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Each week on Cato Podcast, leading scholars and policymakers from the Cato Institute delve into the big ideas shaping our world: individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Whether unpacking current events, debating civil liberties, exploring technological innovation, or tracing the history of classical liberal thought, we promise insightful analysis grounded in rigorous research and Cato’s signature libertarian perspective.
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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.
The arrest of Nicolás Maduro raises hard questions about presidential power, congressional authority, and the legal boundaries of military force. Cato's Brandan P. Buck and Clark Neily analyze the operation’s status under U.S. and international law, its implications for future conflicts, and why ambiguity has become the executive branch’s most dangerous tool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A Russian dissident living in exile finds her US bank accounts closed after being labeled an extremist by the Kremlin. Nicholas Anthony interviews Anna Chekhovich of the Anti-Corruption Foundation about her experience being debanked. Together, they unpack how sanctions, anti-money laundering rules, and financial surveillance systems enable authoritarian governments to silence critics beyond their borders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A plan to massively expand FDIC insurance is gaining traction in Washington, despite little evidence that customers or community banks are asking for it. Cato's Nicholas Anthony, Norbert Michel, and Jill Castilla, CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond, show how the proposal would subsidize wealthy depositors, weaken market discipline, and entrench bailout expectations across the banking system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From Australia’s social media ban to U.S. and UK age-verification laws, governments are increasingly treating online access as something to be licensed. Cato's Jennifer Huddleston and David Inserra explore how these policies collide with free expression, parental autonomy, and privacy, and why empowering families works better than sweeping government bans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Intended to save fuel and protect consumers, CAFE standards have instead penalized efficient small cars, subsidized trucks and SUVs, and created a de facto electric-vehicle mandate. Cato's Chad Davis, Brent Skorup, and Peter Van Doren trace how decades of regulatory layering have increased vehicle manufacturing costs, reduced affordability for consumers, and locked automakers into an endless cycle of policy reversals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A new Cato survey reveals that Americans overwhelmingly support Social Security while fundamentally misunderstanding its structure, finances, and long-term viability. Romina Boccia and Emily Ekins explore how myths about personal accounts, proportional benefits, and trust-fund solvency shape public opinion — and why ignorance makes meaningful reform politically elusive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1Cato's Ian Vásquez and the Fraser Institute's Matt Mitchell walk through the 2025 edition of the Human Freedom Index, documenting a worldwide decline in economic, civil, and personal freedoms that began before the pandemic and sharply accelerated after it. They explain how populism, authoritarian emergency powers, trade restrictions, and speech controls have left nine in ten people living in less free societies, and why the recovery remains uneven and fragile. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Cato's Michael Cannon and the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's Stephen Moses examine how Medicaid’s long-term-care eligibility rules let middle- and upper-middle-class households shelter assets and shift costs onto taxpayers, driving up spending and lowering quality for the poor. Drawing on Moses’s new Cato paper Better Long-Term Care for Billions Less, they explain how perverse incentives, generous exemptions, and weak estate recovery undermine private planning and inflate a program already consuming one-third of Medicaid’s budget. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Cato Institute's Katherine Thompson and Josh Shifrinson join Justin Logan to dissect the most contentious passages of the National Security Strategy, including its warnings about European “civilizational erasure,” its revived Monroe Doctrine instincts, and the absence of military escalation language on China. The discussion weighs whether this NSS truly reflects restraint and realism or simply refines old habits under a new rhetorical wrapping. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Cato Institute's Jeff Singer and Michael Fox mark Repeal Day by examining how alcohol prohibition and the modern drug war share the same destructive logic: criminalizing peaceful people, fueling black markets, corrupting law enforcement incentives, and empowering violent traffickers. Drawing on real-world examples of overdose deaths, civil forfeiture, and policing excesses, they argue for a consistent, liberty-based framework that treats drug users with the same legal respect afforded to alcohol consumers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Cato adjunct scholars Terence Kealey and John Early join Ryan Bourne to discuss the pair's new Cato working paper Mission Lost: How NIH Leaders Stole Its Promise to America. Kealey and Early detail how the National Institutes of Health's shift from financing mission-led research to funding basic science has reduced its effectiveness in improving Americans' health, all the while crowding out cutting-edge commercial science, and funnelling taxpayer dollars to a range of questionable projects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is your Thanksgiving dinner more or less affordable this year? Human Progress's Marian Tupy joins the Cato Institute's Ryan Bourne to discuss the political battle over affordability, the long-term costs of high inflation, and how time-prices show most goods becoming more abundant over time. Plus, the pair discuss human progress developments and why they are both thankful for the USA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Cato's Chad Davis and Travis Fisher examine the gulf between symbolic climate pledges and the real-world complexities of energy use — from EV carbon costs to fossil-fueled resilience against natural disasters. They argue that the “climate homicide” narrative misreads the data, and that abundant, affordable energy remains humanity’s greatest defense against climate risk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
FEMA was meant to help only when disasters exceeded state capacity. Yet today it functions primarily as a national subsidy machine, encouraging development in floodplains, bailing out wealthy coastal states, and shifting costs onto taxpayers far from the danger zones. The Cato Institute's Dominik Lett and Chris Edwards discuss how well-intentioned federal aid has created perverse incentives, bureaucratic delays, and a long tail of spending that continues decades after storms like Katrina. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Romina Boccia, Michael F. Cannon, and Adam Michel break down the 43-day government shutdown driven by demands to extend temporary Obamacare subsidies for upper-income households earning well into six figures. The trio examines how the stalemate exposed deeper structural problems: runaway entitlement growth, perverse state incentives, a fragile food stamp and air-traffic control system, and a federal budget process unable to handle partisan deadlock. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Cato Institute's Justin Logan and Brandan P. Buck unpack the Trump administration’s shifting justifications for military action in Venezuela, from fentanyl and cocaine interdiction to Monroe Doctrine revivalism. They explore the legal and strategic risks of invoking war powers under dubious pretenses, warning that the push for regime change could repeat the mistakes of Libya and Iraq while doing little to solve the hemisphere’s drug or governance problems.Show Notes:https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dont-do-it-mr-president/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/when-peace-through-strength-means-war-is-peace/https://www.cato.org/commentary/us-military-cant-solve-fentanyl-crisis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Great thing is that we are moving into a world that is described in this episode. The current court isneven going towards restoring the non-delegation doctrine.
