# Post-Election Strategy: Housing, Inequality, and Ethics

**Podcast:** Prof G Markets
**Published:** 2026-11-14

## Transcript

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The decor, the gifts, the shopping lists, but more importantly, the holiday treats.
Cheesecakes, cookies, is there anything better?
And when the recipe calls for cream cheese, there's only one option.
Philadelphia, the original cream cheese.
Made with fresh milk and real cream.
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Welcome to Simply Put.
I'm Ed Elson.
This week, Blue Nami.
Six months ago, I predicted the Democrats would win the midterms in a, quote, landslide.
Last week, I doubled down.
predicting one of the greatest Democratic sweeps in congressional history.
My thesis was simple.
America had had it with President Trump, and this was its moment to rebuke him.
On November 3rd, these predictions came true.
The Democrats took the House and the Senate in what has been described as a bloodbath.
They also flipped Texas, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Texas elected its first Democratic governor in nearly 40 years.
Kansas elected its first Democratic senator in nearly 100 years.
The last one, George McGill, was born in 1879.
94% of counties shifted left from 2024.
This wasn't a blue wave.
It was a blue tsunami.
One of the most resounding victories in American history.
Some call it a win for the Democrats.
I call it a win for democracy.
Over the past several years, our president has projected an authoritarian vision of America that too many have bought.
This result was a welcome reminder of where the power truly lies, with the people.
Indeed, our democracy was specifically designed to withstand people like Trump.
Enlightened statesmen, James Madison once wrote, will not always be at the helm.
Our founding fathers would be proud.
Democrats deserve their plaudits too.
While Trump is chiefly responsible for their victory, they turned it into a rout.
From James Tallarico and Adam Hamilton to Abdul El-Sayed and John Ossoff, 2026 marks the arrival of a new generation of exceptional political talent.
Their message is one of toughness, but also one of love, living proof that strength and kindness are not mutually exclusive.
However, the war isn't won.
affordability, artificial intelligence, inequality, political corruption, all of these issues were on the ballot this year.
The Democrats must now determine how to address them.
Already, they are divided.
Do we prosecute Trump for his apparent crimes?
Or do we move forward and let things go?
Do we simply undo Trump's economic policies?
Or do we go further and pursue more sweeping change?
These are difficult conversations as there are merits.
unlike the tariffs, to both sides.
So, let's start having that conversation.
Today, I am laying out my thoughts on how the party should proceed.
I expect some of you may disagree with me, and I welcome your criticism.
The most important thing, however, is that there is a debate.
After all, the next two years will define the next 10.
Let's begin with this idea of prosecution.
Many Democrats do not want to prosecute the president.
Which I get.
After all, they risk being seen as the lawfare party, and convicting Trump purely on political grounds would obviously be unjust.
Here's the thing, though.
Prosecuting people for crimes they actually committed isn't lawfare.
That is just the law.
It'd be one thing if the evidence of Trump's crimes was thin, but that's not even remotely the case.
From the tens of thousands of stocks that he and his family appeared to trade on Insider Information, to the SEC and CFTC investigations into those unusual trades that he appeared to terminate, to the billions of dollars he appeared to steal from American households through a crypto venture that fit the legal definition of a Ponzi scheme, to the payments he appeared to accept in exchange for presidential pardons, to the child sex abuse scandal that he appeared to cover up that intimately involved him, and much, much more.
The reality...
is that Trump appears to have committed multiple extremely serious crimes.
Now, note my use of this word appears.
I'm not declaring him guilty of these crimes.
I'm just saying he seems to be.
And guess what?
That is why we have a justice system.
To evaluate evidence, determine the truth, and then decide whether to prosecute.
And no, these are not just petty crimes.
They include securities fraud, wire fraud, market manipulation, federal bribery, obstruction of federal records, and abuse of office.
If a regular person were found guilty of these charges, they would be facing more than 50 years in prison.
In fact, to not pursue justice for political reasons is its own form of lawfare.
It literally means putting politics above the law.
In addition, it is cowardly.
It means you're too afraid to do what's right for fear of how you might be seen.
Americans, by the way, will see that and they will view it as weakness, which it is.
It's time for the Democrats to stop being so afraid and stand up for what they know is right.
What about the economy, you ask?
Yes, that is crucial too.
However, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
The first thing Democrats need to do...
is reverse the two policies that have caused wages to fall behind prices for six straight months, i.e.
make Americans poorer.
They are the tariffs and they are the war.
Investors seem to believe that Trump will just acquiesce on these issues, particularly Iran, but I'm not so sure.
After all, this is the guy whose mentor taught him to never admit defeat.
In order to help American workers, I believe Democrats will need to be more forceful and more strategic.
