It all comes down to the (hush) money

Make Me Smart March 30, 2023 Transcript

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Kimberly Adams 

Hello, everyone. I’m Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to make me smart where we make today make sense.

Amy Scott 

And I’m Amy Scott in for Kai Ryssdal. Thanks for joining us on this Thursday, March 30. So today, we’re going to unpack some of the news of the day and get smiley by the end. So Kimberly you want to get started?

Kimberly Adams 

I mean, there’s a whole section of the internet, that’s already smiley, if you were to peruse your social media site of your pleasure. And that is because there was news, just a little bit ago when we are recording this, that reportedly, according to sources familiar and sources close to the trial, that Donald Trump has indeed been indicted for payments… for crimes related to payments of Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. This idea that he or his associates paid her to keep silent, which would have been election interference. And yeah, it’s one of several criminal probes. I should say that this indictment has not been unsealed yet. This is sources and, you know, there’s always stuff that could change. But it’s a huge deal. First president to ever be formally indicted. And there’s already a lot of angry people on social media. I’m seeing reports about conversations on Telegram and Truth Social of Trump supporters, saying that they are going to fight back and potentially organizing some pretty hostile reactions to this.

Amy Scott 

Yeah, I was in New York last week when they were expecting this to come down. And you know, I was at the United Nations. And my mom was was like, please stay away from any protests. It didn’t happen but who knows what’s going to happen the next couple days. As you said, we don’t really know the details yet. We don’t know what the charges are but it is related to to these, this hush money payments for which Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney has already done some prison time. So interesting to watch. We’ll probably have a little more to say tomorrow when there’s more detail.

Kimberly Adams 

You know, if there is more detail, I mean, you have a link to a really useful article from The Washington Post that sort of walks through step by step, what happens after a grand jury investigation, which is the stage that we’re at right now. The grand jury and does investigation, either lead to an indictment or not. If there is indeed an indictment, then there’s the option of Trump voluntarily surrendering or potentially getting arrested. But we’re probably a little bit of ways from that. And we may not even see the unsealed, you know, charges for another step or two, although given the public interest around this case I wouldn’t be surprised if you know, once Trump’s lawyers get a hold of them, they make them public. If you know, this is indeed happening. But certainly not what Republicans would love for the public to be paying attention to at this point. And also given the hold that Trump has on the GOP base as they are trying to sort of distance themselves from some of the more extreme elements of the party this is not great time timing for the GOP, of course. But on the other hand, this is you know, it’s been so interesting, given all of the other, you know, things that Trump has been accused of doing that we know that he did, the thing that has gotten him into the most legal jeopardy, as seems to always be the case with scandals is the money. You know? We were talking about this on Slack. You know, you can have whatever scandal you want. But when it comes to the money and the IRS and campaign finance laws, that’s where you can really get in trouble.

Amy Scott 

Yeah, and it’s often because that’s the easiest thing to prove, right? It’s a little bit harder to prove, you know, incitement of an insurrection perhaps than, you know, something with a paper trail.

Kimberly Adams 

Well, and it’s easier to peg that to a specific crime, you know, as opposed to yeah… all the other things. I’m sure people will hear about this ad nauseam.

Amy Scott 

But you’re right. Money talks.

Kimberly Adams 

Money talks, money also gets you in jail. All right, but we had a whole other plan for the show. And other stories I wanted to talk about before this came down this afternoon. So Amy, why don’t you go with yours first?

Amy Scott 

Yeah, well, I’ll try to keep it short. But one thing I wanted to point out was the Wall Street Journal reported today that the US government is considering adding a question to the Census and other federal forms, asking Black Americans whether their ancestors were enslaved. And supporters of this change, say one reason to do this would be to determine eligibility for potential reparations for slavery, you know, something that has been gaining traction in the last few years, especially in some cities including Evanston, Illinois, and recently San Francisco that is debating significant reparations. And the the proponents of the change also argued that the experience of descendants of enslaved Africans in America is different than, say, people whose families came here more recently as immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. But right now the question lumps them all together. And research, you know, by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and others has shown that Black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved don’t fare as well in this economy in terms of wealth and education as more recent arrivals. This is just one of several changes the Biden administration is considering on the race category of the Census. It’s also looking at adding a new category for Americans of Middle Eastern or North African heritage. No longer having Hispanic or Latino as a separate question, but one of several choices under the larger race category. And the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which is overseeing this overhaul is soliciting public comment. So I thought that was pretty interesting. You know how I love a good public comment. Regulations.gov yo! Go on there.  So interesting to weed through. Yeah.

Kimberly Adams 

Actually, Kai was making fun of me for this last week. I actually find it very fascinating to read through the public comments on regulations.gov.

