Slate Money

In this Money Talks: Roy Swan joins Elizabeth Spiers to turn the assumption of a zero-sum economy on its head. Swan, the director of the Ford Foundation’s mission investments program, explains why the idea that someone has to lose in order for you to win is not just costing societally, but economically—and how positive impact and positive returns aren’t mutually exclusive. Swan’s new book is Positive Sum: How Zero-sum Thinking Broke Capitalism—and How We Can Fix It.Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

This week: The new book Money to Burn goes deep on private-equity behemoth Apollo Global Management and its billionaire cofounder and former CEO, Leon Black. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck are joined by author William D. Cohan to talk about his reporting on Black’s investment empire and what it means for Wall Street to be dominated by private equity. They also get into Black’s tragic origin story, messy personal scandals, and strange friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.In the Slate Plus episode: Your $5K Check’s in the MailWant to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

This week: Nvidia joined Silicon Valley’s A.I. investment frenzy and bought Hugging Face for $12.93 billion. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck discuss what this deal signals about the astounding amounts of money being thrown around the relatively niche market of A.I. investment. Then, bond yields are on the rise and the hosts discuss why global concern is rising with them. And finally, what do George Santos and Steve Ballmer have in common? Felix will explain.In the Slate Plus episode: The $500 A.I.-powered Mouth CameraWant to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

One-hundred-million-year-old bones are so hot right now. In this Money Talks, Felix Salmon is joined by Salomon Aaron, director of an antiquities gallery specializing in fossils, to explain everything you ever wanted to know about dealing in dinosaurs and why the market has exploded in recent years.Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

This week: Meta settles with the U.S. states suing the company over teen safety concerns. Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Scarlet Fu of the new Bloomberg Money (while Felix is stuck on a tarmac somewhere in Canada) to discuss if Meta’s $17 billion settlement is as big of a deal as it sounds, and what this outcome really means for the social media guardrails overall. Then, they turn to the disastrous trade talks between the U.S. and Canada and how President Trump’s tactics have managed to piss off our friendliest ally. And finally, they’ll discuss why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s latest market tinkering has everyone chiming in.In the Slate Plus episode: The Big A.I. Writing DebateWant to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

This week: the Slate Money hosts ask all their burning A.I. questions to someone who can actually answer them. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and Emily Peck sit down with A.I. expert Noah Brier and pick his brain about the reality of all our A.I. fears, the arms race with China, and how businesses are using it now.In the Slate Plus episode: What’s Up With Robots?Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.