47 Mental health and crime ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 ) 17:18 Dark triad ( 2 ) 19:38 NPD ( 2 ) 20:32 Cluster A/B/C disorders ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) 26:10 reform ideas…

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Unjerked E33 Prisons Part 1 35:28

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about prisons in the United States. Why are so many people in prison? What are some resolutions to this? This is Part 1 of 2 episodes. We first discuss the imprisonment rate by country across the world. Unfortunately, the US is one of the highest in the world, superseded only by a handful of other countries. We then discuss where prisoners are incarcerated in the United States. Most prisoners are held either in local jails or in state prisons, with much fewer people in federal prisons. Then we discuss the causes and non-causes of the high incarceration rate. Non-causes include private prisons and prison labor. Although they are controversial policies, they are not the driving factor behind high incarceration. Marginal causes include the drug war - they are not a leading cause of incarceration, but do contribute to a degree to the incarceration rate. The real causes of high incarceration include tough on crime policies such as three strike laws, mandatory minimum sentences, strict probation and parole requirements, and more. 5:51 Imprisonment rate by country 10:33 Prison rate map 13:00 Where prisoners are at 15:11 Non-causes 18:41 The sort-of causes 20:46 Real causes 22:08 Mandatory min 22:41 Pre-trial detention 26:12 Probation & parole 28:33 Reddit/twitter arguments This is the Unjerked Podcast!…

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Unjerked E32 Healthcare Costs Part 3 36:05

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36:05

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why are there supply constraints? Do these cause issues? This is Part 3 of 3 episodes. We first discuss the constraint on the supply of doctors due to the bottleneck of residency slots funded by the government. Because of the unprofitability of residents for hospitals, most of the supply of residents relies on subsidies from the Center For Medicare Services. Unfortunately, the annual number has been held constant since the 1990s. This leads to increased salaries for doctors which contribute to higher healthcare costs. Then we discuss certificate of need laws, which restrict the supply of hospitals in many states. Afterward, we discuss hospital administrative bloat, which is notably higher than in most other countries. We then go over some broader healthcare topics in the United States. These include the role of food subsidies, which tend toward refined simple carbs in the United States. We talk about the structural issues caused by an aging population, the difficulties with rural healthcare, and the negative effects private equity can have in the industry. Then, we discuss various possible solutions to reduce costs, to include increasing residency slots, negotiating drug prices at the governmental level, and more. Finally, we critique some common arguments seen online and why the are generally not valid. 0:50 Supply of doctors and residency bottleneck 4:28 Certificate of need laws 7:11 Hospital admin bloat 9:35 Food subsidies 10:50 Aging population 11:28 Rural healthcare 12:48 Private Equity 15:45 Possible solutions 24:52 Task shifting 25:41 Problematic counterarguments ( 2 ) This is the Unjerked Podcast!…

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Unjerked E31 Healthcare Costs Part 2 34:42

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34:42

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go? This is Part 2 of 3 episodes. We first go over some online arguments and claims related to healthcare. These include claims that the health system is either too free market or not free market enough, the high cost of admin, the theater of hospital cost negotiation, the role immigrants play, the lack of preventative medicine, profit motives, insurance being a scam, and more. Next we talk about market failures in the healthcare system. These include the steep demand curves due to the critical nature of healthcare, information asymmetry, opaque pricing, the inability to shop for the best service during an emergency scenario, and more. Then we talk about how most vital industries (water, electricity, food, etc) are regulated due to similar market failure risks. Then, we talk about how high drug prices in the US exist because of the lack of drug price negotiation due to politics. We then discuss pharmacy benefit mangers and the role they play in the drug market. Finally, we discuss the fee for service and pay for value systems, and how the current pay for value system could be leading to unnecessary scans and procedures. 0:40 Online arguments about healthcare 7:25 Initial responses to online arguments 12:09 Market failures 19:25 How other vital industries are regulated 22:08 Drug price negotiations 28:50 Pharmacy Benefit Managers 31:26 Fee for Service vs Pay for Value This is the Unjerked Podcast !…

