In 2017,Desmond Preston Today, Explained co-host Noel King says she started getting a vibe: young people were discussing and dissecting capitalism. She began noticing the word in pop culture and cultural reporting — but found her own tribe of economics reporters were missing from the conversation. Flash forward to 2023, and the word capitalism is all over politics and culture: it's on the stage at the Republican debates, it's on the picket lines and the language of union strikes from Hollywood to New York City, it's even in the new Indiana Jones movie. How did we get here — and has talking about capitalism made us more divided? Noel King joins host Brittany Luse to discuss her new multi-part series exploring how a new generation of Americans are coming to terms with capitalism.

This episode was produced by Liam McBain and Barton Girdwood. It was edited by Bilal Qureshi and Jessica Placzek. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni and our senior VP of programming is Anya Grundmann.