Cato Daily Podcast

Medicaid spending on autism therapy jumped from $300 million to $2 billion in just eight states over seven years. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jeff Singer, and Adam Omary argue the cause isn't an epidemic; it's distorted incentives and a diagnostic manual that keeps expanding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For 18 years, the NSA has collected Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 with no probable cause warrant required. Cato's Patrick Eddington and Maria Sofia break down the latest reauthorization fight and what genuine reform would look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Consumer prices are up 28% in six years and inflation is accelerating again. Cato's Ryan Bourne, Jai Kedia, Colin Grabow, and Stephen Slivinski unpack Cato's new Handbook on Affordability and the macroeconomic and supply-side reforms that could actually help. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The top 10% pays 60% of all federal taxes, the bottom 20% pays effectively nothing, and last year's tax cuts added new complexity. Cato's Chris Edwards and Adam Michel unpack the numbers and make the case for real reform. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vice President JD Vance traveled to Hungary this week to campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, hailing him as a defender of Western civilization. Cato's Ryan Bourne sits down with Johan Norberg to discuss Orbán’s actual record in government: weakened checks and balances, crony capitalism, and social policies that have fallen short of Orbán’s ambitions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump's executive order challenges 150 years of birthright citizenship law, hinging on four words in the 14th Amendment. The Cato Institute's Tommy Berry, Dan Greenberg, and David Bier unpack the constitutional stakes and what the justices signaled at oral arguments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Davies’s new book, The Great Realignment, argues that the key political divide of the past century — markets versus state control — is being displaced by a new aligning issue: nationalism, sovereignty, and collective identity versus cosmopolitanism and globalism. Cato’s Ryan Bourne talks with Davies about why today’s biggest political fights seem less about tax and spending and more about borders, culture, and who governs, how these non-economic conflicts still have deep economic roots, and what this new alignment persisting would mean for libertarians and economic policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TSA agents are staying home; airport lines are hours long, and Congress still cannot agree on a DHS funding bill. The Cato Institute's Pat Eddington and Chris Edwards say this is a consequence of tying aviation security to the federal budget; a mistake other high-income countries do not make. With high failure rates in covert screening tests and a long trail of civil liberties abuses including secret watchlist criteria and a mass domestic passenger surveillance program, the case for privatizing airport security is stronger than ever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Massachusetts is weighing a ballot initiative that would cap rent increases at the rate of inflation with no vacancy decontrol, one of the most stringent rent control regimes proposed in the country. Cato's Ryan Bourne and Jeff Miron walk through why economists are nearly unanimous in opposing rent control: it shrinks rental supply, degrades housing quality, and tends to benefit longer-term, higher-income tenants rather than the low-income renters it claims to help. As Cambridge's own history shows, the policy doesn't just fail to solve the affordability problem; it actively makes it worse.We want to hear from you! Please share your thoughts in a 3-minute anonymous survey to help us refine our programming at Cato.org/PodcastSurvey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Newport Beach and along California's state beaches, government-created monopolies have effectively banned independent surf instructors from earning a living, with one instructor fined $40,000 after an undercover sting operation. Stephen Slivinski, Caleb Trotter of Pacific Legal Foundation, and Cato's Tommy Berry explore why First Amendment claims may be the sharpest tool available for fighting back against occupational protectionism. If these cases succeed, the precedent could crack open economic liberty litigation far beyond California's coastline.We want to hear from you! Please share your thoughts in a 3-minute anonymous survey to help us refine our programming at Cato.org/PodcastSurvey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato’s new media fellow, Rikki Schlott, joins Ryan Bourne to talk Gen Z: how social media shaped them, why online life has made young people both more anxious and more persuadable, and how the socialist left and the alt-right have each found fertile ground. They discuss the strange incentives of the attention economy, what Mamdani and other online political entrepreneurs get right, and whether libertarian ideas can be made to resonate with a generation raised on algorithms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A 30-day DHS shutdown hasn't slowed ICE or Border Patrol, because nearly $170 billion in One Big Beautiful Bill funding keeps them running with minimal transparency and almost no congressional oversight. Cato's Dominik Lett and David Bier break down how the shutdown exposes a deeper dysfunction: both parties have turned spending into a ratchet, growing the government they want while refusing to review what the other side built. The appropriations process isn't just broken; Congress has quietly agreed to stop fixing it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI policy discussions increasingly hinge on control: who sets the terms for how AI can be used, what it can say, and who gets access. Cato's Ryan Bourne hosts Jennifer Huddleston, Senior Fellow in Technology Policy, to discuss the federal government’s escalating dispute with Anthropic, New York’s proposal to police chatbot advice, and the public fears making restrictive AI policy more politically attractive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beyond the immediate crisis, the conversation explores the unintended consequences of military escalation in the Middle East and the limits of U.S. policy responses once global energy flows are disrupted. Cato's Evan Sankey and Colin Grabow examine how great-power politics, alliance commitments, and domestic economic pressures will shape the administration’s next moves as the conflict unfolds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The push for new federal databases and legislation like the SAVE Act is often justified as necessary to stop widespread unlawful voting. But according to election administrators and investigators, confirmed cases are vanishingly rare. Cato's Walter Olson and Stephen Richer explore how voter roll audits actually work, why database matching can produce misleading headlines, and what the evidence reveals about the scale of the problem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the White House signals openness to escalation and murky and conflicting objectives, uncertainty clouds both the legal basis and strategic endgame of U.S. involvement in Iran. The Cato Institute's Justin Logan, Thomas Berry, and Brandan P. Buck examine the constitutional and political questions surrounding the U.S. war on Iran. They explore whether the president has legal authority to initiate hostilities without congressional approval, why President Trump launched the war and how it might end, and why Congress struggles to reclaim its war-making authority. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday was a full-throated victory lap: America is supposedly “bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever.” Cato’s Ryan Bourne, Clark Neily, and Evan Sankey separate truth from exaggeration—testing the economic claims, unpacking the legal fight over tariff power, and decoding the foreign-policy moves behind the applause lines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cato’s Katherine Thompson sits down with Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy to examine the persistent conflict between Congress and the presidency over war powers. From potential military action against Iran to past debates over Yemen and Venezuela, they explore how successive administrations have expanded executive authority and why Congress has struggled to reclaim its constitutional role. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ryan Bourne sits down with Cato’s Adam Michel to unpack what the 2026 tax year will bring, including new provisions commonly described as “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime." They also explore the economics of California's billionaire tax ballot initiative, and whether Trump Accounts are a good savings vehicle.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From organizing pioneering conferences in China and the Soviet Union to insisting on rigorous scholarship and principled advocacy, Ed Crane brought classical liberal ideas into mainstream policy debates. Ian Vásquez, Jim Dorn, and Aaron Steelman share firsthand stories about Cato’s growth, Crane’s strategic vision, and the long-term approach that shaped debates on markets, foreign policy, and individual liberty around the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.