Germany’s pension crisis
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US President Donald Trump said he was firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, shares in Ørsted plunged after the Trump administration halted one of the Danish wind farm developer’s almost-completed projects, and Elon Musk’s xAI has sued Apple and OpenAI alleging they broke antitrust rules. Plus, Germany’s government is encouraging young people to invest in the stock market rather than rely on the country’s flailing pension programme.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Trump says he is firing Fed governor Lisa Cook ‘effective immediately’
Musk’s xAI sues Apple and OpenAI over ChatGPT and iPhone integration
Germany’s pensions crisis: can €10 a month change how people invest?
Ørsted shares plunge to record low after US government halts project
Today’s FT News Briefing was produced by Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Blake Maples and Gavin Kallmann. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For over 40 years, Equinoor has been an energy partner to the UK. |
| 0:04.1 | During that time, we've played our part in the switch from coal to gas, |
| 0:07.1 | and we're working hard to help the UK's energy transition. |
| 0:10.2 | We may not have all the answers yet, but we're determined to find them. |
| 0:13.5 | Equinor, an energy company, searching for better. |
| 0:16.9 | 99.6% of Equinor's energy output is oil and gas. |
| 0:20.5 | Our investment in renewables and low-carbon |
| 0:22.4 | solutions has increased from 4% in 2020 to 27% in 2024. Find out more at equinor.com. |
| 0:32.2 | Good morning for the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, August 26th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:38.6 | Donald Trump says he's removing a top Federal Reserve official, and the wind farm |
| 0:42.9 | developer, or stead, received another blow yesterday. Plus, Germany is giving money to kids |
| 0:48.8 | to invest in the stock market. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 1:06.4 | U.S. President Donald Trump said last night he's firing a governor at the Federal Reserve. |
| 1:11.3 | It is a major escalation of his attacks on the central bank. |
| 1:15.2 | Trump said on Monday there was, quote, sufficient reason to believe Lisa Cook had made false statements on mortgage agreements, |
| 1:22.1 | which gave him cause to fire her. |
| 1:24.6 | The Fed declined to comment. |
| 1:26.5 | Cook has previously said she had, quote, no intention of being bullied to step her. The Fed declined to comment. Cook has previously said she had, quote, no intention |
| 1:29.2 | of being bullied to step down. The president has spent months threatening the independence of the |
| 1:34.7 | central bank. He's threatened to fire Chair Jay Powell over the Fed's decision to hold rates steady |
| 1:39.6 | this year. And separately, Trump did remove the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics a few weeks ago |
| 1:46.2 | after a weak jobs report. |
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