Podcasts Government The Uncertain Hour
The Uncertain Hour

The Uncertain Hour

41 episodes

Each season, we explain the weird, complicated and often unequal American economy — and why some people get ahead and some get left behind. Host Krissy Clark dives into obscure policies and forgotten histories to explain why America is like it is.

The latest season examines the “welfare-to-work industrial complex” and the multi-million dollar companies running today’s for-profit welfare centers.


Podcasts

The $80 Million Acre (from How We Survive)

Published: Nov. 14, 2023, 11 a.m.
Duration: 33 minutes 10 seconds

Listed in: Government

Chapter 6: The Welfare to Temp Work Pipeline

Published: April 26, 2023, 10 a.m.
Duration: 55 minutes 29 seconds

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Chapter 5: Profits and Perverse Incentives

Published: April 19, 2023, 10 a.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 21 seconds

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Chapter 4: The Battle of Newburgh

Published: April 12, 2023, 10 a.m.
Duration: 35 minutes 37 seconds

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Chapter 3: Race and rumor

Published: April 5, 2023, 10 a.m.
Duration: 36 minutes 10 seconds

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Chapter 2: The compliance machine

Published: March 29, 2023, 9:09 p.m.
Duration: 54 minutes 3 seconds

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Chapter 1: The dream

Published: March 22, 2023, 7:58 p.m.
Duration: 44 minutes 55 seconds

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Season 6: The Welfare-to-Work Industrial Complex

Published: March 15, 2023, 8:05 p.m.
Duration: 4 minutes 23 seconds

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25 years after welfare reform, lets revisit the magic bureaucrat

Published: Aug. 20, 2021, 7:31 p.m.
Duration: 41 minutes 7 seconds

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It’s been 25 years since our country upended its welfare system \\u2013 and so we’re looking back at our very first episode.

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We spent that first season of “The Uncertain Hour” reflecting deeply on what welfare had become. Each of those episodes can still help us understand what\\u2019s happened to one of our nation\\u2019s oldest safety net programs, on this anniversary of its so-called \\u201creform.\\u201d

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In this reprise episode, we tell the story of the \\u201cMagic Bureaucrat\\u201d \\u2014 the former director of a suburban county welfare office who helped launched the welfare reform movement 25 years ago, with the aid of a self-produced pop album.

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Check out the whole first season to learn more \\u2014 from the story of a woman who exposed the racism built into the welfare system from its early days, to an investigation of some of the very surprising ways states have spent federal welfare funds in the last 25 years. Money has gone to marriage counseling workshops, college scholarships for middle-class families and religious \\u201ccrisis pregnancy centers\\u201d that try to steer women away from abortions.

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My boss is an app

Published: March 24, 2021, 7:49 p.m.
Duration: 48 minutes 13 seconds

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Inside baseball

Published: March 17, 2021, 5:28 p.m.
Duration: 46 minutes

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Big Boss, Little Boss

Published: March 10, 2021, 5:04 p.m.
Duration: 35 minutes 28 seconds

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To catch a chicken

Published: March 3, 2021, 11 a.m.
Duration: 38 minutes 56 seconds

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The liquid workforce

Published: Feb. 24, 2021, 6:02 p.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 26 seconds

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To suffer or permit to work

Published: Feb. 17, 2021, 6:05 p.m.
Duration: 48 minutes 59 seconds

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Whos the boss?

Published: Feb. 10, 2021, 11 a.m.
Duration: 45 minutes 52 seconds

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Congratulations! Youre an entrepreneur now

Published: Feb. 3, 2021, 11:01 a.m.
Duration: 43 minutes 5 seconds

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The Uncertain Hour is back!

Published: Jan. 27, 2021, 11:01 a.m.
Duration: 4 minutes 15 seconds

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Answering your History of Now questions

Published: June 17, 2020, 7:06 p.m.
Duration: 29 minutes 6 seconds

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Without a home in a pandemic

Published: June 11, 2020, 10 a.m.
Duration: 43 minutes 1 second

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There are cracks in the foundation of our housing system

Published: June 3, 2020, 5:34 p.m.
Duration: 33 minutes 20 seconds

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Unemployment benefits are hard to get. Thats on purpose.

Published: May 27, 2020, 6:02 p.m.
Duration: 36 minutes 18 seconds

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An unequal history of quarantines

Published: May 20, 2020, 5:36 p.m.
Duration: 29 minutes 8 seconds

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Youre an essential worker. Do you get essential protections?

