Another week, another strike. This time thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers have initiated the largest healthcare strike in the country. And while different sectors of the economy have been walking off the job this summer, the demands all seemingly sound the same. We’ll also hear one CEO’s take on how AI can add more leisure time to all of our lives. And Beyonce at the box office!

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Business in the U.S. House of Representatives has come to a standstill after Kevin McCarthy was removed as speaker Tuesday. Fallout has been messy, to say the least. We’ll get into what this historic moment could mean for the health of our democracy. Plus, some jobs are more at risk of being automated by AI than others. And NASA astronauts on the Artemis III mission will head to the moon in style, with a little help from Prada.

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Hey smarties! We recorded today’s episode before historic news broke that the House of representatives voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker. We’re monitoring the story as it develops and as the House figures out what comes next.

IIt’s Day 1 of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial. Last year, The founder of FTX was charged with counts of fraud and conspiracy after his crypto exchange went under and investigators found that $8 billion in customer funds had gone missing.

Before his fall from grace, SBF had become one of the most powerful players in the industry. This has us wondering: Is crypto on trial along with Sam Bankman-Fried?

On the show today, Bloomberg’s Zeke Faux, author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall,” explains how the trial could play out, where crypto is today and whether it has a viable future, post-SBF.

Then, we’ll hear how companies can be held accountable for the junk they leave floating in space. And automatic enrollment in retirement savings plans has given millennials a boost in an economy where they haven’t generally had a leg up.

Later, we’ll hear from one listener on the overlap between colleges and trade schools. And another listener explains why he was wrong about music.

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We’re not in a government shutdown. Instead, we’re talking about consumers spending like it’s still hot girl summer. Concerts, travel and shopping sprees seem to remain a priority for many in this economy. We’ll discuss how this might be a sign of shifting attitudes around debt. Plus, there’s a market for everything — even candles for Washington, D.C., wonks!

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It’s going to be a tense weekend on Capitol Hill. Congress not only has the government shutdown deadline to deal with, it also has deadlines that affect the Federal Aviation Administration and the farm bill. We’ll explain what’s going on. Plus, the hosts weigh in on the Taylor Swift effect and “The Golden Bachelor” in a fresh round of our favorite game: Half Full / Half Empty!

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We’re in the final days before a potential government shutdown, and negotiations aren’t going well. At issue is the federal government’s $6 trillion budget. But with most of that money already spoken for, only a small sliver of spending is actually up for debate. We’ll explain. And have you heard of the paper ceiling? Plus, Kai and a famous Hollywood star share their dislike for pumpkin spice!

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Elon Musk’s business relationship with the Pentagon is going strong. SpaceX just scored its first defense contract from the U.S. Space Force, giving Musk more control over on-off switches (see: Ukraine). We’ll get into the potential consequences of having a single private citizen like Musk so entangled in geopolitics. Plus, welcome home, astronaut Frank Rubio, and bye-bye panda cams?

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We’re on the brink of yet another government shutdown. If Congress fails to pass legislation to keep the federal government fully up and running past Oct. 1, it would be the country’s fourth shutdown in the last decade.

This has us wondering: Why does passing the federal budget often get so messy?

On the show today, Molly Reynolds, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explains how the federal budget process is supposed to work, why it often breaks down and why other countries don’t seem to have the same problem. Plus, how we can make the process smoother, given the Congress we’ve got.

Then, we’ll get into why the FTC is suing Amazon and how it might shape what “monopoly” means in this day and age. Plus, is President Joe Biden’s footwear really worth a headline?

Later, how one listener is thinking about the kind of change our democracy needs. And, a Jekyll and Hyde-style mix-up involving a popular California university.

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Some big Republican donors are in a bind. They’ve been hoping for an alternative presidential nominee to Donald Trump to write their checks to, but now they seem to be giving up on that idea and are keeping their money on the sidelines. We’ll discuss what that means for spending in the 2024 election. Plus, what’s happened to Greece since its debt crisis? And what Kimberly discovered about cocktails and ChatGPT when she walked into a bar.

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Across the political spectrum, corruption seems to be the big news of the day. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted today for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Meanwhile, ProPublica reported that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly attended Koch Network donor events that could be in violation of federal law. (And, let’s not forget the former president’s indictments.) We’ll discuss the role of the press and the Department of Justice in trying these cases. Then, we’ll play Half-Full/Half-Empty and debate whether shorts on the Senate floor should be the new norm.

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