Big Take

From margarine to chocolate treats, some brands are swapping in cheaper ingredients to save money on their most beloved products. It’s a trend known as “skimpflation.” But what happens when consumers start to notice?
On today’s Big Take podcast, Stacey Vanek Smith hears from Brad Reese, grandson of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup creator, about his crusade against the practice, the multi-million-dollar cottage industry that’s formed around it and the economic conditions that got us here in the first place.
Read more: How Brands Sneak In Cheaper Ingredients to Protect Their Profit Margins
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When new neighbors move into Gainesboro, Tennessee, a small town at the foothills of Appalachia, locals are confused. Who are these self-proclaimed pioneers? And what do they want with their little town?

Locals soon discover the new arrivals are connected to something much larger: A network of far-right Christians who have ties to Washington and are backed by venture capital.

This is a story about a battle over identity fought on small town soil with small town spunk. Where acreage, heritage, and what it means to be an American are all up for grabs.
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With the US midterms fast approaching, voters and the media are increasingly looking to a new forecasting tool: prediction markets.
The leading platforms, Kalshi and Polymarket, have been touted as a truth serum for political forecasting — arenas for mass betting that reveal what people really think when they’ve got money on the line. But a new Bloomberg investigation has found evidence that these markets are vulnerable to manipulation.
On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg investigative reporter Liam Vaughan dig into what can happen when prediction markets mix with politics — and how cheap and easy it can be to sway them.
Read more: How a Few Hundred Dollars Could Manipulate Election Prediction Markets
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Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Victor Swezey and David Fox; Reported by Liam Vaughan; Edited by Tracey Samuelson.
Fact-checking by Julia Press; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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Weeks of student-led protests forced the resignation of India’s education minister, in a rare public setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, guest host Rebecca Choong Wilkins and Bloomberg reporter Atul Dev discuss how India’s cockroach movement grew from a satirical online joke into a powerful anti-Modi protest and why its economic grievances resonate so deeply among young Indians at this moment.
Read more: Awakened Indian Students Hand Modi One of His Biggest Setbacks
India Youth Protests End as Modi Bows to Group’s Demands
Hosted by Rebecca Choong Wilkins; Produced by Naomi Ng; Reported by Atul Dev; Edited by Jeffrey Grocott, Paddy Hirsch and Julia Weaver.
Fact-checking by Rachael Lewis-Krisky and Julia Press; Engineering by Taka Yasuzawa, Alex Sugiura, Emma Munger
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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As President Trump paused strikes on Iran over the weekend, he ratcheted up pressure on another front: his renewed trade war.
On Friday, the US president imposed levies of 10 or 12.5% on 60 economies, the first in many steps to rebuild the tariff wall destroyed when the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s IEEPA tariffs in February.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s global trade editor Brendan Murray sits down with host David Gura to break down the latest tariffs, what they reveal about the administration’s new strategy and whether they’ll hold up in court.
Read more:
Trump Rebuilds Tariffs With New Levies on 60 Economies
How Trump’s Section 301 Tariffs Are Being Challenged in Court
Watch more:
US Trade Rep. Greer on China Relations and Section 301 Tariffs
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Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Julia Press and Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Reported by Brendan Murray; Edited by Nicole Beemsterboer. Fact-checking by Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Engineering by Emma Munger.
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