Over troubled waters: Trump’s bridge-and-plant plot
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Donald Trump’s rhetoric has grown yet more bellicose—and sweary. His stated ploy to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants would be ruinous for Iran, and Iran’s planned retaliation ruinous for the region. AI-driven job losses predicted for India’s IT sector are looking more likely to be job gains. And why Gen Z is taking up boomers’ hobbies.
Guests and host:
- Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent
- Gavin Jackson, South Asia business and economics correspondent
- Caitlin Talbot, digital culture correspondent
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Iran war, America
- India, IT work, AI
- Gen Z, hobbies
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:15.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:30.0 | That AI jobs apocalypse still ain't here, but where it seemed most likely was in India, |
| 0:35.4 | which relies heavily on farming out its coders for cheap. But AI is allowing the country's big IT firms to change how they do business. |
| 0:38.0 | They may be hiring more people, not fewer. |
| 0:42.3 | And baking and bingo, knitting and crocheting, pottery painting and flower arranging. |
| 0:48.2 | This is the stuff of young people these days. |
| 0:51.7 | We ask why Granny Corps is taking Gen Z by Sedate Storm. |
| 0:59.6 | First up, though. |
| 1:17.3 | President Donald Trump doesn't want you to know what he will do in Iran. Very little is off limits in Iran as far as targeting, including power plants, bridges, |
| 1:21.9 | you've mentioned those. |
| 1:22.9 | Very little is off limits. |
| 1:23.9 | Are there certain kinds of civilian targets, though? |
| 1:26.1 | I'm thinking, I don't want to tell you schools or hospitals that you want to tell you that. |
| 1:28.3 | I don't want to tell you that. |
| 1:29.3 | But he does want you to know what he could do. |
| 1:31.3 | We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. |
| 1:49.1 | I mean, complete demolition by 12 o'clock. |
| 1:52.1 | After an unprecedented, sweary Easter Sunday social media post, one that doesn't bear repeating here, |
| 1:59.6 | he amped up his threats yesterday, suggesting |
| 2:02.0 | that America could destroy Iran in one night. And with one of his trademark moving deadlines, |
... |
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