logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
46m 39s

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwbac...

NPR
About this episode
Whether it's pesticides in your cereal or the door plug flying off your airplane, consumers today have plenty of reasons to feel like corporations might not have their best interests at heart. At a moment when the number of product recalls is high and trust in the government is low, we're going to revisit a time when a generation of people felt empowered to demand accountability from both companies and elected leaders — and got results. Today on the show, the story of the U.S. consumer movement and its controversial leader: the once famous, now infamous Ralph Nader.

To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Yesterday
We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide its boundaries? And how did the Constitution's authors imagine it might change? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty, and what cruel and unusual real ... Show More
47m 58s
Jul 31
We the People: The Right to Remain Silent
The Fifth Amendment. You have the right to remain silent when you're being questioned in police custody, thanks to the Fifth's protection against self-incrimination. But most people end up talking to police anyway. Why? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Fifth Amendment, t ... Show More
49m 10s
Jul 29
Embedded: The Network
In the mid-1980s, an OBGYN in Brazil noticed that far fewer pregnant women at his hospital were dying from abortion complications. It wasn't a coincidence. Brazilian women had made a discovery that allowed them to safely have abortions at home, despite the country's abortion rest ... Show More
40m 10s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
Boeing | No Nerds, No Birds | 2
For decades, Boeing had a reputation as one of the most trusted companies in the U.S. But after a merger with plane manufacturer McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s, new leader Harry Stonecipher abandoned Boeing’s engineering-first roots in order to boost its stock price, leaving many ... Show More
41m 30s
Jul 2024
Teapot Dome | A Mammoth Deal | 1
Warren G. Harding is elected president in 1920, thanks in part to a backroom deal between Republican Party power brokers and influential oil men. To make good on that deal, Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, quietly leases the federally owned Teapot Dome oil field ... Show More
38m 46s
Jul 2024
Teapot Dome | Boiling Over | 2
Democratic congressional leaders and independent oil men are furious when they learn that Interior Secretary Albert Fall leased federal oil reserves with no open bidding or public debate.. Montana Senator Thomas Walsh reluctantly agrees to head an investigation, even as Fall braz ... Show More
42m 37s
Feb 2025
TikTok vs the U.S.A. | Reeling | 2
TikTok scrambles to respond to President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring ByteDance sell the app to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. But the election of Joe Biden in November 2020 offers the company a brief reprieve. TikTok works to make a deal with the new administratio ... Show More
33m 55s
Jun 19
The Progressive Regulator Winning Over the Populist Right
Is the key to freedom a life without Amazon? This week, Ross talks to Lina Khan, former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission about how unchecked corporate power has limited choice in our day-to-day lives, and how her fight against Big Tech unites left and right.02:41 - What’s wr ... Show More
1 h
Oct 2024
Encore: Theranos | Are Venture Capitalists to Blame? | 4
Lindsay sits down with Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covers the tech industry. The two explore why venture capitalists work to create monopolies, and whether these powerful investors bear responsibility for the failures at Theranos.Need more American Sca ... Show More
35m 8s
Jul 2024
The Rise of Presidential Power
Right from independence, a question has hovered over the government of the United States. How much power should the President have? Not too much, lest they become a monarch. But not too little, they are elected to do a job and that job must be done. In this episode of American Hi ... Show More
36m 28s
Jun 19
23andMe's Fatal Flaw | Guess Who’s Back | 3
Just when it looked like 23andMe was selling to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, founder Anne Wojcicki placed a bid through her new nonprofit in an attempt to win it back at the eleventh hour. Lila MacLellan, Senior Writer at Fortune, joins David to discuss Wojcicki’s leadership style, ... Show More
37m 55s
Apr 2025
Are We About to Enter the First White-Collar Recession? | James van Geelen
In Episode 408 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with James van Geelen, the founder of Citrini Research, which specializes in illuminating and demystifying the transformative “megatrends” poised to shape societies, economies, and the market’s distribution of returns for ye ... Show More
54m 30s
Jul 2024
Think you know what consumers want? Think again.
Consumers say they want experiences over goods. As always, they are looking to get the most value for their dollar. Even when it comes to sustainably produced products and services, the price must be right. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner Sajal Ko ... Show More
34m 25s