September’s fiscal surplus was not thanks to tariff revenue. In truth, it was thanks to Americans paying more in income tax. Tariffs were only 5.7 percent of revenue.
Both Republicans and Democrats pressure the Fed toward different agendas, revealing deeper institutional problems. Norbert Michel and Jai Kedia argue that broad discretion and an inflated view of the Fed's influence enable mission creep and capture regardless of who holds power. The solution? Congressional legislation establishing clear rules.
Despite the change in the White House, critical race theory is still with us, dominating the academic sectors and being ingrained in progressive culture. We need to better recognize what it is and how it works in order to better refute it.
The main issue keeping the government closed is healthcare — specifically, the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that have been in place since 2021 and further lowered premium costs for Americans. Democrats want the enhanced subsidies extended, Republicans don’t. Without them, folks who rely on healthcare plans they bought on the exchange will see their premiums skyrocket. But there are other countries with private insurance options where healthcare doesn’t cost so much that people risk going without it. To find out what’s going on here and what America could do about it, we spoke to Mark Shepard. He’s an associate professor of public policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
And in headlines, the U.S. extends its trade deal with Mexico for several weeks, USDA confirms food stamps will not go out November 1, and a rag-tag group of former USAID workers band together to fund some of the shuttered agency’s most critical programs.
Republican politicians like to use the term ‘Marxist’ to criticize Democrats. Lately, they’ve dubbed New York City mayoral candidate a ‘Marxist’ despite him identifying himself as a democratic socialist. Today on the show, we dig into what ‘Marxism, as an economic term,’ actually means.
Last week, the FBI indicted more than 30 people in a series of NBA gambling scandals. The sports leagues are promising drastic action – but with everyone from the states to the owners getting rich off legal sports gambling, is the game rigged?
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplusto get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
No one doubts that the US is a politically and culturally divided nation. Contrary to much of public opinion, politicians like Donald Trump did not cause the crisis. Instead, as Lawrence Mead writes, they are a symptom of the government's assault on our culture.
Chinese and American negotiators announced on Sunday that they had agreed to a “framework of a deal” on tariffs ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But in the meantime, farmers are getting walloped by Trump’s trade war with China. During Trump’s first term in office, his tariffs led to steep price drops in American soybeans, prompting massive bailouts for struggling farmers. And now farmers are facing more of the same – with no certainty of another bailout this time. So we called Phil Verges, a soybean farmer in western Wisconsin, to talk about what he’s seeing and hearing from farmers just like him.
And in headlines, President Donald Trump finds a private, billionaire donor to pay U.S. military service members during the government shutdown, Trump officials continue to play the shutdown blame game, and U.S. beef farmers beef with Trump over… beef.
It’s hard for young tech workers to find a job, even with the AI buildout bonanza. This has spawned a curious worldview that fears AI is coming for our jobs and a drive to be at the top of the AI food chain. This, tech writer Jasmine Sun believes, is revealed in the emerging dialect of Silicon Valley tech workers.
Today on the show, San Francisco slang. Jasmine Sun takes us on a tour of high-agency 996ers and NPCs to see what it could mean for our present and our future.
Isn’t a government shutdown supposed to be a crisis? The Republicans, in control of the White House, Congress and Supreme Court haven’t taken steps to end it on their own, and the ship may have already sailed on the only real ask from the Democrats. So what now?
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplusto get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.