Episodes

  • Protecting Your Finances Amid Tariff-Fueled Tumult

    Protecting Your Finances Amid Tariff-Fueled Tumult
    Apr 10 2025
    It's safe to say there's been a lot of confusion and even panic in the wake of President Donald Trump's tariff announcement last week — investors are confused, the markets are confused, even the president's Republican colleagues are confused.

    But what do these tariffs mean for working people? Especially as many have seen their personal wealth take a sizable hit and their budgets likely be blown to bits.

    We discuss what the tariffs could mean for America's finances in the near and far futures with The Washington Post's Michelle Singletary. We also hear from Martha Gimbel of the Budget Lab at Yale about the bigger economic picture.

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    34 mins
  • How Did This Get Here: Your Car

    How Did This Get Here: Your Car
    Apr 9 2025
    The auto industry is already reeling from President Donald Trump's new tariffs. They've only been in effect for about six days, but the response was immediate.

    On the same day those tariffs went live, Stellantis temporarily paused production at plants in Canada and Mexico. The company also temporarily laid off 900 U.S. workers. And Volkswagen said it's planning to add an import fee to its sticker price.

    According to financial analytics firm S&P Global, about half of car sales could be affected by these tariffs. Trump says auto tariffs will bring manufacturing and jobs back to the U.S.

    We discuss how these new trade rules actually affect American production and your pocketbook, as part of our "How Did This Get Here?" series.

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    35 mins
  • The Future Of America's National Parks

    The Future Of America's National Parks
    Apr 8 2025
    People visited U.S. National Park sites a record 331 million times last year. Were you one of them?

    If you were, and plan to visit any National Parks this year though, staff cuts might mean a different kind of experience.

    At the direction of Elon Musk's DOGE entity, the Department of the Interior fired around 1,000 probationary National Park Service employees in February.

    That has current and former NPS employees feeling pessimistic about the future.

    We discuss how these cuts will impact the future of America's National Parks.

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    34 mins
  • ICYMI: Why Global Markets Are In Flux

    ICYMI: Why Global Markets Are In Flux
    Apr 8 2025
    President Donald Trump's escalating trade war sent markets lurching between hope and panic yesterday.

    But overall, stocks have been tumbling since last Wednesday. That's when President Trump announced a universal 10 percent tariff on all goods coming into the U.S.

    He also announced additional import taxes on 185 countries. Those tariffs are set to kick in Wednesday.

    In response, the global economy is in a tailspin. We discuss the latest.

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    12 mins
  • 'If You Can Keep It': The Federal Health Firings

    'If You Can Keep It': The Federal Health Firings
    Apr 7 2025
    The nation's health administration is the latest target of the Trump administration's effort to dismantle the federal bureaucracy. That's after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slashed 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services early last week.

    Entire offices were eliminated during the layoffs. Some of those positions, Kennedy says, will need to be reinstated. Experts warn that these sweeping job cuts at the HHS will affect drug approvals, disease tracking, and vital biomedical research.

    We continue our series "If You Can Keep It" with a look at what these actions mean for our public health - and the health of U.S. democracy.

    We discuss the latest on the dismantling of the HHS and how staff cuts at the department might change the way the U.S. delivers health services.

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    34 mins
  • The News Roundup For April 4, 2025

    The News Roundup For April 4, 2025
    Apr 4 2025
    Donald Trump unveiled his so-called "Liberation Day" plans this week. On Wednesday he announced a slew of tariffs that will affect goods being imported into the U.S.

    Elon Musk took a hit in Wisconsin. Liberal candidate Susan Crawford emerged victorious in the special election to the state's Supreme Court.

    Meanwhile, the White House is working to find countries that will take migrants deported from the U.S. Reporting this week found that the Trump Administration has contacted governments in South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

    The war in Gaza is the deadliest for journalists in history.

    French politician and far-right leader Marine le Pen was barred from running for public office for half a decade as she was found guilty of embezzlement by a court in Paris.

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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • What Detainments At Universities Mean For The First Amendment

    What Detainments At Universities Mean For The First Amendment
    Apr 3 2025
    The arrest and detainment of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil by Immigration and Customs Enforcement garnered national attention.

    Last week, the video of the arrest of a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University, Rumeysa Ozturk, by masked federal agents received similar attention.

    In addition to Ozturk and Khalil, nearly a dozen international students and faculty at universities across the country have been detained for possible deportation as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on those who've voiced pro-Palestinian views.

    The arrests have raised questions — not just about the rights of immigrants with legal status in the U.S. — but about the right to dissent, regardless of citizenship, under the Trump administration.

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    33 mins
  • ICYMI: A Quarter Of HHS Workforce Lost Due To Cuts

    ICYMI: A Quarter Of HHS Workforce Lost Due To Cuts
    Apr 3 2025
    The Trump administration's cutbacks to the federal workforce continued this week at the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Thousands of staffers were fired at agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the layoffs last week, an additional "reduction in force" of 10,000 people on top of the 10,000 who've already left the department this year. This amounts to one of the largest government departments losing a quarter of its workforce.

    One of the agencies affected is the National Institutes of Health. The network of research centers funds much of the country's biomedical research.

    We discuss what the layoffs at the NIH mean for the country's ability to research and develop medical treatments.

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    11 mins