Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 15: Reagan's Trade Paradox: Free-Market Saint, Surprise Protectionist

WWKMD, Episode 19: Marx vs. the Self-Checkout: Who’s Really Doing the Work?

Ready for episode two? Picture Karl Marx standing at the self-checkout — baffled, amused, and secretly nodding. These machines promise freedom and speed, but somehow leave you doing the cashier’s job while also being treated like a suspect. We take a quick, friendly look at how automation shifts work, ramps up surveillance, and dresses cost-cutting as convenience. It’s irritating, a little hilarious, and exactly the kind of contradiction Marx would have loved to point out.

WWKMD, Episode 18: Karl Marx at Walmart — Part 1: The Shopping Cart Showdown

Want to hear a wild take on why people fight over shopping carts? This episode uses Marx to show how unpaid labor gets hidden as “common decency,” and why we end up policing each other instead of questioning the system. It’s short, sharp, and a little cheeky — perfect if you want to see how a tiny everyday thing reveals something much bigger about work, profit, and who really pays the bill.

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 17: From Buchanan to Trump: How a Forgotten Nationalist Foretold the Tariff Turn

If you liked the series, here’s a quick wrap: Pat Buchanan basically saw the backlash to globalization coming long before it was trendy. He mixed culture wars with industrial anger and helped invent the language modern populists use today. It’s a weird mix of prophet and provocateur — he wanted a long-term nationalist economic plan, not the showmanship of tweets and sudden tariffs. Either way, his fingerprints are all over today’s debates about sovereignty, trade, and who gets to control the economy.

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 16: Ross Perot’s Charts: The Man Who Saw NAFTA’s Fallout Coming

Remember Ross Perot? He wasn’t just the loud guy with the giant charts; he was one of the first to warn that free trade could hollow out towns and jobs, and he said it with spreadsheets instead of slogans. His blend of technocratic anger and plain-speaking populism helps explain why today’s tariff fights feel both familiar and messy — part policy debate, part long-delayed political payback. Listen, the man didn’t get everything right, but he sure spotted a trend early.

Tariffs (thread 3), Episode 15: Reagan's Trade Paradox: Free-Market Saint, Surprise Protectionist

This episode peels back the myth of Reagan as a pure free-market hero and shows the messy, pragmatic side: tariffs, quotas, and handshakes with uneasy allies when American factories faltered. It’s a friendly, clear look at how fear of decline, Cold War strategy, and a faith in capitalism shaped his trade moves — the contradictions are oddly human and kind of fascinating.