John McWhorter & Marc Dunkelman – Why Nothing Works
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0:00 Why Marc thinks nothing works
6:45 Who decides the winners and losers in public trade-offs?
12:50 Penn Station and public interest logjams
20:29 Marc: We have Trump because people feel that government doesn’t work
28:17 Two progressive conceptions of power
33:03 Finding the balance between centralized and dispersed power
39:05 Ok, nothing works. So how do we get things working?
51:28 Marc: We need a return to Hamiltonian governing
55:03 The new class of moderate Democrats trying to get things done
Recorded September 6, 2025
Links and Readings
Marc’s new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back
Marc’s book, The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community
Robert Putnam’s book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
Robert Caro’s book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance
Jennifer Pahlka’s book, Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
Yoni Applebaum’s book, Stuck: How the Privileged and Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity
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