A Thousand Natural Shocks With Gabe S. Dunn

Can you buy better mental health? Gaby talks to psychiatrist Dr. Imani Walker, who works primarily with homeless patients and those who’ve been convicted of crimes, about mental illness in the time of COVID-19. What is it like to see patients now? What should mental health services cost when so many more people are suffering from depression, anxiety and PTSD? And what are we realizing as a country are the basic necessities for at-risk populations to thrive today? Especially now that those same problems are affecting the wealthy and privileged. Content Warning: Discussion of mental health and domestic violence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Is it possible to buy perfect skin? And now, under quarantine, are we spending more on skin care products just to trick ourselves into an illusion of control? How has being forced to do beauty regimens at home changed how people are spending their money? Gaby talks to Natch Beaut podcaster and beauty expert Jackie Michele Johnson about aligning your self-care budget with your ethics, if it’s possible to buy “perfect” skin and how during a very scary and uncertain time, something as simple as skin care can provide ritual, control and comfort.  Listen to the Natch Beaut podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Call your Congressperson. Seriously. Gaby wants to learn more about what the U.S. government is doing for us during the COVID-19 pandemic, so she calls up California Congressman Rep. Mark Takano on Zoom. They discuss how the community comes together to fill in the gaps in social safety nets, potential upcoming legislation for those suffering financially and how to show you give a damn during a worldwide economic crisis. (Content Warning: Suicide Mention) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Gaby interviews reporter Olga Khazan, who wrote an article for The Atlantic about the increasingly visible class divide during the COVID-19 pandemic. What does it mean to be able to buy safety and when you do, who else are you putting at risk? As Khazan wrote, “the poor get socially close, so the rich can socially distance.” Plus, will the possible eventual revolution result in fairer wages and better social safety nets, as it has at other points in history? Or will it just allow middle-aged white women to get haircuts? Gaby is… cautiously optimistic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Can good health be bought? We flashback to when Coronavirus cases were newly emerging in the states. Gaby revisits an interview she did with public health expert Dr. Abdul El-Sayed about what compels us to invest in wellness trends and how much it actually costs to be healthy. (Spoiler alert: it’s prohibitive as hell.) And later, how are health scams working in the midst of COVID-19?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Gaby reflects on the meaning of success in today’s uncertain world. We flash back to our early plans for the season, including an interview with associate philosophy professor Jennifer Morton. What does it mean to be successful? What are we willing to sacrifice? After the interview, Gaby shares how her perspective on money has changed since so many lives were upended by the Coronavirus pandemic.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What is life right now? So many of us are overwhelmed and stressed about a future that’s feeling more and more uncertain. In season 6 of Bad with Money, Gaby Dunn explores how during a crisis, we get stuck in cycles of trying to buy our way into some semblance of personal control. But as it turns out, being safe, healthy, generous, clean, attractive and happy is really freakin’ expensive -- especially when you have no idea what’s about to happen next in the world. Through interviews before and after the global pandemic and economic crisis, Gaby tries to make sense of the “bettering” power of money when we are at our most isolated, anxious and emotionally vulnerable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Gaby makes a final decision. Is it time to uproot her life and build a new one outside the U.S.? But wait! There's one more destination we want to explore as we wrap season 5. How expensive would it be to live... ON THE MOON? First, Gaby talks to scientist and aerospace engineer Kathleen Howell, a total badass who works with NASA, about the achievements and restrictions of living, working and colonizing the moon and in the space between the Earth and the moon. Then, she speaks with The Verge’s senior science reporter Loren Grush about space capitalism. Finally, Gaby nerds out with friend and sci-fi writer Garrick Bernard about Star Trek’s lack of currency and a future where knowledge replaces money. This is the final frontier for Bad With Money season 5. Stick around until the end of the episode for news about season 6! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

After YEARS of only getting snippets of listeners’ stories on social media, Gaby finally calls up a few members of her Bad with Money family. Is it worth saving your money to move abroad? How much would you sacrifice to leave the U.S.? We hear experiences from three listeners: Madeline Christensen from Texas, Madison Walsh from Kansas and Gabriela Marrero from Pennsylvania.  Madeline has her mind set on fleeing to Europe, Madison refuses to settle anywhere, bouncing from country to country and Gabriela moved abroad, but returned to America with a powerful sense that she needed to be present to help change her country for the better. Bad with Money family… Let's chat! Gaby needs your advice! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Gaby contemplates what it’s like to live in Paris, a place most tourists would call “romantic as heck.” Why is Paris such a hub for love and how much would it cost for Gaby to take her partner Mal Blum there on a date? First, Gaby talks to Chris O’Brien, a journalist living in France, who happens to share a name with her ex-boyfriend. (Yikes!) And then she lays out a date night plan for her beloved Mal. Would they like to visit or even live with Gaby in France? Happy Valentine’s Day, deadbeats! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy