Segments From This Episode

• Is this especially tense presidential campaign eating away at the economy?

  by David Brancaccio

  Few will dispute that here in late September, the presidential election seems close. Is this one of the reasons for the drop we saw this month in consumer confidence? We’ll check in with economist Julia Coronado, founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives and a professor at UT Austin.

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• The energy demands of proposed AI data centers

  by Nova Safo

  The ChatGPT company OpenAI is reportedly seeking a large expansion in data centers across the U.S. to crunch the data for advanced artificial intelligence. This comes as the federal government is looking for input on how to build more of these centers and amid questions about who pays for the infrastructure to get all the electricity to them.

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• Kmart is closing its last store in the U.S.

  by Kristin Schwab

  

  The bargain retailer has struggled for years in the shadow of its two biggest imitators: Target and Walmart.

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