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The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.


Big Take

How do you tell the history of a whole country through its women? And what can it tell us about the world today? These are the questions Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe has set out to answer in her new book, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.
Having reported from, and on, Russia for publications including The New Yorker and Foreign Policy for more than a decade, Ioffe says she has repeatedly been asked to explain the actions and motivations of one man: Vladimir Putin.
Motherland is, she says, partly a response to Putin, through her desire to show that Russia is much more than one person, let alone one man.In this conversation Ioffe talks to Mishal about reclaiming Russia’s women, about Donald Trump’s hollowing out of American institutions and why Putinism will endure. (Note: This podcast contains a discussion of sexual violence that some listeners may find distressing.)

02:30 - “I was born in a country that no longer exists”
03:55 - The anti-feminist at Lenin’s side during the Revolution
06:55 - Reluctancy to write about Russian women
12:55 - What a “horrible boyfriend” Vladimir Putin was
16:50 - Return to Russia, oligarch hunters and ‘trad wives’
22:13 - Alexei Navalny, “the last shred of hope”
29:20 - Can Russia sustain the war in Ukraine?
32:32 - Trump’s assault on US institutions, faster than Putin
34:30 - American authoritarianism, risk of “one party state”

Watch this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weekend Listen: Julia Ioffe Wants You to Know Russia Is Bigger Than Putin

The United States has struck more than a dozen boats off the coast of Venezuela over the last two months, killing more than 60 people.

The Trump administration says it’s targeting narco-traffickers. But critics at home and abroad have decried the attacks and challenged their legal basis. Meanwhile, President Trump has overseen a buildup of force in the region.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg National Security Reporter Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg Economics Defense Lead Becca Wasser and host David Gura take stock of the concentration of American military force in the Caribbean. They break down why President Trump is taking aim at Venezuela right now — and discuss what could happen next. 

Read more: Nobel Peace Prize Winner: US Escalation Is ‘Only Way’ to Free Venezuela

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s Trump’s Venezuela Endgame?

The ongoing US government shutdown has broken historic records — and its economic consequences could prove even longer-lasting.
 
Today on the Big Take, host Sarah Holder is joined by Bloomberg’s Gregory Korte and Megan Scully, who cover the White House and Congress, to talk about the shutdown’s impacts across sectors — and what it could take to break the logjam.
 
Read more: The US Government Shutdown Is the Longest Ever. Why Does This Keep Happening?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the Longest Government Shutdown Is Impacting the Economy

Zohran Mamdani clinched New York City’s mayoral race by campaigning against wealth inequality and promoting affordability. Now, he faces the challenge of delivering on the promises that got him elected while coming to the table with the city’s wealthiest residents, who have an outsized influence on the city’s politics, economy and revenue.
 
On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder is joined by Bloomberg reporters Emily Flitter and Fola Akinnibi and speaks with Kathryn Wylde, the CEO of the Partnership for New York City, which represents the interests of the city’s business community. They discuss what Mamdani’s victory means for Wall Street and how he plans to win over the 1 percent.
 
Read more:
 
 Wall Street Drops Fear of ‘Hot Commie Summer’ in Overture to Mamdani Allow Zohran Mamdani to Reintroduce Himself New York’s Golden Handcuffs: Why the City Has a Special Hold on the Rich 
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Mamdani Won on Affordability. Can He Win Over NYC’s 1 Percent?

Asian nations are walking a tightrope between Washington and Beijing – juggling trade, tech and security pressures as the heavyweights vie for influence.
 
On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Adam Farrar, Bloomberg’s senior geoeconomics analyst for Asia Pacific, to unpack what may have been overlooked at the APEC summit as the Xi-Trump show came to town.
 
