In this podcast Russell Roberts, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and EconTalk host, discusses, with Glenn Reynolds of the University of Tennessee and blogger at Instapundit, the political malaise in America, whether it could lead to a constitutional convention, and what might emerge were such an event to occur.

Victor Davis Hanson, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, notes that although the United States is the wealthiest country, it has the world’s largest debt. Hanson notes that the United States is not creating new wealth and that young people who are not confident in our culture lack the knowledge and understanding of what creates a strong culture and country.

Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution where he studies and writes on current events and political trends, offers his insight into President Obama’s State of the Union speech. Whalen was underwhelmed by the speech and notes that Obama does not have solutions for the slow economy and that Obama wants to continue spending and attacking the Republicans.

In this podcast Russell Roberts, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and EconTalk host, discusses, with Cathy O'Neil, data scientist and blogger at mathbabe.org, her journey from Wall Street to Occupy Wall Street. Along the way, the conversation includes a look at the reliability of financial modeling, the role financial models played in the crisis, and the potential for shame to limit dishonest behavior in the financial sector and elsewhere.