Amy Scott 

Totally!

Kimberly Adams 

Because, you know, these are people often who feel the most passionately about things and some of those stories that you’ll get… I remember I was looking at regulations around sort of making it easier for smaller meatpacking facilities to operate in the pandemic as a result of inflation. They were trying to bring down meat prices, by allowing smaller meat producers and packers to operate a little bit easier. And there were all these stories from like these small family butchers that had been struggling to keep their businesses open for generation, you know, they’ve had these businesses for generations, and are really struggling to keep these small, you know, community butchers open. And they’re like this would really help us out. Never would have known about it otherwise. So regulations.gov for the win. Okay

Amy Scott 

Okay what do you have?

Kimberly Adams 

Yes, my story is about eggs, which is interesting, because I actually don’t like eggs. And it’s a thing.

Amy Scott 

It is good timing though. Easter and all.

Kimberly Adams 

You know what? Yes, it is, indeed. Although I should say that the decorating of eggs around springtime actually predates Christianity. When I was living in Egypt, they have this holiday called Sham El-Nessim and they decorate eggs then and they they trace it back actually to Pharaonic times of there being records of eggs being decorated. And I’m gonna have to look up an article about this. But anyway, that was not what I wanted to talk about with eggs.

Amy Scott 

Sorry. Didn’t mean to hijack just eggs are on the mind around this time.

Kimberly Adams 

That’s okay! Yes. The largest US producer of a eggs saw its revenue double in the last quarter, and its profits went up by 718%.

Amy Scott 

Holy cow.

Kimberly Adams 

718%!! This, everybody who looks at this was expecting a jump in revenue and profit. But that is just astonishing and comes at a time when food inflation is very high. People are really struggling. And egg prices have been one of these measures that people are like, “Oh my gosh, how are these becoming so expensive.” And they’re getting a lot of heat right now saying that they’re basically price gouging. Now, one of the reasons that’s been cited for the increase in egg prices has been, you know, outbreaks of avian flu at various places. However, this company says that they did not have any outbreaks of avian flu, and they control 20% of the US egg market. So I’m reading directly from their press release “outbreaks and commercial poultry flocks in the US have most recently occurred during March 2023. There have been no positive tests for HPAI,” which is a disease “at any of Cal Maine foods owned or contracted production facility as of March 28 2023. The company is working closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage a response.” So the thing that supposedly drove up the prices and eggs did not actually affect this company. But as they also say in their press release, is they tend to price their eggs based on what the market rate for the eggs is. So these other companies, having a shortage drives up the price. And that’s what they used to set the price because they still had eggs. And, you know, this is how capitalism works. You price things based on supply and demand according to what the market will bear. And, sorry, hit the mic. And people still want to eat eggs. And there are things that have to have eggs. And so the market bore the additional price, and they were able to reap an exceptional profits. I have to imagine we’re going to hear Elizabeth Warren and her fellows in Congress who have been complaining about corporate price gouging in this moment. Which I’m not saying it is. I’m saying this is how capitalism works. But, you know, this comes at a time when people are really struggling with food inflation, and I just… it’s not often that you hear 718% profit. I’m just saying.

Amy Scott 

Yeah, absolutely. And eggs, you know, historically have been a source of fairly cheap protein for a lot of families. And yeah, it does… I mean, a lot of the questions about inflation, what’s driving it? You know, this is an example I think of how companies could charge less. But why would they?

Kimberly Adams 

Well, and this gets to the interview that you were doing yesterday about sort of who gets blamed for inflation right?

Amy Scott 

Hmm, exactly. Yeah, if you missed this interview is about how the very poor benefit from tight labor markets because that’s when people who may otherwise be on the fringes of the market become more attractive to employers who are really looking for workers. And, and the idea that higher wages is driving up inflation is a very popular theory. But the the authors pointed out that there’s a lot of other things.

Kimberly Adams 

And then you have stuff like this.

Amy Scott 

Yes, exactly.

Kimberly Adams 

Okay, well, with that optimistic take, it’s probably about time for some smiles.

Amy Scott 

Yay smiles.

Kimberly Adams 

I have to admit, Amy, when I saw the headline, like I saw the story that you have go past. Ha, go past. LOL. But I…

Amy Scott 

Race past.

Kimberly Adams 

I didn’t… I yeah, I thought I must have misread it, but I guess not.

Amy Scott 

I know it’s so funny. And I have to give a shout out to Livi Burdette for finding this one today. She’s one of our PM producers. So Lamborghini just announced its first plug in hybrid supercar, the Lamborghini Revuelto. Which according to Engadget translates to scrambled. I mean, I guess that’s my understanding of the Spanish word revuelto. But anyway,

Kimberly Adams 

I don’t know. I just thought it was a cool sounding word.

