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Daily business news and economic stories

Make Me Smart

Daily Business News & Culture podcast
Kimberly Adams
Kai Ryssdal
Latest Episode

Why your tax refund might be lower this year

Apr 3, 2019 · Episode 107

Episodes 1261 - 1270 of 1381

  • Mar 26, 2019 · Episode 106

    How do drug epidemics end?

    Used needles rest in a bin at Virginia's first-ever syringe exchange program at the Virginia Department of Health in Wise County Friday, December 7, 2018. Wise County is a sort of "ground zero" for the country's opioid crisis, and our podcast "The Uncertain Hour" has been reporting from there. 
    Julia Rendleman/Marketplace

    In its new season, The Uncertain Hour is trying to find out.

  • Mar 19, 2019 · Episode 105

    The Great British Break-Off

    Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest in the rain ahead of the meaningful vote in Parliament on March 12, 2019, in London.
    Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

    The United Kingdom voted for Brexit almost three years ago, but there’s still no deal in place to politically and economically untangle itself from Europe. The BBC’s Ros Atkins tells us why we should care about Brexit.

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies about Cambridge Analytica before a Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in 2018 in Washington, D.C.
    Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images

    The scandal made us think differently about Facebook. Here’s what to do about it.

  • Mar 5, 2019 · Episode 103

    Quantum computing for normals

    Part of IBM's quantum computing system, designed to one day solve problems that are too complex for today's computers., on display at the American Society of Civil Engineers convention in 2019.
    IBM

    What’s the size of a refrigerator, prefers -460 degrees Farenheit and has nations racing to master it? Starts with Q …

  • Feb 26, 2019 · Episode 102

    The 2020 election will be all about socialism

    U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally on Capitol Hill in 2018.
    Drew Angerer/Getty Images

    NPR’s Sam Sanders on democratic socialism and his time reporting on Sen. Bernie Sanders (no relation). He spent much of 2015 and 2016 embedded in the Bernie Sanders campaign.

  • Feb 20, 2019 · Episode 101

    What’s the deal with the Green New Deal?

    U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a news conference at the East Front of the U.S. Capitol February 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. 
    Alex Wong/Getty Images

    It’s more about the political climate. It’s an ambitious plan to de-carbonize the American economy while adding new jobs in infrastructure and alternative energy.

  • Feb 13, 2019 · Episode 100

    The Oscars are a mess

    We're taking the Oscars to The Dark Place this week, y'all.
    Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

    New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris helps us make sense of it.

  • Feb 5, 2019 · Episode 99

    When memes are moneymakers

    The Instagram account @world_record_egg garnered the most-likes post on a single post before revealing a PSA on Super Bowl Sunday about... the effect of social media on mental health.
    Screengrab via Hulu

    It’s our dankest episode yet. We get you up to speed on memes before we ask the money question: Where is the profit when they go viral?

  • Jan 30, 2019 · Episode 98

    Can we shut down the shutdowns?

    Storm clouds fill the sky over the U.S. Capitol Building, June 13, 2013 in Washington, DC.
    Mark Wilson/Getty Images

    How did closing the government became a political weapon in the first place?

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About the show

Every weekday, Kai Ryssdal and Kimberly Adams break down the news in tech, the economy and culture. How do companies make money from disinformation? How can we tackle student debt? Why do 401(k)s exist? What will it take to keep working moms from leaving the workforce? Together, we dig into complex topics to help make today make sense. Because none of us is as smart as all of us.

Ryssdal has been a trusted broadcaster for two decades and received an Emmy for investigative journalism for “Big Sky, Big Money,” a PBS Frontline documentary about money in politics.

Before coming to Marketplace, Adams reported on the political, social and economic upheaval in Egypt following the Arab Spring. While reporting in Cairo, she received awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the Religion Communicators Council, and the Association for Women in Communication. She was also competitively selected for the International Women’s Media Foundation “Great Lakes” Reporting fellowship to Uganda, where she reported on environmental, economic and LGBT issues.

“Make Me Smart” is “a podcast to keep up with, even in quarantine,” Vanity Fair says.