Seeking Rents – The Podcast

"Rent-seeking" is a term in economics that describes when a corporation uses its political influence to twist tax laws and other public policy in its favor. Seeking Rents – The Podcast brings you the stories of how that's happening in Florida, where corporate interests like Florida Power & Light, Big Sugar, and Walt Disney World wield enormous influence everywhere from local city halls to the state Capitol. Hosted by award-winning journalist Jason Garcia, Florida's leading corporate-accountability reporter. jasongarcia.substack.com

Seeking Rents – The Podcast is a news podcast hosted by Jason Garcia, with 191 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Jason Garcia hosts Seeking Rents – The Podcast, a news show with 191 episodes published.

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  Seeking Rents – The Podcast

  No way to run a railroad

  May 29, 202653 minS0

  <p>In this episode: Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature has finally agreed on a new state budget, following a flurry of last-minute spending deals — most of them negotiated behind closed doors and sealed late on the Sunday night of a holiday weekend. The eleventh-hour additions to Florida’s $115 billion spending plan include provisions that could let the state buy more property from a big developer and donor; steer a $2 million education contract to a Koch-backed company; and pave the way for the use of artificial intelligence in an anti-hunger program that feeds nearly 3 million Floridians. Plus: Ron DeSantis signs a bill writte...

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  Seeking Rents – The Podcast

  Outsourcing prisons, selling lottery tickets and testing toilet water for drugs

  May 18, 202655 minS0

  <p>In this episode: Florida lawmakers might take more powers away from cities and towns, cut funding for a cross-state wildlife corridor, and start testing toilet water for drugs. They could give politicians more control over courses offered at public universities, let the attorney general dish out rich legal contracts with less scrutiny, and make taxpayers foot the bill for Ron DeSantis’ security even after he leaves office. And they may keep squeezing public employee unions, outsource more of the state’s prison system, and further expand the Florida Lottery. A look at some of the many projects and issues in p...

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  Seeking Rents – The Podcast

  Florida voters passed reforms. Florida politicians are undoing them.

  May 2, 202630 minS0

  <p>In this episode: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just got the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to pass new Congressional district maps that were intentionally drawn to violate an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that was approved by nearly two-thirds of Florida voters. It’s a scheme meant not only to give Donald Trump and national Republicans an edge in the 2026 midterms — but also to give DeSantis-appointed courts an opening to eliminate those anti-gerrymandering amendments completely. But the governor failed to get lawmakers to go along with plans to regulate artificial intelligence and weaken school vaccine rules, as Florida’s GOP leadership quickly settled...

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  Seeking Rents – The Podcast

  Cold war thaw

  Apr 24, 202633 minS0

  <p>In this episode: After more than a year of hostilities, Republican leaders in the Florida House and Senate reached a budget deal just days before Gov. Ron DeSantis hauls them all to Tallahassee for a special session that some people seem to want no part of. What happens next — on gerrymandering, vaccines, artificial intelligence and more — remains a mystery. Plus: Corporate donors who need favors from the DeSantis administration are flooding money into a federal super PAC supporting the governor. And a look at what the charter school industry has been lobbying for in the state Capitol. </p><p>Show...

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  Seeking Rents – The Podcast

  DeSantis vs. Trump II

  Apr 17, 202641 minS0

  <p>In this episode: As he looks ahead to another presidential run — and a potential showdown with a Donald Trump heir apparent like J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is starting to pick some subtle-but-strategic fights with the Trump White House. Plus: Three years after promising to expand children’s health insurance, Florida leaders are utterly failing needy kids. And new records show that state lawmakers banked $14 million from special interests just before they started their 2026 legislative session. </p><p>Show notes</p><p>Stories discussed in today’s show: </p><p>Coming soon: Seeking Rents on stage...

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