The Indicator from Planet Money - The spite acquisition that launched Warren Buffett

With an unprecedented decades-long run of success, Warren Buffett is retiring on December 31, 2025. Buffett’s turning point began with the acquisition of a failing textile mill called Berkshire Hathaway. What began as a “terrible mistake” became the foundation for his empire. Today on the show, how did Buffett become this legendary figure? 

Related episodes: 
Planet Money Summer School 2: Index Funds & The Bet
Brilliant vs. Boring 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 - Mahmood Mamdani’s ‘Slow Poison’ centers politics of belonging in postcolonial Uganda

Mahmood Mamdani — a professor of government at Columbia University and the father of Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s next mayor — has spent decades researching colonialism and its effects on the African continent. His work is both political and personal, influenced by his own experience in Uganda as an exiled citizen deemed nonindigenous by colonial structures. In today’s episode, Mamdani talks to NPR’s Leila Fadel about his newest book, Slow Poison, an account of colonial legacy in Uganda, the rise of the country’s modern autocrats, and the politics of belonging that surround it all.


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Pod Save America - Rahm Emanuel is Not NOT Running for President

Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and chief of staff to President Obama, joins Tommy to discuss where he thinks the Democratic Party went wrong in 2024, why he's advocating for a blanket social media ban for children under 16, and to reflect on the foreign policy decisions from the Obama era that have shaped the 21st century. Then, Tommy asks Rahm whether there might be presidential ambitions behind his recent podcast tour.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.


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NPR's Book of the Day - Revisiting ‘Waiting to Exhale’

As the film adaptation of ‘Waiting to Exhale’ celebrates its 30th anniversary, B.A. Parker and Andrew Limbong, along with It’s Been a Minute host, Brittany Luse, revisit its source material about four friends, Savannah, Gloria, Robin, and Bernadine, as they make their way through the 30s, in love and in life. Later on, special guest, Tia Williams, speaks to Andrew about how Terry McMillian paved the way for her career path as a romance novelist. 


Brittany’s Recommendation: ‘Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies, Lessons & Love Affairs’ by Pearl Cleage

Parker’s Recommendation: ‘The Wilderness’ by Angela Flournoy

Andrew’s Recommendation: ‘Where I’m Coming From’ by Barbara Brandon-Croft 


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