The risky business of corporate political spending

Make Me Smart

Companies in the United States spend billions in political donations each election cycle with the aim of gaining more influence in government. But all that spending comes with risks. We’ll get into it. And, we’ll explain why many Americans impacted by recent hurricanes will have to wait for disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration and how former President Trump’s plans for mass deportations could send shockwaves through our nation’s food supply chain. Plus, why are tech companies like Amazon and Google investing in nuclear energy?

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Why companies spend all that campaign donation money” from Marketplace
• “SBA disaster loan program out of money after hurricanes, Biden says” from Axios
• “Trump’s proposed mass deportations could ‘decimate’ the US food supply” from Grist
• “Trump Faces Tough Questions From Hispanic Voters, but Largely Defends or Dodges” from The New York Times
• “Big Tech has cozied up to nuclear energy” from The Verge
• “Amazon goes nuclear, to invest more than $500 million to develop small modular reactors” from CNBC

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern.