Josh Barro Explained

Josh Barro
Birth Date:17 July 1984
Education:Harvard University (BA)
Occupation:Journalist
Employer:New York
The New York Times
Business Insider
Bloomberg L.P.
NBCUniversal
Comcast
Party:Republican (before 2016)
Democratic (since 2016)
Spouse:Zachary Allen
Relatives:Robert Barro (father)

Joshua A. Barro (born July 17, 1984) is an American journalist and creator of the newsletter and podcast Very Serious.[1] He previously hosted the weekly radio program Left, Right, & Center based at KCRW Los Angeles and served as a senior editor and columnist at Business Insider.[2] [3]

Early life

Barro is the son of Harvard University professor and macroeconomist Robert Barro.[4] After growing up in Massachusetts, Barro received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Harvard University. While in college, he spent a summer interning for Grover Norquist.[5]

Career

Barro previously worked as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research,[6] as a real estate banker for Wells Fargo,[7] as the lead writer for The Ticker (a defunct economics and politics blog hosted by Bloomberg L.P.), and as the politics editor at Business Insider.[8]

He appears regularly on Bloomberg Television and MSNBC and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO[9] and on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. He is the former host, moderator and center of the weekly political roundtable radio show Left, Right & Center, based at KCRW Los Angeles and heard on public radio stations across the U.S.

In early 2013, he was a prominent supporter of a potential trillion-dollar coin,[10] but by late 2013, he had changed his mind.[11]

Time named Barro's Twitter feed one of "The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2013", one of ten in the Politics category.[12] In 2012, Forbes selected him as one of the "30 Under 30" media "brightest stars under the age of 30", and David Brooks listed him as part of the "vibrant and increasingly influential center-right conversation."[13] A former aide to Barack Obama included Barro on a short list of Obama's favorite columnists.[14]

In 2014, Barro left Business Insider to join The New York Times "The Upshot."[15] [16] In 2016, Barro was rehired by Business Insider as a senior editor.[17] In 2018, he again left Business Insider to become a business columnist at New York magazine.[18] In 2020, he announced that he was rejoining Business Insider as a columnist covering politics, business, and the economy.[19] [20]

In early 2022, Barro left Business Insider and stepped down as host of Left, Right & Center to pursue his newsletter and podcast Very Serious.[21] He is a co-podcaster with Los Angeles lawyer Kenneth White,[22] a/k/a Popehat, in a podcast about litigation, "Serious Trouble."[23]

Political views

Early in his career, Barro described himself as Republican but was critical of many of the party's policies.[24] He also identified as a neoliberal.[25] Barro has spoken out strongly against traditional Christian beliefs regarding homosexuality, stating that they "linger and oppress" and must be "stamped out ruthlessly".[26] [27]

After the 2012 United States elections, Barro became increasingly critical of the Republican Party and wrote that "the party's economic agenda, as embodied in the latest Ryan budget, is simply terrible for the vast majority of Americans." Barro called Congressional Republicans "crazy and awful". Reactions by other conservatives in the media led The Atlantic to name Barro "the loneliest Republican". Ezra Klein said that, based on Barro's views, "He doesn't come across as much of a Republican."[28]

On October 11, 2016, following the Republican Party's nomination of Donald Trump for president, Barro said he had left the Republican Party and registered as a Democrat.[29] [30] Barro cited as reasons for his decision the "fact-free environment so many of its voters live in, and because of the anti-Democrat hysteria that had been willfully whipped up by so many of its politicians," which created a "vulnerability in our democracy."

Hamburger problem

Barro argues that progressives in the United States have what he calls a hamburger problem, by which he means they sanctimoniously scold the public about a host of inconsequential personal choices, such as eating ground beef burgers (it is unhealthy, harms animals, and contributes to global warming, among others). They have become in his words a movement of "moralizing busybodies", which harms their political appeal. He said: "All this scolding—this messaging that you should feel guilty about aspects of your life that you didn't think were anyone else's business—leads to a weird outcome when you go to vote in November."[31] [32] [33] [34]