They could simply repeal.
Trump's policies, as they now have the votes.
However, Trump will have veto power.
In my view, the trick will be to focus on how these policies are funded, as that power, the power of the purse, lies with Congress alone.
Democrats could write into the appropriations bill, for example, that no public funds may be used for the war.
For precedent, see the Case Church Amendment of 1973, which prohibited spending on combat in Southeast Asia.
This ended the bombing of Cambodia, and when Nixon's successors tried to reinitiate two years later, the money was no longer there.
In sum, don't go after Trump, go after the money instead.
After that, you have to address housing.
The average home now costs around seven times the average American's income.
That number has never been higher, meaning that housing has never been more unaffordable.
This is not a natural occurrence.
Decades of nimbyist housing policies have artificially restricted supply in order to drive up prices and enrich existing homeowners.
As a result...
Homes are now accessible only to older Americans who are already rich.
In 1980, the average age of a homebuyer was 31.
Today, it is 59.
The housing crisis is a scourge on Americans' youth.
What to do?
Build more housing.
Democrats must unite around comprehensive housing reform that undoes zoning restrictions and cuts through all forms of red tape.
Yes, they may piss off some boomers whose home values will decline.
But given the enormity of the affordability crisis, that is a small price to pay.
Besides, the average household over 75 has gotten 38% wealthier in the past four years, while the average household under 35 has gotten 23% poorer.
If anyone deserves a leg up, it's young people.
Which brings me to our next problem, inequality.
I've been railing about this problem for years.
Perhaps this is the moment that our leadership finally takes it seriously.
For those who don't already know, inequality has gotten completely out of control.
The top 1% now controls more wealth than the entire middle class put together.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk is a trillionaire worth more than 3% of GDP, while more than 1 in 10 Americans live in poverty.
It is untenable for those two statements to be true at the same time.
Now, some will say, repeal the tariffs and call it a day, but that isn't nearly enough.
The truth is that this issue existed long before Trump.
Without systemic reform, it will only get worse.
We must recognize that our existing methods of redistribution no longer work.
That means reimagining the tax code entirely.
every single Democrat should be working on bold but realistic tax proposals that attack our K-shaped economy.
Some suggestions.
Increase the capital gains tax.
Reduce the payroll tax.
Implement a borrowing tax.
Eliminate tax loopholes, including carried interest.
Reform the estate tax and dramatically lower the exemption.
And execute a data center dividend.
Do literally anything that puts more money in the pockets of workers.
Radical.
What is radical is to pretend that everything is fine when our wealth genie coefficient is equal to that of 18th century France.
Their answer was to chop heads off.
What will ours be?
Next up, clean up Washington.
There is a reason 9 in 10 Americans say our government is corrupt.
It's because it's true.
Last year, nearly a dozen members of Congress outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 100%.
Half were Republicans and half were Democrats.
The president's corruption is unmatched, but the rot is everywhere.
Once Trump has been convicted or acquitted of the crimes that he did or did not commit, see how generous I'm being, it is time to put an end to political corruption once and for all.
We need a comprehensive ethics bill.
Ban individual stock trading for every member of Congress, as well as the president and the vice president.
overturn Citizens United, a horrible decision that single-handedly broke American democracy.
Americans cannot trust government if it can be bought by billionaires.
Get the money out.
I could keep going.
We could age-gate social media.
We could regulate online gambling.
We could break up big tech.
There are plenty.
of common sense policies that Democrats could pursue that would be widely popular.
However, it would also require them to grow a pair and stand in the face of lobbying power.
I get that that is uncomfortable.
I get that that is risky.
But that is what's so great about doing the right thing.
No matter what happens, you can take comfort in the fact that you actually did your job.
If Democrats are to take anything from me, let it be this.
Now is not the time to be delicate.
Now is the time to fight.
Your job is to be bold and energetic.
You mustn't fear anything, especially new ideas.
You mustn't write off anything as radical.
And if you do, you must prove it and you must convince us why.
You have to confront hard truths.
You have to embrace debate.
You have to acknowledge the size of the task ahead and face it down with bravery.
And if you don't think that you have any of this in you, then my message to you is simple.
Step aside, because God knows somebody else does.
This edition of Simply Put was produced by Claire Miller and Alison Weiss, edited by Natalia Cabrera, and engineered by Benjamin Spencer.
Our research associate is Dan Shallan.
Our design editor is Olivia Rini-Hall.
Special thanks to Vivian Zhang and Rohit Bola.
Thank you for listening to Simply Put by Ed Elson.
You can find this piece and more on Substack.
Just go to edwardelson.substack.com.
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