Matt Kibbe sits down with Patrick Mardini, founder of the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, to talk about the recent explosion that rocked the port of Beirut, killing hundreds. It turns out that a big part of the problem was mismanagement by the Lebanese government, which at the same time has created a massive recession, incurred huge amounts of debt, a ... Show More
Jan 14
Ep 368 | Can Another Javier Milei Save Venezuela? | Guest: Ian Vásquez
With the ousting of Nicolás Maduro, the future of the Venezuelan government is an open question. Will we see a mere continuation of the Maduro regime, which left the country economically devastated, or will we instead see the kind of fundamental reforms that have worked so well f ... Show More
51m 51s
Aug 2020
What’s gone wrong in Lebanon?
The massive explosion that tore through Beirut on August 4th left more than 200 people dead, 6,000 injured, and as many as 300,000 homeless. The explosion was caused by a fire that ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. When the blast hit, Lebanon was already ... Show More
23m 56s
Jun 2023
How Lebanon’s economy collapsed
Protests, power cuts and bank hold-ups – Lebanon was already struggling before the 2020 port explosion that devasted its capital, Beirut, but now it’s in a desperate economic collapse. The Lebanese people are struggling to buy basic food and medicine. And the country also hosts t ... Show More
18m 56s
Dec 2023
The ‘Ponzi scheme’ behind Lebanon’s economic collapse
<p>For years, Riad Salameh was praised for his revolutionary financial policies as head of Lebanon’s central bank. But suddenly, the country plunged into an economic crisis. And Salameh left the central bank with a disgraced reputation and, investigators believe, a massive person ... Show More
21m 39s
May 2020
Episode 81 - Lebanese industry
Discussion of Lebanon's industry begins at 17:00.
Ben and Nizar are joined remotely this week by Paul Abi Nasr, member of the board of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists and CEO of Polytextile, to discuss the Lebanese industrial sector over the past few decades, the impac ... Show More
50m 3s
Aug 2020
The aftermath of the Beirut explosion
The explosion near Beirut’s port on Tuesday killed 135 people and injured thousands more, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Officials say 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was the cause. According to public records, the chemicals were held at the port for six years, despite ... Show More
20m 23s