{"podcast":{"title":"The Invisible Hand","slug":"the-invisible-hand-7719857","podcast_index_feed_id":7719857,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN6867737009","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/ecd55da6-0690-11f1-8a35-87d682d10069/image/bd2556a194f47efd83996cc639d08bec.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Emma Reid","episode_count":232,"summary":"Economics isn't boring when Emma Reid explains it. This former Wall Street finance analyst quit her corporate job after watching too many people get scammed by get-rich-quick schemes, including her own father who almost lost his retirement to a pyramid scheme. Now she breaks down everything from inflation to interest rates using stories from her small-town grocery store and her neighbor's questionable crypto investments. Every day, Emma takes one economic concept and makes it make sense. Monday might be why gas prices actually work the way they do. Tuesday could be the real reason your mortgage rate just jumped. She's not trying to make you an economist, just someone who can spot financial BS from a mile away and make smarter money decisions. You'll get the kind of economic education they should have taught you in high school but didn't. No textbook jargon, no boring theory, just practical knowledge you can use when your bank tries to sell you a new credit card or your brother-in-law pitches his latest investment idea. Follow now for daily episodes that actually explain how money and markets really work. New episodes every day—follow now!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-31T16:18:06.182989+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-invisible-hand-7719857"},"episode":{"title":"Why America Spends $150,000 Per Homeless Person (And Nothing Changes)","slug":"why-america-spends-150-000-per-homeless-person-and-nothing-changes","published_at":"2026-07-27T16:12:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-invisible-hand-7719857/why-america-spends-150-000-per-homeless-person-and-nothing-changes","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-invisible-hand-7719857","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN1051962117.mp3?updated=1776261216","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN1051962117.mp3?updated=1776261216","summary":"America spends $150,000 per homeless person each year, but homelessness keeps getting worse. Something's seriously broken here. In this episode, Emma Reid follows the money trail through what critics call the \"homeless industrial complex\" and uncovers why throwing billions at the problem might actually be making it harder to solve. 🎯 What You'll Learn: • How San Francisco burns through $100,000+ per homeless person annually while its homeless population actually grows • Why it costs LA County $531,000 and 3.5 years to build a single \"supportive housing\" unit (spoiler: it's not the construction) • The real reason nonprofit executives earn $400,000 salaries while the people they're supposed to help stay on the streets 👤 Perfect for: lifelong learners and anyone who's ever wondered why social problems seem to get more expensive but never actually get solved. 📍 Chapters: [00:00] Emma Reid breaks down America's $150,000 homeless spending mystery [02:00] San Francisco's budget math that doesn't add up [04:30] The nonprofit salary scandal nobody talks about [06:45] Why LA's housing projects cost more than luxury condos [08:30] The perverse incentives keeping the crisis alive [10:00] What actually works (and why it's not profitable) The numbers are jaw-dropping. The federal government allocated $51 billion for homelessness programs from 2018-2021, yet the national homeless population increased during that same period. It's like paying a personal trainer who makes you gain weight. Emma Reid connects the dots between bloated bureaucracies, misaligned incentives, and why good intentions can create terrible outcomes. You'll understand exactly how a crisis that should be solvable with America's resources keeps getting worse despite record spending. 🔔 Never miss an episode: Follow T…","meta_description":"America spends $150,000 per homeless person each year, but homelessness keeps getting worse. Something's seriously broken here. In this episode, Emma Reid…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":722,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-invisible-hand-7719857/episodes/why-america-spends-150-000-per-homeless-person-and-nothing-changes/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-invisible-hand-7719857/why-america-spends-150-000-per-homeless-person-and-nothing-changes.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}