The Great Rebuild Project Launched With A Four-Part series On The Ezra Klein Show

“The Great Rebuild,” a new project from Vox and Omidyar Network launched this week with a four-part series on The Ezra Klein Show that explores what it will take to rebuild—and transform—America’s economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

The Ezra Klein Show has produced more than 300 podcast episodes in the last four years as part of The Vox Media Network.

In the first episode “What would Keynes do?” Klein talks with Zach Carter, HuffPost writer and author of The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, about what the 20th century’s most influential economist can teach us about rebuilding the US economy.

"Right now, the country is fundamentally divided in these different ways that I think are very dangerous," Carter says on the podcast. "And Keynes would’ve said we can attack that first with economic policy by closing these enormous disparities of wealth between the super rich and the poor. That’s not just about getting people to a better standard of living — it’s about making sure that they’re engaged in the same political project."

“The Great Rebuild” imagines how we could marshal the power of the federal government and its citizens to fight back against the catastrophic effects of Covid-19, and in the process create a system steeped in fairness, inclusion, and sustainability. 

 

Klein, co-founder of The Vox Media Network, has leveraged his podcast as a think tank, idea incubator and lab experiment for novel solutions to chronic societal issues.

 

 The first episode of The Ezra Klein Show aired in February 2016 and the first guest  -- MSNBC's Rachel Maddow -- discussed her background as an HIV/AIDS activist, what she learned from skinhead rallies, how power works in politics, and the case for skipping the op-ed page.

 

Almost four years and 300 episodes later, the show has grown and changed, developing obsessions and themes that even Klein never would’ve guessed back at the launch. His guests span industries, interests and insights, ranging from award-winning fantasy writer N.K. Jemisin to Harvard historian Jill Lepore.

 

 Ezra Klein is an American journalist, blogger, and political commentator who co-founded Vox, where he is currently editor-at-large. He worked previously as a blogger and columnist for The Washington Post and an associate editor of The American Prospect. 

 

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 At The Washington Post, Klein managed a branded blog, Wonkblog, which featured his writing and the writing of other policy reporters. Issues discussed in the blog included health care and budget policy.  He wrote a primer on policy called Wonkbook, which was delivered by e-mail and on his blog each morning.

In January 2014, Klein left The Washington Post and co-founded Vox, a website for explanatory news owned by Vox Media. He served as the editor-in-chief of Vox until September 2017, when he transitioned into his current role. His debut book, Why We're Polarized, was recently published in January 2020.

 

 Upcoming episodes on The Great Rebuild will look at the job-creating possibilities of a Green New Deal, what it means to build an economy that puts children and families first, and how universal basic income could transform our economy for the better.

Learn more about The Great Rebuild here and check out the first episode here.

 

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