Reply all is an excellent show, and Gimlet media has an excellent lineup of podcasts in general. I particularly like the early seasons of startup (I may have to check back in this season for them covering they sale to Spotify), and Every Little Thing.

It's well produced podcasts done well. If you took This American Life and scaled it to few slightly more targeted podcasts but kept the same quality, that's what they offer. That's less a metaphor than a description of history, given the original founder cut his teeth on TAL and then started Planet Money (also still excellent) before starting his own company.

Okay, that's enough fanboying from me. It's just that I listen to a lot of podcasts, and Gimlet accounts for a large amount of my favorites.

This season is the last one of Startup and it does indeed cover their sale to Spotify.

Vulture capitalism strikes again, exploiting undiversified, banana republic rustbelt towns who misplace their faith in a single, quick-fix, recovery panacea rather than many different industries that are geared to the needs of today.

I imagine a lot of readers are taking umbrage at these towns being called “banana republics.” Honestly a lot of American town and city councils can be described this way, regardless of where in the US they are. I write this as an American who has been to too many local government meetings over my life.

Yes. There are way to many local government representatives who think they can go "toe to toe" with the lawyers and officers of multinational corporations. They often take promises from those corporations at a word and don't (or can't) hold the corporations accountable when promises aren't kept. Inevitably the local representatives, and the constituents they represent, are left holding the short end of the stick.

I'll also point out the whole deal was bought & sold by the state government as well. It wasn't just the local government. Governor Walker and the state representatives had an interest in getting the Foxconn deal through to show they were "creating jobs" for the state.

I don’t think you know what the term banana republic means. A rust belt town with an American middle class (even in an economic depression) doesn’t qualify. They are in no way dependent on a single corporation.

I disagree. SOME rust belt towns are not dependent on a single corporation. Other rust belt towns are and when that company ceases operations there, the town experiences rapid decline.

If you disagree that some rust belt towns are dependent on a single corporation, I think you are either using a different definition of dependent than how I read the original comment use it, or you are not aware that towns where a single factory employs a significant portion of the towns population exist.

In banana republics, the citizens have no mobility compared to US citizens so the dynamic is completely different.

The fact that people in these towns can continue to live in them and easily telecommute like any other US citizen or even physically commute to the nearest major US city means that the citizens are not dependent on a single industry.