Soda Trends and Cultural Reflections

The Supreme Court on Friday chose not to intervene in a case involving President Donald Trump’s firing of an independent agency head. As the case is passed back to the lower courts, it tees up a legal battle that will test the president’s power to dismiss officials. We’ll get into what this could all mean for the Federal Reserve. And, U.S. national parks are being hit by the administration’s purge of the federal workforce. Plus, we’ll weigh in on Birkenstocks, prebiotic sodas and the “White Lotus effect” during a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Supreme Court Declines for Now to Let Trump Fire Agency Head” from Bloomberg
•  Post on Bluesky about national park closures
• “Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees” from The L.A. Times
• “Firings Squeeze National Parks: ‘You Won’t Have the Full Experience’” from The New York Times
• “Can sandals be art? Birkenstock says yes, but a German court says no” from AP News
• “‘Gut Pop’ Is Injecting New Fizz Into the Beverage Aisle” from The Wall Street Journal
• “Politics are changing how and where consumers spend” from Marketplace
• “The ‘White Lotus effect’ on tourism” from Marketplace
• “Amazon Gains Creative Control Over the James Bond Franchise” from The New York Times

Got a question or comment for the hosts? Email makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.