Optimist Economy

Working from home, a new study in the journal Science says, leaves employees lonelier, sadder, and more likely to be depressed. So does that mean everybody get back to your office desks so morale improves? The authors looked at rates of mental distress among people in jobs that could be done remotely or not before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and concluded that remote work is responsible for about a third of the overall increase, with the worst results for people who live alone. But before-and-after is not cause-and-effect. Isolation is real. Chaining everyone to a desk for friendship is not the only fix.

Chapters:
00:01:44 Announcements
00:02:27 Retcon: Immigrants work in every occupation; occupational crowding; sports betting scandals
00:07:21 Terms & Conditions: Procedural; remotable vs. non-remotable jobs
00:10:00 Big Pilcrow: Does Work From Home Make Us Sad?
00:37:21 Executive Orders: News alerts; more brass!
00:38:28 Spiritual Sponsors: Animal conservation workers; Andrew Bird

We are entirely listener supported! Join the Optimist donors here: https://optimisteconomy.com

Watch clips on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel. We’re also on Instagram at @optimist_economy or TikTok at @optimist_economy. Want full video? See above about donating.

Chat with other Optimists on Substack.

Sale on T-shirts: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy

Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com

Since the U.S. Supreme Court let states legalize betting on sports in 2018, gambling has exploded. More than half of men ages 18 to 49 say they have an active account with an online sportsbook. Want to bet on a game, a play, or even an individual performance? The bookie is always open on your phone, and it sends promo credits to keep you in the game. Young men see the harm up close. The share of men under 30 who call legal sports betting bad for society has more than doubled since 2022, to 47%. Built to be addictive, sports betting is like cigarettes—and deserves a public health response. 

Chapters:

00:01:02 Announcements
00:02:27 Retcon: Healthcare moral hazard vs. cost-sharing; networks and military branches
00:07:37 Terms & Conditions: Handle, the hold, and the tulip bubble
00:12:52 Big Pilcrow: Sports betting, prediction markets, and addiction
00:41:42 Executive Orders: Free museum entry for union members; kid-sized sink staircases
00:44:26 Spiritual Sponsors: Hermanos Gutiérrez; good procedural movies

We are entirely listener supported! Join your Optimist donors here: https://optimisteconomy.com

Video-curious? Watch clips on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠. We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy. Want full video? See above about donating.

Chat with other Optimists on Substack.

Rep your optimism with Optimist Economy merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy

Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders?  Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com

Over a year into the administration's anti-immigration agenda, we’re seeing the economic fallout. For the first time in at least 50 years, estimates are that we lost immigrants on net; far fewer than usual arrived and a somewhat higher than usual number left. But if anyone benefited from that shift, it wasn’t U.S.-born workers. Even against the backdrop of our weak labor market, foreign-born workers now have slightly lower unemployment rates and higher labor market participation than they did two years ago. Their wages have also ticked up. Meanwhile, reduced population growth has thrown the country’s economic benchmarks into chaos, making it harder to interpret job creation, GDP, and the health of the labor market.

Chapters:
00:00:50 Announcements: Send us your anticipated Thanksgiving dinner fights
00:01:45 Retcon: Consumer sentiment update, auto-enrollment for Trump Accounts 
00:07:43 Terms & Conditions: Plutocratic
00:08:42 Big Pilcrow: Immigration and the Economy
00:36:38 Executive Orders: “The media isn’t covering this” comments; best-of award for bookstore tote bags.
00:38:31 Spiritual Sponsors: Sonoratown and an IPA on tap

Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com

Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠. We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy. 

Chat with other Optimists on Substack.

Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy

Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders?  Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com

The Consumer Sentiment Index has tracked how Americans experience the U.S. economy through bouts of runaway inflation, a mortgage crisis, stock market bubbles, and six recessions. And yet the scores right now are lower than at any of those moments. After nearly 50 years of tracking by the University of Michigan, Consumer Sentiment has broken through the basement. Beneath the five index questions are some clues as to why: Since 2008, the number of people who say the government is doing a poor job has grown from about a third to about three-quarters. This dissatisfaction has been a slow burn — and it’s also evidence that Americans are ready for bold, non-incremental economic change.

0:00 — Opening
6:25 — Retcon: Vacation Days & Moral Hazard in Healthcare
11:18 — Terms & Conditions: Likert Scale
14:24 — The Big Pilcrow: What’s Consumer Sentiment Telling Us?
17:20 — Record Lows: Sentiment Breaks From the Other Economic Metrics
20:54 — The Five Index Questions: Take Consumer Sentiment Survey Yourself!
26:55 — How’s the Government Doing Managing the Economy? Survey says…Poor
29:39 — It's the Economy, Stupid
31:16 — Partisanship Cancels Itself Out
33:11 — Why This Isn't the Same as What Happened to Biden
35:25 — Who Does Feel Good?
36:07 — Low Sentiment Deserves Big Policy
38:07 — Executive Orders: Hold the reservation. Too many eggs. 
41:52 — Spiritual Sponsors: So, so many
47:17 — Credits

We’re making Thanksgiving plans. Got a dinner table debate we can help with? Send it to optimist.economy@gmail.com (and put Thanksgiving in the subject line).

Donate to Optimist Economy, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit: https://optimisteconomy.com

All the swearing is on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠. We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy. And Facebook, but you’ll just have to search for that. 

Chat with other Optimists on Substack.

Optimist hats are back in stock at the merch store: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy

(Originally aired June 10, 2025) The national debt is $36 trillion. That could be a panic-inducing big number. So maybe it will help to understand how we ran up that debt. We've blown 37% of it on tax cuts, with precious little to show for that. But 28% went to stabilize the economy during two major crises (in ‘08-’09 and during the COVID pandemic), which is when you do want the federal government to pull out its credit card. Good news is we don’t have to get the debt to zero. We just need to get it moving in that direction. And for listeners waiting for MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) to make a cameo, that moment has arrived. 
Support Optimist Economy by becoming a paid Substack subscriber here, or by making a contribution at https://buymeacoffee.com/optimisteconomy
Complete show notes with links to articles and data at optimisteconomy.com.
You can also find Optimist Economy on:

TikTok

YouTube

Instagram

Read more:

From Riches to Rags: Causes of Fiscal Deterioration Since 2001 [Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 2024]

Economic Effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act [Congressional Research Service, 2025]

Is Modern Monetary Theory Nutty or Essential? [The Economist, 2019]
Is This What Winning Looks Like?: Modern Monetary Theory, the buzziest economic idea in decades, got a pandemic tryout of sorts. Now inflation is testing its limits. [New York Times, 2022]