Hey smarties! We’re on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2023. We can’t do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2024 and beyond. Give now to support Make Me Smart. Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year.
Today, we’re talking about two topics near and dear to our hearts: space and economics.
Over the last several years, NASA’s Artemis program and the commercialization of space have given rise to a large and growing space economy. How large?
“It’s about $400 billion. By 2030 it is estimated to become about $1 trillion,” said Namrata Goswami, a scholar on space policy and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space.” “We also include a space economy to come in the next 20 to 30 years which includes the ‘in-space economy,’ so the economy that would be developed in space itself, which would result in a trillion-dollar economy by 2040.”
On the show, Goswami explains the state of the space economy, how the space industry has evolved, and the need for updated international space regulations if we’re really serious about going to Mars. Plus, why retiring on the moon in Kimberly’s lifetime might not be such a far-fetched idea.
In the News Fix: In the first few months of the year, the largest U.S. banks wrote off billions of dollars in bad consumer loans. While not unusual, it could it be a sign of a slowing economy. And could we be nearing the end of the barcode as we know it?
Later, listeners share the many ways they use ChatGPT. And this week’s answer to the Make Me Smart question got us thinking about the images (or lack thereof) in our heads.
Note: Fox News reached a settlement in the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems after this show was recorded.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
Got a question for our hosts? Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org. Or leave us a voice message at (508) 827-6278 or (508) U-B-SMART.
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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