Stephanomics

Too often the study of economics and exchange rates can seem very arcane. What does it mean in real life? For one meat smuggler, the end of 15 years of car trips to and from France with a trunk full of pork, beef and lamb. The Swiss franc's surge and the euro's swoon has encouraged more and more people to turn their hand to smuggling. There could be more to come. Catherine Bosley, a Bloomberg economics reporter in Zurich explains why to Dan and guest host Joe Weisenthal. And then there is the case of the $30,000 cash found in a sunglasses case.

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Everyone knows inflation is out of control in Venezuela. But the government long ago stopped publishing figures on a regular basis, leaving economists to dial up what are essentially wild guesses. Enter the Bloomberg Cafe Con Leche Inflation Index. It tracks just one item: A piping hot coffee at a bakery in eastern Caracas. Yet it provides a unique look at inflation in one of the world's most dysfunctional economies. David Papadopoulos, a Bloomberg managing editor in New York, and Fabiola Zerpa, a Bloomberg correspondent in Caracas, join Scott to talk about the gauge, and just how bad things really are in the nation.

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Brexit. A Trump win. 2016 was full of unexpected surprises that rocked the global economy in ways that even most experienced market observers couldn't have predicted. But what does 2017 have in store? Benchmark hosts Dan Moss and Kate Smith speak with Bloomberg's John Fraher, creator of "The Pessimist Guide," to see what's in store in a worst-case scenario of the year to come.

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Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with China on trade and currency, already tensing up relations with the world's second-largest economy. But it could be worse: President Woodrow Wilson signed a treaty that gave Japan control of part of China, and that didn't go over too well. John Pomfret joins us to take the long view of relations between the U.S. and China. The longtime China correspondent for the Washington Post and author of the new book "The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom" joins Dan and Scott to discuss what the incoming U.S. president can learn from two centuries of contact, and how, as he puts it, stable ties with the U.S. can "make China great again."

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America's central bank finally got around to raising interest rates for the first time in a year and signaled borrowing costs will keep rising from their currently low levels. Should you rush out to buy that house? Will savers get more bang for their bucks? Are more people going to drown in credit-card debt? Join Dan, Scott and special guest Steve Matthews, a longtime Bloomberg Fed reporter, as we discuss just why, exactly, you should care.

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From a fatal highway bridge collapse in Minneapolis to LaGuardia Airport's "third-world" experience, America's failing infrastructure is no secret. To bring the country up to date, advisers to President-elect Donald Trump have floated the idea of a federal infrastructure bank, allowing cities and states to borrow at exceptionally low interest rates and encouraging private investment. Will it work? We check in on America's neighbor to the north, where Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada's parliamentary secretary to the finance minister, joins Kate and Scott to explain that nation's newly announced Infrastructure Bank and what the U.S. might be able to learn.

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President-elect Donald Trump is on the verge of igniting a trade war with China. He might want to first listen to Jon Huntsman's thoughts on why that's a bad idea. The former ambassador to China, Utah governor and onetime GOP presidential candidate shares his insights into the Middle Kingdom at a time when the nation is undergoing its own economic transformation and faces a political crossroads. You won't want to miss the hints he gives Scott Lanman and Daniel Moss at his own political future in the U.S.

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First came Brexit. Then Trump. Now the world's attention turns once again across the Atlantic to France, where a presidential election is coming up and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could be the next politician to upend the establishment. The nation is reeling from terror attacks, the economy is in lousy shape, and President Francois Hollande's popularity is dismal. Nicolas Veron, a scholar at think tanks Bruegel and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, joins Scott and Kate to gauge the odds -- and potential impact of -- this next political earthquake.

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Millions of Americans could help solve a looming labor shortage for certain U.S. industries. Problem is, they're felons. Are ex-cons who can't get jobs holding back economic growth? Join us on Benchmark this week to hear from Keri Blakinger, who served time in state prison for heroin possession before getting out, finishing college (at Cornell) and managing to get a job in, of all things, journalism. What's it like to go to an office cubicle from a prison cell?

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In the wake of Donald Trump's surprise presidential victory, the Benchmark team has a few questions: Is trade with Mexico destined to end? Is our relationship with China about to drastically shift? Is the U.S. about to experience a Reagan-esque stimulus? Take a trip around the world as Kate, Dan and Scott discuss what the president-elect means for the global economy as we know it.

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