Amy Scott 

Well, it does sound cool. But Lamborghini aren’t they Italian? I don’t know. Anyway revuelto then. So this is what made me smile. Because it’s a hybrid but the battery part only lasts 6.2 miles. So if you actually gonna go anywhere…

Kimberly Adams 

On a full charge.

Amy Scott 

Yeah on a full charge 6.2 miles, which will get you maybe, you know, to the gas station to fill up the gas part of the car. Though, the story points out that that battery actually charges very quickly, with the combustion engine in just six minutes via regenerative braking on the front wheels. So you know, that’s why you have a hybrid at this point, that battery is not going to get you very far, but I thought that was pretty amusing. It’s kind of like what’s the point then?

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, it’s not like you’re worried about fuel economy on your Lamborghini.

Amy Scott 

Yeah. I once interviewed, total aside, a Lamborghini dealer in Greenwich, Connecticut. And I was driving my husband’s like ancient Toyota Corolla. And I’m so ashamed of myself, but I parked down the street so I didn’t have to walk into this Lamborghini dealer with like with my rusted out car. And then it turned out the guy, totally nice guy who used to be a Toyota dealer. So it would have been no problem at all. But that’s my experience with the Lamborghini.

Kimberly Adams 

Maybe he would have gotten you a deal on a new paint job or something.

Amy Scott 

We could have used it.

Kimberly Adams 

I know you would never do that. It would be against our ethics policy I know. So my story comes from Huffington Post, well, via the AP. It’s an AP story. It’s on Huffington Post, because the site I saw it on. There’s a man in Japan, who is Seiichi Sano, I believe is how they say his name. And he is 89 years old, and surfing. And he took up surfing relatively recently and was saying how he plans to keep surfing until he’s 100. And he has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest male to surf. Next up, he’s saying he might try out bouldering. But he’s not going to do bungee jumping, which full, full agree. That seems not useful. But I may still end up doing it at some point, because why not? Anyway, I thought it was just really cool, because I like to try out new skills. And sometimes I get discouraged because I’m not very good at them even when I tried to do something new. And it’s nice to see people who are older, starting new things and sticking with it and trying them out and getting good at them. Or even just being average and enjoying it. And just embracing the fact that you’ll have to do something and be like the best at it. Sometimes just the doing of the thing is enough. I like that. It made me smile.

Amy Scott 

That’s beautiful. I love that. I’m very impressed with this man. It’s so cool. Did you say 89?

Kimberly Adams 

He’s 89. He’s gonna turn 90 this year, well, obviously this year, but he’s turning 90 soon. He says, you know, “I can only say that I just enjoy myself and do what I want without stressing out. So if you try to be too good at it, or think that you have to do it this way or that way, I think you lose the fun. I enjoy being swept up in the wave. I’m not a good surfer so I call myself a small wave surfer out of respect for those who do surf well.” And it’s like yeah! On your lane. Just do it for fun. You don’t have to be… I think we get so caught up in the, if you’re gonna do something you have to like, be amazing at it. But I picked up ice skating a little bit this year, this winter. And I didn’t get good at it but I stopped falling down. And that was enough for me. And it made me really happy.

Amy Scott 

I’ve never stopped falling down. I’m impressed.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m sure I’ll fall down again. But you know, I’m able to make it around a couple times. The bruises eventually wore off. Anyway.

Amy Scott 

So that’s good. Try new things.

Kimberly Adams 

Try new things. All right. I’m super excited because we are going to be back tomorrow not only for economics on tap, but for our annual cherry blossom edition of economics on tap. We’re gonna get started at 6:30 Eastern, 3:30 Pacific. There’s going to be cherry blossom inspired drinks. Amy, I know you’ve been doing your research so I’m excited to see what you come with. And we’re gonna have some news and we’re going to play around of half full half empty. So please do bring your A plus cherry blossom cocktail or mocktail game, and we’ll look forward to seeing you hopefully on the YouTube livestream. Or if not just when you listen to the podcast later.

Amy Scott 

Can’t wait. And until then don’t forget to send us your questions and comments. We’d love to get them. You can reach us at 508-U-B-SMART and at makemesmart@marketplace.org

Kimberly Adams 

Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Today’s episode was engineered by Charlton Thorp. Our intern is Antonio Barreras.

Amy Scott 

Ellen Rolfes writes our newsletter. Marissa Cabrera is our acting senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcasts. And Francesca Levy is the executive director of Digital.  Cherry blossoms!