Episode 1872 of the No Agenda Show, titled 'Lunar Economy' and published May 28, 2026, features hosts Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak broadcasting from the Texas Hill Country and Refinery Row to deconstruct a week of high-volume media noise. The episode focuses on NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's $20 billion pitch for a permanent moon base, which the hosts treat with heavy skepticism, arguing that the 'lunar economy' concept became an unintentional punchline in the news cycle.
Curry and Dvorak unpack NASA's Artemis timeline, helium-3 extraction claims, and the proposed 'orbital economy,' but Curry's reaction to Isaacman's vision is blunt: 'Open the Straits, give me $3 gas, then we can talk about moon stuff. It's gonna be all the lunar economy.' Dvorak offers a meta-prediction that contradicts expectations of a spectacular Artemis failure: 'Nothing blows up, nothing happens. Yak yak yak. They're gonna talk talk talk. Send a couple of robots up there, and one of them will stop working.'
The hosts' skepticism is rooted in a broader media deconstruction approach. They question why mainstream outlets amplified Isaacman's pitch while burying other stories, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's awkward turn at the White House podium and the new Trump Account savings app. The episode also covers the third Ebola media cycle in two years, with CDC acting director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya requesting airport screening volunteers ahead of the FIFA World Cup, and teen takeover crackdowns in Polk County, Florida and Chicago, including proposals to charge parents.
Beyond space policy, the episode digs into Marco Rubio's report on 20 third-country deportation agreements, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's clawback of $29 billion in late-Biden disbursements including a contested $2 billion grant tied to Stacey Abrams, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's claim of $4 billion in new lease sale revenue from the Permian, Bakken, and Alaska's North Slope. Curry reviews 'Young Washington' by Wonder Network, analyzes the Texas Senate runoff, and notes a Sydney drone-show glitch as a potential attack vector.
This episode matters because it challenges the mainstream narrative around NASA's lunar ambitions, urging listeners to consider whether such investments are justified when immediate economic concerns like gas prices remain unresolved. The hosts' skepticism reflects a broader public sentiment questioning the prioritization of space exploration over terrestrial needs. For the industry, the critique may influence how space agencies communicate their plans, while for the world, it underscores the ongoing debate about resource allocation in an era of economic uncertainty.
