On the morning of July 16, a White House official told Bloomberg News that President Donald Trump was preparing to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Such a firing would potentially be illegal (as the Supreme Court recently noted) and undermine decades of goodwill that Fed policymakers have built up with investors. Trump quickly took the threat back, while making it clear he might still try to dismiss Powell, ostensibly based on alleged overspending on a renovation of the central bank’s headquarters. On this week’s episode of Everybody’s Business, hosts Stacey Vanek Smith and Max Chafkin are joined by Martha Gimbel, director of the Budget Lab at Yale, to explore what’s at stake. Though Gimbel says there’s a case to be made that the Fed has been too slow to lower interest rates, she explains that the idea of either firing or bullying Powell into an extreme rate cut would backfire by destabilizing the economy. She says banks would probably raise mortgage rates in the short run rather than lower them if Powell were ousted, due to the uncertainty caused by such an unprecedented move. The other problem is that interest rates aren’t set by Powell, but by a committee—and the committee might react to Powell’s firing by resisting Trump’s directives. Also on the episode, Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Amanda Mull discusses why travel still hasn’t rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of what’s happening has to do with politics: Canadian tourists in particular seem to be staying home in protest of Trump’s provocations. Plus, the pandemic may have permanently changed travel habits, discouraging vacationers from flying and pushing some business travelers to opt for Zoom when they might have previously hopped on a plane. An underappreciated factor however is that airline travel has simply gotten less comfortable. This also comes back to the pandemic, which pushed carriers to adopt pricing schemes that allowed leisure travelers to pay for perks while adding new charges for services once provided for free. That’s made the experience for those of us at the back of the plane all the more miserable. On the bright side, the New Yorkers we spoke to—which included New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is having a very bad week—are nevertheless feeling optimistic. Finally, we explore the growth of “metaphysical services” by Etsy witches who cast spells for strangers at a reasonable price. Results certainly aren’t guaranteed—and centuries of folklore would suggest that messing with spells is a dangerous game—but that isn’t slowing down this market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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35:42
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35:42
Pricey Copper, Bummed Consumers and a Bee Mystery Solved
On Tuesday, seemingly off the cuff, US President Donald Trump suddenly threatened a 50% tariff on copper. The reaction from markets was predictably strong, leaving metal distributors scrambling to get deliveries across the border. In this week’s episode of Everybody’s Business, Bloomberg economics reporter Joe Deaux joins hosts Max Chafkin and Stacey Vanek Smith to discuss Trump’s latest musings, how complicated a rewiring of the copper supply chain might be and the stark challenges of bringing manufacturing back to the US. (As in, it takes about 10-20 years to get a mine up and running at commercial scale.) Also on this episode, wealth reporter Ben Steverman enters the studio to discuss consumer sentiment as an economic indicator. For many academics (and consumers), the economy is largely made up of numbers to be calculated. But how do you measure how someone feels? Steverman discusses his recent profile of Joanne Hsu, the director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers, an institution that’s been measuring vibes for decades. Over the years, the survey has found that people’s perception of the economy can be a powerful indicator of where things are heading. And as you likely know, recent surveys show that Americans are very pessimistic about their finances. Prices are still considered too high and Trump’s trade war is on everyone’s mind. Lastly, Smith presents to Chafkin an underrated story of the week: scientists believe they have cracked the mystery of the big honey bee die-off. The likely culprits? Pesticide-resistant mites. This is welcome news to Chafkin, who shares his own story of a recent run-in with a beehive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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30:44
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30:44
The Big Beautiful Bill & The U.S. Enters Its Middle Aged Man Era
Happy 4th of July! The U.S. turns 249 this year and there are plenty of economic fireworks to ring in the birthday. After a long and winding road through Capitol Hill, the “Big Beautiful Bill” is poised to be signed by President Trump. The bill is largely an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and it will have big — and not entirely beautiful — implications for U.S. businesses. In this week’s episode of Everybody’s Business from Bloomberg Businessweek, hosts Stacey Vanek Smith and Businessweek Editor Brad Stone (filling in for Max Chafkin) break down the bill, which will add an estimated $3.4 trillion to US deficits over the next decade. It’s a mixed bag for businesses: It will save them billions in taxes, but it is also likely to make borrowing money and expanding a lot tougher. Cuts to entitlements included in the bill could also mean US companies have to step in and provide more services for their workers. After 249 years, the economy is due for a check-up. Dr. Allison Schrager, an economist with the Manhattan Institute and Bloomberg Opinion columnist, joins the podcast to discuss the new and very positive unemployment numbers. In June, the US added 147,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% — a very clean bill of health. Schrager says the US economy is in its middle-aged man era: generally healthy and strong, but perhaps in need of some lifestyle tweaks (get that ballooning deficit under control). Finally, it’s time for the underrated story of the week: Media is looking a little less independent this Independence Day. Paramount has settled a lawsuit with President Trump, who accused CBS (which is owned by Paramount) of bias and deceptively editing the 2024 presidential debate. In spite of the fact the suit was almost universally deemed frivolous, Paramount paid out $16 million to make it go away. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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29:56
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29:56
Does a Mamdani Blowout + Bezos Blowback = Billionaires Beware?
