Can AI Save This Failing Rural Economy?

Hot Market Summer

Skyrocketing stocks, eye-watering prices, looksmaxxing bodybuilders, this is the summer of huge markets both legal and illegal. This week on the show, Stacey and Max solve the case of the $8 ice cream cone, learn about the dicey gray market of peptides, and discover why you should always check your LinkedIn messages. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Can AI Save This Failing Rural Economy?

As we're sure you know, we here at Everybody’s Business are big fans of our friends over at Big Take, Bloomberg’s daily news podcast. They recently released an episode about Meta's precarious AI data center journey, the subject of a recent Businessweek story. Please enjoy, and hop on over to subscribe to their feed if you like what you hear! —— By many metrics, Meta is falling behind in the AI race. So CEO Mark Zuckerberg is building one of the largest data centers in the world — a facility the size of about 3,000 football fields in one of the poorest regions in the US. On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder sits down with Bloomberg reporter Riley Griffin, who traveled to Richland Parish, Louisiana, to hear from residents about the risks and opportunities they see as Meta comes to town. Will they reap the benefits? Or trade in one uncertain economy for another? Read more: Meta Goes Big on the Bayou [https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-meta-facebook-ai-data-center-louisiana/] We have a special Bloomberg subscription offer for podcast listeners at Bloomberg.com/podcastoffer. [https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions/podcasts] Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Julia Press; Reported by Riley Griffin; Edited by Aaron Edwards. Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe and Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Engineering by Alex Sugiura. Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Show Me The Money

Max and Stacey have caught the fever of Big Money. What does this moment of thousand-dollar sporting event tickets and trillion-dollar AI IPOs mean for middle class and retail spending? Bloomberg’s Katie Greifeld and Randall Williams join the show to make sense of the numbers. Plus, a theory behind the declining birth rate and a late-capitalist fragrance. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

From the Phone Screen to the Silver Screen

Is YouTube the new film incubator? In the wake of two hit movies from internet native directors, Max, Stacey, and Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw figure out if the buzz around Backrooms and Obsession is a trend or a fluke. Plus, we check in on the Iran conflict and China’s role in it with Javier Blas, some clumsy alleged insider trading, and a couple different instances of international art theft. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

A Different Way to Lower Your Grocery Bill

Across the country, Americans are cutting back on groceries, but maybe they don’t have to. With an eye to one of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s signature initatives, Max and Stacey take you inside a city-run grocery store in Atlanta that keeps some prices low no matter its profit margins. And then, what’s the difference between art and slop? Max sits down with AI filmmaker Matt Zien to weigh the pros and cons of a nearly human-free cast and crew. (We promise that neither Max nor Stacey has been replaced by a chatbot.) Plus, we discover 2026’s song of the summer, and doping in sports is so back. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.