I listen to a bunch of podcasts to learn more about the little and overlooked things in the world around us. The ones I regularly listen to are Freakonomics, Planet Money, 99% Invisible, and Revisionist History. A lot of what makes these podcasts interesting is that they illuminate in more detail why things are the way they are. It is easy to read news articles and try to immediately draw a conclusion as the story is still unfolding; however, news is rarely so black and white.

Revisionist History recently had an episode about golf country clubs and how the public subsidizes them by exempting them from a land use tax, proposition 13, and transfers of ownership. The episode provided a great way to give us context on how certain laws work and how philosophy plays a role in shaping our laws. It is important to also take a step back and understand the motive of the episode, which is not unbiased. Proposition 13 for all its flaws does protect certain people. Retired persons on fixed income wouldn't be able to afford their property taxes as the value of their property increases. Ultimately, we have to understand that laws and civilizations are human constructs. They will be imperfect and we must work to constantly improve them.