With Stacey Vanek Smith off at the World Economic Forum in China, Max Chafkin is joined by Brad Stone, the editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, and Bloomberg reporter Laura Nahmias. Together, they discuss how significant democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani’s surprising New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary victory could be for Wall Street and the city of New York. A parallel to Mamdani’s triumph in an increasingly unaffordable city is taking place this week in Venice, where multibillionaire Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos and former broadcast journalist Lauren Sánchez are to be married. With fierce opposition raging in the Italian city, already made crushingly expensive by over-tourism, does this mean disdain for billionaires is at a boiling point? Chafkin and Stone talk it over. Also, the crew sent out a producer to the streets of New York to ask people the question on everyone’s mind: what wedding gift can you possibly get for the man behind the everything store? Chafkin and Stone then turn their gaze to the movie industry. Technology has been haunting Hollywood for a while now. The internet, file sharing, streaming—the big studios have been playing defense against Silicon Valley since the turn of the century. But now they’re facing a potentially bigger threat: artificial intelligence. Entertainment reporter Lucas Shaw walks us through how the industry is fighting with, and adapting to, this seemingly unstoppable new force. And to end things, Chafkin brings what he considers the most underrated story of the week: the accidental support of a planned coup in South Sudan by a co-funder of Jane Street. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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28:14
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28:14
Ripple Effects of War, Private Equity Gets Personal, and... President Cuban?
As of this writing, Israel’s war with Iran has been underway for close to a week, triggered by a surprise attack ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iranian military and civilian targets. Israel’s waves of strikes have killed hundreds of Iranians while dozens of Israelis have died in Iranian retaliatory volleys. Donald Trump has demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and indicated that America might join Israel’s bombing campaign. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the Republican president’s demand. While acknowledging that this is a bit further afield from the show’s usual fare, Max Chafkin and Stacey Vanek Smith talk through the Mideast conflict and what it means for the global economy—and for everyone. They’re joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist John Authers, who’s been covering the war and its implications in his newsletter, Point of Return. Later in the show, Bloomberg Businessweek contributor Megan Greenwell joins Max and Stacey to talk about the economic destruction private equity has wreaked on the US. Greenwell covers this subject in her critically acclaimed book, Bad Company. PE’s effects on working-class communities are on Max and Stacey’s minds as the industry angles for access to Americans’ 401(k)s. Finally, Stacey digs into Max’s new feature on Mark Cuban, the Shark Tank billionaire who’s been not not-flirting with a run for president in 2028. They discuss Cuban’s healthcare plans, the challenges of fighting “Trumpiness” with “Trumpiness” and pitch a shark tank-like arrangement for congressional bills.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bloomberg Businessweek brings you a smart and fun chat show about all things...business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin (author of The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power) and Stacey Vanek Smith (former co-host of NPR’s Planet Money and reporter for Marketplace), Everybody's Business is powered by the unparalleled sources and reporters who bring you Businessweek magazine’s headlines and the stories behind them. The show gives listeners a window into the discussions happening in boardrooms, Zooms and group chats in power centers around the world. From interpreting Fed meetings to the business of wolf cloning, each week Max, Stacey and their friends at Bloomberg Businessweek guide listeners through what really went on during the last week from Wall Street and Main Street. Because what’s happening with money and markets is everybody’s business.
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