If Not A Recession, Why Does It Feel Like One?

What A Day

Crooked Media

News, Daily News

4.6 • 12K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After Tuesday’s election results, everyone seems to have gotten the message that affordability is king. Democrats, Republicans, and even President Donald Trump have been talking about the costs of various things, like healthcare, groceries, and Thanksgiving dinner ever since. But for a lot of Americans, making ends meet has been hard for a while. To talk more about the disconnect between what the Trump administration is saying about the economy and how Americans are feeling, we spoke with Stacy Vanek Smith. She’s a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and co-host of the Bloomberg podcast, Everybody’s Business. And in headlines, the Federal Aviation Administration cancels flights across the U.S. reportedly to ease the strain on air traffic controllers during the longest ever government shutdown, California Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi announces her retirement after nearly 40 years in Congress, and the jury in the case of the man who slung twelve inches of vigilante justice at a federal officer has reached its verdict.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Friday, November 7th. I'm Todd Zwillick in for Jane Koston, and this is What a Day.
0:08.9	The show that knows caring about affordability hits harder when you care about it from a $300 million gold-plated ballroom.
0:24.1	On today's show, the Federal Aviation Administration cancels flights across the U.S.,
0:29.0	they say, to ease the strain on air traffic controllers during the record-long government
0:33.9	shutdown.
0:35.0	And the jury, in the case of a man who slung 12 inches of vigilante justice
0:39.1	at a federal officer, on multi-grained, no less, has reached its verdict. But let's start
0:44.8	with the cost of things. Everyone seems to have gotten the message on affordability after Tuesday.
0:51.7	Democrats, Republicans, even the Crypto King president. For Dems, it's a no-brainer.
0:58.2	The cost of health care, the cost of eggs, they pivot to it all the time. So if they can interpret
1:04.5	every last vote as being about affordability, even without evidence, they're going to. Okay, but what about President Trump? Can a man fixing to fly a
1:14.9	$400 million jet gifted from Qatar or trade off of $2 billion in Emeraldi crypto really know about
1:22.0	the price of a Thanksgiving turkey? You betcha. On Thursday, Trump talked about some new data he likes from his favorite
1:28.7	donors, Walmart. They just came out with a very powerful statement. They've done it for many years
1:33.8	that under the Biden administration, Thanksgiving meal, a Thanksgiving meal with all the
1:40.5	trimmings cost 25% more. In other words, our Thanksgiving this year coming up
1:47.6	will cost 25% less than sleepy Joe Biden's. As you can see, Trump super cares about prices now.
1:56.8	Only problem with these incredible Thanksgiving savings is, you guessed it, they're false.
2:03.9	Wholesale turkey prices are up 75% from a year ago, according to an analysis from Purdue University.
2:10.8	In the store, Purdue predicts the average price of a bird this month will be 25% higher than last year. That's not Trump's fault. Things like
2:20.9	bird flu have affected prices. The point is, he's lying. I know. I know. But hey, know what else is
2:29.6	expensive? Blockbuster weight loss drugs. Trump went in on affordability Thursday by announcing a deal with
	...

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