A chat about economics? #SpeakingPodcast

Thought we'd break up the serious conversations on the podcast with a little light conversation about...economics! OK, I know, not a riveting subject, but I wanted to try something out this week.

Jay Black, Jessica Gibson and I had a conversation about Jay's friend who is an economics professor at Penn State. He had a stint in comedy opening for Jay while he was still a college student. I turned over the reins to Jay for a longer conversation with his old friend about how challenging it is to be a professor in this politically charged climate dealing with anger from both sides of the aisle.

It's important to understand that my position is unchanged regarding the division in politics. Division is a good thing. Coming to the center while government erodes our rights and crushes our livelihoods is as immoral as being neutral in the fight between good and evil. The problem with academics is they tend to want things to be easy. They don't like that people on the Right accuse them of being too Left and people on the Left accuse them of being too Right. What they miss is that from the two opposite sides, solutions arise. You cannot have a middle, where compromises are made, unless people stake out opposite positions.

Let's face it, if we weren't divided over politics given what has been going on in our country for the past ten years that would be a bigger problem. Actually I don't think we're divided enough over COVID protocols. The fact that people willingly accepted the dehumanizing actions proposed by government and implemented through corporations is scary enough. Now we accept the militarization of Capitol Hill, despite no evidence of a credible threat? We accept the spike in murders, drug abuse and domestic violence? Not to mention teen suicide.

Things are bad and getting worse. Let's hope the conversation among academics serves to help and not hurt us further.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.