Trumponomics

Widening inequality is a blight on the modern economy and will ultimately undermine growth. But wait. Let's not hurry to fix it because history shows it can only really be addressed by total war, total revolution, state collapse or Black Death-like pandemics. That's the conclusion of Stanford professor Walter Scheidel, who joins Dan and Scott. Scheidel takes us on a tour-de-force of the rise and fall of inequality from cave societies through the bubonic plague to the two World Wars. He's not an optimist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump has had plenty to say about the smash hit musical "Hamilton": "Highly overrated," for one. But if we focus instead on Hamilton's economic policy, the president might find something to applaud. The first U.S. Treasury secretary wanted to protect industry. Hamilton also sought to roll back globalization and replace foreign-made goods with domestically produced ones. Sound familiar? Bloomberg's Rich Miller joins Dan and Scott to explain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The nation's leader takes a sudden action that only a handful of people know about beforehand. His populist base loves it, even if it could disrupt the economy. Donald Trump's executive order on immigration? No, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to invalidate more than 80 percent of currency in circulation, a bid to stamp out corruption. Three months later, do the benefits outweigh the costs? Or will the hit to the economy be felt for years to come? Cornell University professor Eswar Prasad and Bloomberg reporter Sho Chandra join Scott to share their recent firsthand experiences from India and help explain why the action might just end up working.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even in Deep Red America, the cosmopolitan world of Chardonnay and dual passport-holders is alive and well. Right alongside is a middle class enmeshed in that same world -- yet infuriated by it, a rage that opened the door to Donald Trump. Sure, this alternate universe may be shrinking, but it's still kicking up a lot of dust. Such are the revelations from a series of coast-to-coast road trips by bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan. Driving between New York and San Diego, Kaplan marvels at the strength of America's geography and its ability to project global political and economic leadership -- if only the middle class still wants it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Make America Great Again," Donald Trump's campaign slogan, became the government's guiding policy when he was sworn in last week as the 45th U.S. president. But how will we know just how great America is becoming? Forget GDP or unemployment: we'll tell you all about five Trumpian economic indicators you need to follow, including the share of workers with full-time jobs, the pace of business creation and how many prime-age Americans are in the labor force. Bloomberg Intelligence chief U.S. economist Carl Riccadonna and Bloomberg News economy editor Vince Golle join Scott to give you the rundown.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Too often the study of economics and exchange rates can seem very arcane. What does it mean in real life? For one meat smuggler, the end of 15 years of car trips to and from France with a trunk full of pork, beef and lamb. The Swiss franc's surge and the euro's swoon has encouraged more and more people to turn their hand to smuggling. There could be more to come. Catherine Bosley, a Bloomberg economics reporter in Zurich explains why to Dan and guest host Joe Weisenthal. And then there is the case of the $30,000 cash found in a sunglasses case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone knows inflation is out of control in Venezuela. But the government long ago stopped publishing figures on a regular basis, leaving economists to dial up what are essentially wild guesses. Enter the Bloomberg Cafe Con Leche Inflation Index. It tracks just one item: A piping hot coffee at a bakery in eastern Caracas. Yet it provides a unique look at inflation in one of the world's most dysfunctional economies. David Papadopoulos, a Bloomberg managing editor in New York, and Fabiola Zerpa, a Bloomberg correspondent in Caracas, join Scott to talk about the gauge, and just how bad things really are in the nation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brexit. A Trump win. 2016 was full of unexpected surprises that rocked the global economy in ways that even most experienced market observers couldn't have predicted. But what does 2017 have in store? Benchmark hosts Dan Moss and Kate Smith speak with Bloomberg's John Fraher, creator of "The Pessimist Guide," to see what's in store in a worst-case scenario of the year to come.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump has pledged to get tough with China on trade and currency, already tensing up relations with the world's second-largest economy. But it could be worse: President Woodrow Wilson signed a treaty that gave Japan control of part of China, and that didn't go over too well. John Pomfret joins us to take the long view of relations between the U.S. and China. The longtime China correspondent for the Washington Post and author of the new book "The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom" joins Dan and Scott to discuss what the incoming U.S. president can learn from two centuries of contact, and how, as he puts it, stable ties with the U.S. can "make China great again."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America's central bank finally got around to raising interest rates for the first time in a year and signaled borrowing costs will keep rising from their currently low levels. Should you rush out to buy that house? Will savers get more bang for their bucks? Are more people going to drown in credit-card debt? Join Dan, Scott and special guest Steve Matthews, a longtime Bloomberg Fed reporter, as we discuss just why, exactly, you should care.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.