Optimist Economy is on break this month, but we know that optimist listeners are interested in tales of economic history, issues of inequality and movements for change. So we thought some of you might enjoy "Occupy!" a six-part narrative series about Occupy Wall Street, the 2011 protest village that lasted nearly two months and turned a spotlight on systemic economic inequality in the U.S.

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EPISODE 1: An Invitation

In 2011, a handful of skeptical New Yorkers answer a call to Occupy Wall Street. What they find feels less like a protest and more like a glimpse of a different world—one where people openly share stories of debt, hardship, and frustration. They start to build an anti-capitalist village in a tiny Manhattan park — under the watchful eyes of police. This is the first episode of Future Hindsight’s brand new 6-part series, OCCUPY! An Unfinished Uprising. Subscribe to Future Hindsight wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss a single episode!

Want to dive deeper? Listen to these episodes of Future Hindsight:

• For a conversation on activism with a co-founder of Occupy Wall Street, tune in to this episode with Micah White: https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/episode/micah-white
• For a recap of how American capitalism evolved into what it is today, listen to this episode with Kurt Andersen: https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/episode/americas-evil-geniuses-kurt-andersen
• On solidarity and mutual aid, listen to this conversation with Manuel Pastor: https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/episode/solidarity-and-mutuality-manuel-pastor

Credits:

• Host / Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
• Producer / Writer: Maria Luisa Tucker
• Audio Producer: Zack Travis
• Additional production help: Mia Warren, Erika Gjada, Megan Detrie, Lizzie Jacobs, and Ilya Magazanin
• Archival research: Marisa Holmes
• Archival material courtesy of: Occupy Wall Street Media Working Group.
• Original music: Rude Mechanical Orchestra and Puge Ruhe

Special thanks to T.J. Raphael, Lauren Passell, Arielle Nissenblatt, and Kate Blumenfeld for being our first listeners and sounding boards, and to Tom Koenig for his support.

Distributed by PRX.

Nearly 90% of private-sector workers get paid vacation days from their job, but a Pew survey found 46% leave at least some of it on the table. Government survey data also show that the share of workers who are on vacation in any given week has fall by about half between 1980 and 2022. Blame thin staffing, guilt culture, and “PTO bundles” that push people to ration days between vacation days and sick leave. The fix exists elsewhere: the European Union, for instance, guarantees 20 paid days a year. If a Costco cashier is able to vacation in Europe twice, so should you.


Chapters:

0:52 Announcements

2:53 Retcon Marathon

11:01 Terms & Conditions: Statutory Leave

12:04 Big Pilcrow: Vacation Days

14:03 Why Do We Think We Can't Take Time Off?

16:01 No Staffing Slack in the Office

16:51 Vacation Guilt is a Real Thing

18:51 What's Worker Power Got to Do With It?

20:20 Decline in Days Off: What the Data Says

21:17 Vague Numbers of Vacation Days

24:23 Cost of Travel is Up

24:56 Statutory Leave Could Create Jobs

26:28 What are Workers Leaving on the Table?

28:48 How Much Does Vacation Time Cost Employers?

31:08 Vacation Marxist Economics-Style

34:40 The Curse of the Long-Weekend Vacation

38:21 Could the Government Mandate Vacation Time?

42:46 Executive Orders: ACFC wins and Americans with Children Act

46:23 Spiritual Sponsors: Lizards!

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About 18% of U.S. GDP every year gets spent on health care. Half of that, 9%, is coming from the government, which is about the whole cost of other countries’ public health programs. In other words, for what the U.S. spends on Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA benefits, and the tax write-off for employer-sponsored plans, we could have free basic health insurance for everyone. This is why the co-authors of the 2023 book “We’ve Got You Covered” describe the current health insurance system as a total tear-down. We could have universal insurance coverage for all with no tax hike if we started building from the ground up.

Chapters:

0:00 Announcements

0:58 Retcon — Costco cashier's $33/hr job and career security

2:49 Terms & Conditions — Political economy, Cost Sharing, Gatekeeping

7:45 The Big Pilcrow: “Americare… Just Enough”

8:08 Healthcare vs. health insurance — why this is really an insurance/payer fight

12:53 We have 5+ public health programs already

17:07 Health economist Amy Finkelstein's research: "It's a tear-down, not a fixer-upper"

19:55 The proposed system — universal basic coverage + letting “rich people rich" without letting them opt out

28:11What Americans would love or hate

40:44 This health world changed a lot since Obamacare

43:20 Executive Orders — Airport boarding pass warnings, living-roof bus stops

45:20 Spiritual Sponsors — Resurrection fern, Aunt Fern

46:42 Credits

• Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com
• Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠. We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy.
• Chat with other Optimists on Substack.
• Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy
• Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com