New Reason Roundtable: Will the War in Iran Crash the Global Economy?
Plus: Kristi Noem is fired as DHS secretary, a listener asks about libertarian drug use, and new polling reveals Americans distrust AI and each other.
There’s a new Reason Roundtable podcast up, with Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, Matt Welch, and me talking about the effects of the Trump administration’s poorly conceived, poorly planned war with Iran on, among other things, the global economy. There’s also a great discussion of a listener question about drug use (legal and otherwise) and my cultural recommendation is Stewart Brand’s new book Maintenance of Everything, Part One, which is a real tour de force by the 87-year-old cofounder of The Whole Earth Catalog, the Long Now Foundation, and de-extinction group Revive & Restore.
Here’s the Reason writeup, following by links to the YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and SoundCloud versions.
This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch discuss the escalating war with Iran and its growing economic consequences. With oil prices surging past $100 a barrel, the panel examines the risks to global energy markets and the broader economy. They also debate the war’s trajectory after Iran elevates a new hardline supreme leader and launches wider counterattacks, raising fears of global escalation, nuclear proliferation, and the White House signaling that Cuba could be the next target.
They also discuss the removal of Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security and what her turbulent tenure says about the popularity of hardline immigration tactics. Then, the editors look at new polling showing that Americans dislike artificial intelligence more than Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), continue to view government as the country’s biggest problem, and report collapsing levels of social trust. They also answer a listener’s question about drug use in libertarian circles.
0:00—Economic fallout of war with Iran
10:12—China and the risk of global escalation
25:04—Noem removed as secretary of Homeland Security
35:36—Listener question on libertarian drug use
44:27—New polling on AI, social trust, and government approval
57:30—Weekly cultural recommendations
Producer: Paul Alexander
Video Editor: Ian Keyser
What are we consuming this week?
Nick Gillespie: Maintenance of Everything, Part One, by Stewart Brand
Peter Suderman: The Bride!
Matt Welch: Shampoo
Katherine Mangu-Ward: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kirin Desai
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