Shows / Solving America's Problems
Solving America's Problems
America's Opportunities: From Conversation to Candidacy. Solving America's Problems is a weekly podcast that turns real conversations about America's toughest issues into a movement, so the best and brightest serve in government, not chase Wall Street or Silicon Valley. It's for anyone who wants a serious hour on the country's problems without a team jersey. Hosted by Jerremy Alexander Newsome (co-host and candidate) and Dave Conley (co-host and producer). Guests include authors, academics…
Episodes
- Solving America's Problems
Ben Allgeyer: What Families Facing Foreclosure Should Know (Full)
The typical first-time buyer is now 40 years old, and foreclosures are climbing again. Ben Allgeyer lost a million dollars in about 18 months and rebuilt by…
- Solving America's Problems
Most Real Estate Agents Don't Earn Their Commission
Institutional funds buy less than 5% of homes, but the belief that Wall Street buys everything still convinces young people they can't afford one. Ben Allgeyer…
- Solving America's Problems
Foreclosures Are Back, and Most Owners Have No Equity Left
People who bought in 2019 and 2020 are now in foreclosure with almost no equity, and many walk away with $5,000 to $20,000 at most. Ben Allgeyer explains the…
- Solving America's Problems
He Lost $1 Million in 18 Months Flipping Houses
A real estate investor lost a million dollars in about 18 months, starting with a partner he brought on way too early. Ben Allgeyer tells Jerremy Alexander…
- Solving America's Problems
Russian Diesel, 7.4% Mortgages, and Foreclosures Up 50%
Freddie Mac's 30-year average rate rose to 7.4% last week, up from 6.3% a year ago, which Jerremy Alexander Newsome says adds $294 a month on a $400,000 loan…
- Solving America's Problems
29,000 Jobs, 7.28% Mortgages, and a Stock Market That Won't Quit
The economy added 29,000 jobs against 90,000 expected, and the Nasdaq is still at all-time highs. Jerremy Alexander Newsome says the 10-year Treasury rose a…
- Solving America's Problems
Christopher Serkin: Why Zoning Reform Alone Won't Fix Housing (Full)
Nashville approved every one of roughly 200 rezoning requests over two years, added about 75,000 housing units in a decade, and is still net less dense than it…
- Solving America's Problems
Who Should Decide How Fast Your Neighborhood Changes?
For roughly the first 85 to 90 years of zoning, the left and right split on it. Now they agree it's the problem. Christopher Serkin says that convergence makes…
- Solving America's Problems
Housing Can't Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment
Housing can't be both affordable and a good investment. Christopher Serkin says that tension is the lesson the country forgot after 2008, when so many recent…
- Solving America's Problems
Nashville Approved Every Rezoning Request. Prices Exploded Anyway
Nashville approved every one of roughly 200 rezoning requests over two years and added about 75,000 housing units in a decade, and it is still net less dense…
- Solving America's Problems
Gene Eidelman Is 3D-Printing America Out of a Housing Crisis (Full)
In 1976, homes under 1,400 square feet made up a third of new construction; by 2020, that number was 7%. Gene Eidelman sold $100 million in real estate within…
- Solving America's Problems
Houses Built After 2008 Survived Wildfires 80% of the Time
Homes built under California's 2008 fire code survived last year's wildfires 80% of the time; homes built before it were destroyed 80% of the time. Gene…
- Solving America's Problems
Zoning Still Blocks the Affordable Homes America Needs
One Ohio city's zoning code outright bans manufactured homes in a low-income neighborhood — even for a project explicitly meant to be affordable. Gene Eidelman…
- Solving America's Problems
The Fed Hiked, the 10-Year Hit 5%, and Bitcoin Eyes $90,000
The ten-year Treasury just hit 5%, and the Fed hiked for the first time since 2023. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley walk through what that does: a…
- Solving America's Problems
Gene Eidelman Sold $100M in Real Estate, Then 3D-Printed Homes
In 1976, homes under 1,400 square feet made up a third of new construction; by 2020, that number had fallen to 7%. Gene Eidelman arrived in the U.S. as a…
- Solving America's Problems
Austin Built 3x More Housing. Families Left Anyway. (Full)
Austin added new housing three times faster than the rest of the country for a decade — rents dropped below the national average, and young families left…
- Solving America's Problems
The City Quietly Beating San Francisco at Homelessness
Houston cut its homeless population by 60 to 70 percent over the past decade — while San Francisco spends roughly five times more per person for worse…
- Solving America's Problems
The Housing Type America Banned — Then Got a Homelessness Crisis
America once had millions of single-room-occupancy units — the cheapest legal housing in the country — and cities spent decades tearing them down…
- Solving America's Problems
Austin Slashed Rents to Record Lows. Families Left Anyway.
