The Congressional Budget Office, the institution that furnishes cost-benefit analyses for federal legislation under consideration by Congress, has a really hard job. But some of the assumptions they rely on to predict economic consequences are just plain weird. Economist Mark Paul leads us through the strangest practices at the CBO, including their (untrue) claim that public investment is only half as productive as private investment and the complete lack of peer-reviewing of reports that can signal the death knell for a bill.

We learn in grade school that American citizens are endowed with certain inalienable rights, but basic necessities like housing and education aren’t protected by the Constitution. Imagine how different this country might be if affordable health care and guaranteed employment were included in our Bill of Rights. That’s the vision that economist Mark Paul outlines in his new book, The Ends of Freedom.

Trickle-downers want you to believe that in America, freedom is a narrow idea—freedom from taxes, from regulation, from government itself. But what good is that kind of freedom if you can’t afford rent, see a doctor, or feed your family? So, this week we’re revisiting one of our favorite conversations—our interview with economist Mark Paul about his book, The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights. In it, he challenges the myth of economic freedom and offers a bold alternative: a 21st-century Economic Bill of Rights. Drawing on the unfinished work of FDR and Martin Luther King Jr., Paul argues that true freedom means more than just being left alone—it means having access to the basic goods that make life possible: housing, healthcare, education, and a decent job. From the lasting damage of neoliberalism to a vision for a fairer, more humane economy, this conversation reframes what freedom really means—and what it will take to build an economy that works for everyone.