Let People Prosper

What happens when public policy is built on narratives instead of numbers? We get bloated budgets, broken housing markets, and education systems that spend more but deliver less. In a world flooded with information, the real scarcity is truth. This episode features guest Jim Agresti, founder and president of Just Facts, to discuss public policy, misinformation, data analysis, housing affordability, AI’s impact on research, education spending, and why transparency matters more than ever. If you care about economic policy grounded in evidence instead of emotion, this episode is for you.🎧 Listen to the full episode of the Let People Prosper Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Find out more about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting here: vanceginn.com.

Affordability may be the defining word of 2026. After years of elevated inflation, a housing affordability crisis, and signs of softness in the labor market, many Americans are feeling squeezed—and looking for answers. You can expect this issue to loom large at the polls in November. That’s why state and federal lawmakers should confront one of the central drivers of this “unaffordable” economy: fiscal irresponsibility. Persistent overspending helps fuel inflation and adds uncertainty that holds back growth. It’s time to get serious about sustainable budgeting and pro-growth policies that expand opportunity—so Americans can find well-paid jobs, secure affordable housing, and afford daily life again.In today’s This Week’s Economy, I take an honest look at the latest economic data—even where it challenges media narratives. We’ll also examine the risks of a rising push for social media bans and why energy abundance is essential to powering our technological future.Let’s dive in! Catch the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website for more information about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting.

If politics feels angrier, dumber, and more tribal than ever, you’re not imagining it. Smart people are talking past each other. Good intentions collide. Every issue becomes a moral emergency. And somehow, even ideas that once united people—like trade, cooperation, and innovation—now trigger outrage.This episode gets to the why.My guest is Arnold Kling—one of the most original thinkers on how economics and politics actually work in the real world. Arnold doesn’t just analyze policy outcomes; he explains why we struggle to communicate, why persuasion fails, and why cooperation breaks down even when everyone claims to want prosperity.He’s the author of The Three Languages of Politics and Specialization and Trade, two books that help explain why debates feel impossible—and why decentralized cooperation still beats control every time.This conversation ranges from political psychology to trade, from tribalism to AI, and from economic ignorance to real reasons for optimism. If you want to understand why our politics feels broken—and how prosperity still emerges despite it—this one’s for you.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept or a Silicon Valley experiment—it’s already shaping how we learn, work, and deliver care. From classrooms and hospitals to small businesses and local governments, AI is quietly changing how much we can do with the time and resources we have. While this progress has sparked excitement, it has also triggered a familiar political response: fear. Warnings about job loss, concentration, and runaway technology now dominate the conversation. But that misses the lessons history and basic economics can teach us.In this episode of This Week’s Economy, we examine AI through a clear policy and economic lens. We’ll talk about creative destruction, labor markets, and the enormous potential AI holds to expand opportunity and raise living standards, and we'll discuss the threats posed by poor regulatory policies. The question isn’t whether AI will transform our economy. It’s whether we’ll let markets, competition, and human ingenuity guide that transformation—or regulate it away.Tune in to the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website vanceginn.com for more information about Ginn Economic Consulting and me.

Washington never runs out of ideas for spending money it doesn’t have.This episode of the Let People Prosper Show takes on one of the latest examples: so-called “Trump Accounts.” Marketed as a pro-family, pro-capitalism idea, they’re actually another case of federal social engineering through the tax code—layered on top of an already broken fiscal foundation.To unpack it all, I sat down with Veronique de Rugy, one of the sharpest and most honest fiscal minds in America. She’s the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy at the Mercatus Center and a nationally syndicated columnist who has spent her career calling out budget gimmicks, cronyism, and policies that trade long-term prosperity for short-term politics.She was last on the show in Episode 102, discussing immigration and American values. This time, we dive into deficits, tariffs, inflation, entitlement pressure, and why Washington’s obsession with using the tax code to “fix” social problems often makes things worse.🎧 Watch or listen to the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website for more information about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting.