Zoning laws are a government "taking" of your private property rights. Local government #Tyranny #LocalGovernment #RLC
I think it's very odd that people who make their living financing start-ups (taking considerable risk) would make the decision to keep enormous sums in one bank. Not so smart. A venture capital risk in a venture capital bank! Deposit bailout over 250K? Why not take a BIG haircut and learn a lesson? Hope the Fed has a really good answer for saving the VC's from their own mistake, Especially since they triggered the bank run in the first place!
Caleb Brown is such a liberal shill
Great episode. Brilliant guests!
Most democrats are free trade?! What a bunch of nonsense. Dems only wanted more free trade because Trump was against free trade and the Trump Derangement Syndrome kicks in immediately. It was all politics. Both Dems and GOP don't have any principles but you only great only side of the story because of the Fake News™ media.
I'm surprised that Cato never made a similar episode for the BLM terrorists looting and rioting and burning down businesses. The hypocrisy is staggering.
What a pile of garbage. The worst thing Cato has ever produced. Tyler was a great president--one of the greatest.
Damn it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkFZyXppx8s
The one HUGE elephant in the room that no-one is talking about is our hopelessly undereducated workforce. It became clear to me a few years ago that the Government is "dumbing down" the population to expand Government control to tyrannical levels. In turn this undereducated mass of morons try to get a college education, which in turn proves to be too hard for them to complete so in this hopeless cycle, the Universities "dumb down" too until, in the not too distant future, we become a defacto Third World nation controlled by an unelected and tyrannical one- party system. It is not too late however to change this. Reserve Public education for the mentally disabled and the "poorest of the poor" everyone who wants their children to succeed and compete will put them in Private Schools, Homeschooling and Religious Schools. As the population's IQ slowly goes back up again, the massive overreach of the Federal Government will retract because there will be less clients for the Government to ens
You guys are often smart or at least well thought out but this is a pathetic argument.
I should be able to do whatever I want as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. If my drug use causes a problem, say I rob someone, then I should be punished. The government has no right to decide what I do with my body.
this is probably the first episode of your show where I don't completely agree. people need dissenting voice within the administration to make sure things are going on a righteous path and not be corrupted by power.
This is probably one of the most kick-ass podcasts; touching so many pressing and controversial topics, yet sounding so neutral. It is often very technical, but very digestible.
As sympathetic as I am toward the children involved, their parents ARE to blame for breaking our laws. I do agree that the companies should face stronger penalties for hiring illegals. I am very disappointed that the commentators in this podcast do not recognize the social compact underwriting our democracy requires that people obey all laws, not just the ones they like.
$30k-$40k for a year at Harvard? I don't think so.
Cato and Mises for the win! Thank you
Cato promoting UBI now? Haha.
A disappointing episode. The guest said a lot while saying virtually nothing. Blabbering critical rhetoric sans evidentiary examples of policy and methodological reforms and improvememts makes for a wasted podcast. As a traditional conservative, I value Cato's Daily Podcast as a source for rational and well-informed intellectuals who speak clearly and cleanly on befuddling and messy issues. Cato is one of the very few relatively low-bias organizations who thus serve as a significant voice in these often uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations. It is absolutely critical that, whatever our position, we intentionally seek out and hear varying and opposing positions. Without multiple avenues of dialogue, we cease to grow and progress. This episode failed to provide the typically adequate+ level of engagement for which Cato has proven reliable. This was an important topic; please try again.
so how do we get out from under a 500B trade deficit then? you say this spells bad things for American workers, well how has our trade helped us the last 20 years? it's time to stand up for ourselves.