Why Marriage Is Failing America's Poor (And Making Inequality Worse)

Economist Michael Tanner reveals the marriage gap between rich and poor, why rural poverty is worse than urban, and how the collapse of traditional economies is creating a generation of unmarriageable men.

Guest: Michael Tanner - Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, author of research on marriage and poverty

Topics Discussed:

What poverty really means in America

Why Scandinavian equality comes with lower living standards

The two-class marriage system emerging in America

Why women face a "bigger gamble" in marriage than men

Rural poverty worse than urban poverty

The Arkansas Walmart layoffs and opioid crisis

Criminal justice removing 1.5 million Black men from marriage pool

Half of Fort Bragg, CA on food assistance

Timestamps:

00:01 Introduction - 72% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck

01:24 What is poverty in America?

02:36 Two definitions of poverty - subsistence vs self-sufficiency

05:08 Census Bureau's flawed poverty measurements

07:12 Real destitution affects 3-4% of population

08:18 Teachers living in cars in California

11:16 Social Darwinism vs humanistic approaches to poverty

14:54 The myth of lazy poor people

16:26 Bottom 20% have almost no social mobility

18:03 Living in a world of scarcity

19:02 Could billionaires' wealth solve poverty?

21:43 Marriage and poverty - the white paper

23:53 Why marriage helps men more than women

27:30 Marriage gap between rich and poor

31:01 Rise of single, uneducated men

33:38 Political vulnerability of disconnected men

33:54 Arkansas: Middle-class homes turned to garbage

38:37 Robotics and the future of work

43:15 Fort Bragg: 1,200 families at food bank

47:23 COVID's lasting damage to small towns

50:57 "Poverty is natural - prosperity must be created"

Resources:

Research: freopp.org/whitepapers/does-marriage-reduce-poverty/

Twitter: @TannerOnPolicy

They Feed 30 People for $90 (How Cohousing Actually Works)

Architect Charles Durrett reveals the economics and social dynamics of cohousing communities, plus Iceland's revolutionary approach to neurodiverse living where autism isn't a limitation but simply a different way of being.

Guest: Charles Durrett - Principal architect at The Cohousing Company, coined the term "cohousing" in 1985, designed 55+ communities, author of 16 books on community design

Topics Discussed:

How cohousing communities feed 30 people for $90

Why 34 houses share one lawnmower (and it works)

The first U.S. cohousing community 35 years later

Iceland's Sólheimar: 45 neurodiverse, 45 neurotypical residents

Why people with autism drown at 166x the normal rate

"Smiles per half hour" as a community metric

Breaking bread 4-5 times weekly builds community

From isolation to internationally selling artist

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction - Encouraging community for 20 years

00:59 Meet Charles Durrett - Pioneer of cohousing

01:40 The first U.S. cohousing community in Davis

02:36 What is cohousing? Six defining principles

05:00 No hierarchy, all consensus

07:28 Book came out 1988, coined "cohousing"

08:37 35 years later - how is that first community?

10:47 Copenhagen study: Majority of seniors want cohousing

13:45 Personal meetings and interpersonal sharing

15:28 Common dinners 4-5 times weekly

16:26 Cooking rotation - once a month for 20-30 people

17:10 How they feed 30 for $90

20:12 What is a neuro-inclusive community?

23:13 90 people total at Sólheimar

24:02 Started in 1930, Chuck wrote the book

26:04 "Smiles per half hour" metric

29:02 Artists who knew nothing become internationally known

32:13 Financial model for neurodiverse communities

35:12 Why they bought their own swimming pool

38:07 Final thoughts - self-determination is key

41:12 Learning to interview people with autism

Resources:

Website: cohousingco.com

Book: Neuro-Inclusive Community Design

The Psychedelic Renaissance: 6 Leaders on Integration, Ethics & Access

An unprecedented panel discussion featuring six pioneers of psychedelic medicine, moderated by Dr. Richard L. Miller. From underground roots to FDA trials, from ketamine clinics to ibogaine centers, these leaders reveal the challenges and breakthroughs shaping the future of psychedelic therapy.

Panelists: • Matt Xavier - Author of "The Psychedelic DJ," pioneering music curation in psilocybin therapy • Wendy Tucker - Board Chair, Shulgin Foundation, preserving the lab where 200+ psychedelics were created • Sam Mandel - CEO, Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles (35,000+ infusions since 2014) • Tom Feegel - CEO, Beond Ibogaine Center, Cancun (11 MDs on staff) • Dori Lewis - Co-founder, Elemental Psychedelics & Colorado's 2nd legal psilocybin center • Joshua White - Founder, Fireside Project (30,000+ psychedelic support calls)

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction - The tribal nature of healing

02:30 The psychedelic renaissance and 50 years of suppressed science

03:30 Matt Xavier - From DJ to psychedelic therapist

09:59 Wendy Tucker - Preserving the Shulgin legacy

15:05 Sam Mandel - Building ketamine infrastructure 20:29 Tom Feegel - Medical ibogaine treatment

27:24 Dori Lewis - Colorado's legal psilocybin program

31:37 Joshua White - Free psychedelic support for all

40:15 Integration: "Polishing the nuggets" from the journey

42:49 Tom's comprehensive integration approach

47:24 Joshua's personal ibogaine integration story

50:19 Sam on insurance-covered integration

57:49 The ethics crisis in psychedelic therapy

01:00:40 Why facilitators must experience their own medicine

01:06:47 "Good people cause harm" - Dori's crucial insight

01:14:45 Access crisis: How to scale beyond the wealthy 01:19:45 Final thoughts and invitations

Key Takeaways: • Psychedelics are tools, not magic bullets - integration is essential • Well-intentioned practitioners can cause harm without proper training • Touch consent and boundaries must be established before sessions • The field needs peer support models to increase access • Community and accountability prevent isolation and abuse

Resources:

Fireside Project Support Line: firesideproject.org

Shulgin Foundation: shulginfoundation.org

Ketamine Clinics LA: ketamineclinics.com

Beond: beond.us

Elemental Psychedelics: elementalpsychedelics.com

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