What podcasters are saying about US state & local policy

Summary

In the past 30 days, 8 speakers on 8 finance podcasts discussed US state & local policy in 8 views. Chorus has followed US state & local policy since October 19, 2026.

Who talks about it most

• Axel Merk · 1
• Joshua Rauh · 1
• Joel Salatin · 1
• Patrick Boyle · 1
• Eric Zwick · 1
• Ben Carlson · 1
• Ken Griffin · 1
• Holly Wade · 1

The latest views

Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.

• Axel Merk · Merk Investments

  California's proposed one-time wealth tax is expropriation: retroactive, narrow, and a bad precedent.

  Merk says the California wealth tax represents everything wrong with taxation. A good tax should be broad, and taxing a tiny group is unacceptable, since most people should be affected by a tax. A retroactive tax is a bad idea, and a 5% levy amounts to expropriation. He argues the tax's disruptiveness signals that some people are willing to be extremely disruptive to attack. Polls are roughly even and prediction markets give it little chance of passing, but what the tax stands for bothers him more than the tax itself.

  “A retroactive tax is absolutely a bad idea. Obviously, the amount 5% is expropriation. So that's absolutely not acceptable.”at 53:29

  Thoughtful Money: FOMC Live Reaction: Is The Fed Making A Policy Error? | Axel Merk · October 28, 2026

• Joshua Rauh · Stanford Graduate School of Business / Hoover Institution

  California has no fiscal emergency; its Medi-Cal spending growth is the problem, not revenue.

  Rauh rebuts the claim that California faces a fiscal emergency. Total Medi-Cal funds are up more than double, 123%, since 2019. California spends $219 billion on Medi-Cal from state and federal sources, over $7,000 per resident. Federal Medicaid funds are up 113% and general fund spending is up 79% over seven years. Last year's reconciliation bill only slows the growth of federal funds, and the state's balance sheet holds $75 billion more than in 2019. He concludes that the idea of needing more revenue is flawed and that spending efficiency is the real issue.

  “Total funds for Medicaid for California are up more than double, a 123% since 2019... The idea that we need more revenue is just a flawed idea.”at 17:58

  Squawk Pod (CNBC Squawk Box): California’s Billionaire Tax & Global Hot Spots 10/28/26 · October 28, 2026

• Joel Salatin · Polyface Farm

  High taxes and dysfunction in big cities raise business costs, pushing activity toward rural producers.

  Salatin says that the cost of living in urban areas reflects high taxes and dysfunction in big cities, which raises the cost of doing business there. He presents this as the reason rural farms can now ship products into urban markets at lower prices. He links the urban cost pressure to the rising cost of bricks-and-mortar retail, which in turn improves the economics of direct delivery from farms.

  “there's a lot of dysfunction in our big cities. And that raises the cost of doing business.”at 49:34

  Wealthion: Where Joel Salatin Would Invest $1 Million in Agriculture · October 27, 2026

• Patrick Boyle · Patrick Boyle On Finance

  Big local incentive deals for factories and data centers often deliver far fewer jobs than promised.

  Boyle gives two examples of large local incentive deals that fell short. In Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, a village of 28,000 spent hundreds of millions on roads, water lines and tax incentives for Foxconn, which promised 13,000 jobs. The result was about a thousand jobs and the infrastructure bill. New York State spent almost a billion dollars on a Buffalo factory for SolarCity, and its controller later found about 54 cents of economic benefit per dollar spent. Boyle uses these cases to suggest that the data center subsidies now being offered carry similar risks.

  “Foxconn then more or less changed its mind, and the village ended up with about a thousand jobs and the bill for the infrastructure.”at 23:26

  Patrick Boyle: Who Really Pays for AI Data Centers? · October 25, 2026

• Eric Zwick · University of Chicago Booth School of Business

  State and local rules, such as car-dealer franchise laws, protect local incumbents from competition.

  Zwick argues that local, regional market power is a bigger problem than national platform power. Car dealers began as a protection for small distributors against manufacturers like Ford. Franchise laws now exist at the state level in most states. They bar manufacturers from selling direct and stop new dealers from entering a territory, even as manufacturing has become more competitive. Car dealers are the third-highest industry by pass-through business income. Beer distributors, realtors and MLS control show the same pattern. Zwick says the protections often began as safeguards for small players and now restrict consumer options and raise prices.

  “And so the car dealers enshrine protections, franchise laws at the state level across most of the country that protect their position. You can't, as a manufacturer, sell directly to consumers.”at 16:06

  Prof G Markets: Meet The Millionaire Class That Really Runs America · October 23, 2026

• Ben Carlson · Ritholtz Wealth Management

  Property tax cuts could backfire, shifting costs to renters and locking owners into homes.

  Ben notes that more than two dozen states have moved to cut or repeal property taxes, with Georgia, Indiana and Wyoming already cutting bills. He argues the cuts shift the burden to renters, and that Ohio's governor blocked one because the sales-tax hike needed to fill the gap would be huge. He cites California's Prop 13, which locked owners into their homes and damaged the housing market, and says this could be a disaster.

  “It was a disaster for the housing market because no one wanted to move because they locked in lower property taxes.”at 47:32

  Animal Spirits: It's a Bloodbath (EP. 487) · October 21, 2026

• Ken Griffin · Citadel

  Illinois must fix pensions and spending before raising taxes; Pritzker's progressive tax push was wrong.

  Griffin says Illinois pensions are out of control and the promises made to government employees are unsustainable. He offered to publicly support tax increases if Pritzker put a constitutional amendment forward to reform pensions. Instead, Pritzker ran a progressive tax amendment, which voters rejected. Griffin argues the lesson is that Illinois must address its spending problem and corruption before returning to taxes.

  “The promises made to government employees are simply unsustainable. ... Go put your house in order, then come back and talk about taxes.”at 33:26

  Bloomberg Talks: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin Talks AI Bubble, US Midterm Elections & France Protests · October 21, 2026

• Holly Wade · NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business)

  States looking to raise revenue and tighter compliance rules are a growing concern for small businesses.

  Holly says that midterm outcomes matter to small businesses mainly through taxes and regulation. Many states are looking to raise revenue, and owners fear this will hurt their ability to invest and keep profits. Owners are also increasingly worried about the time spent on compliance and regulatory requirements, which diverts attention from operations and competitiveness. The view is a qualitative read from survey comments rather than quantified data.

  “But for many of the states... they're looking to raise revenues for the state and small business owners are really concerned about how that's going to impact their ability to invest in their business”at 27:59

  The David Lin Report: Your Paycheck In 2027: Will You Get A Raise Or Get Laid Off? | Holly Wade · October 19, 2026