Cato Podcast

Cato’s Neal McCluskey is joined by Cheryl Fields-Smith, Matthew Lee, and Ron Matus to discuss the new book Fighting for the Freedom to Learn and the centuries-long movement for school choice in America. They challenge the myth that school choice is a modern or partisan project, showing how diverse communities, religious groups, progressives, and parents have long sought pluralistic education options, which is the only way to deliver education consistent with a free and diverse society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With aircraft carriers moving into position and calls for “new leadership” in Tehran growing louder, the risk of U.S. military action remains high despite the absence of a coherent strategy. The Cato Institute's Brandan P. Buck and Jon Hoffman argue that vague objectives, inflated threat perceptions, and regime-change fantasies threaten to pull the United States into a costly war that Americans do not want. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From over-the-counter drugs to employer-controlled health benefits, Cato's Michael Cannon and Dr. Jeffrey Singer argue that real health reform means giving patients control over their own money rather than reshuffling subsidies. They explain how freeing short-term plans, deregulating prescriptions, and ending tax favoritism for employer insurance could deliver lower prices, broader choice, and more durable reform than another round of federal spending. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato's David Bier and Chris Edwards discuss the welfare fraud scandals in Minnesota, including the $250 million Feeding Our Future scam, to explain how federal money flowing through state programs creates weak oversight and incentives for abuse. They argue that the structure of federal aid to states, not immigration or individual bad actors, is the core driver of fraud in welfare, housing, and health programs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As data centers begin demanding power at the scale of entire cities, the electricity system is running headlong into regulatory barriers built for a different era. The Cato Institute's Travis Fisher sits down with Glen Lyons, the founder of Advocates for Consumer Regulated Electricity, to explore proposals for off-grid utilities, Senator Tom Cotton’s new legislation, and how market-based approaches could accelerate supply while protecting consumers from rising costs and reliability risks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.