The last time we shrank the federal workforce
If you cut every single federal job President Donald Trump wants to cut, how much money would that save? A president has tried to massively...
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Episodes
Latest first
How to start a bank
In some ways, starting a bank is a lot like starting any other business. Who will you hire? Where will you be located? What color will the...
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The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin
Memecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influencers like Moo Deng the pygmy hippo have...
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The Memecoin Casino
What do Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, social media sensation Hawk Tuah, and the President of the United States all have in common? They've all...
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The controversy over Tyson Foods' hiring of asylum seekers
Last year, Tyson Foods shuttered a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa. The company said it made the decision because the plant was old...
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The rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management
There's this cautionary tale, in the finance world, that nearly any trader can tell you. It's about placing too much confidence in math and...
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Can the president override Congress on spending?
So the president can't spend more money than Congress has agreed and voted to spend. But can the president spend less money than Congress...
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The Big Government Money Pipe Freeze
There has been chaotic uncertainty around billions of dollars allocated by Congress. The Trump administration ordered a pause on — and...
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The 'Crypto Wizard' vs. Nigeria
The trip that changed Tigran Gambaryan's life forever was supposed to be short — just a few days. When he flew to Nigeria in February of...
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The fight for a legendary shipwreck's treasure
The San Jose was a marvel of 17th century technology. The Spanish galleon weighed more than a thousand tons, was made of wood reinforced...
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How the scratch off lottery changed America
Americans spend more on scratch lottery tickets per year than on pizza. More than all Coca-Cola products. Yet the scratch ticket as a...
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How DeepSeek changed the market's mind
On Monday, the stock market went into a tizzy over a new AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek. It seemed to be just as powerful as many...
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Re-imagining the energy grid ... through batteries (Two Indicators)
When it comes to solar and wind power, renewable energy has always had a caveat: it can only run when the wind blows or the sun shines.The...
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The "chilling effect" of deportations
After being sworn into office, President Trump signed a whole host of executive actions and orders that affirm his campaign promise to...
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After the fires
The fires in Los Angeles are almost out. Residents are starting to trickle back into their burned-out neighborhoods. When they get to their...
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Tariffs, grocery prices and other listener questions
Donald Trump is just about to begin his second presidency. And it may be safe to say that every single person in America has at least one...
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The Land of the Duty Free (classic)
(Note: This episode originally ran in 2018.)Is it really cheaper to shop at an airport Duty Free store? And why are so many of them...
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The case for Fed independence in the Nixon tapes
You know Watergate, but do you know Fedgate? The more subtle scandal with more monetary policy and, arguably, much higher stakes.In today's...
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ZIP Codes!
The ZIP code is less like a cold, clinical, ordered list of numbers, and more like a weird overgrown number garden. It started as a way to...
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The potato-shaped loophole in free trade
Ever since free trade opened up between the US and Mexico in the 1990s, trillions of dollars of goods have been going back and forth...
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