Big Take

The US is selling, lending and donating weapons to its allies all over the world, but its supply chain can't keep up.

Increased demand from America's allies, along with a three-decade trend of consolidation in the defense sector, has strained the stockpile of bullets, artillery shells and other weaponry that the country itself might need in the event of a war.

The Big Take podcast sits down with Retired Army Major General John Ferrari and Bloomberg News reporter Courtney McBride to understand how the country got here and what it would take to boost production now.

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Across the globe, the housing boom is ending. In the US, a freeze is approaching, creating a barrier to entry for new homebuyers. In countries like New Zealand, Canada, Germany and France, a shortage of homes is colliding with a slowdown of new construction due to higher borrowing rates. And in the UK, landlords are bracing for pain as floating rate mortgages reset and the cost of living hits the highest level in a generation.

Bloomberg’s Kara Wetzel and Ari Altstedter join this episode for a look at how the housing market is adjusting to higher interest rates, leaving homeowners trying to keep pace and buyers struggling to enter the market. 

Read more: Higher Interest Rates Are Shattering Housing Dreams Around the World

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We here at The Big Take wanted to introduce you to our colleagues and friends over at the Elon, Inc podcast from Businessweek, hosted by David Papadopoulos. Please enjoy this episode, and hop on over to subscribe to their feed if you like what you hear!
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This time we assess the aftermath of an especially gonzo week in the life of Elon Musk—one in which the billionaire CEO delivered the first production units of his company’s latest vehicle (the Cybertruck), weighed in on his preferred candidates for the 2024 election (neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden) and offered a message to the chief executive of one of America’s most beloved brands (“Go f— yourself”).

Such trash talk and worse has left Musk somewhat isolated, with advertisers like Disney still avoiding his social media platform over his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

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This episode includes some disturbing descriptions of sexual acts and assault. If you have kids around, you might want to use headphones. And please take care when listening.

Artificial intelligence and “generative AI” tools – think ChatGPT or Stable Diffusion – have become ingrained in our daily lives as a way to make aspects of work and life easier when used for its intended purpose. But many of them are open-source and widely available, giving users free rein to alter publicly available photos of people – including images taken from social media – to depict events that never happened in real life.

These images are called “deepfakes” and increasingly, they’re being altered in sexually explicit ways and posted online without consent. While the photos are fake, the harm inflicted is real. 

Bloomberg’s Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy join this episode to describe the fallout when deepfake creators use AI to alter images and videos. Despite the harm to victims, there is little legal recourse under US law.

Read more: No Laws Protect People From Deepfake Porn. These Victims Fought Back

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

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The world's attention has been on the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine. But US military planners and strategists are laser focused on China’s military capability and the possibility of a Taiwan invasion.

Bloomberg’s Peter Martin joins this episode to talk about what Pentagon officials are watching for and whether China’s warfighting capabilities can match its substantial buildup of military hardware.

Read more: Can China Fight? The Russia-Ukraine War Offers Warnings

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

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Nearly 80% of new homes built for sale in the US are in homeowners’ associations, or HOAs, or similar communities, which are governed by a board charged with keeping up shared spaces.

HOAs maintain an often strict code to create an idyllic landscape across a neighborhood intended to protect property values. And for that, they charge monthly dues ranging from hundreds to more than $1,000. On top of that, seemingly small violations can draw big fines. About 20 states allow HOAs to claim the property, even over the bank, if an owner is behind on fees or fines.

The Big Take podcast shares the story of a family that bought a new home in an idyllic HOA community, only to face foreclosure after falling behind on HOA fines and fees.

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Bloomberg’s Israel Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner and contributor Fadwa Hodali join host Rosalind Matheison for the latest on the truce between Israel and Hamas as negotiations continue over the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

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China's real estate market was once valued at more than $50 trillion. It made up a full quarter of the country's entire economy and made millions of people really rich. Now, it's in tatters, and upending hundreds of thousands of lives.

In this episode, Bloomberg's Lulu Chen and Janet Paskin zoom in on the story of Huailan - a 35-year-old mother of two in North East China - and how her life took a sharp turn when Country Garden, China's biggest developer, defaulted.  

Read more:
China Drafts List of 50 Property Firms Eligible for Funding
China’s Property Crisis Is Upending Tens of Thousands of Lives

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

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Bloomberg reporters Shawn Donnan and Claire Ballentine join this episode to discuss the results of a new Harris Poll for Bloomberg News, which found that the US Federal Reserve’s rapid increase in interest rates—aimed at fighting inflation—have more middle-class Americans worried about the economy than a year ago, even amid near-record employment. 

Read more: Middle-Class Americans Are Rattled by Fed’s Fight Against Inflation 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

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We’re taking a break today for the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s a favorite episode from August that you might have missed. We’ll be back on Monday with a new episode. Have a great weekend. And thanks for listening!

America’s first major offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean is now under construction 15 miles south of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts. Once complete, the 800-megawatt project is expected to generate enough electricity to power 400,000 homes. But with inflation and rising interest rates stifling progress on some other wind projects, will the Biden administration reach its 2030 goal of generating 30 gigawatts of power from offshore turbines?

Bloomberg’s Will Wade went out to see the Massachusetts project, and he joins this episode to explain the promise–and the problems–of erecting wind power on such a large scale. And Nick Schulz, a commercial diver working on the project, describes what it's like to build a massive turbine installation in deep water.

Read more: Atlantic’s Biggest Offshore Wind Turbine to Rise Next Week in US

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.