Beef is back on top. Well, at least on top of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new food pyramid, unveiled alongside updated national dietary guidelines. Red meat really never left the great American menu. But how’d it climb all the way up there?
On today’s show, America’s storied love affair with beef. And how big business and government have long influenced what winds up on our plates.
Related episodes:
Why beef prices are so high
Who’s buying all the beef?
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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NPR's Book of the Day - Iranian pop star Googoosh on her new memoir and life in pre-revolution Iran
The Iranian government has exerted forceful control over its citizens since the Islamic Republic seized power nearly 50 years ago. The pop star Googoosh has firsthand experience of opposition to the regime – and its consequences. In 1980, the singer was imprisoned and forced into a basement with other women after the government deemed her music sinful. Afterwards, she spent decades living in silence and exile. In today’s episode, she joins Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd for a conversation about her new memoir, Googoosh: A Sinful Voice, and her relationship with Iran, then and now.
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To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2552: Frederick the Great, Patron of the Arts
Episode: 2552 Frederick the Great, Patron of the Arts. Today, what made Frederick great?
Global News Podcast - President Trump withdraws threatened tariffs over Greenland
President Trump has said that a possible deal covering the future of Greenland will achieve "everything" he wants - after rowing back on threats to seize the island by force or levy further tariffs on European allies who oppose his desire to own it. Mr Trump announced he had agreed what he called the "framework of a future deal" after talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, but gave few details. Also: several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, say they'll join President Trump's Board of Peace. Three activists who organised an annual Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong, before it was banned, have gone on trial. We visit a car factory in Slovakia, a country which makes the highest number of cars per capita in the world. And researchers say they've found the world's oldest known cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.
Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk
It Could Happen Here - Why the Federal Reserve Crisis Matters
In her most foolish act yet, Mia attempts to explain what the Federal Reserve is, why it matters, and how Trump seizing control of it could crash the world economy.
Sources:
https://fortune.com/2025/08/09/trump-fed-pick-stephen-miran-existential-threat-central-bank-independence/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/supreme-court-weighs-trumps-firing-feds-lisa-cook-by-social-media-2026-01-20/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/20/powell-could-stay-at-fed-even-after-being-removed-as-chair.html
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RPONTSYD#
https://apnews.com/article/jerome-powell-federal-reserve-trump-af06d80b28be9c8a5de9c3b2fe33fa3d
https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/the-fed-explained.htm
https://www.cfr.org/articles/mar-lago-accord-not-recipe-success
https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr1047.html
https://fortune.com/2025/08/08/what-to-know-about-stephen-miran-the-tariff-proponent-trump-just-nominated-to-join-the-feds-board-of-governors/
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0sg0782h
https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html
https://libcom.org/article/debt-first-5000-years-david-graeber
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/greenspanput.asp
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-fed-chair-search-becoming-163021470.html
https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/more-about-what-we-do
https://www.stlouisfed.org/in-plain-english/who-owns-the-federal-reserve-banks
https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20260111a.htm
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/19/politics/supreme-court-shield-federal-reserve-from-donald-trump
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
array(3) { [0]=> string(150) "https://www.omnycontent.com/d/programs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/78d30acb-8463-4c40-a5ae-ae2d0145c9ff/image.jpg?t=1751824393&size=Large" [1]=> string(10) "image/jpeg" [2]=> int(0) }The World in Brief from The Economist - Trump claims Greenland deal; drops tariff threat, and more
Donald Trump said he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland after a “very productive” meeting with Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary-general.
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Planet Money - BOARD GAMES 3: What’s in a name?
Planet Money has teamed up with the company Exploding Kittens to make a board game inspired by the legendary economics paper The Market for Lemons. We’ve decided we want a mass-appeal party game that quietly sneaks in the economics, so that we can report from inside a world that no other Planet Money project has entered: the real shelves at real big box retail stores.
We have a great game mechanic and a set of rules. Now all we need is a good name and theme.
Turns out, that is way harder and way higher stakes than any of us could have imagined.
In the third episode of our series, we learn the importance of a good game name and theme and try to come up with one for our game.
Find our previous episodes in the board game series, here and here.
Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+
Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
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This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Kenny Malone and Erika Beras. It was produced by James Sneed and edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Willa Rubin, and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
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We have a great game mechanic and a set of rules. Now all we need is a good name and theme.
Turns out, that is way harder and way higher stakes than any of us could have imagined.
In the third episode of our series, we learn the importance of a good game name and theme and try to come up with one for our game.
Find our previous episodes in the board game series, here and here.
Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+
Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Kenny Malone and Erika Beras. It was produced by James Sneed and edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Willa Rubin, and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Economics of Everyday Things - 7. Animal Urine
One creature’s trash is another’s cash. Zachary Crockett flushes out the numbers with a man who found profit in pee. This episode was originally published on June 25th, 2023.
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Consider This from NPR - How Trump moves political norms – both slowly and suddenly
In the first year of his second term, President Trump has repeatedly said and done things that were previously assumed to be unacceptable to voters.
Whether on Greenland or Gaza, federal prosecutions or federal spending, immigration enforcement or sending the U.S. military to protests of immigration enforcement, the Trump administration appears undeterred on almost all of its agenda.
As Ashley Parker wrote in The Atlantic this week — the Trump administration has pushed the window of what’s possible in American politics so far that his opposition seems exhausted.
She discusses her essay, “Trump Exhaustion Syndrome.”
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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PBS News Hour - World - Trump backpedals on threats against Greenland, but allies say damage has been done
President Trump announced what he called the framework of a deal over Greenland, the Danish island he had threatened to take over. There are not many details, but Trump said it would allow the U.S. to build missile defense bases and mine for minerals. Even as the president has taken an off-ramp, many Europeans and Canadians say the damage has already been done. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy