Money Talking – Details, episodes & analysis

The largest fast-food company in the world -- with about 24,000 stores -- was once known for its rapid expansion mindset. Now, Subway is closing stores faster than ever and pushing out franchise owners in the process.

In a recent report by the New York Times, franchisees across the country said that seemingly tiny violations, like cucumbers cut too thick and smudges on glass doors, have cost them their businesses. And when they try appeal to Subway's corporate leadership? They rarely get a response.  

This week on Money Talking, guest host Ilya Marritz talks to Tiffany Hsu, a business reporter at the New York Times who co-reported the piece, about how Subway's efforts to scale back have impacted franchisees.

Next week marks fifty years since Neil Armstrong took “one small step” on the moon’s surface. The Apollo 11 mission was an historic voyage, fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s. More than half a billion people watched the astronauts live on television. But in the years that followed, America’s interest and commitment to space exploration largely disappeared. 

Yet the country’s ambitions in space are far from over. In March of this year, Vice President Mike Pence expressed a renewed sense of urgency.

“Make no mistake about it — we're in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher,” he told attendees at a meeting of the National Space Council in Alabama.

At the same meeting, Pence presented a new timeline for landing humans on the moon again: Within the next five years, four years sooner than the administration's initial timeline of 2028, leaving some to wonder if a new space race could be on the horizon.  

This week on Money Talking, Charlie Herman talks to Tim Fernholz, a reporter at Quartz covering space and author of Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the New Psace Race, about the latest chapter of space exploration.

After months and months of speculation, former Vice President Joe Biden announced he’d be running for president in 2020. Already an early frontrunner, Biden joins a crowded field of potential Democratic nominees. There are now more than 20 candidates running, from policy wonk Elizabeth Warren to newcomer Pete Buttigieg to 2016 veteran Bernie Sanders.

The Iowa caucuses are nine months away and if everyone stays in the race, it could challenging for voters to keep track of where the candidates stand on critical policy issues like healthcare, taxes, and climate change.

This week on Money Talking, WNYC's Charlie Herman talks to Rick Newman, senior columnist for Yahoo Finance, about some of the fiscal policies being put forth by the Democratic contenders — and what they might mean for your pocketbook. 

How details about the investigations into Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election suggest financial motives as well as political ones.

President Trump is looking to make good on his “America First” pledge by launching “Made in America” week. The plan is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. But what do his family's business practices say about what it would take to do that?

Martin Shkreli is often described as the “most hated man in America” for raising the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000%. Now, he’s on trial for securities fraud. WNYC’s Money Talking looks at Shkreli’s case and what it says about the prosecution of white collar crimes.

As President Trump sits down with global leaders this week, he’s also reportedly considering slapping a tariff on steel imported into the US. Could this spark a global trade war?

Republicans are united in their opposition to Obamacare, yet they're finding it difficult to repeal and replace the law. So what happens if Obamacare is here to stay?

Travis Kalanick’s resignation this week as CEO of Uber marks the end of one tumultuous ride for the company. What's next for the app that dreamed of changing the face of transportation?

The Trump administration is proposing to revise and change financial regulations put in place after the Great Recession. House Republicans want to go even further.