How America Fell in Love With Cocaine Again

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

P.M. Edition for Sept. 17. Cocaine use is rising in the U.S., in part because of an excess supply smuggled in by Mexican cartels. WSJ deputy editor for Latin America Santiago Pérez joins to discuss why, and how Trump administration policies may play a role. Plus, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by a quarter point today. We hear from WSJ investing columnist Spencer Jakab about how the central bank is shifting its priorities. And after poorer workers closed the gap with the rich in recent years, the gulf is now widening again. WSJ economics reporter Jeanne Whalen talks about what’s causing the growing rift. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get out of the headlines and into real conversations happening inside global organizations with the Executive Insights podcast.
0:07.3	Brought to you by AWS. Listen in on the Executive Insights podcast, available on all major podcast platforms.
0:18.4	What the Fed's decision to lower rates says about its shifting priorities.
0:23.1	Plus, why the gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S. is widening again.
0:28.0	And how America's war on fentanyl created an opening for cocaine.
0:31.9	The Halisco Cartel, they reached a deal with their former rivals of the Sinaloa Cartel.
0:42.8	And that organization is now using the routes to move the cocaine from southern Mexico to the U.S. southern border.
0:47.3	It's Wednesday, September 17th.
0:49.6	I'm Alex Osala for the Wall Street Journal.
0:52.0	This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
1:03.6	The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates by a quarter point, its first cut in nine months.
1:09.6	It also signaled that it would cut rates two more
1:12.1	times this year. In his remarks to reporters, Fed Chair Jerome Powell highlighted the tension for the
1:17.7	Fed's dual mandate goals of maximum employment and stable prices, and he defended the central
1:23.4	bank's pace of change. Certainly now. I feel like our policy has been doing the right thing so far this
1:29.0	year. I think we were right to wait and see how tariffs and inflation and the labor market evolved.
1:35.2	I think we're now reacting to, you know, to the much lower level of job creation and other evidence of
1:41.3	softening in the labor market and saying, well, those risks are maybe not fully balanced, but moving in the direction of balance now. And so that warrants a change in
1:49.3	policy. For more, I'm joined by WSJ Investing columnist Spencer Jacob. Spencer, this is the first
1:55.6	interest rate cut in 2025. What do you make of this? Well, the cut itself was exactly as expected, and in terms of what to expect for the rest of the
2:04.3	year, that's also very close to expectations. The likelihood, as expressed by the futures market,
2:10.5	got a little higher for two more cuts this year, but that was already more or less a done deal.
	...

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