On Sunday, President Trump rejected Iran’s latest response to his administration’s ceasefire proposal by taking to Truth Social, calling it "totally unacceptable." In the meantime, the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels, remains effectively blocked. And people everywhere are beginning to feel the squeeze. The national average cost of gas is now $4.55 per gallon, and diesel is inching closer to $6 a gallon. The Philippines has long declared a national energy emergency, government workers moving to a four-day work week. Lufthansa has canceled 20,000 flights through October of this year.

But curiously, you wouldn’t know it if you wandered down Wall Street. Last week, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, and both have continued to climb this week. This week, host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh, editor of Vox’s Future Perfect section, to discuss the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” or the jarring mismatch between economic reality and the markets. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance.

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high, despite a deepening global energy crisis. On this week’s On the Media, the mismatch between the stock market and reality. Plus, to understand how FEMA became so distrusted, we look at its response to Hurricane Katrina – and how it stained the agency’s reputation forever.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bryan Walsh, senior editorial director at Vox overseeing the Future Perfect and climate teams, about the phenomenon of “economic blindness,” which explains why the stock market hit an all-time high this week despite the oil crisis unspooling across the globe due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, how human evolution may play a role in this cognitive dissonance.

[13:38] Host Micah Loewinger presents the second part of our investigation American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA. This week, we look at the event that shaped FEMA’s reputation perhaps more than any other: Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. Experts had warned about this kind of storm for years, but when it hit the agency only had one staffer on the ground–a PR guy named Marty Bahamonde. We also hear from Superdome survivor Chavon Allen, who was celebrating her 19th birthday when the hurricane made landfall.

Further reading / watching:

• “We’re missing the economic fallout of the Iran war — just like we did with Covid,” by Bryan Walsh
• Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security, by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block
• Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time on Hulu

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last month, the Justice Department, in a startling move, issued a challenge the Presidential Records Act--saying that the bedrock law for keeping Oval Office archives available to the public goes too far. Ironic, considering how Donald Trump has boasted about his presidential library—the home of presidential archives—which renderings show to be a skyscraper (and possibly hotel) in downtown Miami.

Last summer, Brooke spoke with Tim Naftali, a Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, about how President Trump has raised millions of dollars his future presidential library already, and why it should matter to the rest of us.

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.