Slate Money – “Free Britney”

Date: June 26, 2021
Host: Felix Salmon
Co-hosts: Emily Peck, Stacey Marie Ishmael

Episode Overview

This episode of Slate Money centers on themes of autonomy and power, focusing on Britney Spears’ conservatorship and how her plight speaks to broader issues of disability rights, gender double standards, and exploitation in both entertainment and finance. The hosts also dissect international vaccine equity failures via COVAX and explore how ultra-wealthy Americans exploit retirement tax shelters. The tone is critical, thoughtful, and at times wry, with the hosts balancing personal reaction and humor against serious, systemic problems.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Britney Spears’ Conservatorship: A Crisis of Rights and Agency

[00:32–19:03]

• Catalyst for the Conversation: Britney Spears’ dramatic court testimony put a human face and a shocking set of details (e.g., forced IUD use, lack of basic personal autonomy) on what had previously been a nebulous controversy.
• Gender and Double Standards: The team highlights how Spears’ legal situation is radically different from that of problematic male celebrities, noting "no one's saying, well, what we should really do is put Johnny Depp into a conservatorship" (Felix, 04:18) and referencing how Michael Jackson was treated.
• Power Structures and Exploitation:
  • Spears’ work directly enriches those controlling her. “She is working for the people who she is paying, correct?” (Felix, 03:31).
  • The system inverts normal incentives, infantilizing her while exploiting her economic value.
• Disability and Mental Health Rights: Stacey draws parallels to elder abuse and disability rights: “This isn’t a Hollywood thing… This is a disability rights thing.” (Stacey, 06:34). Standards of capacity are vague and can be used as a trap (“catch-22”), cutting off agency for anyone under conservatorship.
• Societal Attitudes:
  • Media coverage and public stigma both led and justified ongoing legal oppression—aggravated if the subject is a woman (“the more angry you get, especially if you are a woman, the less seriously you're gonna be taken” – Emily, 08:24).
  • Comparing male celebrities’ public problems (Kanye West) and how women are denied space to be “brilliant and erratic” (Emily, 14:07).
  • Self-blame and silence: “I'm used to pretending like nothing's wrong. That's what my mother did.” (Emily, paraphrasing Spears’ Instagram post, 14:48).

Notable Quote

• “Grownups make bad decisions. Grownups are allowed to make bad decisions. That’s what being an adult is.”
  — Felix Salmon (04:05)

Key Timestamps

• [01:41] – Details of Spears’ imposed lifestyle, testimony revelations
• [06:34] – Disability rights, elder abuse analogies
• [10:46] – Pop culture and mental health stigma
• [13:27] – Gendered media narratives and accountability
• [15:46] – The subtext of Spears’ lyrics (“Lucky”), empathy for her position

2. The Broader Problem with Conservatorships

[16:18–19:17]

• Systemic Abuse Potential: Conservatorships, particularly those supposed to protect the vulnerable, are easily abused. Exit is rare, and vested interests (families, legal guardians, whole industries) can exploit the system.
  • “There is a lot of ability to take advantage of people who are in a vulnerable position who might have less power. … It is very much a system ripe for bad actors.” (Stacey, 16:36)
• Financial Parallels: Felix connects Spears’ case to the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac government conservatorship—demonstrating that lack of an exit strategy is a problem not just for individuals, but for institutions.

Notable Quote

• “In her entire career, she’d never seen a conservatee … successfully petition to leave conservatorship. It just doesn’t happen.”
  — Felix Salmon (17:49)

Key Timestamps

• [17:49] – Remark on the permanence of conservatorship and how industry professionals profit

3. COVAX & the Global Vaccine Equity Failure

[20:07–34:16]

• COVAX’s Flawed Conception: Intended as a global mechanism to distribute vaccines fairly, COVAX failed when rich countries prioritized themselves through vaccine nationalism.
• Self-Interest over Solidarity:
  • Rich countries (US, UK, Canada) signed separate bilateral deals, hoarded vaccines, and restricted exports, undermining the initiative and leaving developing countries underprotected.
  • “All politics is local. … UK and US politicians are not elected by dying Brazilians.” (Stacey, 22:12)
• Numbers Tell the Story: Only 4% of all administered vaccine doses globally came via COVAX by mid-2021—even less than projected. Richer, often smaller countries hoarded supply; poor countries (and many middle-income ones) suffered.
• Human Nature and System Limits: The hosts debate if international institutions can ever overcome local, voter-driven self-interest; Emily points out the difficulty: “It’s just so human to want to secure the supply for yourself.”
• Moral Quandaries: Would any of us wait for vaccination to favor a fairer distribution? Felix admits the system “wouldn’t have been up to me,” but stresses pandemics “respect no borders.”

