A Challenge for Krystal: Corruption and the Calls for Nationalization
Hi Krystal and Saagar, I'm a fan of the work you do and feel confident saying that even when I disagree with one or both of you, I'm still reasonably sure you're voicing an opinion from a good faith perspective. One thing that has been difficult for me is how often the "we need to nationalize ____ industry" is presented as a solution or course of action. I've heard Krystal advocate for nationalizing oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare industries at one time or another. Concurrently, your show rightfully calls out and seeks to expose corruption, hypocrisy, and general malfeasance taking place in government, business, and other institutions. Often times, this immediately precedes the calls for nationalization. My opinion is that it is good to have some barriers, firewalls, or other separation between those with power (government) and those with money (business). It is already a struggle to keep the two separate! I foresee nothing but trouble and increased cronyism if power and money are allowed to join forces in the form of the nationalization of powerful and profitable industries. Keeping the two separate, if done effectively, is another form of checks and balances built into the system. My stance would be to bolster the barriers/firewalls, to include eliminating the revolving door of board members/high-ranking officials - I'm pretty sure that's a shared view. Krystal, help me understand your position, please. All the best! Mike
Have you considered creating an interactive community page for paid subscribers?
Rather than reading comments on social media in order to source feedback from viewers, have you thought about creating a community page for paid subscribers where they could comment and exchange thoughts and ideas on specific topics, episodes or clips? Other paid subscriber platforms, such as substack provide such a function and it's a great way for subscribers to share their views and exchange with others. Given the format of your show and the range of views held by your audience it would be a interesting way to allow your viewers to interact and would provide a much healthier, good faith option for you as they creators to receive feedback from us "normies". .
Northern Ireland Protocol, EU/UK Incompetence
Hello Krystal and Saagar, Huge fan of the show, my wife and I have been watching you guys for years at this point and our trust in you is immense. I have a request on an international situation to be covered. The EU and the UK are in new negotiations to create a new standard for the Northern Ireland Protocol. This protocol was a set of stipulations to both accommodate the EU single market and the “soft border” on Ireland provided by the Good Friday Agreement as well as other pitfalls in Brexit. The initial Protocol has been a disaster as the Northern Irish are being forced to practice EU market rules and checks on goods coming to them from the UK because of the possibility that those goods could be sent to Ireland, a member of the EU. This has hindered the importation of key goods like soil and fresh food products to NI from the UK because of EU trade laws prohibiting importation of these goods. NI has been left in a mess trying to balance conflicting trade agreements. On a political front, the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) has not taken its seats in government since the last election in protest of the Irish Sea border that has been established to perform these import checks. This has prevented the legislative body from sitting in NI while the EU and UK argue over this trade agreement in Brussels with little input from the most impacted groups of people. I would love to hear you guys parse through this and acknowledge the way this bureaucratic incompetence has negatively impacted peoples lives.