The Argument

Are we on the road to serfdom?

For this month’s book club, Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias read Friedrich von Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom,” the 1944 book that argued central planning inevitably lea

How 9/11 changed American politics forever

As the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias look back at the day itself, the warning signs that preceded it, and th

Nate Silver on why the center-left is losing

Nate Silver thinks the center-left might be right about a lot of policy questions, but they're still losing the political argument. He joins Jerusalem Demsas, Matt Yglesi

Derek Thompson on the antisocial century

Americans are spending more time alone than ever before. Derek Thompson, author of "The Anti-Social Century" and co-author of Abundance, joins Jerusalem Demsas and Matthe

Are elites just whoever you don’t like?

Who actually counts as an elite in America? The Argument ran its own poll on elite perception, and the results scramble a lot of conventional wisdom. Billionaires and ce

What's wrong with Bowling Alone?

Is there really a loneliness crisis? Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias read Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, the 2000 classic that diagnosed America's collapse in communi

#MeToo didn’t go far enough

Many people say the #MeToo movement went too far. Jerusalem Demsas disagrees: she thinks it didn't go far enough. Matt Yglesias wants to talk about what the movement actu

You don't actually want to buy a house

Most Americans still see buying a home as the ultimate financial goal, but Jerusalem Demsas thinks homeownership is overrated. Matt Yglesias, a proud homeowner, disagrees

Why AI might not replace us after all

Most Americans fear that AI is about to cause widespread job losses, so Matt Yglesias and Jerusalem Demsas brought in their first-ever guest, Timothy B. Lee of the Unders

What AOC and Bernie Sanders get wrong about the oligarchy

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been packing arenas on their "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, but Matt Yglesias doesn't think the oligarchy is real. Jerusalem

Was Jane Jacobs the first NIMBY?

For this month's book club, Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias read The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the 1961 classic that changed how everyone thinks about n

Is assimilation racist?

Should immigrants have to assimilate? Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias take on the growing idea that immigrants shouldn't have to assimilate to belong in America. Jerus

The Biden legacy: A ranking of failures

The Bidens are back in the news, thanks to Jill Biden’s new book and Joe’s apparent difficulties raising money for his presidential library. So Jerusalem Demsas and Matth

Andrew Tate, Dan Bilzerian, and the death of romance

Is online dating advice actually making it harder to find love?  This week, Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias wade into the world of online dating advice, from the m

How environmentalists lost the plot

Is modern environmentalism anti-progress? This week, Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring – the book that launched the modern environ

Do we need to build God to cure cancer?

AI companies keep promising it will cure cancer. But what does that actually mean — and would an AI capable of doing it be one we'd want to live alongside? Jerusalem Dems

Why is crime falling everywhere?

America is on track for its lowest homicide year since 1900, but nobody seems to be celebrating. Matt Yglesias and Jerusalem Demsas debate why crime has dropped so dramat

Why Democrats and Republicans want you to pay $50,000 for a car

This week on The Argument, Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias debate the tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Jerusalem argues that Americans should have access to ch

Did Joe Biden really kill Spirit Airlines?

Spirit Airlines is dead and the right, true to form, is blaming Joe Biden.  The immediate cause of Spirit's demise is pretty clear: the war with Iran spiked jet fuel cos

Boy moms and Nazi POWs: how "The Feminine Mystique" changed feminism

Betty Friedan thought Korean POWs were dying in captivity because their mothers were housewives. She thought boy moms were making their sons gay. She wrote a whole chapte