Notable Quotes

• “You need the solution to be global in order to address the pandemic.”
  — Felix Salmon (21:19)
• “Self interest is powerful and nations … are very self interested.”
  — Emily Peck (28:07)

Key Timestamps

• [23:28] – US hoarding AstraZeneca doses
• [26:53] – Impact of national export bans
• [27:44] – Exact numbers: 2.1 billion doses globally, 72 million via COVAX

4. Peter Thiel, Retirement Accounts, and the Ultra-Rich’s Tax Games

[34:16–43:15]

• The Roth IRA Loophole: Peter Thiel and other mega-wealthy figures used IRAs—Iegally, if dubiously—to shelter billions from taxation. Thiel turned <$2000 into $5 billion, tax-free.
• Flawed Policy: IRAs/401Ks are intended to help average Americans save for retirement—but in practice, disproportionately benefit the upper middle class and, as this case shows, can be leveraged by the ultra-wealthy to immense advantage.
  • “Everything about the implementation of the tax code skews to the benefit of people who … need that money less.” (Stacey, 42:30)
• Proposed Fixes: The team recommends setting a ceiling—tax-sheltered growth capped at several million dollars, not billions—and redirecting such “tax expenditures” to shore up Social Security.

Notable Quotes

• “Why should it be tax free? That’s the only question.”
  — Felix Salmon (40:44)
• “It's just that rich people… just accrue more money like they're magnets or something.”
  — Emily Peck (43:15)

Key Timestamps

• [34:48] – The mechanics of Thiel’s IRA
• [41:26] – Suggested reforms for retirement account tax advantages

5. Numbers Round: Economic Oddities and Shortages

[43:32–49:33]

1. BuzzFeed’s Valuation Stretch ([43:32])
   • $1.5 billion valuation on $4 million in earnings: A sign of speculative exuberance and creative accounting.
2. $3.6 Billion in Vanished Bitcoin (South Africa) ([45:02])
   • Africrypt scam underscores the risks in loosely regulated, speculative assets and global finance.
3. J1 Visa Collapse and Labor Shortages ([46:59])
   • Only 11 J1 visas for Romanians in April 2021 (down from 2,353 in 2019), exposing how U.S. labor shortages in hospitality are linked to pandemic immigration restrictions—not solely to unemployment benefits.

Memorable Moments and Quotes

On Britney Spears:

• “It's the exact upside down of how it normally works.”
  — Felix Salmon (03:36)
• “If any celebrity needed a conservatorship … it would be Michael Jackson, it wouldn't be Britney Spears.”
  — Felix Salmon (04:20)
• “The more angry you get, especially if you are a woman, the less seriously you're gonna be taken. So it's just a nightmare that you become trapped in this endless cycle.”
  — Emily Peck (08:24)
• “She is working for the people who she is paying, correct?”
  — Felix Salmon (03:31)

On Global Vaccine Distribution:

• “All politics is local. … UK and US politicians are not elected by dying Brazilians.”
  — Stacey Marie Ishmael (22:12)
• “Self interest is powerful and nations … are very self interested and I feel like it's not surprising.”
  — Emily Peck (28:07)

On Tax Avoidance:

• “Everything about the implementation of the tax code skews to the benefit of people who … need that money less.”
  — Stacey Marie Ishmael (42:30)
• “Rich people just accrue more money like they're magnets or something.”
  — Emily Peck (43:15)

Additional Segments

• Slate Plus Preview: Teaser for a segment on the pandemic boom in small business formation.
• Humor & Tone: The hosts consistently balance critical analysis with dry, self-aware humor, e.g., referencing “Black Mirror,” wryly wondering “how can I get in on this scam?” regarding tax loopholes, and poking fun at speculative finance and disappearing crypto scammers.

Summary Table of Key Segments

| Segment | Start Time | Key Topic/Quote | |--------------------------------|------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Britney Spears Conservatorship | 00:32 | “She is working for the people who she is paying, correct?” | | Systemic Issues with Conservatorship | 16:18 | “In her entire career, she’d never seen … someone under conservatorship successfully petition to leave…” | | COVAX and Vaccine Equity | 20:07 | “You need the solution to be global in order to address the pandemic.” | | Roth IRAs and Tax Shelters | 34:16 | “Why should it be tax free? That’s the only question.” | | Numbers Round | 43:32 | Reveals the scale of various economic oddities and shortages |

Final Thoughts

This episode sharply dissects several contemporary failures of policy, law, and morality—showing how systems designed to protect or “benefit” (from conservatorships to vaccine-sharing to retirement savings schemes) are repeatedly subverted by those with the most power, wealth, or systemic privilege. The personal suffering of figures like Britney Spears is re-centered as a matter of rights, not gossip, while the hosts thoughtfully connect the dots between exploitation in pop culture, public health, and the tax code.

For listeners unfamiliar with the stories:

• You’ll gain a rich, empathetic understanding of why #FreeBritney matters far beyond one star’s ordeal, see the limitations of global solidarity in a pandemic, and understand why “just following the rules” can still allow billionaires to walk away with billions—untaxed.

Episode production notes, emails, and Slate Plus extras are omitted.