Big Take

The US narrowly averted a disruptive and costly shutdown of federal agencies as Congress passed compromise legislation to keep the government running until November 17th. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s embrace of the bipartisan deal has triggered a mutiny by far-right Republicans to depose him from his role. Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Joe Mathieu is joined by Bloomberg's Jack Fitzpatrick a...

Google is able to collect a lot of information about the people who use its products on their phones, including where they are at any given time. A growing number of police departments across the US are seeking to obtain this data from Google to help solve crimes. Bloomberg’s Davey Alba and Julia Love join this episode to weigh the pros and cons of using location data in law enforcement, and the p...

Guatemala-based Megapaca is the number one importer of used clothing from the United States. The company has seen massive success in secondhand retail in Latin America, and now they have their sights set on expanding to the US. Bloomberg’s Adam Minter walks us through this complex, data-driven operation. And Megapaca's back-office manager Jose Rivera talks about the company’s ethos and its goal to...

Bloomberg’s Hannah Miller is back today to explain why Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is collecting iris scans in exchange for crypto tokens. Read more: Worldcoin’s Eyeball-Scanning Crypto Dream Is Under Threat Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK   Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at bigtake@bloomberg.net . S...

After the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests in 2020, corporate America made bold promises to address racial disparities in the workplace. And they delivered. Bloomberg’s Jeff Green and Rebecca Greenfield join this episode to dig into the data about US companies’ DEI efforts. Read more: Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. It Actually Did. Listen to The Big Ta...

Hundreds of thousands of people charged with crimes in the US each year are incarcerated while they await trial. Often it’s because they can’t afford to pay bail. New York City’s pretrial supervised release program aims to change that. A judge can opt to release some defendants under the supervision of a caseworker, who monitors their progress as they await their day in court. Bloomberg’s Fola Aki...

Catch up on some of the week’s biggest stories from the US and across the globe. Bloomberg’s Rosalind Mathieson , Mario Parker and Ben Sills join this episode to talk about the major issues on the table at the United Nations meeting in New York; the Biden administration’s push for a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia; and the ongoing US auto workers strike.  Listen to The Big Take podcast every...

Bloomberg’s Shawn Donnan and Maeva Cousin join this episode to explain how rising political tensions around the world are leading to a re-ordering of trade and commerce into rival economic blocs. Read more: The Global Economy Enters an Era of Upheaval Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK   Have questions or comments for Wes an...

The Dollar General retail chain has 19,000-plus locations, more than Walmart and Wendy’s combined. Its business model is to open in towns too small to support bigger retailers, sell necessities at low prices and keep staff to a minimum, sometimes as few as one or two people per shift. This bare bones approach has led to profits but also numerous OSHA citations and millions of dollars in proposed f...

Bloomberg Businessweek national political correspondent Joshua Green joins this episode to describe a political phenomenon that’s emerging in parts of the US: red states encroaching on blue cities. In Nashville, Austin and elsewhere, Republican legislatures have successfully used supermajorities to block liberal reforms and enact conservative policies. Read more: The Hostile Takeover of Blue Citie...

On Friday, US auto workers started an unprecedented strike against all three of the legacy Detroit carmakers. If the standoff isn’t resolved quickly, it could ripple through the US economy.  Bloomberg’s Detroit Bureau Chief David Welch joins this episode to talk about what the union is demanding–and whether the companies will give them what they want. Read more: How Auto Executives Misread the UAW...

There were many global issues on the table at the G-20 summit in New Delhi. But arguably the real center of attention at the India meeting was India itself–and the ambitious agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bloomberg’s Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Daniel Ten Kate join this episode to discuss what came out of the gathering of leaders—and how India is asserting itself on the world stage. Read more: I...

Retail work has always been hard – long hours and weekend shifts on your feet, a lower pay scale and dealing with disgruntled customers. But in our post-pandemic economy, those issues have only been amplified with shoppers behaving badly and wages not keeping up with inflation, while employees take on ever-expanding roles. As a result, many workers are deciding the job just isn’t worth it. Bloombe...

