Big Take

Argentina?s president Javier Milei has made waves since taking office in December. From his plans to abolish his country?s central bank and replace its peso with the dollar, to his efforts to reverse previous administrations? moves to build closer ties with China, Milei is charting a perilous ? and untested ? new course for a country long-rankled by inflation and economic instability.

Today on the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait sits down with host David Gura to discuss his exclusive interview with the Argentine leader.

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After years of letting the private tax e-filing industry run the show, the IRS is finally piloting an online tool that?s supposed to make tax season easier ? and free ? for thousands of taxpayers in a dozen states. 

On this episode of The Big Take podcast, we explore how the idea got off the ground, who can use it, and whether the program could ever compete with the powerful private tax-filing industry.

Corrects date the Free File Alliance was launched in podcast published April 4.

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When Wall Street investors Tom Wagner and Greg O?Hara took over Hertz, they had ambitious plans. They aimed to revolutionize the car rental business by bringing a record number of electric vehicles into Hertz?s fleet, including 100,000 Teslas. And when Hertz?s IPO launched in 2021, it seemed Wagner and O?Hara had just made a visionary deal. 

EVs were hot when Hertz started buying them. But as Bloomberg reporters Erik Schatzker and David Welch tell host Sarah Holder, the company would soon discover that making them work in the rental market was another challenge entirely.

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With the stock market hitting record highs, many are wondering if it will continue to soar or come crashing down. One way to tell what?s on the mind of investors is to look at the options market. Bloomberg?s Carly Wanna tells host David Gura that average daily call volume on the VIX, often called the ?fear gauge,? was up in the first quarter.

So, should we be worried that traders are preparing for the possibility of a big downturn?  Today on the show, what's driving markets to all-time highs, and what the VIX tells us about what investors think will come next.

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Big banks made big promises to help fight climate change. But as the world warms, those institutions are quietly cooling on their plans. 

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Alastair Marsh joins host Sarah Holder to break down why banks are rethinking their commitments, and what that could mean for the climate crisis.

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Jerry Seinfeld is a billionaire, thanks in part to earnings from his iconic 1990s sitcom, Seinfeld. After co-creating and starring in the TV show, Seinfeld parlayed his comedy into big money ? but changes to the entertainment industry could make it a challenge for others to follow suit.

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg wealth reporter Annie Massa talks to host Sarah Holder about how the Bloomberg Billionaires Index valued Seinfeld?s net worth for the first time, and what made his eponymous show such an enduring ? and lucrative ? classic.

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Immigration has become a top issue for voters in the 2024 election cycle, but people on the border want action now ? not after November.

On the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg's Washington Bureau Chief Peggy Collins visits Eagle Pass, Texas, to explore why the US-Mexico border is shaping up to be a dominant campaign issue and what the needs on the ground really are.

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In the nearly five months since a jury found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty, a narrative has started to take shape in crypto circles that the business model behind FTX was sound and that SBF would have been successful had he not dipped into customer funds.

But on the eve of his sentencing, Bloomberg?s Max Chafkin and Zeke Faux join The Big Take Podcast to discuss how they found ? after interviewing insiders and carefully examining trial testimony and thousands of pages of documents ? that fraud was at the very core of FTX?s meteoric rise.

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SpaceX?s Starlink satellite program touts itself as a source of reliable internet in hard-to-reach places. But there are some countries where Starlink?s services aren?t licensed, or where the company can?t do business because of US sanctions. And a Bloomberg investigation has found that Starlink kits are appearing in many of those markets anyway ? with geopolitical consequences. 

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior editor Alan Crawford traces the burgeoning black market for Starlink terminals, from Sudan to Venezuela. And national security reporter Dan Flatley breaks down why US government officials are taking notice ? and the hurdles to shutting the black market down.

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Citigroup was the first major Wall Street bank with a female CEO. But interviews with 22 people who worked in or closely with the bank?s equities division suggest a pattern of harassment and discrimination.

Bloomberg?s Paige Smith and Max Abelson join The Big Take podcast to share what their reporting uncovered, and what it says about the rest of Wall Street?s overdue #MeToo reckoning.

Read more: Harassment and Drugs Plagued a Citigroup Division for Years

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The US House of Representatives has passed a bill with an ultimatum for TikTok?s parent company, ByteDance: sell the app, or be banned in the US.

Today on The Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Dan Flatley and Alex Barinka cover the national security concerns behind this bill and the potential geopolitical and tech industry consequences.

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For the first time in almost two decades, Japan has raised interest rates out of negative territory. The reason? Inflation has finally arrived in the country?s economy.

Today on The Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Paul Jackson and host Sarah Holder tackle what the change means for banks, business, and Japan?s economy.

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Major League Baseball has a big problem: it?s tapped out on new fans in the US. So it's looking abroad to Asia to bring in new ones. Japanese baseball prodigy Shohei Ohtani is crucial to that plan. 

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Janet Paskin discusses Ohtani?s meteoric rise, his $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his pivotal role in the league?s global ambitions.

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Cryptocurrencies have been on a tear. Over the past few weeks, Bitcoin has been hitting all-time highs. And many say this is just the beginning. 

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Stacy-Marie Ishmael joins us to discuss crypto?s latest record-setting run: is it going to the moon or are we on the brink of another bubble?

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The US has a plumber shortage. And as more and more baby boomer plumbers reach retirement, there aren?t enough young people coming in to fill the gap.

On today?s Big Take podcast, we talk to Bloomberg?s US Economy reporter Enda Curran about why there?s a shortage and what it means for America?s infrastructure and economy. Plus ? we hear from Chris Biondi, a plumber struggling to clear the way for future generations in the industry.

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is trying to navigate a tricky economy ? stubborn inflation and persistent fears of a recession. Now, two men hoping for a second term in the White House are drawing the central bank into the political fray.

?We can expect that things are going to get a little spicy,? Bloomberg?s Kate Davidson, who covers the Fed, joins the Big Take DC podcast to talk about the battle to maintain the central bank?s independence in the glare of 2024.

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On today?s Big Take podcast, we trace the origin of Loro Piana?s $9,000 vicuña sweaters to the Andes mountains. Bloomberg?s Marcelo Rochabrun joins host Sarah Holder to unspool what it all means for the Indigenous communities that harvest the wool.

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Today on the Big Take podcast, we visit the hedge fund with one of the world?s largest collections of catastrophe bonds, Fermat Capital Management, to see how they place their bets to get record returns. And we hear how the growing industry is helping fill a need in the global insurance market.

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Israeli and Hamas officials failed to come to a cease-fire agreement before the start of Ramadan this past weekend. That?s adding to the difficulty of getting aid into war-torn Gaza and the dire situation on the ground.

Today on The Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Fares Alghoul and Ethan Bronner report on what a cease-fire would mean and why reaching an agreement has been so challenging.

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When the 96th Academy Awards airs this Sunday, the year?s biggest films will face off to compete for the highest honor in the movie industry.

For a movie studio, winning an Oscar is a big deal ? and it?s become big business. Studios spend millions on marketing, screeners and advertising in the lead-up to the Academy?s votes for a race not unlike a political campaign. It wasn?t always this way. On today?s Big Take podcast, author Michael Schulman and Bloomberg entertainment industry reporter Chris Palmeri take us to the sweet, Shakespearean rom-com that started it all and map how it led to the overheated, multimillion dollar ad blitzes we see today.

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Donald Trump faces four criminal trials amounting to 91 felony counts, and three civil cases. None of this has fazed his base as he runs for election. ?If he was in jail, I sure would vote for him,? said Ralph Hunter, a South Carolina resident. He told the Big Take DC podcast that while he doesn?t like Trump ?as a person,? he was impressed with his presidency.

Trump?s electability is intact ? but his finances are another story. Today on the Big Take DC: How Trump?s legal woes are hitting his wallet and his re-election bid. 

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Microsoft?s Bing is the second most popular search engine in China, a market that Google exited years ago. Today, Bing remains as the only Western search engine accessible there. But success has meant having to make significant compromises on issues such as censorship.

On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg?s Ryan Gallagher gives us one of the first comprehensive, inside accounts of Bing?s sophisticated censorship system in China, and how it?s centered on an expanding blacklist of websites, words and phrases. 

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Fifteen states voted in the presidential primary contest on Super Tuesday, marking a decisive point in the election cycle. Former President Donald Trump?s campaign notched a clear victory as he marches down the path to clinching the Republican nomination. For President Joe Biden, between Super Tuesday and his State of the Union on Thursday, it?s officially the beginning of campaign season.