Personal life

Barro lives in Manhattan and is openly gay. In 2017, he married Zachary Allen, chairman of TIPAH Consulting and a former Democratic National Committee official.[35] He is an atheist.[36]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Barro . Josh . This Is Very Serious . March 17, 2022 . www.joshbarro.com.
  2. Web site: Josh Barro - Insider . April 1, 2021 . Business Insider.
  3. Web site: Left, Right & Center | Political Discussion & News. June 26, 2006. KCRW.
  4. Web site: Josh Barro, the Loneliest Republican. Chait. Jonathan. June 2013. The Atlantic. August 10, 2015.
  5. Web site: GOP is "crazy and awful": The Josh Barro Republicans are displeased. Eidelson. Josh. Salon. October 17, 2013 . October 7, 2016.
  6. Web site: 30 Under 30 - Media. Howard . Caroline . Noer . Michael . December 17, 2012. Forbes. March 27, 2013.
  7. Web site: Barro . Josh . Josh Barro bio . Bloomberg . March 26, 2013.
  8. News: Byers. Dylan. Josh Barro to Business Insider. May 29, 2013. Politico. May 29, 2013.
  9. Web site: Bill Maher And Panel Take On Drones: Obama's A 'Swell Guy,' But He's Basically Just Like Bush . Feldman . Josh . February 9, 2013. Mediaite. March 27, 2013.
  10. O'Brien . Matthew . Everything You Need to Know About the Crazy Plan to Save the Economy With a Trillion-Dollar Coin . The Atlantic . January 8, 2013 . March 26, 2013.
  11. Web site: Republicans Are Full Of It, And There's No Threat Over The Debt Ceiling . September 11, 2013 . August 27, 2013 . Business Insider . Josh Barro.
  12. Sorensen . Adam . The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2013 . Time . March 25, 2013 . March 26, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130328091124/http://techland.time.com/2013/03/25/140-best-twitter-feeds-of-2013/slide/josh-barro/ . March 28, 2013 .
  13. News: Brooks. David. The Conservative Future. March 27, 2013. The New York Times. November 19, 2012.
  14. News: McMorris-Santoro. Evan. Here Are Obama's Favorite Columnists. October 29, 2013. Buzzfeed. October 28, 2013.
  15. News: Barro. Josh. Josh Barro bio. The New York Times. July 28, 2014.
  16. News: Byers. Dylan. Josh Barro to join The New York Times. July 28, 2014. Politico. February 24, 2014.
  17. News: Josh Barro to return to Business Insider. Gold. Hadas. Hadas Gold. POLITICO. October 7, 2016.
  18. Barro . Josh . Josh Barro . jbarro . 1042143732701822981 . September 18, 2018 . I'm very excited to be joining New York magazine as their business columnist! I'll be writing for Intelligencer -- NYMag's expanded site about politics, business and tech -- about companies and the economy as they relate to government and society. https://t.co/KP2ElizeyS . en . June 14, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210216195319/https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1042143732701822981 . February 16, 2021 . live.
  19. Barro . Josh . Josh Barro . jbarro . 1325865673558548480 . November 9, 2020 . Some personal news: I am excited to announce that next month, I will rejoin @businessinsider as a columnist focusing on politics, business and the economy. I will also be doing analytical writing on topics like why infrastructure is so expensive in the US. . en . June 14, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210315210802/https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1325865673558548480 . March 15, 2021 . live.
  20. Barro . Josh . Josh Barro . jbarro . 1336453756616118272 . December 8, 2020 . 2020 has absolutely sucked. But we have lots of reasons to believe 2021 is going to be awesome, with rapid deployment of vaccines, a robust economic recovery, and a normal person as president. My first column back at Business Insider: https://t.co/JJUkaDJ1Hq . en . June 14, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210216180006/https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1336453756616118272 . February 16, 2021 . live.
  21. Web site: Barro . Josh . This Is Very Serious . March 17, 2022 . www.joshbarro.com.
  22. Web site: White . Kenneth . Kenneth P. White . Brown White & Osborn LLP . February 18, 2016 . April 6, 2023.
  23. Web site: Serious Trouble . Serious Trouble . April 6, 2023.
  24. Salam . Reihan . Josh Barro on Why Republicans Resist the Reformist Project . National Review Online . November 21, 2012 . March 27, 2013.
  25. Web site: Sullivan. Andrew. Ask Josh Barro Anything: The Recent Evolution Of Conservatism. The Dish. June 5, 2013 . June 6, 2013.
  26. jbarro. Barro. Josh. 492139917288693761. Anti-LGBT attitudes are terrible for people in all sorts of communities. They linger and oppress, and we need to stamp them out, ruthlessly.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170503191400/https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/492139917288693761. May 3, 2017.
  27. Web site: Dreher. Rod. Josh Barro wins the Wall Street Journal a New Subscriber. July 25, 2014 . October 11, 2016.
  28. News: Josh Barro didn't leave conservatism. Conservatism left Josh Barro.. Klein. Ezra. Washington Post. October 7, 2016.
  29. News: Why I left the Republican Party to become a Democrat. Barro. Josh. Business Insider. November 14, 2016.
  30. News: Josh Barro Leaves GOP for Democratic Party: 'F--k It, I'm Out'. October 17, 2016. TheWrap. en-US. November 14, 2016.
  31. News: Liberals can win again if they stop being so annoying and fix their 'hamburger problem'. Business Insider. August 30, 2017. en.
  32. News: Robberson: Red-meat Republicans have a point. Skip the 'venti' and give it to me straight. Robberson. Tod. stltoday.com. August 30, 2017. en.
  33. News: Hamburgers aren't the problem. Mother Jones. August 30, 2017. en-US.
  34. News: The Left's 'Hamburger Problem' Is Not Going Away. National Review. August 30, 2017. en.
  35. Web site: POLITICO Playbook, presented by BP – HAPPY FEC DAY -- LONGTIME BIDEN FRIEND takes Playbookers inside V.P.'s mind – NYT MAGAZINE cover questions government narrative about bin Laden killing – SPORTS FANTASY industry ramps up lobbying – B'DAY: Lis Smith. POLITICO. October 7, 2016 . October 15, 2015.
  36. jbarro . Barro . Josh . November 12, 2016 . December 28, 2013 . 416977824763764736 . Mentioning that I am an atheist seems to have led to a bunch of email trying to convince me of the existence of god. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305110756/https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/416977824763764736 . March 5, 2016.

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