Austin added new housing three times faster than the rest of the country for a decade, and rents fell below the national average. Young families left anyway…
- Solving America's Problems
Inside the Housing Standoff Freezing 1.7 Million Sales (Full)
More than half of homeowners are locked into a rate under 4%, and an estimated 1.7 million home sales never happened because of it. Daniel Sosa has worked…
- Solving America's Problems
The Exact Playbook For Turning a No Into a Yes
Dave Conley presses Daniel Sosa on exactly who gets rejected versus approved. Daniel says anybody can eventually qualify for a home — the real question is…
- Solving America's Problems
The 65% of Homeowners Who Will Never Sell
Jerremy Alexander Newsome challenges Daniel Sosa to steelman the case against his own industry: don't easier loans just inflate prices further? Daniel doesn't…
- Solving America's Problems
For the First Time Ever, Renting Beats Buying Here
More than half of homeowners are locked into a rate under 4%, and an estimated 1.7 million home sales never happened because of it. Daniel Sosa, a mortgage…
- Solving America's Problems
The House Always Wins: Inside America's Mortgage Machine (Full)
More than half of Americans with a mortgage are locked in under 4%, freezing nearly two million home sales. JD Cobb has spent two decades closing loans in…
- Solving America's Problems
The 20% Down Myth That Keeps Renters Renting
There are twelve down payment assistance programs in Austin and Travis County alone, and JD Cobb says almost nobody asks. He names TSAC and TDHCA, which cover…
- Solving America's Problems
Starter Homes Vanished. Here's What Replaced Them
The average American buyer is now 38 years old — Dave Conley bought his first home in his twenties and had to borrow the down payment from friends. Dave and…
- Solving America's Problems
The AI Economy Is Lying to You — Real Markets Are Falling
Construction spending has fallen every month since Trump took office — except in months when the project was a data center. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and…
- Solving America's Problems
Why 2 Million Home Sales Are Frozen in Rate Lock-In
More than half of Americans with a mortgage are locked in under 4%, and that lock-in alone has frozen out nearly two million home sales. JD Cobb's answer…
- Solving America's Problems
Congress Works 3-Day Weeks While Gas Hits Record Highs
Diesel and gas prices are 45% higher than nine months ago — the highest August prices on record. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley call AI CapEx…
- Solving America's Problems
Rethinking Rent: Ownership Through Community Care (Full)
22.6 million U.S. households now pay more for housing than they can afford, and the average home costs five times the average salary. Sam Froerer, who co-owns…
- Solving America's Problems
Owning What You Rent — Policy, Tax, and the Lightning Round
A $100,000 investment can show $60,000 of paper losses in year one — a tax benefit ordinary renters never get access to. Sam Froerer tells Jerremy…
- Solving America's Problems
Value-Add, Screening, and the Wealth Gap
Landlords call it "value-add," and raising rent $100 to $200 a month after new cabinets and a dog park is the same move the industry has run for decades. Sam…
- Solving America's Problems
Payrolls Crashed and Markets Hit Record Highs Anyway
Payrolls fell 23,000 in July against a consensus near +80,000, and the unemployment rate dropped anyway. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley read that as…
- Solving America's Problems
Why Renting in America Is Broken
22.6 million U.S. households now pay more for housing than they can afford, and the average home costs five times what the average family makes. Sam Froerer…
- Solving America's Problems
August 3, 2026
The 30-year Treasury hit 5.28% intraday this week, the highest borrowing cost since 2007, and it has nothing to do with a recession. Jerremy Alexander Newsome…
- Solving America's Problems
House Always Wins: How the American Dream Got Rigged (Full)
The top 400 richest families in America pay about 2% in taxes while everyone else pays 20 to 26%. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley kick off a new…
- Solving America's Problems
The Investor Who Says Never Buy a House
Real estate investor Grant Cardone says never buy a home — rent instead, and put your money in the market. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley debate the…
- Solving America's Problems
The Tax Code Is Secretly a Welfare Program — For Homeowners
The top 400 richest families in America pay about 2% in taxes — while everyone else pays 20 to 26%. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley dig into what…
- Solving America's Problems
Boomers Own 70% of US Homes — Here's How That Happened
Baby boomers now own roughly 70% of American homes and property — and politicians are too scared to touch it. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley lay out…
- Solving America's Problems
What Five UBI Episodes Actually Found (Full)
The best U.S. cash experiments still can't prove money durably improves health or child outcomes. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley spend five episodes…
- Solving America's Problems
Dave Says the AI Bomb Already Went Off
Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley close the series on the loudest disagreement yet: has the AI revolution already hit, or is it still coming? Dave says…
- Solving America's Problems
UBI Got a Rebrand. The Data Still Said No.
