America’s New Crisis: We Can’t Build (w/ Marc Dunkelman)

Nov 30, 2025
38 mins

Episode Description

America used to build big things fast, highways, power grids, rail, entire cities. So why does it feel like nothing works anymore? John Avlon sits down with Marc Dunkelman, author of the new book Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress and How to Get It Back, to dig into the real reasons our government can’t get shovels in the ground, and how we fix it. 

From EV chargers that take years to install, to high-speed rail blocked by endless lawsuits, to progressive ideals that accidentally created a veto-ridden system where anyone can stop everything. Dunkelman explains how we broke the ability to build, and what it will take to restore it.
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