In the line of fires: LA’s ashen suburbs one year on
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.4 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We return to the Los Angeles suburbs that were consumed by wildfires a year ago. The varying rebuilding efforts reveal divides in wealth, but also strains in California’s insurance industry. Never mind the AI job apocalypse, if it comes: the technology will create plenty of new roles, too. And why “peak wine” may be a good thing for sippers of the fine kind.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.8 | I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:15.1 | And I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 0:16.5 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:21.6 | Thank you. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:29.6 | People keep talking about the anticipated jobs apocalypse AI may cause, but our correspondent reckons there could be a bounty of new roles, |
| 0:33.6 | created by the need for us humans to train and control our artificial peers. |
| 0:40.6 | And our World Ahead series takes a look at the business of wine. Will 2026 be the industry's |
| 0:46.9 | peak? Our correspondent examined the trends driving consumption down and the benefits for the |
| 0:52.2 | sippers who are sticking around. But first... |
| 0:57.0 | I lay down and take a nap and the next thing I know, he woke me up and he said, we have to leave and we have to leave now. |
| 1:17.1 | And that was around at 3 a.m. |
| 1:19.9 | Exactly one year ago, wildfires devastated parts of Los Angeles. |
| 1:25.5 | Erin Braun is our West Coast correspondent. |
| 1:28.2 | Audra Blunt and her husband Damon's home was in Altadena. |
| 1:31.7 | That's to the east of L.A. |
| 1:34.1 | Their house and their entire neighborhood were destroyed. |
| 1:38.1 | Do you remember what the neighborhood looked like as you were driving away? |
| 1:41.3 | It was complete dark and it looked like it was complete, I want to say, hysteria. |
| 1:46.6 | The memories of their home are still extremely vivid. |
| 1:49.9 | Before the fire, my wife and I had spent the last five years remodeling in our house. |
... |
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