Explain It to Me
Is my dentist scamming me? Why do political campaigns cost so much? Should Gen Z bother to save for retirement?
Explain It To Me is the hotline for all your unanswered questions. Sometimes explanations are hard to find, misinformation is rampant, and those internet searches and AI asks can come up empty. Call 1-800-618-8545 with what’s on your mind, and host Jonquilyn Hill will be your friendly guide to the answers you're looking for — and maybe even the ones you don’t expect. New episodes every Wednesday starting September 18.
Part of Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
351
Primary mooples
Dara, Jane, and Matt on America's odd system of choosing presidential nominees
42 min
352
Policy by other means
Georgetown’s Don Moynihan and Pamela Herd explain administrative burdens and why they matter
64 min
353
The free college debate
Jane, Dara, and Matt on tuition, debt relief, and the role of major choice in the gender wage gap.
49 min
354
Movement building in the Trump era
Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg joins Matt to talk about her new book and the path forward for democratic reform
50 min
355
You say "usmca," I say "U-S-M-C-A"
Dara and Matt on the congressional debate over Trump's trade deal.
53 min
356
Build housing near transit
San Diego-area congressman Scott Peters joins Matt to talk about his plan to boost transit-oriented development.
35 min
357
Impeachment's policy roots
Andrew Prokop joins Dara and Matt to discuss the long shadow of Viktor Yanukovitch's downfall.
70 min
358
Single-payer federalism
Rep. Ro Khanna joins Matt to make the case for his legislation encouraging state-based Medicare for All programs.
44 min
359
Groypers vs. Conservatism Inc.
Jane, Dara, and Matt on white nationalists' campus battles, plus a major scandal in Swedish administrative data.
55 min
360
The case for subsidized jobs
Indi Dutta-Gupta of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality's big idea for turning Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) into an effective recession-fighting tool.
57 min
361
Introducing Reset
Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why–and how–tech is changing everything.
46 min
362
The billionaire backlash
Jane, Dara, and Matt on Michael Bloomberg’s presidential aspirations and the case against billionaires
51 min
363
The internet we lost
Function's Anil Dash joins Matt to discuss how Big Tech broke the web and how we can get it back.
55 min
364
Paying for single-payer
Jane, Dara, and Matt on Elizabeth Warren's Medicare-for-all financing plan and its critics
51 min
365
Beyond the leaky bucket
Heather Boushey of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth makes the case that a rise in equality would stimulate the economy.
52 min
366
The fall of Katie Hill
Jane, Dara, and Matt on the California representative’s resignation, power imbalances, and the problem of “revenge porn.”
42 min
367
The scary truth about air pollution
Gretchen Goldman of the Union of Concerned Scientists on the science and politics of clean air.
57 min
368
The electability debate
Jane, Dara, and Matt debate the idea of pundits trying to guess what the public thinks.
48 min
369
The four words that will decide impeachment
Ezra Klein and Gene Healy discuss the meaning of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors"
51 min
370
Debating the robot takeover
Ezra and Matt break down the fourth Democratic primary debate.
56 min
371
Understanding the student debt crisis
The Aspen Institute's Katherine Lucas McKay joins Matt to discuss the origins and consequences of America's ballooning student debt loan.
54 min
372
Progressives' Supreme Court problem
Vox's judiciary reporter Ian Millhiser joins Matt to analyze the Supreme Court's new term and what the left gets wrong about the courts.
59 min
373
Mayor Pete explains his prescription drug plan
Matt sits down with Mayor Pete Buttigieg to discuss the rollout of his new prescription drug plan.
27 min
374
What to expect when you’re impeaching
Dara, Jane, and Matt answer your questions on the impeachment inquiry
48 min
375
Homelessness and how to fix it
Part two of homelessness week
50 min