2906 - The Case Against The Virtue Hoarding Professional Managerial Class w/ Catherine Liu

Special guest host Matt Binder is joined by cultural theorist Catherine Liu to discuss her recent book, “Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class.” First, Matt walks through updates on Libs of Tik Tok’s first official ban (from Meta of all places), chicken wing prices reaching a four-year low, and Mike Pence’s response to being asked about testifying for the January 6th committee. Then, Catherine Liu joins as she gets right into helping define what the Professional Managerial Class (PMC) is, their role in executing the bosses’ orders and managing our social institutions, and how they came to take the mantle of liberal vanguardists, dominating the ideology of the democratic party over their blue-collar counterparts. Next, they parse through the PMC’s relationship to, and bolstering of the systems of capitalism, taking the benefits of much more social mobility than the working class and a feeling of superiority to physical laborers for their endorsement of capitalism and its modes of rationality, exploring its development starting at the end of the ‘60s and progressing through the neoliberal era as PMCs moved into suburbs and left the industrial world behind, with public discourse shifting to cultural critiques and allowing them to rest on their laurels above the dirty blue-collar world. Liu and Binder also tackle the growing split between generations of PMC, with the full financialization of college crippling incoming laborers with debt before they can even enter the workforce while the illusion of college-educated superiority remains necessary for the PMC’s obsession with status, before wrapping up by walking through the growing striations of the professional classes, the difference between general white-collar workers and professional managers, and whether the PMC can trust socialism’s version of a rising tide lifting all boats.

And in the Fun Half: Matt Binder is joined by Brandon Sutton as they watch Fox News’ highlight package of John Fetterman’s best smackdowns on Dr. Oz, as well as Oz’s attempt to cover his ass on Newsmax. Matt Gaetz gets hit with the “is a literal pedophile sex trafficker” attack ads, Bill from the Chicago suburbs talks Ukraine and behind-the-scenes negotiations, and Ren from the deep state talks about Trump violating Q’s clearance. They also tackle Chaiya Raichik’s stochastic terrorism inciting countless death threats against Boston Children’s Hospital and Missouri’s GOP Senate Majority Leader announcing their focus on the “Trans Issue” (no relation to the Jewish Question, of course), plus, your calls and IMs!