What If There Were Free Lunches?

And breakfasts. In schools. It'd create something much closer to an academic meritocracy, and have some other surprising effects.

Hey Optimists!

Robin here. I have to keep this short. I’m just back from consuming a large amount of leisure in the Pacific Northwest and still have a lot of inbox-clearing to do today.

Between beach walks and gazing out at the water and evergreen-sawtoothed horizon, I did a lot of reading of the Wall Street Journal. Like you do. In just a few days, I read “Black Americans Are Losing Jobs in a Warning for the Economy.” Then I read, “The Middle-Class Vibe Has Shifted From Secure to Squeezed.”

And then this morning I read an article that began, “America is becoming a nation of economic pessimists.” Gift link here. I stopped short when I came to this chart, which shows the post-pandemic moment that our feelings about the economy and the data about the economy started to diverge.

This captures, I think, a lot of what we have been talking about on the podcast in recent weeks. First, that there is a real disconnect between what people are sensing and what economic data are showing. But it also reminded me a lot of something Kathryn said in our episode on Un- and Underemployment, which is that it’s not normal to spend five years wondering if the economy is about to tip into recession or not.

On the podcast: Making the Conservative Case for Free Food in Schools

This week on the podcast, Kathryn makes the case that universal free school meals are the essential ingredient in academic fair play. Nine states are already providing free lunches to any student that wants them. The effects are documented in studies after study (See the podcast page for the full list), but they include higher grades and test scores across the board. But they also have some surprising effects, like lowering prices at the grocery store. Here’s an excerpt:

Get your weekly dose of optimism, Aren’t Free School Meals a Conservative's Dream Policy? wherever you listen to podcasts.

Three quick things

1. Got questions? In three weeks, we’re recording our last Q&A of Season 1. If you have something about the economy that you’d like to have explained, likely at length, send us an email at optimist.economy@gmail.com.

2. Call us! We’d love to hear your voice. Send us your question for the Q&A, or leave us a podcast review, at our new Google Voice line: ‪(202) 643-0295. We’re trying to cobble together an audio promo for the podcast, and you can help by leaving us an audio review.

3. Give us some stars. I found out recently that if we get 585 star ratings (not even written reviews) that would put Optimist Economy in the top 1% of podcasts. So now we have a goal.

Oh, and one more

We’ll definitely still take your money — in any clever amount, not just the federal minimum wage — at Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, or PayPal. We’ll have more to tell you about exactly how we’re investing in the future of Optimist Economy soon.