The Mighty Mississippi Is Backed Up
Big Take10 Nov 2022

The Mighty Mississippi Is Backed Up

The mighty Mississippi River cuts the United States essentially in half from Northern Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. It has a lot of history and romance around its waters, and is also one of America’s most important routes for commerce. More than 1 trillion pounds of goods travel down the river each year.

But, as water levels have dropped significantly in key parts of the river, it’s stopped some ships cold. The river is now backed up with billions of dollars of corn, wheat, fertilizer and steel, waiting for water levels to rise again. What happens when one of the most important rivers in the world’s largest economy can’t keep a boat afloat?

Michael Hirtzer, an agriculture reporter for Bloomberg in Chicago, joins this episode to answer that question. Wes also checks in with Captain E. Michael Bopp, a Mississippi River pilot and President of the Crescent River Port Pilot Association, and Clint Willson, Director of the LSU Center for River Studies,. for more on what it’s like to work on and study this critical river.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3ToEljC

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at bigtake@bloomberg.net.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episoder(812)

Trump Takes Europe to the Brink on Greenland

Trump Takes Europe to the Brink on Greenland

In an unprecedented speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Donald Trump ruled out taking Greenland by military force, but made his case for the US purchasing what he descr...

21 Jan 19min

Inside ICE’s Plan to Build Detention ‘Mega Centers’

Inside ICE’s Plan to Build Detention ‘Mega Centers’

ICE has been open about its aggressive detention and deportation targets. And now, the agency has its sights set on a new kind of facility to house the people it arrests: converted warehouses that cou...

20 Jan 19min

Trump’s Economy, One (Second) Year In

Trump’s Economy, One (Second) Year In

This week marks the end of President Trump’s first year back in office. His busy economic agenda included global tariffs, deregulation, tax cuts and so much more. The deep and dramatic changes the Tru...

19 Jan 17min

The Domino Effect of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’

The Domino Effect of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’

For Beijing, the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was a mixed bag -- an embarrassing surprise, a wake-up call over its alliances in Latin America and an opening to step up on the worl...

16 Jan 19min

Trump’s Latest Target: Corporate Landlords

Trump’s Latest Target: Corporate Landlords

Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity firms and other large investors have bought hundreds of thousands of homes across the US, expanding their footprint in the American real estate market. ...

15 Jan 18min

Pressure Is Mounting on Iran's Regime

Pressure Is Mounting on Iran's Regime

Weeks of protests in Iran started over the high price of food and essential goods. They quickly engulfed the nation and, before long, were met with deadly force by the Iranian regime’s security forces...

14 Jan 19min

Minnesota v. ICE

Minnesota v. ICE

This week, following the deadly shooting of Renée Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, the state of Minnesota sued the federal government in a bid to kick out thousands of Immigration and Customs Enfo...

14 Jan 17min

Powell Makes His Case to The American People

Powell Makes His Case to The American People

On Sunday night, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced that the US Department of Justice had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas threatening a criminal indictment over a costly renovation...

12 Jan 17min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
i-retten
popradet
stopp-verden
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
nokon-ma-ga
bt-dokumentar-2
hanna-de-heldige
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
frokostshowet-pa-p5
aftenbla-bla
rss-dannet-uten-piano
e24-podden