Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

Long-term care is expensive in the United States. With Medicaid spending cuts looming and the Trump administration’s deportation plans threatening the caregiving workforce, the system is under even more pressure. On today’s show, Allison Hoffman, health law expert at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, joins Kimberly to unpack why the caregiving industry suffers from chronic labor shortages and how the U.S. could finance long-term care differently to make it more affordable.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "What Role Do Immigrants Play in The Direct Long-Term Care Workforce?" from KFF
• "Trump’s deportation plans threaten 400,000 direct care jobs: Older adults and people with disabilities could lose vital in-home support" from Economic Policy Institute 
• "A brief history of Medicaid and America’s long struggle to establish a health care safety net" from The Conversation 
• "The age-old problem of long-term care" from MIT News 
• "Solving the Home Care Quandary" from The New York Times

Join us tomorrow for “Economics on Tap.” The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

In his 19-minute address to the nation last night, President Donald Trump argued that he inherited a mess from former President Biden; the president claimed he'd made historic improvements to the lives of Americans over the past 11 months. Today, we'll dig into the claims — from the accurate, to the misleading, and the wrong. Also on the show: how scammers are using AI-generated ads to trick shoppers.

As the year draws to a close, it's clear that the post-COVID hiring bonanza has ended, and job-hunting has gotten trickier. Experts are predicting next year to be marked by more of the same: a low-hire, low-fire labor market. Plus, the Nasdaq asks the SEC for permission to allow close to 24/7 trading, and a federal appeals court is blocking the firing of most workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

From the BBC World Service: The European Union says it's close to agreeing a trade deal with the South American economic bloc Mercosur, which represents Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The agreement covers all aspects of trade, but the most controversial area is agriculture. Farmers have been protesting because they fear a glut of cheap imports. Then, the European Commission unveiled its first-ever roadmap for tackling a Europe-wide housing affordability crisis earlier this week. We'll discuss it with the EU's housing Commissioner.

Search engines, social media, e-commerce, and mobile games all make money by selling advertising. But making ads work in AI search might not be so straight forward. Perplexity, for instance, reportedly pulled back on plans to integrate ads into their AI search engine. And internal documents showed the company made only $20,000 in ad revenue in the fourth quarter last year.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Garrett Johnson, professor of marketing at Boston University to get a sense of why jumping into the ad business is difficult.

In our news wrap Wednesday, the surviving suspect in the shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach has been charged with 15 counts of murder, former special counsel Jack Smith testified privately to lawmakers that investigators found proof that President Trump criminally conspired to overturn the 2020 election and Warner Bros. urged shareholders to reject Paramount's hostile takeover bid. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

President Trump continued his rhetorical campaign against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, as a large American Naval force sits in the waters off the coast. The U.S. will actively blockade and seize vessels it had already sanctioned, a move some critics have called an act of war. Nick Schifrin reports and Geoff Bennett discusses the latest with David Smilde. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

A U.S. blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers may sound disruptive, but global oil is plentiful, and Gulf Coast refiners remain tied to Venezuela’s heavy crude after decades of investment. If sanctions are lifted and Venezuelan oil flows again, it could benefit refiners and drivers alike. Also in this episode: why bank deposits are growing, how the Gap staged a successful turnaround, and where trade workers are experimenting with AI.

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Despite the federal government cutting tax credits for clean energy, Illinois continues to invest in grants for residents, municipalities and organizations to make the switch to solar energy. In the Loop hears from Senyo Ador, co-founder of the local green energy company Sesenergi Eco Solutions Enterprise and our sustainability contributor Karen Weigert. For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.

We get a firehose of economic data this week. As these numbers come in, one thing is becoming clearer: Wage gains are stalling, and inflation has been heating up. What's that mean for affordability and consumers? Then, we check on oil prices after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. Plus, we bring you the second part of our conversation with June Hagin, a night shift worker at a West Harlem Christmas tree lot.