Economic policy affects more than just spreadsheets. When leaders fail to control spending, undermine markets, or delay hard decisions, families feel it through higher prices, fewer opportunities, and slower growth. With rising concerns about affordability, the consequences of poor economic policy aren’t abstract — they shape how people live, work, and plan for the future. Price controls, restrictive immigration policies, and higher taxes don’t solve these problems. They make them worse.In the episode of This Week’s Economy, we examine what happens when policymakers ignore first principles. I break down why recurring shutdowns expose deeper budgeting failures, how states are approaching tax relief and economic freedom, what a new pick for Fed chair could mean for inflation and stability, and why labor shortages and immigration policy matter for long-term growth. Across each issue, the lesson is the same: prosperity follows discipline, sound incentives, and trust in markets — not political shortcuts.Catch the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website at vanceginn.com for show notes and more information about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting.

If you listen closely to today’s labor debates, you’ll hear a familiar refrain: workers need more protection from Washington. But scratch the surface, and what many politicians really mean is more power for unions, more mandates for employers, and fewer choices for workers themselves.That’s backward.In this episode of the Let People Prosper Show, I talk with Vinnie Vernuccio, one of the sharpest labor-policy minds in the country and a longtime advocate for actual worker freedom. We talk about what it really means to be pro-worker in a 21st-century economy—one defined by flexibility, technology, and individual choice, not 1930s labor law.This is a timely conversation. Between renewed pushes for the PRO Act, rising use of AI in the workplace, and growing attacks on independent contracting and right-to-work laws, the future of work is being shaped right now. And too often, workers are treated as political props rather than individuals with agency.This episode pushes back—hard.🎧 Watch or listen to the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website for more information about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting.

Affordability is not an abstract debate for American families—it’s the defining issue of daily life. Grocery bills, housing costs, energy prices, healthcare, and childcare all shape whether families feel secure or stretched.Families don’t become pessimistic out of nowhere. Confidence erodes when planning for the future feels harder, margins feel thinner, and basic economics no longer seem to work in their favor.Meanwhile, leaders on both sides of the aisle are increasingly pointing the finger at free-market capitalism for nearly everything—high prices, inequality, corporate power, even government debt. But what’s often labeled “capitalism” today is really a mix of subsidies, bailouts, protectionism, regulatory micromanagement, and monetary manipulation—policies that distort markets rather than allow them to function.True free markets are not chaos or greed. They are a rules-based system built on voluntary exchange, price signals, competition, and accountability. When people are free to trade, build, innovate, and respond to real prices, costs fall and opportunity expands—giving families the freedom to flourish.In today’s episode of This Week’s Economy, we explore how free-market capitalism supports families, restores dignity through work, and lowers prices to make life more affordable. We’ll also examine how these principles apply at the federal, state, and local levels. Tune in to the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, and visit my website vanceginn.com for the show notes in my newsletter and more information.

We talk a lot about opportunity in America—but far less about where opportunity actually exists and why.Why do some states consistently help people climb the economic ladder while others trap families in place for generations? Why do well-intended policies often backfire? And why is “doing more” by the government so often the wrong answer when it comes to social mobility?That’s exactly what we unpack in Episode 186 of the Let People Prosper Show with Dr. Justin Callais, Chief Economist at the Archbridge Institute and lead author of the new Social Mobility in the 50 States (2025) report.Justin brings data, clarity, and—refreshingly—humility to one of the most politicized topics in economics. The findings challenge both the left’s obsession with redistribution and the right’s tendency to overlook the very real policy barriers that states create.Watch the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify, Substack for show notes at vanceginn.substack.com, and visit my website at vanceginn.com for more information about my work at Ginn Economic Consulting.

How property taxes undermine homeownership—and what states and localities can do to fix it.Affordability is a major issue for voters. Families are feeling squeezed by higher housing costs, rising insurance premiums, and everyday expenses that often outpace income. For many Americans, the question is no longer just whether they can buy a home, but whether they can afford to keep the one they are in.Across the country, states are beginning to confront one overlooked driver of the housing affordability crisis: property taxes. From proposals to cap assessments to more ambitious efforts to reduce or even eliminate property taxes, lawmakers are reexamining a tax that quietly raises housing costs annually.In This Week’s Economy, we’ll look at how property taxes undermine true homeownership, why they fall hardest on those least able to pay, and what meaningful reform would require if states and localities want to restore affordability and let people prosper. Check out the show notes at vanceginn.substack.com and more information on my work at Ginn Economic Consulting at vanceginn.com. Thank you for watching. Please subscribe and share now!