Why Cars “Should” Cost $30k + The Medieval Hell of Rec Letters (feat. Steve Black)

Dan and Michael welcome anthropologist Steve Black to ruin the economy — emotionally, spiritually, and academically. We unpack the $30k car delusion, sorority-rush consultants, the medieval logic of letters of recommendation, and why academic publishing is drowning in AI-generated rat-penis slop.

This is the economy as people actually feel it.

Chapters

0:00 — Intro: Welcome to Emotional Economics
2:10 — Sorority Consultants & Upper-Middle-Class Reproduction
12:45 — Q1: Why Cars “Should” Cost $30k
28:20 — Inflation, Vibes, and Classed Expectations
41:00 — Why Car Prices Don’t Match Your Millennial Brain
49:30 — Q2: Letters of Recommendation Are Medieval Technology
1:04:00 — First-Gen Students & Hidden Academic Rules
1:13:55 — Fixing Shit: Academic Publishing & AI Slop
1:29:30 — The Rat With the Enormous Penis
1:37:10 — Q3: Should You Give Two Weeks’ Notice?
1:49:12 — Why Institutions Aren’t Ethical
1:55:50 — How to Quit Strategically
2:00:10 — Outro + Credits

#PeopleStuff #Anthropology #CarPrices #Inflation #CollegeAdvice #LettersOfRecommendation #AcademicPublishing #AIPapers #WorkplaceCulture #QuittingYourJob