Words & Numbers
Words & Numbers
Free the People
Episode 490: We’re Not Interested
46 minutes Posted Jan 20, 2026 at 12:00 pm.
Introduction and Overview
The Illogic of TSA Rules and Security Theater
What TSA Bans (and Allows) Makes No Sense
Why TSA Rules Persist Long After the Threat Is Gone
Missed Episode Fallout and “Are You Still Alive?”
Trouble Inside the Trump Administration
Foolishness of the Week: NFL Ticket Resale Crackdown
Are Season Tickets Really “Yours”?
Why Ticket Scalping Actually Adds Value
Risk, Resale, and the Free Market for Tickets
What Secondary Markets Reveal About True Prices
Trump’s Proposal to Cap Credit Card Interest Rates
Does the President Even Have the Authority?
What a 10% Cap Would Do to the Credit Card Market
Credit Cards as Unsecured Loans and Risk Sharing
Why Banks Can’t Lend at 10% to Everyone
Trump, Elizabeth Warren, and Left-Wing Economic Policy
Why People Feel Economic Pain Despite “Good” Data
COVID Policy, Inflation, and the Middle-Class Squeeze
Who Really Pays for Artificially Cheap Credit
Life Without Credit Cards and Financial Shock Absorbers
Saving, Self-Insurance, and Economic Reality
Government Intervention and Cascading Market Failures
Why a Credit Card Cap Would Make Things Worse
Final Thoughts and Closing Reflections Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Show notes
In this episode, we examine the illogic behind TSA security rules and how performative regulation often substitutes for real safety, before turning to the economics of ticket scalping and why attempts to suppress secondary markets routinely backfire. We discuss proposals to cap credit card interest rates, including Donald Trump’s suggested limit, and explore how price controls distort lending, restrict access to credit, and harm the very consumers they are meant to protect. The conversation connects these issues to broader misunderstandings about markets, incentives, and regulation, highlighting how political solutions driven by optics rather than economics tend to produce higher costs, reduced choice, and unintended consequences across everyday life.
45:02 Final Thoughts and Closing Reflections Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices