Crash Course

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Small Businesses vs. The Pandemic Dec 26, 2023

Show notes

Remember the early days of COVID-19 lockdowns when, practically overnight, it seemed that every shop closed its doors? Do you remember how all of those small businesses you might have taken for granted – the ones that gave life and an identity to your community – suddenly felt essential to you? Tim watched lots of small businesses in his small town in New Jersey struggle, including his favorite local bakery, Montclair Bread Company.

We first published this episode back in March, marking three years since the initial lockdowns in the US. But the holiday season is the most important time of year for small businesses, so it feels fitting to share this episode again now. In this episode, Tim tracks the trials and tribulations this unimaginable public health and economic crisis threw at the bakery and its owner, Rachel Wyman.

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Trump vs. His First Big Fraud Verdict Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York is drawing to a close – testimony recently ended – and sometime in early 2024 a state judge will rule on the case. It’s within the judge’s power to impose a fine of as much as $250 million on Trump and permanently ban him and his company from ever doing business in New York again. The state where Trump grew rich may send him into financial exile. The New York case is one of several lodged against the former president, all landing while Trump appears to be well on his way to securing the Republican nomination for the presidency next year. It’s serious. It’s a mess. And the rule of law is being severely tested. Andrew Weissmann is a professor at NYU Law School and spent many years as a federal prosecutor and investigator.

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Introducing: Bloomberg News Now Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

Bloomberg News Now is a comprehensive audio report on today's top stories. Listen for the latest news, whenever you want it, covering global business stories around the world.

on Apple: trib.al/Mx9TCh1
on Spotify: trib.al/T4BG8s4
Anywhere: trib.al/O4EX6BA

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Crime Trends vs. Statistics – and Reality Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

After many years of reassuring declines, some crime rates, like homicides and violent assaults, soared nationwide during the Covid-19 pandemic. These trends weren’t geographically or politically specific: Residents in cities, suburbs, and rural areas all suffered through that shift, and it didn’t matter if they lived in a city run by a Democrat or a Republican – more murders, the data showed, plagued every urban area. On the other hand, robberies, burglaries, and larcenies dropped during the pandemic’s onset. Crime statistics are subject to spotty methodology and reporting gaps, making it hard to rely on the data with absolute certainty. Public safety isn’t a trivial topic and there’s no question that many Americans say they feel less safe on some streets than they once did – despite the fact that violent crime rates are well below where they were during the 1990s. Ames Grawert is a lawyer and expert on crime statistics at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU Law School.

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OpenAI vs. Sam Altman Dec 05, 2023

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OpenAI, which you may have heard a lot about lately, is the company that developed ChatGPT, a wildly popular AI bot which you most certainly have heard of. OpenAI’s board of directors recently purged the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, and various stakeholders – employees, investors, Microsoft – saw to it that Altman was reinstated. The board itself then faced a purge. This particular collision has it all: Silicon Valley innovation and Silicon Valley hubris, money, managerial snafus, ugly battles, promising outcomes, and, of course, artificial intelligence. AI is set to transform the world, we’re told. Ingenuity and upheaval at OpenAI offer a way for us to consider all of that. Parmy Olson and Dave Lee are both Bloomberg Opinion technology columnists.

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Artificial Intelligence vs. The Music Industry Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

Digital disruption is knock knock knockin’ at the music industry’s door, 20 years after the MP3 and Napster made CD collections obsolete. Artificial intelligence is now filling playlists with ambient music and making pitch-perfect copies of human stars like Grimes, who Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent interviewed for this special episode of Crash Course. He dives into the risky race to make musical robots and how record labels and artists are fighting back with new business models, new types of music, and new ideas about copyright — which could serve as a guide for how the wider economy and the rest of society can deal with AI.

NOTE: This episode incorrectly states the name of Grimes' manager. It is Daouda Leonard, not Leonard Daouda.

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Trump vs. Democracy Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Donald Trump’s political speeches of late are chock full of warnings about “the threat from within” posed by his myriad opponents – those he decries as “vermin” out to destroy the US and the American Dream. He routinely promises to crush his critics and “make America great again.” As always with Trump, there’s a method to his madness. Historian Heather Cox Richardson argues that Trumpism claws at American democracy’s true roots – at what she describes as “the idea that a nation can be based not in land or religion or race or hierarchies, but rather in the concept of human equality.”

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Free Speech vs. Censorship Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

Speech has probably never been freer in the world than it is today: Multiple venues – especially social media – allow people’s perspectives to take flight fluently, globally, and frequently. The culture of free speech is also under steady and ever more sophisticated assaults, perhaps because its ubiquity is threatening to any person or institution that holds an opposing viewpoint. The very thing that makes speech so free right now – ease of motion – is, perhaps, what also makes it more threatening. Jameel Jaffer is an attorney and the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

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Introducing: Elon, Inc. Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

At Bloomberg, we’re always talking about the biggest business stories, and no one is bigger than Elon Musk.

In this new chat weekly show, host David Papadopoulos and a panel of guests including Businessweek’s Max Chafkin, Tesla reporter Dana Hull, Big Tech editor Sarah Frier, and more, will break down the most important stories on Musk and his empire. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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China Takes on the World – and the US Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

China is home to 1.4 billion people (about 18% of the planet’s total population), it has the world’s second-largest economy, and its geographic footprint covers more than 3.6 million square miles. China is home to a thriving technology sector, has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, and has also built a formidable military capacity featuring a world-class navy, air force, nuclear missiles, and cyber warfare proficiencies. But China’s economic growth may have plateaued, and its politics have been so reshaped by President Xi Jinping that a cult of personality and raw authoritarianism have recast the country’s image abroad and its direction at home. Karishma Vaswani is a political analyst and Shuli Ren covers markets and China’s economy, and both are columnists for Bloomberg Opinion.

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