Since the 1970s, carbon capture and storage (CSS) has been held up as one potential tool to help combat global warming. The idea is to capture carbon dioxide released in the production of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, and store it deep underground–instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere. But despite billions of dollars spent, the technology hasn’t quite lived up to expectat...

For decades, companies looking to lower costs have resorted to offshoring—moving their manufacturing to China and other nations in Asia. But US-China tensions and a desire to simplify long, complex supply chains are now leading a growing number of businesses that serve US customers to do the reverse—“nearshoring.”  They’re relocating some or all of their operations to Mexico. Bloomberg’s Maya Aver...

By now, most people across the globe have returned to pre-pandemic routines like traveling and going to the movies. But when it comes to where they work, many remote employees want to leave their offices in the past. Bloomberg’s Matthew Boyle joins this episode to discuss companies’ ongoing battle to lure employees back to in-person work, and where the return-to-office movement has gained the most...

A cheap, illegal amphetamine called captagon is raising alarm around the globe after circulating for years in the Middle East. The US and its allies say much of the world’s supply of captagon is made in Syria–and that the government of President Bashar Al-Assad is using captagon sales abroad to cushion the financial blow of Western sanctions on Syria. Bloomberg’s Sam Dagher and Samy Adghirni join...

Growing sales of electric vehicles around the world have also come with growing pains. In China, outdated models no one wants pile up in vast EV graveyards. In Norway, tax breaks for electric car buyers have been so successful that the government faces a revenue shortfall. Bloomberg’s Linda Lew and Businessweek contributor Willem Marx join this episode to talk about the upsides—and downsides—of th...

The Apple “ecosystem” has tremendous appeal – sleek design, genius marketing and a myriad of products and services that are seamlessly compatible. This makes users feel at ease within its closed circuit. Unless they want to try something else. Bloomberg reporter Austin Carr decided to scale Apple’s walled garden to see if the grass was greener in the Android and Windows world. But his attempts to...

In 1978, NASA opened its astronaut training program to women. Bloomberg space reporter Loren Grush recounts their challenges and achievements in her new book The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts . She joins this episode to talk about the extraordinary careers of Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid and Rhea Seddon—and the mark each astronaut...

We're taking a break for the Labor Day Holiday in the US, so here's a favorite you might have missed . We'll be back at it tomorrow with a new episode. The tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons is approaching its 50th anniversary and it has never been more popular, attracting players of all ages to its analog charms. Now Hasbro, the toy company that owns it, is betting D&D can be br...

We're taking a pause this week to recharge our batteries. Here's one we love that you might have missed.  We'll be back with fresh episodes next week. Earlier this year, India’s Supreme Court heard arguments on whether to legalize same-sex marriage. A verdict is expected in the fall. Bloomberg reporters  Muneeza Naqvi  and  Kai Schultz  join this episode from New Delhi to explain India’s rapid mar...

We're taking a pause this week, so here's a favorite episode you might have missed. We'll be back next week with some fresh episodes. For decades, inventors have tried and failed to make a smart gun. A company called Biofire now appears to have pulled it off. It uses both fingerprint scans and facial recognition so that only a registered user can fire it. But will anyone buy it? Will this technolo...

We're taking a break this week, so here's a favorite you might have missed.  We'll be back with fresh episodes next week. Record temperatures in Texas and across the southern US this summer put immense strain on the electric grid, as residents battled the heat by cranking up the AC. But experts say grid pressure could get even worse this winter. Bloomberg’s Naureen Malik joins this episode to disc...

We're taking a pause this week, so here's a favorite episode you might have missed. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with new episodes next week. As the saying goes: a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on. As AI is increasing productivity across industries, it’s also raising concern about how to regulate its output and keep it from putting many of...