Congress has a job to do. But lately, some of the work on the Hill seems to have come to a standstill. There’s been drama over the debt ceiling, a Republican senator is holding up key military promotions, and now a government shutdown is looming. We’ll tackle the question of who is really to blame for all the governmental dysfunction and unpack the challenges of framing these issues in the media.
Here’s everything we talked about:
Got a question for the hosts? Send them our way. We’re at 508-UB-SMART or email 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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