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Unjerked E30 Healthcare Costs Part 1 36:25

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about healthcare costs in the United States. Why does it cost so much? Where exactly does the money go? This is Part 1 of 3 episodes. We first discuss the history of universal healthcare, starting in the late 1800s with Otto von Bismarck's reforms in Germany. Then we go over the concept of an insurance death spiral, and why insurance systems across industries are often mandatory. We then talk over the various systems, to include the Beveridge model, Bismarck model, National Health Insurance model, and out of pocket model. Afterward, we discuss why universal healthcare does not lead to authoritarian government control. We discuss how Americans put more money toward health spending than any other nation, while having worse health outcomes compared to peer nations. Then, we discuss where exactly your healthcare dollar goes. Major factors include higher drug spending, higher doctor salaries, and more administrative bloat. 3:16 Top level causes 6:24 Start of universal healthcare 8:40 Insurance death spiral 11:51 Beveridge model 12:40 Bismarck model 14:45 National health insurance 15:35 out of pocket 15:49 US system 17:11 why universal healthcare does not lead to autocracy 20:06 GDP spend on health vs outcomes ( 2 ) 21:57 Increasing spend over the years across most countries 24:03 avoidable death per 100k 25:51 GDP per capital vs healthcare spend 26:38 Health spend per capita per year 27:09 Where your health dollar goes 29:53 What is driving higher costs in the USA 35:02 Who owns hospitals in the USA? This is the Unjerked Podcast!…

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Unjerked E29 Are We Worse Off Part 2 1:04:32

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1:04:32

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about whether we are worse off now than we were in the past. In what ways are we better off than we were 70 years ago or 140 years ago? In what ways are we worse off? Overall, are we as a society in a good or bad place right now? This is Part 2 of 2 episodes. Unlike the first episode, the second episode goes over ways in which we are worse off. The include a dropping personal savings rate, rising housing costs, and rising healthcare costs. There are also rising existential risks in terms of climate risks, pandemics, and more. We also discuss the growth of misinformation and mental health issues due to social media. Finally, we discuss probably the largest way in which society is becoming worse - the loss of social bonds in terms of friendships, relationships, and more. We then discuss the rise in deaths of despair, growing mistrust in institutions, and more. Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Podbean , Spotify , Amazon Music , Tunein , iHeartRadio , Player FM , Listen Notes , Podchaser , or Boomplay 0:30 Personal savings rate 1:46 Households that are cost burdened in terms of housing 5:11 Healthcare costs ( 2 ) 8:43 Existential risks 13:56 Social media ( 2 ) 14:35 Friendship and human connection ( 2 ) 20:51 Substance abuse ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) 22:44 Deaths of despair 23:26 Lack of trust in institutions ( 2 ) 26:15 Fertility 32:00 Follow up discussion on mistrust of institutions 40:18 Are poor American wealthier than medieval kings? 47:56 Climate anxiety 52:00 Decline of US GDP 54:51 Inequality & debt crisis This is the Unjerked Podcast!…

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Unjerked E28 Are We Worse Off Part 1 47:48

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47:48

William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about whether we are worse off now than we were in the past. In what ways are we better off than we were 70 years ago or 140 years ago? In what ways are we worse off? Overall, are we as a society in a good or bad place right now? This is Part 1 of 2 episodes. 4:03 Crime 4:42 War and Conflict ( 2 ) ( 3 ) 8:21 Health 9:02 Infectious disease 11:05 Cancer deaths 12:24 Metabolic disease 16:38 Addictive food 17:59 Global health development 20:26 Health insurance coverage 21:00 Real median household income 24:26 Real disposable per capital personal income 25:00 Food as percent of budget 26:19 Debt servicing as percent of household budget 27:42 Financial obligations ratio 28:37 Household debt to GDP 29:23 Transportation as percent of spending 30:17 Level of education 30:57 Global real GDP per capital 31:50 Minority rights 32:40 Regulation 32:51 Lifestyle: travel 33:45 Technology 35:00 Nuclear war 37:00 US Inequality 39:41 Global inequality 41:35 Consumer debt service payments as percent of disposable personal income 42:17 Democracy 43:38 Misinformation 45:16 Happiness and sense of purpose…

