Government can’t be trusted to fix any problems | John Arnold | The Reason Interview

John Arnold argues that private markets solve problems better than government or philanthropy, and that real reform comes from decentralization, incentives, and evidence—not top-down control.

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https://reason.com/podcast/2025/04/30/john-arnold-government-cant-be-trusted-to-fix-any-problems/

0:00— Introduction
1:15— Private sector vs. government vs. philanthropy
6:05— Education reform
10:31— Pension reform
17:21— Health care reform
22:21— Criminal justice reform
25:45— Gun violence studies
28:24— Commitment to research with integrity over ideology
33:10— There's no evidence for "college for all"
36:40— Being a billionaire
37:42— Arnold's experience at Enron
42:45— Markets vs regulations
46:31— Is Arnold optimistic?
48:00— Why Arnold is still betting on America
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Today's guest is John Arnold—the former Enron wunderkind and billionaire philanthropist who's determined to hack America's most expensive and least accountable public sector systems in areas such as criminal justice, education, and pensions. (Fun fact: He was once called "the most hated man in pensionland" by Governing magazine due to his reform efforts.)

Reason's Nick Gillespie and Arnold talk about why public pensions are so out of control and how to fix them; how Medicare squeezes billions of unnecessary dollars out of taxpayers; and how Enron scammed its investors not despite regulations but in full view of them. And they discuss why, despite all the country's problems, Arnold is still betting on America to get better, not worse.

Video Editor: Ian Keyser