Several major wildfires are raging in and around Los Angeles today. In this episode, we explain why the cost of fighting these blazes has ballooned. We’ll also hear about what makes urban wildfires particularly dangerous and destructive. Plus: More Americans work multiple jobs, an uptick in return-to-office orders signals shifting employer-worker relations and long-term bond yields rise as the future grows murkier.

Dockworkers are back to the negotiation table with employers, and automation is a big sticking point. Mechanizing port operations can make them more efficient, but the Longshoremen’s union is concerned that efficiency comes at the price of jobs. The deadline to avoid a possible strike is next week. Also in this episode: probing the mysteries of Spotify’s powerful algorithm, snowplowers take a hit from climate change, and the trade deficit isn’t as bad as it looks.

President-elect Donald Trump spent much of his campaign promising to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, and the value of the dollar has fluctuated in response to his trade agenda. We’ll explain the connection — and why lower import tariffs bring down the dollar’s value against other currencies. Also in this episode: Small businesses take advantage of their leases, home equity could fuel a massive wealth transfer and the GOP presses for changes to how the government calculates the cost of legislation.

President Biden blocked a nearly $15 billion deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel, citing national security concerns. Both firms say they’ll go to court to keep the deal alive, but can they prove the acquisition won’t put the U.S. in a vulnerable spot? Also in this episode: Small businesses win an anti-gentrification victory in a Los Angeles neighborhood, new car sales are up despite high prices and Orlando, Florida, gets a romance-only bookstore.

A new congressional session begins on Friday and, like so many before them, the fresh cohort of lawmakers will have to come to a consensus on what to do about the national debt ceiling. Will they raise it, lower it or get rid of it entirely? We explain. Plus, job seekers use social media to market themselves, a few areas shine in an otherwise so-so construction spending report, and longshoremen stand firm against port automation.

Natural gas prices are creeping up — the commodity leaped recently in futures trading.  That means your January heating bill may be higher than anticipated. In this episode, what makes natural gas prices heat up and why we can’t just pump more in. Plus, Boeing’s New Year’s resolutions for a stronger 2025 and how women might benefit from the “great wealth transfer.”

We called up some economists to get their take on one word to describe this year’s economy. Mostly, experts said things fell somewhere in the middle of excellent and disastrous, but some had cheerier outlooks than others. Also in this episode, we ring in the new year with a 2025 housing market lookahead and a breakdown of the first congestion pricing program in the U.S., coming to New York City Jan. 5.

Pending home sales grew for a fourth-straight month in November and housing supply just hit a four-year high. But that’s partly because many listings are “stale inventory,” sitting on the market for at least 60 days. Also in this episode: An old material used in a new way for climate-friendly high rises, social media budgeters breathe new life into the cash-in-envelopes strategy, and seniors on Medicare will pay less out of pocket for prescriptions starting Jan. 1.

When workers get more productive, higher wages might follow. So what about jobs that just can’t get more productive? In this episode, we explain why those workers’ wages may rise anyway — a concept called the Baumol effect — with help from an economist who’s also an amateur bassoonist. Plus, the trade deficit is no sweat, a Georgia program trains refugees for tech jobs and we check in with an urban tour guide in Kansas City.

General Electric broke its business into three separate public companies this year, putting a higher profile on corporate spinoff strategies. We’ll explain why spinoffs are hot right now. Hint: It has a lot to do with rewarding investors and managing debt burdens. Also in this episode: Congress may struggle to pass tax reforms despite a GOP majority next year, AI agents might be tech’s next big thing and why the Fed tracks the U.S. money supply.