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Unjerked E27 Local Vs National Politics Part 2 39:13

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about local vs national politics. This is Part 2 of 2 episodes. We first discuss comparisons in spending patterns and budgets between local, state, and federal governments. These include discussions around public housing spending, social insurance, law enforcement, national security, and more. Then we discuss the different tax structures at the local and national level. This includes the higher amount of revenue coming from payroll and income tax at the federal level, compared to more revenue from property and sales taxes at the local level. After this, we discuss some of the reasons behind the lack of interest in local news. This includes a drop in local news, lack of interest in less salient local issues, the transient nature of young people, and more. Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Podbean , Spotify , Amazon Music , Tunein , iHeartRadio , Player FM , Listen Notes , Podchaser , or Boomplay 2:31 Local vs federal incarceration 4:53 Public housing spending 5:43 Social insurance 6:21 Law enforcement 8:45 National security budget 11:07 Fiscal responsibility of federal vs local 13:36 Taxes ( 2 ) ( 3 ) 19:46 Federal transfers ( 2 ) 21:00 Drop in local news 25:00 Local politics is not interesting 25:53 Transience of younger people ( 2 ) 28:50 Accelerationist argument 32:40 Supremacy clause in practice 36:23 Social issues at the national vs local level…

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Unjerked E26 Local Vs National Politics Part 1 39:24

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about local vs national politics. This is Part 1 of 2 episodes. We first discuss our thesis on why local politics matters - it has more control over our lives than we think, and it's the pipeline into running for national office. We discuss the massive number of uncontested elections in the United States, and the low participation rate in local elections. Specifically, we discuss how the Presidential election has the highest participation rate, followed by other federal elections, then state elections, then local elections. We then discuss the constitutional basis for state vs federal political power. Specifically, we discuss the role of the 10th amendment as well as the supremacy clause. Then we discuss the concepts of home rule and Dillon's rule, the role of states and municipalities in incarceration, the number of government employees at each level of government, and the budget size of each level of government. Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Podbean , Spotify , Amazon Music , Tunein , iHeartRadio , Player FM , Listen Notes , Podchaser , or Boomplay 0:52 Thesis on local politics 6:16 Voter participation rate 11:35 Uncontested elections 13:50 Participation in elections depends on size of municipality 16:02 Pipeline into federal politics 19:26 Constitutional basis for state vs federal ( 2 ) 22:25 Dillons and home rule ( 2 ) 25:48 Prison population 33:44 Number of government employees ( 2 ) 36:15 Budgets This is the Unjerked Podcast !…

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Unjerked E25 - Trade - Part 2 45:26

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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about trade and industry. This is Part 1 of 2 episodes. Like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Podbean , Spotify , Amazon Music , Tunein , iHeartRadio , Player FM , Listen Notes , Podchaser , or Boomplay 0:52 Specialization 2:05 Higher real output 3:48 Trade freedom and GDP per capital 4:08 Rust belt and social disintegration 5:17 Price vs quality competition 10:14 Targeted education? 10:55 Can we compete on quality in industrials 13:10 Difficulty of competing on price 15:31 Modular nuclear in Appalachia? 16:12 Comparing the loss of agriculture jobs to loss of industrial jobs 19:05 Reddit/Twitter arguments 29:48 Tariffs 34:35: Neo-mercantilism & Autarky 36:06 Other solutions?…

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Unjerked E24 - Trade - Part 1 39:02

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