Escape From Plan A

Mike joins Teen to talk about figuring out an alternative to the career-family path, people just cracking under the pressure, and The White Lotus. Part 1 of 2. For access to bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

John Pang joins Teen to talk about Trump's escalating trade war with China, and why we in America may have grown complacent with China only playing defense i.e. responding in kind and proportion to American aggression. Is it possible that era of Chinese conservatism is over, and that we could see China taking the tempo of the fight and switching to offense? What could China do to us? See Teen's related article on Substack here: https://interarma.substack.com/p/scott-bessents-coming-war-against?r=6pahq To support Plan A and get access to bonus episodes and the Discord community: patreon.com/planamag

Prof Fred Lee and Chong join Teen to talk about the state of higher education, why universities are bloated with administrators but short on full time professors and instructors, and the way college and grad/professional programs have become finishing schools to sell oneself into the corporate market. Part 1 of 2 To access Part 2 and all bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Trevor from Champagne Sharks joins after a long hiatus to talk with Jess and Teen about 90s media culture, the context-lite stochastic New York City of primetime sitcoms, the exceptionalism of 'Seinfeld', and crypto-Jews. Part 1 of 2. To access Part 2 and all bonus episodes, become a supporter at patreon.com/planamag

Mike, Steve, and Teen find the Lagrange Point of LA, HK, and NYC to catch up on all things degenerate: California, stocks, economy, and the first 30 days of Trump 2. This is part 1 of 2. For access to part 2 and all bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Lei Gong joins Teen to talk about the continuing attacks online against Asian diaspora women as a group, and whether the use of politics is a just a disguise to hide an underlying racialized misogyny with deep psychosexual roots (guess the answer). Part 2 bonus of this episode is a discussion about Chinese stocks and whether it's time to buy. Totally different topic! To gain access to bonus episodes: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Mike (@Meow_Meow_2020) joins Teen to talk about Trump being a Gorbachev figure in American history. The Final Leader, the Empire's Last Man. "You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels." To get Part 2 of this episode, support us at patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Filip joins after a long dad-duty break to chat with Mike and Teen about the DeepSeek drop, their experiences and opinions of AI tools, especially whether it's something to fear as a job destroyer or a SuperFriend when we reach are old and lonely. To get access to Part 2 and other bonus pods, support us at: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Q. Anthony Ali (@NobleQAli on Twitter) joins Teen to talk about Trump's second term, what the new political alignments will look like, Elon's sieg heil, and whether the fall of the Empire might truly be upon us. To support the pod and gain access to Part 2 of this episode: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Friend of the pod John Pang joins from Hangzhou to discuss his home country of Malaysia with Teen. Why do Malaysians seem so familiar to us Asian Americans? And why does the modern history of Malaysia track that of America in surprising ways? The story of Malaysia can radically alter how Asian American diaspora understand our own place in the world. To support the pod and gain access to Part 2 of this episode: patreon.com/planamag

Pt. 1 of 2 The elusive Han Feizi (aka @DoggyDog1208 on X) joins Teen to discuss how to think about Chinese economics, as well as national security ideas, without the usual Western media ideological bullshit distortion field. You can read his wry, informative columns at Asia Times: https://asiatimes.com/author/han-feizi/ To join our Patreon and get access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Jess joins Teen to talk about how 2024 appears to be the decisive end point of the multi-decade liberal era. With that comes the necessary end of the Asian American liberal identity and its beliefs about culture, race, assimilation, and what the good life means in America. Also, ~~Happy New Year Escape From Plan A listeners!!!~~ To get access to bonus episodes inc. Part 2 of this podcasts: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Taiwanese political commentator and rapper Xiangyu joins Teen from Taipei to talk Taiwanese politics and cultural identity, pro-China/pro-Communist diaspora viewpoints, and why people seem to lack soul these days. Xiangyu's podcast 'Strait Talk': https://straittalk.xiangyu.tw/ To get access to Part 2 and the Escape From Plan A Discord: patreon.com/planamag

Part 1 of 2 Mike (LA) and Steve (HK) join Teen (NYC) to talk about mid-life morass of having all your material needs met, your major life goals satisfied, but then having no idea wtf to do. Is it an issue of money or metaphysics? To get access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Pt. 1 of 2 Professor Fred joins Teen to talk about the Catherine Liu's polemical assessment of the professional managerial class (PMC) in her book "Virtue Hoarders" and what this group of people -- a great many who are Asian -- really face in terms of politics of both the materialist and idealist realm. To get access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

Pt. 1 of 2 Mike and Teen talk about the sudden risk-on asset pump after Trump, and the dumping of safe haven assets like Treasuries and gold. Are there actual changes that need adjusting to, or is this just temporary euphoria to get a tiresome, chaotic election behind us? To get access to bonus pods: patreon.com/planamag

The “most important election of our lifetimes” is happening tomorrow, if you live in America. John Pang, Carl Zha and I hosted a two hour space on the eve of the US election to talk about everything that’s not being said about it in the media. In part 2, @ineedsheet joins to talk about the Asian diaspora experience with liberalism, and why many of us may prefer to ‘obscene’ culture of MAGA chuds over that of the liberal elites we have so long strived to join.

The “most important election of our lifetimes” is happening tomorrow, if you live in America. John Pang, Carl Zha and I hosted a two hour space on the eve of the US election to talk about everything that’s not being said about it in the media. In part 2, @ineedsheet joins to talk about the Asian diaspora experience with liberalism, and why many of us may prefer to ‘obscene’ culture of MAGA chuds over that of the liberal elites we have so long strived to join.

Jess and Teen talk about why kids growing up now seem so much younger than we were in our day at the same age. Is it a cognitive bias -- we were the same, actually -- or is there an actual change in the development path? And are parents smothering their kids these days or what? This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 is available on the Patreon feed for subscribers. To join: https://patreon.com/planamag

Mike (from Jersey) talks with Teen about whether the various discrete wars raging will merge into something like a world war. Is something actually going to Happen? This is Part 1 of 2, the second is on the Patreon. To support Plan A and get access to bonus eps and the Discord: patreon.com/planamag