Who profits from war?

10/31/23 • 16 min

2 Listeners

A $14.3 billion Israel aid package from the House GOP is in the works, and some Republican representatives are looking into unconventional ways to fund it. We’ll get into where U.S. military aid usually ends up and who stands to make a profit from global conflict. Plus, how the media coverage leading up to the 2024 election often makes false equivalencies between the speaking abilities of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

Here’s everything we talked about:

- “House GOP announces standalone $14.3 billion Israel aid package, setting up Senate clash — Live Updates” from Politico
- “Ukraine war orders starting to boost revenues for big US defense contractors” from Reuters
- “Israel’s Economy Set to Shrink 11% as Hamas War Escalates: JPMorgan” from Bloomberg
- “Trump’s Verbal Slips Could Weaken His Attacks on Biden’s Age” from The New York Times
- “‘I had no idea I’d become a national event’: Orson Welles on the mass hysteria of The War of the Worlds” from BBC Culture

Do you have a question that you want to ask us or a comment about something we talked about? Call us at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].

Here’s everything we talked about:

- “House GOP announces standalone $14.3 billion Israel aid package, setting up Senate clash — Live Updates” from Politico
- “Ukraine war orders starting to boost revenues for big US defense contractors” from Reuters
- “Israel’s Economy Set to Shrink 11% as Hamas War Escalates: JPMorgan” from Bloomberg
- “Trump’s Verbal Slips Could Weaken His Attacks on Biden’s Age” from The New York Times
- “‘I had no idea I’d become a national event’: Orson Welles on the mass hysteria of The War of the Worlds” from BBC Culture

Do you have a question that you want to ask us or a comment about something we talked about? Call us at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].

Previous Episode

Why the definition of “employer” really matters

The National Labor Relations Board is redefining what it means to be an employer by changing the so-called joint-employer rule. We’ll explain how the change could impact the rights of contract and franchise workers across many industries, from tech to fast food. And, polling numbers on congressional approval are sinking lower and lower. Plus, are SEO-bait names and bloated movie runtimes the new norms? We’ll get into it in a round of Half Full / Half Empty.

Here’s everything we talked about:

- “New labor rule could be a big deal for millions of franchise and contract workers. Here’s why.” from CBS News
- “NLRB joint-employer rule triggers fears of higher trucking costs” from FreightWaves
- “Congress’ Job Approval Drops to 13%, Lowest Since 2017” from Gallup
- “‘Overemployed’ people secretly work overlapping remote jobs” from Marketplace
- “Why it feels like movies are getting longer” from CNN
- “In tight labor market, businesses practice ‘strategic retention'” from Marketplace
- “Do CEOs make too much money?” from Marketplace
- “The restaurant nearest Google” from The Verge
- “Halloween 2023: Costumes fuel expected record holiday spending” from Axios

If you’ve got a question about today’s economy, send it our way. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at [email protected].

Next Episode

Hydrogen’s potential as a climate solution

When it comes to solutions to the climate crisis, we’re going to need a whole menu of options. One item on the menu: clean hydrogen.

The Joe Biden administration recently invested $7 billion into developing clean hydrogen hubs across the country, with hopes the technology could help reduce carbon emissions in a variety of industries.

“Many people call it a Swiss Army knife of decarbonization,” said Emily Pontecorvo, staff writer at Heatmap News. “But the problem of thinking of it that way is that it takes so much energy to make hydrogen that you really only want to use it in cases where you don’t really have any other options.”

On the show today, Pontecorvo explains the difference between “clean” and “dirty” hydrogen, how we might use hydrogen fuel, and why some climate advocates are skeptical of its climate friendliness.

Then, the other labor story of the summer: rounds of walkouts by pharmacy staff at CVS and Walgreens. And we’ll get into how Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing military promotion blockade has complicated a top military official’s health emergency.

Later, we’ll hear a listener’s concerns about nuclear energy. And another listener was wrong about which countries export petroleum (until they played Tradle).

Here’s everything we talked about: