Mr. Hollen's Opus

Mr. Hollen's Opus

From Politix by Politix

March 18, 2026 · 47 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of Democrats' tax cut promises and the complexities surrounding the Iran war and global energy markets.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.politix.fm Democrats are caught in a new and somewhat troubling fad, in which they promise working-class people extremely broad tax cuts, which, in practice, would make expanding the safety net all but impossible. In this Matt and Brian discuss: * The Oscars! * What are these policies, where do they come from, and what would they mean, in practice, for other elements of the Democratic agenda? * Is there tension between Revenuemaxxing™️ and Billionairemogging™️, and can it be resolved? * Given all that will need to be rebuilt post-Trump, should Democrats embrace fiscal responsibility, or might there be some advantage to playing chicken with Republicans over the future of the American welfare state? Then, Donald Trump seems pretty panicked about the consequences of his misbegotten Iran war. But not enough to chicken out. At least not yet. Why is that? What are the peculiarities of the global energy market that might explain it. If he’s waiting for global oil futures to hit crisis levels, what kinds of developments in the war might send it there? And can we count on Democrats to oppose war funding? All that, plus the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Matt, Brian

Topics covered

  • tax cuts
  • safety net
  • Democratic agenda
  • Iran war
  • global energy market
  • fiscal responsibility

Keywords

  • tax cuts
  • safety net
  • Democrats
  • Iran war
  • global energy market
  • fiscal responsibility
  • Billionairemogging
  • Revenuemaxxing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Democrats, U.S. elite

Books & works: The Oscars, The Yale Budget

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