Is Trump?s grip on the GOP?s future solidified? Will Biden be able to rekindle Trump angst to compete with Trump nostalgia?

Host Saleha Mohsin and Bloomberg politics editor Mario Parker talk about the vulnerabilities each candidate faces, and what lies ahead in 2024.

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As climate risks grow, some private home insurance providers  are retreating from US regions most vulnerable to catastrophe. And homeowners who can?t get coverage through the private market are increasingly turning to insurance ?plans of last resort,? created by states.

The amount of liability taken on by these types of insurance plans is staggering, and growing: by some estimates, they?re holding more than $1 trillion of risk.

On today?s Big Take podcast, climate reporter Leslie Kaufman and California reporter Nadia Lopez share an investigation into how skyrocketing enrollment in state-created plans could create the conditions for a financial crisis. 

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The core personal consumption expenditures price index came in hot last week. After months of evidence that inflation was decelerating, the PCE ? the Fed?s preferred measure of inflation ? rose at its fastest pace in nearly a year. 

On today?s Big Take podcast, we sort through the numbers with Matthew Boesler, who covers the US economy for Bloomberg, to understand whether the latest PCE report is a one-off aberration, or if it signals a true resurgence of inflation.

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The Deal, hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, features intimate conversations with business titans, sports champions and game-changing entrepreneurs who reveal their investment philosophies, pivotal career moves and the ones that got away. From Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals, The Deal is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Bloomberg Carplay, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Television, and Bloomberg Originals on YouTube.

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A new wave of Chinese people are leaving China after the Covid-19 pandemic  and they?re headed to places that aren?t the typical destinations for Chinese immigrants in the past.

Bloomberg?s Lulu Chen tells us how China?s slowing economy, fears over new policies to redistribute wealth and Beijing?s handling of the pandemic created the perfect storm for this exodus. In today?s Big Take podcast, we look at the impact Chinese immigrants who move into these communities in far-flung places have, and what a rising outflow means for China?s future.

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On today?s Big Take podcast, an investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek reveals how Prince Albert II?s government regularly favored his nephews in business deals. Members of the royal family deny any wrongdoing, but Monaco finds itself in the midst of a political crisis.

Bloomberg reporters Gaspard Sebag and Anthony Cormier detail why two of the Prince?s nephews are now facing allegations of using state contracts to line their own pockets at a time when the country?s government is already under scrutiny for failing to curb financial crime.

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On today?s episode, the US military?s mysterious project to bring modern artificial intelligence to the battlefield ? told by the defense official behind it, whose job was so secretive he couldn?t even tell his wife about it. Bloomberg?s Katrina Manson takes host Saleha Mohsin behind the scenes for an unclassified look at Project Maven.

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Private credit funds are having a moment. Once under-the-radar lenders that did deals with riskier clients, the firms have gotten a lot more popular as interest rates have climbed. But private credit funds are also under a lot less oversight than traditional lenders, allowing little transparency into the way they value their loans. And all this new-found attention is starting to come with heightened scrutiny.  

On today?s Big Take podcast, reporter Silas Brown shares what we know ? and what we don?t ? about how the world of private credit operates, and what new regulatory interest could mean for the $1.7 trillion dollars of assets these funds are managing. 

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Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, US-led sanctions have incalculably changed its economy ? but haven?t ended the war. Treasury?s chief sanctions economist says US efforts are working.

But one analyst, who was at Russia?s central bank until he fled in 2022, says Russia?s economy is very much alive. In this episode of the Big Take DC, we find out about Russia?s ?brain drain,? how its economy went from shrinking to a projection that it will beat expectations in 2024, and whether it will ever regain its prestige as part of the global community.

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The US and other countries say a deeper connection has been forged over a new arms trade between Russia and North Korea. They accuse North Korea of providing Russia with ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition ? supplies Russia desperately needs to continue its war in Ukraine. 

Both North Korea and Russia deny that an arms trade is underway. But as Bloomberg?s Jon Herskovitz tells us, it?s clear that an isolated economy like North Korea could stand to gain a lot from this arrangement. Jon takes us inside the evidence that an arms deal is happening and tells us why this could be one of the most lucrative moves North Korea has ever made.

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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur just after midnight on March 8, 2014. Aviation officials lost contact with the flight less than an hour later. MH370 never made it to its destination, and the 239 people on board were never found. Ten years later, what happened to the plane is still aviation?s biggest mystery.

