Month: January 2024

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This Machine Kills - 309. Does the World Feel $800 Billion Better?

We kick off with a critical look at reporting on the peaks and valleys, upswings and downturns in venture capital and start-up exits—and ask the $800 billion question: has all this unfathomable investment and “value creation” by the tech sector resulted in a better world? Did your life in 2023 feel better? Did society seem $800 billion better? Or has it actually just felt worse? If so, then what’s the point of this innovation system and its strategies, metrics, and benchmarks? We then end by chatting about the mass sympathy strikes against Tesla in Scandinavia. ••• US venture capital fundraising hits a 6-year low https://www.ft.com/content/cfb186c8-22f4-4a82-b262-f4380a5d82b8 ••• From Unicorns to Zombies: Tech Start-Ups Run Out of Time and Money https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/technology/tech-startups-collapse.html ••• Musk's woes deepen as Tesla strike spreads across Scandinavia https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20231215-musk-s-woes-deepen-as-tesla-strike-spreads-across-scandinavia Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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CBS News Roundup - 01/12/2024 | World News Roundup Late Edition

Midwest winter blast; snow in the countries mid-section. President Biden comments on a series of strikes in Yemen. Federal prosecutors says they will seek the death penalty in federal hate crimes against a white supremacist.

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Planet Money - The Maine Potato War of 1976

When you think of a potato, one state probably comes to mind: Idaho. But for much of American history, Maine was home to the nation's largest potato crop.

That status had changed by the 1970s, with the West growing more and more of the nation's potatoes. But Maine still had one distinct advantage: A privileged position in the commodities market. The New York Mercantile Exchange, one of the largest such marketplaces in the country, exclusively dealt in Maine potatoes. And two deep-pocketed Western potato kingpins weren't happy about it.

So the Westerners waged what's now called the Maine Potato War of 1976. Their battlefield was the futures market: A special type of marketplace, made up of hordes of screaming traders, where potatoes can be bought and sold before they're even planted.

The Westerners did something so bold – and so unexpected – that it brought not only the potato market, but the entire New York commodities exchange, to its knees.

Today on the show, how a war waged through futures contracts influenced the kind of potatoes we eat.

This episode was hosted by Dylan Sloan and Nick Fountain. This episode was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler with help from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Molly Messick, engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez, and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Our executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Offloading EVs, vacating offices and reaping windfalls

It's Indicators of the Week, that time each Friday when we look at three of the most fascinating numbers from the news. Today we explain why Hertz is trying to sell off part of its EV inventory, why office vacancy rates are still climbing and what Apple's class-action payout yielded one of our hosts.

Related Episodes:
What could break next? (Apple / Spotify)
How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)

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The Gist - The Houthi Haircut

The Houthis are monstrous militants, which would be reason enough to dispatch them via military might. But also, think of the carbon savings! Plus, Israel defends itself from genocide charges. And we're joined once more by Donald G. McNeil Jr. to discuss his new book The Wisdom of Plagues, a zoonotic origin of Covid, if Anthony Fauci answers about gain-of-function research were accurate, and public health cowardice in the face of m(onkey) pox.


Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara

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The Daily Signal - Threat of Houthi Rebels, Jewish Students Sue Harvard, 64 Ways Biden Has Undermined Border Security | Jan. 12

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down:


  • The U.S. and U.K. carry out airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. 
  • House Speaker Mike Johnson releases a document detailing 64 ways the Biden administration has weakened America’s border. 
  • Jewish students at Harvard University sue their school.
  • Member of the Finnish parliament Päivi Räsänen is being dragged back to court after winning a significant religious freedom fight last year. 


Relevant Links


Document outlines 64 times Biden undermined border security: https://www.speaker.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Biden-Admin-Actions-Undermining-Border-Security.pdf  


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State of the World from NPR - The U.S. and U.K attack targets in Yemen: What It Means for Global Shipping

The series of strikes in Yemen were against the Houthis, an Iran-backed military group, that had been attacking military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, in what they said was retaliation for Israel's war in Gaza. We hear from our national security correspondent and a international trade expert on the strikes and their economic implications.

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