Big Take

For more than a decade, the towns north of Dallas, Texas – places like Frisco, Prosper and Celina – have seen an unprecedented housing boom, thanks in part to Indian workers drawn by skilled tech jobs and employers who sponsored their H-1B visas. But in the past year, the market for these houses has fallen and some of Texas’ biggest boomtowns have gone bust.
On today’s Big Take podcast, US housing reporter Prashant Gopal and host Sarah Holder unpack the forces underpinning a growing real estate crisis in Dallas-Forth Worth. They examine how changes to the H-1B visa program forced some residents to rethink their futures and what the dramatic pull back could mean for some of the newest suburbs.
This episode contains mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, a global list of help lines is available at blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/
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Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Reported by Prashant Gopal and Tanaz Meghjani; Edited by Jeffrey Grocott.
Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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Samsung recently made headlines when it narrowly averted a strike by offering eye-popping bonuses to its chip workers. But the move has seemingly backfired—sparking deep resentment in other corners of the company and fueling a wider debate over wage equity in South Korea.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha and Bloomberg’s Yoolim Lee break down how the wage dispute took hold in South Korea and discuss its broader global implications as other tech giants weigh how best to share the spoils of their AI windfalls.
Read more: Huge AI Bonuses in South Korea Spark Fight Over Sharing Tech Wealth
Hosted by Oanh Ha; Produced by Yang Yang; Reported by Yoolim Lee; Edited by Patrick Hirsch, Edwin Chan.
Fact-checking by Naomi Ng; Engineering by Taka Yasuzawa
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tasked with enforcing consumer finance laws and holding some of the country’s most powerful banks, lenders and companies to account. But a new Bloomberg investigation found that over the past 15 months, much of that work has come to a halt.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Noah Buhayar and Coulter Jones join host Sarah Holder to talk about how acting director Russell Vought gutted the CFPB, and how the agency has refused to enforce settlements and pursue lawsuits — in some cases letting big businesses pocket millions they’d already agreed to pay consumers.
Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Noah Buhayar, Coulter Jones, Tedd Mann; Edited by Aaron Edwards, Nicole Beemsterboer.
Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Emma Munger.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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Indonesia’s free lunch program is a massive operation, feeding tens of millions of people every day across a vast archipelago.

On this episode of the Big Take Asia podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks with Bloomberg’s Rosalind Mathieson about the challenges facing President Prabowo’s flagship program and whether it can survive the strain.
Read more: Handing Out $15 Billion of Free Meals Strains Indonesia's Budget

Hosted by Rebecca Choong Wilkins; Produced by Naomi Ng; Reported by Rosalind Mathieson, Eko Listiyorini; Edited by Paddy Hirsch.
Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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The mayor of an affluent suburb of Los Angeles pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the Chinese government last month. And while cable networks across the US had a field day with the story, Bloomberg’s Drake Bennett and Jordan Robertson have been reporting on cases like this one for years. The two co-hosted the podcast series, The Sixth Bureau, which detailed the inner workings of one of the most powerful and mysterious spy agencies in the world, China’s Ministry of State Security.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Drake and Jordan walk host David Gura through what we know about Wang’s case and what it tells us about the extent of Chinese propaganda and espionage in the United States amid ongoing tensions between the world’s two superpowers.
Further listening: http://swap.fm/l/9guIFZxhu17KqTWLxBFh
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/the-sixth-bureau/
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Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Julia Press and Victor Yvellez; Reported by Drake Bennett and Jordan Robertson; Edited by Nicole Beemsterboer
Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.