In the wake of the accident, regulators proposed a key safety change that could prevent a plane from disappearing again. But after a decade, most planes are still not outfitted with the proposed tracking tools. On today?s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Angus Whitley shares why the airline industry has been slow to learn from the lessons of MH370 ? and what that means for the odds of another disaster like it happening again.  

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For years, it seemed like Papua New Guinea was on a course to stamp out malaria. In 2010, the total number of suspected malaria cases in Papua New Guinea was 1.7 million. By 2015, the number had been cut nearly in half. Experts believed the country could see a malaria-free future as soon as 2030. But then, something changed?and cases started climbing again, as quickly as they had fallen. 

In today?s episode of the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg health care reporters Anna Edney and Michelle Fay Cortez unpack how a single business decision made by the world?s biggest manufacturer of bed nets reversed years of work to eradicate malaria in a country that?at least for a while?was on track to beat it. 

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Bill Ackman has had a big year. His constant posting and vocal condemnation of antisemitism on college campuses has won him over a million followers on X (and more than a few critics). Meanwhile, his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, has netted him $610 million in earnings. 

Where Ackman?s online strategy is loud, Bloomberg wealth reporter Tom Maloney says the hedge fund manager?s financial strategy is more hands-off. And it?s working.

On today?s Big Take podcast, Maloney reveals the paydays of last year?s top hedge fund managers, and why the same big players keep appearing on the list despite the economy's ups and downs.

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America?s use of sanctions has grown by almost 1,000% since 9/11. So why isn?t Congress giving the office in charge of them more resources?

Today on the Big Take DC podcast, host Saleha Mohsin talks to John Smith, a former director of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Bloomberg National Security editor Nick Wadhams about OFAC?s scrappy operation and why lawmakers aren?t giving it more to work with.

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The commercial real estate market has been upended by changing office habits and rising interest rates. For years, lenders and global investors did not have to confront these plunging building values. But with deals picking up again, the reality can no longer be ignored.

On today's Big Take podcast, Bloomberg real estate reporters Natalie Wong and Patrick Clark share how these losses may ripple across the global financial system.

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American voters are so disillusioned by their options in the presidential election that pollsters have come up with a term for it: ?Double-hater.? These are people who don?t like President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, who leads the race for the GOP nomination. And yet, when asked by the Big Take DC podcast if an outsider candidate could break through in 2024, Ralph Nader, who ran for president outside the two major parties four times, gave a simple, ?No.? Still, there are some indications that third-party candidates could cause trouble for the frontrunners. 

In this episode of Big Take DC, we examine the impact an outsider candidate could have on the general election and efforts from groups like No Labels to offer a viable alternative.

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The US power grid has long been under pressure. But now, aging infrastructure is facing more extreme weather, more electricity usage and more renewable energy coming online.

These strains on the grid mean dangerous power surges could potentially flow directly into people's homes. In today's episode, Bloomberg's Naureen Malik takes us inside the realities of electrification.

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For years, the true price of health care in the US has been the result of negotiations between providers, insurance companies and government agencies. But for the patients, companies and taxpayers who pick up the tab, it's often been a mystery. That's led to hospital pricing that?s all over the map.

In today?s episode of the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter John Tozzi explains how patients at almost half of US hospitals can find significantly less expensive competitors within 30 miles. And we hear from Jen Villa, a special education teacher from Salinas, California, who has felt the impact of those pricing disparities firsthand.

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China?s economy has been in rough shape, and the government is trying to address it. But there?s another threat on the horizon: the US election.

During their presidencies, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump backed policies that drove the US and China further apart. Now, they're both campaigning for re-election on continuing on that trajectory.

In this episode, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway from the Odd Lots podcast speak with Tom Orlik, chief economist at Bloomberg Economics, and Mackenzie Hawkins, US industrial policy reporter for Bloomberg News. They?ve measured what a Trump or Biden victory in 2024 could mean for China?s economy, and beyond. Subscribe to Odd Lots to get all of their episodes.

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This Sunday in Nevada, the Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

Both teams, like lots of others in the league, have been owned by the same family for decades. But with soaring valuations for NFL franchises, and owners getting older, the NFL's long standing family ownership model is facing new threats.

As the football league debates potential rule changes that would allow private equity investors to buy into teams, Bloomberg sports business reporter Randall Williams joins today?s Big Take podcast to answer our pressing question: Could this be the end of the last great American dynasty?

