Freakonomics Radio

This aging conversation seems to be big right now. Many aspects of aging well seem to be discussed here in this podcast and in others. What’s not being discussed is that this longevity spaced also includes us living longer at the stage where we need more care from others. Yeah, have we discussed that, in our retirement age, we will might not be working longer, nor traveling to wonderful places…no…we will be providing more care for many more years for our elders…changing adult diapers, meal prep, getting them up every morning and helping them get dressed, making sure they don’t fall. Then there is grocery shopping, house maintenance, grass mowing, haircuts, nail trims, trips to get toenails cut, bathing, helping them brush their teeth…and the list goes on. This is not pretty, nor fun, for the care giver and the care receiver. And this can be years in this stage…our family is heading to its fourth year with one brother putting his “retirement years” on hold…while he provides about four plus hours of care, a few in the morning and three in the evening/night for our elderly mom. He does this EVERY day, accept when me and my other brother can give him a break. And hiring every aspect out gets very expensive. So yeah….lets talk about aging from this angle? This is important. And it’s real! It’s hidden.

As a University of Chicago graduate, I really enjoyed Steven Levitt shaping the contours of what was initially a very insightful book and podcast. But Dubner’s political proclivities are starting to overwhelm like a bad wine with a singular flavor profile. The recent conversation with Cory Booker included so much divisive language that the episode feels like it would serve to divide the country more than unify. Neither Dubner nor Booker seem to have their thumb truly on the pulse of how Americans thinking and feel. As somebody who has lived in some of the largest and most progressive cities in the country in the world, but has also lived in poverty in rural areas throughout the country, I feel like that the lack of perspective to be a prime example of the Dunning Kruger Effect, showing that they’re ”often wrong but never in doubt.” Sad. Maybe it’s time for a new host. I mean, I know Dubner co-authored the book with Levitt, but Dubner has become difficult to listen to.

The Booker interview had potential to be good and you went half way to good interview. How are baby bonds a bad idea? Is Booker making perfect the enemy of the good or something else? For someone aware of the hidden reasons behind everything you didn’t push to understand how Booker’s ideas, enacted by the other party are now bad. Be better, ask those questions or don’t bother to interview.

Dubner feels like he’s either lost his touch or I’m just not sure what the first episodes of the podcast were supposed to embody. His questions are so low-ball as to either be gimmes or reflect the most basic political discourse. Who’s freakonomics for? I want to understand the real impact of presidential policy on the economy, but the podcast doesn’t take enough of a stance. To be clear, I don’t need this to tell me how to think, but I’d like some more critical analysis of how policy changes will change the average American’s daily life.