The best U.S. cash experiments still can't prove giving people money durably improves health or child outcomes. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley pick…
- Solving America's Problems
Free Cash Isn't a Check. It's a Chain.
Free cash isn't a check — it's a chain, according to Ron Lynch, who argues handouts push society toward technocratic feudalism. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and…
- Solving America's Problems
The Fed Can Buy Any Public Company. Nobody's Talking About It.
The Federal Reserve can legally buy any publicly traded company outright — no permission required. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley open with the Dow…
- Solving America's Problems
Cash, Trust, and a New Social Contract (Full)
Recipients were two percentage points less likely to work — and critics called that proof people quit when you pay them. Dr. Elizabeth Rhodes ran the longest…
- Solving America's Problems
If the Jobs Don't Come Back, Her Data Is All We've Got
Rhodes admits her study was never designed for a world where income decouples from labor — but it's the closest data anyone has for what's coming. People are…
- Solving America's Problems
$1,000 a Month Won't Fix What's Actually Broken
People spent the money on housing, food, and their kids — every global cash study shows this, yet the stereotype persists. The financial wellbeing boost was…
- Solving America's Problems
What a Social Worker Sees That Economists Walk Past
Recipients were two percentage points less likely to work — and critics called that the whole story. Dr. Elizabeth Rhodes ran the longest three-year…
- Solving America's Problems
What If We Just Gave Everyone Money? (Full)
The biggest US cash experiment returned a big fat zero on measurable child outcomes. Dalton Conley tells Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave that poverty…
- Solving America's Problems
Would You Take the Check? The Answer Is Complicated
Dalton Conley tells Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave: yes, he'd take the UBI check — because you don't have a choice. A thousand dollars a month transforms…
- Solving America's Problems
Why Dental Care Might Be the UBI Linchpin Nobody Sees
Nobody trusts the institutions that would run the check. Dalton Conley tells Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave a sovereign wealth fund modeled on Alaska's…
- Solving America's Problems
The Biggest US Cash Study Came Back With Nothing
The largest US cash experiment returned a big fat zero on measurable child outcomes. Dalton Conley tells Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave the American dream…
- Solving America's Problems
Robots, Free Housing, and the Death of Money — with Chris Remboldt (Full)
Forty percent of Americans are one paycheck from crisis — and Chris Remboldt says that's shareholder capitalism deliberately optimizing stock price over human…
- Solving America's Problems
Superintelligence Is Already Here. The Robot Fleet Lands in Four Years.
Chris Remboldt says superintelligence is already here and a self-replicating Von Neumann robot fleet arrives in four years. He predicts AI companies will…
- Solving America's Problems
Starting at Negative 100: Why Help Isn't Coming for You
Most people aren't starting at zero — they're at negative 100, and Chris Remboldt says the first move is giving up the belief that help is coming. He tells…
- Solving America's Problems
Shareholder Capitalism Broke the Deal. AI Has a Four-Year Fix.
Shareholder charters legally force companies to prioritize quarterly stock prices over mission — and Chris Remboldt says that's the engine behind a generation…
- Solving America's Problems
Ron Lynch on UBI, the Surveillance State, and Who Owns You (Full)
Ron Lynch moved $6 billion in consumer sales, made four films, and called Spielberg from a grocery store basement at 23. He says UBI doesn't hand out income —…
- Solving America's Problems
Blockchain Studios at $5K and Why UBI Is Worse Than Communism
UBI isn't communism — it's worse, and the strongest case for it ends with one word: slavery. Ron Lynch says in five years you'll produce a feature film for…
- Solving America's Problems
The Surveillance Stack That Makes UBI a Leash
Palantir tracks every digital transaction, IDEMIA harvests biometrics, and Allied Universal has cameras on every corner — the compliance infrastructure isn't…
- Solving America's Problems
UBI Doesn't Kill Jobs — It Kills Purpose
Alaska's $1,700 annual dividend proves exactly nothing — Ron Lynch says the real number is $30K, and that's precisely where complacency sets in. Ron moved $6…