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Central Air: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Josh Barro, Megan McArdle & Ben Dreyfuss
Central Air, the show where the temperature is always just right. Join Josh Barro, Megan McArdle and Ben Dreyfuss every week for a well-centered conversation on American politics.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 5 days ago37 min
Gays In Crisis
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: first, we are obligated to discuss Josh's newly blond hair and if it's a sign he's in crisis. Then: are we in the midst of a gay crisis? The first gay treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has failed at his quest to keep the 10-year Treasury yield under 5%. The gays Donald Trump detailed to the Kennedy Center have failed to produce a vibrant-yet-MAGAfied performing arts center. And now "the makers of AI keep saying AI might kill us all” has really broken through to the general public.For paying subscribers: the absurdity of the president’s inflationary promise of $5,000 checks for every American (if they re-elect Republicans), the Calvinball rules of standing that have let the president build his illegal ballroom, and his sad and petty (and losing) campaign to get his name installed on the Kennedy Center, and Donald Trump Jr.'s sad and pitiful oligarch-funded second wedding. Finally, the AIs weigh in on Josh's hair and whether it carries a deep meaning.Upgrade your subscription — and see Josh's hair — at www.centralairpodcast.com.
- 1 weeks ago52 min
Don't Forget to Never Forget
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: how the attack that “changed everything” has come to define less and less of our politics. In part that's because many Americans today are too young to remember 9/11, and in part it's because of three subsequent crises — the global financial crisis, the migration crisis, and COVID — and it's also because many Americans came to regret foreign policy decisions circa 2001-2003 that seemed like a good idea at the time.Josh, Megan and Ben also talk about whether we’re entering yet another phase of politics, defined by AI, and how difficult it is to make economic policy right now when the outlook is much more uncertain than usual. During cocktail hour, Josh has notes from his trip to Europe about ice, driving and French superiority.To hear the full episode, upgrade your subscription at www.centralairpodcast.com.
- 2 weeks ago52 min
The Time Tax (feat. Annie Lowrey)
This week: Annie Lowrey on the time, effort, money, and psychological costs some government policies impose on us. Filling out endless forms, repeatedly proving eligibility, telling the government what we owe in taxes even though it already knows what we owe — we love a conversation about how the government is ineffective and how it could be more effective. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.centralairpodcast.com/subscribe
- 3 weeks ago42 min
Calling All Cranks
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: Cranks make society work. We challenge the popular consensus, and we aren’t afraid to speak up even when we know what we have to say will be poorly received. Thank you to all the Central Air listeners who answered our call for your crankiest policy proposals. We discuss some of them: Should tax returns be public documents that any citizen can look up? Should you be able to submit a standing order that all your votes should be cast for your favorite political party, instead of having to tediously complete a ballot at every election? Should we geo-engineer a tornado inside the Astrodome to produce clean energy? Should we do daylight saving time backwards, so we spring forward in the fall?Probably not. But maybe. Let’s discuss.
- Aug 18, 202649 min
The Best of the Worst
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: David Ellison is displeased about the California-led lawsuit to stop the Paramount-Warner merger, and he’s threatening to move both studios out of the state. Is this threat credible?Also this week: the Democratic establishment held off Thanksgiving-canceler Francesca Hong in the primary for Wisconsin governor, and we discuss the unhinged responses to the very grim news with the Jason Arday situation. And during cocktail hour, we look for silver linings — who in the Trump cabinet is actually doing a good job?To hear the full episode, upgrade your subscription at www.centralairpodcast.com.
- Aug 11, 20261h 3m
Lower Education
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: UCLA sociology professor Gabriel Rossman joins us this week to talk about rough times in elite higher education. We start with a problem at the UC system itself: California’s top public universities haven’t considered test scores for admission since 2019, and that has led to the universities admitting some students who are wildly unprepared for college-level work. Then, behind the paywall: star scholar Jason Arday has resigned from Cambridge University in scandal, and it reflects a phenomenon Tyler Austin Harper complains about in his Atlantic essay about his time as a professor at Bates College: universities being more interested in black academics’ political symbolism than their academic output, which is pretty racist, if you think about it.Plus: ideological homogeneity in the humanities and humanistic social sciences (and in sociology specifically) and what could be done to combat it, and during cocktail hour, we talk about what “Woke 1” is and whether it’s really over, and we talk with Gabriel about his academic work on the laundering of disreputable financial exchanges — a useful lens for talking about both Melania Coin and the debate over whether men are really expected to send Ubers to fetch women for first dates.Upgrade your subscription at www.centralairpodcast.com
- Aug 4, 202639 min
The Gen Z Takeover (feat. Kristen Soltis Anderson)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson tells us all about the state of polling, what American voters are thinking about heading into the midterms, how AI and the death of the phone call are changing polling, and how polls identify fake responses. Kristen tells us about the “political tribes” that make up the Republican and Democratic parties, and how the middle-aged millennials and young adults of Gen Z are changing the landscape — that conversation is mostly for paying subscribers. Then, during cocktail hour (also just for paying subscribers), we discuss exciting food news: Alison Roman, like David Chang, shares my once-controversial-but-now-conventional opinion that grills ruin food. To hear the whole episode (and all future episodes), upgrade your subscription now at www.centralairpodcast.com.
- Jul 29, 202645 min
Cheap Meats
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.centralairpodcast.comThis week: It's another edition of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and Maxwell Tani from Semafor joins us to talk about it. Could this humiliation be enough to end the dinner for good? Then: Have you heard about the new mayor in New York City? This guy, Zohran Mamdani, has been running the city for seven months, and he’s working on opening city-owned grocery stores that will sell meat and produce 30% below the city’s normal retail prices. We discuss that, and what Mamdani can do to prevent theft, bare shelves, and other problems that could arise with public-sector grocery. Plus: Mamdani's brewing fight with the teachers' union and never mind about arresting Benjamin Netanyahu...Upgrade your subscription to hear the full episode at www.centralairpodcast.com.
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About Central Air
Central Air, the show where the temperature is always just right. Join Josh Barro, Megan McArdle and Ben Dreyfuss every week for a well-centered conversation on American politics.
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