First the U.S. Marines and now the Army. For the first time in American history, two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff lack the blessing of the Senate, as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, holds up hundreds of military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s new abortion policy. We’ll explain the implications of having interims filling these top military posts. And good news for the lungs of the planet: Deforestation is on a downward trend in the Amazon rainforest. Plus, we’ll play a game of Half Full / Half Empty with predictions about the “vibecession.”
Here’s everything we talked about:
We are taking our usual summer hiatus next week, but while we are on break we’d love to hear from you! We want to know your answer to the Make Me Smart question. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.
Why the Fed won’t hop on the rate-cutting bandwagon just yet
What summer heat waves mean for prisons
The good, the bad and the ugly of election polling
A shadow looms over the Fed
The long game of high interest rates
The growing troubles at OpenAI
A Trump-Musk bromance
How Big Food changed the way we eat
Biden doubling down on tariffs
How the Palestinian financial system is tied up in Israel
Private equity, endless shrimp and Red Lobster’s decline
Neoliberalism’s sleight of hand
Getting deep about deepfakes
The price tag on friendship
Whaddya wanna know about key inflation measures?
The great Bumble fumble
From “Million Bazillion”: What are labor unions?
The value of “third places”
What grocery aisle gossip can tell us about the economy
The lowdown on joint fundraising committees
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