Published: May 13, 2020, 7:28 p.m.
Duration: 29 minutes 51 seconds

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A History of Now: The Trailer

Published: May 6, 2020, 4:43 p.m.
Duration: 3 minutes 36 seconds

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There’s not much more uncertain than our current moment. Our day-to-day lives and our economy have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. On this season, “A History of Now,” we’re digging into the history and policies that help make sense of this current moment, a time\\xa0where issues of wealth and poverty\\xa0feel even more stark than usual.\\xa0New episodes start May 13.

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A new piece of the opioid crisis origin story, revealed

Published: Dec. 19, 2019, 7:40 p.m.
Duration: 15 minutes 43 seconds

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George Bushs infamous crack speech, 30 years later

Published: Sept. 5, 2019, 7:52 p.m.
Duration: 45 minutes 37 seconds

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Kicking the habit

Published: April 18, 2019, 4 p.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 28 seconds

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Supply

Published: April 11, 2019, 7:47 p.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 36 seconds

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Welcome to Wise County

Published: April 4, 2019, 7 p.m.
Duration: 35 minutes 55 seconds

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Sentencing

Published: March 28, 2019, 7:54 p.m.
Duration: 48 minutes 12 seconds

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What happened to Keith?

Published: March 22, 2019, 7:42 p.m.
Duration: 32 minutes 38 seconds

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George H.W. Bush and his baggie of crack

Published: March 21, 2019, 7:41 p.m.
Duration: 45 minutes 37 seconds

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The Uncertain Hour Season 3: Inside Americas Drug War

Published: March 7, 2019, 8:46 p.m.
Duration: 2 minutes 27 seconds

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A mosquito in a nudist colony

Published: March 8, 2018, 2:33 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 19 minutes 8 seconds

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Law and Odor: a crime story about orchids, pig smell, refineries and you

Published: Jan. 26, 2018, 5:29 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 8 minutes 57 seconds

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Whos regulating whom?

Published: Jan. 5, 2018, 2:40 a.m.
Duration: 45 minutes 34 seconds

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Your regulations questions, answered

Published: Dec. 21, 2017, 9 p.m.
Duration: 27 minutes 28 seconds

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The sentence that helped set off the opioid crisis

Published: Dec. 13, 2017, noon
Duration: 1 hour 5 minutes 19 seconds

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The peanut butter verdict

Published: Nov. 22, 2017, 6:45 p.m.
Duration: 38 minutes 31 seconds

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The Peanut Butter Wars

Published: Nov. 10, 2017, 8:38 p.m.
Duration: 37 minutes 37 seconds

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The Peanut Butter Grandma goes to Washington

Published: Oct. 26, 2017, 2:48 a.m.
Duration: 33 minutes 26 seconds

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The Uncertain Hour dives into red tape

Published: Oct. 3, 2017, 4:30 p.m.
Duration: 4 minutes 10 seconds

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The Album, Work Makes the Difference

Published: Aug. 17, 2016, 7:57 p.m.
Duration: 14 minutes 8 seconds

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The road not taken

Published: July 7, 2016, 6:19 p.m.
Duration: 43 minutes 5 seconds

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Pregnant? We can help.

Published: June 23, 2016, 10:38 p.m.
Duration: 26 minutes 30 seconds

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Everything but the kitchen sink

Published: June 9, 2016, 8:15 p.m.
Duration: 23 minutes 55 seconds

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Whats love (styles) got to do with it?

Published: May 26, 2016, 5:43 p.m.
Duration: 34 minutes 23 seconds

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White gloves, aluminum cans and plasma

Published: May 11, 2016, 4:17 p.m.
Duration: 34 minutes 1 second

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The Magic Bureaucrat

Published: April 28, 2016, 7:49 p.m.
Duration: 41 minutes 7 seconds

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In the summer of 1996, on the lawn of the White House Rose Garden, President Clinton signed a bill that would dramatically transform the country’s welfare system.

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Twenty years later, what the heck is welfare anyway? And we should make it clear \\u2014 we’re talking about cash assistance to poor families, not food stamps or medicaid.

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Welcome to “The Uncertain Hour,” the Wealth & Poverty desk’s new podcast hosted by Senior Correspondent Krissy Clark. In the first episode, we’ll introduce you to the “Magic Bureaucrat” \\u2014 the former director of a suburban county welfare office. You’ll hear about his foray into synthpop music production and how he launched the welfare reform movement.

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Because the things we argue most about are often the things we know the least about.

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Introducing ‘The Uncertain Hour’

Published: March 8, 2016, 1:22 a.m.
Duration: 3 minutes 20 seconds

Listed in: Government