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The meltdown at FTX scared a lot of retail investors away from crypto. But many big banks have doubled down, and are pushing cryptocurrency more into the mainstream.

In today?s episode of the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior crypto reporter Olga Kharif explains how traditional financial institutions have gotten behind the technology underpinning crypto and what it means for the rest of the industry.

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In September 2022, a tanker called the Queen Majeda was stopped by authorities in Albanian waters, stuffed to the gills with $2 million worth of marine gas oil. The ship was coming from Libya?s port of Benghazi. And according to the Albanian authorities, the oil they were carrying was being smuggled out of the country illegally.

The Queen Majeda was just the tip of the iceberg of Libya?s $5 billion fuel-smuggling problem, Bloomberg?s senior global business reporter K. Oanh Ha discovered. She learned from the head of Libya's audit bureau that as much as 40% of the fuel imported to Libya under a subsidy program in 2022 was smuggled out. And by tracking shipping data, Ha found that a lot of the fuel exiting through illicit trade originally came from Russia. The fuel then made its way from Libya into European countries that have banned Russian fuel imports.

In today?s episode, Ha unravels the mystery of the Queen Majeda ? and reveals how Russian fuel flows through Libya to dodge European sanctions.

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The seemingly vast profit potential of artificial intelligence has helped buoy the stock prices of tech behemoths like Alphabet, Apple and the rest of the Magnificent Seven. But last week?s earnings showed that for many of these companies going all-in on AI, lofty investor expectations are hard to meet. As advanced as AI applications like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot may seem, it?s an open question as to whether tech companies can monetize them.

In today?s episode of The Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Businessweek technology reporter Max Chafkin explains the gap between investors' AI expectations and reality, and what it would take for these technologies to live up to their promise.

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When the US borrows money, just like any borrower, it needs to pay its loans back with interest.

The national debt right now is $34 trillion and rising. Soon, America will need to spend more each year paying interest on the debt than it spends on national defense.

Today on Bloomberg?s Big Take DC, host Saleha Mosin talks to Bloomberg reporter Liz McCormick and Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, on what it would take to rein in the US's government's debt spiral.

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Nayib Bukele has brought violent criminal gangs to a heel in El Salvador, transforming the country into one of the safest in Latin America. That?s made him extremely popular, even as human rights groups have condemned mass arrests and what they say are other abuses of civil liberties.

Marcelo Rochabrun, one of Bloomberg's bureau chiefs in Latin America, tells us how Bukele?s success in fighting crime has come at the expense of civil rights. And now, other leaders in the region are starting to follow suit.

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The UK is in the midst of a green energy transformation, with more than 40% of its electricity coming from wind power as of December. But wind can be unpredictable and the grid can?t always handle the power wind turbines generate on blustery days ? and so to protect the grid, operators sometimes pay wind farms to power off. 

After Bloomberg?s investigations team received a tip about troubling inaccuracies in the data used to calculate these payments, our reporters went looking for answers. And they found a big problem lurking in the UK?s renewable energy market: some wind farm operators were routinely overestimating their production forecasts, and traders and market experts say that, in effect, they?re getting paid to stop producing power that they wouldn?t have produced anyway. 

According to Gavin Finch and Todd Gillespie, the reporters who led this investigation, the price tag for consumers is in the millions of pounds. And with the UK aiming to triple the number of wind turbines in the country by the end of the decade, those costs could increase.

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Microsoft recently cut 1,900 jobs from its gaming division and among the layoffs were many at the recently acquired video game developer Activision Blizzard. Blizzard Entertainment?s President Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham are both departing. The tech giant also announced the cancellation of a Blizzard game, called ?Odyssey,? that was already six years in development. Today, Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings. Revenue is up.

Jason Schreier, the creator of Bloomberg?s Game On newsletter, joins the Big Take to give us the latest on Microsoft?s moves and makes some predictions about larger trends for the gaming industry to watch for in 2024.

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United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has been in the news almost nonstop for successfully negotiating a new contract for union members and, most recently, endorsing President Joe Biden for re-election.

But that endorsement is at odds with many rank-and-file union members who support Donald Trump. And Fain's next industry battle could be much harder.

In setting his sights on electric vehicle makers like Tesla and rallying his union members (many in swing states) around Biden, Fain is trying to propel the UAW back to its former industry might and political sway.

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