Elon Musk’s business relationship with the Pentagon is going strong. SpaceX just scored its first defense contract from the U.S. Space Force, giving Musk more control over on-off switches (see: Ukraine). We’ll get into the potential consequences of having a single private citizen like Musk so entangled in geopolitics. Plus, welcome home, astronaut Frank Rubio, and bye-bye panda cams? Here’s everything we talked about today: “Elon Musk Wins US Space Force Contract for Starshield” from Bloomberg “Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule” from The New Yorker “Retail theft isn’t actually increasing much, major industry study finds” from CNBC “Target says it will close nine stores in major cities, citing violence and theft” from CNBC “NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is home after a year in space” from Ars Technica “US Won’t Have Any Pandas for the First Time in 50 Years” from Bloomberg Our public service journalism is powered by YOU. Chip in what you can today.

We’re on the brink of yet another government shutdown. If Congress fails to pass legislation to keep the federal government fully up and running past Oct. 1, it would be the country’s fourth shutdown in the last decade. This has us wondering: Why does passing the federal budget often get so messy? On the show today, Molly Reynolds, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explains how the federal budget process is supposed to work, why it often breaks down and why other countries don’t seem to have the same problem. Plus, how we can make the process smoother, given the Congress we’ve got. Then, we’ll get into why the FTC is suing Amazon and how it might shape what “monopoly” means in this day and age. Plus, is President Joe Biden’s footwear really worth a headline? Later, how one listener is thinking about the kind of change our democracy needs. And, a Jekyll and Hyde-style mix-up involving a popular California university. Here’s everything we talked about today: “What is a government shutdown? And why are we likely to have another one?” from Brookings “Biden’s budget kicks off a long and likely painful process on Capitol Hill.” from The New York Times “Congress has long struggled to pass spending bills on time” from Pew Research “Why Don’t Other Countries Have Government Shutdowns?” from Foreign Policy Opinion | “The Democratic Party Has an Old Problem and Won’t Admit It” from The New York Times “Biden campaign’s secret mission for reelection: Don’t let him trip” from Axios “U.S., 17 states sue Amazon alleging monopolistic practices led to higher prices” from The Washington Post “FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power” from The Federal Trade Commission We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemes[email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Some big Republican donors are in a bind. They’ve been hoping for an alternative presidential nominee to Donald Trump to write their checks to, but now they seem to be giving up on that idea and are keeping their money on the sidelines. We’ll discuss what that means for spending in the 2024 election. Plus, what’s happened to Greece since its debt crisis? And what Kimberly discovered about cocktails and ChatGPT when she walked into a bar. Here’s everything we talked about: “Big GOP donors hoped for an alternative to Trump. Now some are giving up” from Politico “Greece, Battered a Decade Ago, Is Booming” from The New York Times “OpenAI’s ChatGPT offers new multimodal support for images and voice search” from Axios “Fetterman Plans to Give Back Menendez Donation In Cash-Filled Envelopes” The Messenger “Mammals’ Time on Earth Is Half Over, Scientists Predict” from The New York Times Got a question for the hosts? Send them our way. We’re at 508-UB-SMART or email [email protected].

Across the political spectrum, corruption seems to be the big news of the day. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted today for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Meanwhile, ProPublica reported that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly attended Koch Network donor events that could be in violation of federal law. (And, let’s not forget the former president’s indictments.) We’ll discuss the role of the press and the Department of Justice in trying these cases. Then, we’ll play Half-Full/Half-Empty and debate whether shorts on the Senate floor should be the new norm. Here’s everything we talked about: “Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events” from ProPublica “FBI found gold bars in Menendez’s house, money stuffed in jackets, prosecutors say” from The Hill “New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez says he won’t resign” from NBC News “Time to brush up on the Food and Forage Act of 1861, everybody” from Washington Monthly “UAW will widen strike against GM and Stellantis but not Ford” from The Washington Post “UAW official says union creating “chaos” for automakers, leaked messages show” from Axios “The IRS Is Going to Know if You Sold Taylor Swift ‘Eras’ Tickets” from The Wall Street Journal “How do companies decide what to name AI tools?” from Marketplace “Spanglish branding is reaching Latino consumers” from Marketplace “How the orange egg yolk trend was hatched” from Marketplace “The Senate is relaxing its dress code. It’s caused a predictable backlash” from Vox If you’re fan of the show, grab some merch, including half-priced hoodies this weekend! Donate $8 a month and get a cozy “Make Me Smart” hoodie just in time for fall!

We are nine days away from another government shutdown if Congress can’t reach a spending deal. We’ll hear from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on what a shutdown could do to our current economy. Plus, the facial recognition story that creeped out Kai. And, did you remember? We’re celebrating one of Earth, Wind & Fire’s greatest hits. Here’s everything we talked about: “‘Absolutely no reason’ for a government shutdown, says Treasury secretary” from MSNBC “Barrymore apologizes to unions for resuming show” from YouTube “Clearview AI could change privacy as we know it” from Marketplace “Earth, Wind & Fire – September” from YouTube Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks, a game and more.