“It’s an incredibly complex conversation,” Jon Stewart said near the conclusion of just that on Tuesday night after a “Daily Show” deep dive on government policy and efficacy with Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO and founder of USAFacts.
On the same night presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were debating how they were best suited to run the country, Ballmer and Stewart traded their own insights into why the country runs like it does.
Ballmer, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, started USAFacts in 2017 as a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization to provide data-driven context on everything from the economy to immigration to crime. The site draws on information from 100 government databases and regularly crunches numbers in an effort to take the pulse and track trends in America.
A few highlights from the full interview, above:
- Government spending: Ballmer provided a breakdown of the top areas of federal spending, including Social Security, Medicare, the military, interest on the national debt, Medicaid and veteran’s benefits. “There’s no inefficiency there,” he said. “I would disagree,” Stewart countered, arguing that the tension in people’s lives is caused by “the squeeze” for those dealing simultaneously with the cost of education, health care and elder care.
- Health care, labor costs, corporate taxes and more: The discussion covered a range of complex policy and economic issues, with Ballmer and Stewart continually trying to find common ground on what’s broken and what the fixes could be.
- Never forget? On the eve of 9/11, Ballmer did get a big groan from Stewart and the audience when he referred to “the twin towers of America” as democracy and capitalism. “I don’t want to tell you how that story ends,” Stewart said, covering his face with his hand. “You’re killing me here!” Ballmer replied. “It’s tomorrow for f**k’s sake!” Stewart shouted.
USA Facts — lauded by Stewart as “phenomenal” and “so necessary” — recently launched a new YouTube video series aimed at better explaining government data to Americans ahead of the election.
“What I love about your site is that you’ve brought together all the data and context necessary to have these conversations. Because these conversations feel like they don’t occur,” Stewart said. “All that occurs on the news is, ‘How do you think that’s gonna play in Wisconsin?’ Nobody seems to want to get into the weeds on what you’re talking about.”
https://ift.tt/urhFinc September 11, 2024 at 04:55PM GeekWire
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