Making a Killing with Bethany McLean

Katherine Eban’s new book, Bottle of Lies, is terrifying. Here’s why: 90 percent of our pharmaceutical market is comprised of generics. Without generic medications, drug prices would not just be a problem, but literally a killer. And our doctors tell us these drugs are safe. But, according to Katherine, we actually cannot trust generic drugs. Find out why, in this chilling episode. Katherine is a long-time investigative reporter who focuses on public health and homeland security and sits down with Bethany to discuss the astonishing fraud and side effects of the generic drug boom. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bethany talks with Allison Schrager, author of the new book, An Economist Walks Into A Brothel. She’s a retirement finance economist, and has spent years talking to risk takers in all kinds of businesses. In a Hollywood-worthy twist, she has lately been studying risk in the unlikeliest of places -- talking to sex workers at The Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada. It turns out, they are experts at pricing and reducing risk. Allison has learned that there is a science to good risk taking. No one reaches the top of their field—be it sex work or running a Fortune 500 company—without mastering risk. They don’t jump in and just go with their gut. They possess a deliberate, thoughtful strategy so they know what risks to take, and reduce the downside if things don’t go their way. So, today we discuss - how do you master risk?  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Financial Times columnist, CNN analyst and author Rana Foroohar has a question for you. Since only 15% of the money that is flowing out of the largest financial institutions is making it into the real economy... where's the other 85% going? In this episode, Bethany and Rana discuss the problem of "financialization" which essentially means that trading had become an end in and of itself, rather than a facilitation of business. Finance was supposed to be an intermediary, an enabler of business; it's not supposed to be the end game. This of course resulted in the 2008 financial crisis, but since then, well, what has happened? Big banks have gotten even bigger. And our society is growing restive... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bethany talks to Wired contributing editor Fred Vogelstein about Facebook. They discuss why obsessing about Facebook and privacy might be the wrong place to focus. The other question is what happens when heads of corporations are more powerful than most heads of states and how does that power manifest itself? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bethany speaks to Black Edge author and New Yorker writer Sheelah Kolhatkar on the issue of short termism highlighting how Panera does things differently. They discuss why a focus on producing profits NOW can divert research and development dollars that could have a big impact to the company in the future. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Longtime Fortune magazine writer, author and analyst Geoff Colvin writes about the sobering bankruptcy of the once dominant Sears Roebuck & Co., saying that: “the Sears story should scare us.” In this episode, Bethany and Geoff discuss the rise and fall of Sears—where did Sears go wrong?—and if its decline was inevitable, or fixable. And what can other incumbents learn from it, before it’s too late? Oh, and how did private equity contribute to its demise? Private equity buyouts play a larger and larger role in shaping our economy. Can we draw any lesson from Sears that tell us whether this particular trend is a good thing... or a very dangerous one? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ever since the days of Enron, I’ve been fascinated by this question: What separates a visionary entrepreneur from a fraudster? Being a visionary requires being able to tune out other people’s doubts, to say you’re right and everyone else is wrong, to persist through impossible difficulties because you believe your goal is grand, and worthy … even a noble pursuit. It might even require lying to non believers, at least at times. Which brings us to Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, the scandalized and now infamous blood-testing startup, once valued at $9 billion. In this episode, I sit down with my friend and Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Alex Gibney, who has a new film about Holmes: “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Bethany goes deep with Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Amity & Prosperity. They discuss the upside and downside of progress told through the lens of energy. Technological innovations like fracking are destructive at the very same time that they are also drivers of opportunity, political power, and wealth (for some). This is a classic tale of progress and disruption going hand in hand. It's also a terrific primer for those who don't REALLY understand as much about the fracking controversy as they wish they did.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Juul is the wildly popular, wildly valued and wildly controversial vaping company. Juul became the fastest startup ever to reach a valuation of more than $10 billion dollars — beating the pace set by tech giants Facebook and Snap by four times. Juul as a company claims that it is focused on harm reduction, arguing that vaping gets existing smokers off of lit tobacco, which is deadly. But there are those of us who wonder: Is “the lesser of two evils” really the heart and soul of good business? Is that what American industry is made for? In this episode, Bethany chats with her friend, one-time co-author, and former colleague, Joe Nocera. Joe is host of the popular podcast The Shrink Next Door, and is an opinion columnist at Bloomberg. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is so much to understand about Amazon. Given its rate of growth and change, it can feel a little dizzying to keep up. But my main interest is not in whatever the latest, daily headlines are about the company. I’m interested in what all those headlines add up to, taken as a whole. What Amazon has become, what industries it has disrupted and forever changed. If ultimately it’s Amazon’s world, and we just live in it, is that a good thing? Can Amazon be trusted to wield its ever growing power benevolently? Or are we all going to come regret the monster we’ve created?  Bethany and team sit down with Seth Godin, who hardly needs an introduction. He’s exactly who we wanted to talk to in order to dive into questions of Amazon and publishing, but also retail and marketing and trust. Seth’s latest book, This Is Marketing, is a New York Times bestseller, and helps us realize that marketing is about more than selling things - it’s about making change. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.