Read more: Xi Calls for Stable Supply Chains After Sealing Trump Truce 
 
Further listening: Trump Got an ‘Amazing’ Meeting. China Got Much-Needed Time 
 
Listen and follow The Big Take Asia on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How APEC Become a Battleground for US-China Influence

The last time the United States saw layoff numbers this high was during the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg US Economy reporter Julia Fanzeres and host David Gura tackle the layoff wave of 2025: what it reveals about the state of the US economy — and what it means for the workers swept up in it.
 
Read more: Wave of US Layoffs Flash Early Warning Sign for Job Market

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It’s Not Just You. There Are a Lot of Layoffs Happening

Three weeks after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado finds herself supporting US intervention in her native country. Mishal speaks to Maria Corina on recent US boat strikes, Nicolas Maduro’s fate and the need for strength to secure peace.
 
03:24 - "I had to go into hiding"
03:51 - Impact of the Nobel Peace Prize
05:38 - US Military build up
10:21 - Prospect of US ground strikes
13:10 - Is Machado speaking to the Trump Administration?
16:00 - Prospect of regime change
18:50 - Venezuela after Maduro
23:04 - Machado's economic vision
26:04 - What is the Venezuelan opposition planning next?
28:23 - "We are ready to take our government"
34:22 - Why Machado thinks this time is different
 
Watch this podcast https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS
 
You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview
 
Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net
 
 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weekend Listen: Nobel Laureate Believes US Pressure on Maduro Is the Only Way

The WNBA is bigger than ever. From soaring ticket sales and to record TV viewership, the W is one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in the world. But since last year, the WNBA and its players’ union have been in tense negotiations over the cut that players get from that success. A deadline to reach a deal has been extended another 30 days, but the sticking points remain.
 
On today’s Big Take Podcast, Bloomberg reporter Jennah Haque, Good Game host Sarah Spain and Seattle Storm Guard Lexie Brown break down the state of play, from proposals on the table for revenue sharing to questions about the league’s financial picture.
 
Read more:
 
 As Billions of Dollars Pour Into Women’s Sports, Players Seek a Bigger Cut 
Further listening:
 
 Good Game with Sarah Spain Full Circle with Lexie Brown & Mariah Rose—Power to the Players 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WNBA Players Want More of the League’s Revenue. Can They Get It?

On Thursday, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China announced a one-year truce in their trade war, capping six contentious months of negotiations and retaliatory tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.
 
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Global Trade Editor Brendan Murray and Executive China Editor John Liu join host David Gura to parse the details of the new US-China trade agreement — and why both countries are moving forward without a permanent deal.
 
Read more: Trump and Xi Put Limits on Their Trade War in a ‘12 Out of 10’ Summit

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trump Got an ‘Amazing’ Meeting. China Got Much-Needed Time

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points, following its 25-basis-point cut in September. But amid a government shutdown limiting key data and questions about who will succeed Chair Jerome Powell, what comes next is anyone’s guess.
 
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Amara Omeokwe and Enda Curran join host David Gura to break down the path forward for the central bank: from the shutdown’s impact on its decision-making to the leading contenders for Powell’s position when his term ends in May.
 
Read more:
 
Powell Says December Rate Cut ‘Far From’ Forgone Conclusion
 
Here Are the Five Contenders to Replace Powell as Fed Chair
 
The Economic Data Lost in a Shutdown

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Is the Fed Flying Blind?

Harvard University’s endowment fund is larger than the endowment of any other university on the planet. That’s, in part, because of a pioneering investment strategy. But in recent years, the returns haven’t measured up to rival universities like Yale or Brown.

Bloomberg’s Janet Lorin joins host David Gura to talk about how Harvard University’s early edge seems to have waned in the midst of changing leadership and strategies.

Read more: Harvard’s Not-So-Smart Money: Two Decades of Poor Returns and Rich Pay

Further Listening:
 
 Facing Huge Challenges, One College Tries to Be Too Big to Fail If College Is an Investment, These Offer the Best ROI 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Investment Strategy Behind Harvard’s Record Endowment — and How It Fell Apart

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