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Aug 23, 2025
New customs regulations take effect August 29, and many European postal agencies and companies say until new systems are set up they can't ship some goods. Gifts worth less than $100 are not affected.
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Aug 23, 2025
The Revolution Wind farm was slated to start sending power to homes and businesses in Rhode Island and Connecticut starting next year.
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Aug 22, 2025
The president's highly unusual announcement underscores the Trump administration's desire to take control over U.S. businesses.
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Aug 22, 2025
A federal EV tax credit worth up to $7,500 ends Sept. 30. But the IRS has just clarified that shoppers don't need to actually have the keys in hand by the deadline to get the credit.
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Aug 22, 2025
Canada is dropping retaliatory tariffs to match U.S. tariff exemptions for goods covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday.
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Aug 22, 2025
After Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he would lower tariffs, President Trump said "We want to be very good to Canada. I like Carney a lot. I think he's a very good person."
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Aug 22, 2025
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell signaled a possible interest rate cut in the months to come, sending stocks sharply higher.
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Aug 22, 2025
High mortgage rates cooled home sales over the last few years. But data released this week shows signs that things may be thawing a bit.
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Aug 22, 2025
The Trump administration has moved to end temporary protected status for immigrants from Honduras and other countries. Among them are health care workers tending to older and disabled people.
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Aug 22, 2025
High mortgage rates cooled home sales over the last few years. But data released this week shows signs that things may be thawing a bit.
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Aug 22, 2025
What happens when people stop trusting their government's economic data? Planet Money reports on what happened in Greece.
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Aug 22, 2025
Some of the largest retailers in the U.S., including Walmart, Home Depot and Target, have had to raise prices on some items due to tariffs. They've kept prices down on other items.
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Aug 22, 2025
NPR asks Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, why she believes the U.S. economy is at an inflection point and what factors play into where it may go next.
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Aug 21, 2025
The Fed chair will speak Friday at an annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The speech comes as the central bank is under mounting pressure from the White House to lower interest rates.
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Aug 21, 2025
The world's largest retailer — like many others — has been absorbing most of the increased costs, but raising prices of some goods.
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Aug 21, 2025
Reich served under President Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He opens his new memoir, Coming Up Short, with an apology on behalf of the Baby Boom generation for failing to build a more just society.
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Aug 21, 2025
Canadian residents made just 1.7 million return trips by motor vehicle back into their country from the U.S. in July, a nearly 37% decline over the same month in 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
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Aug 20, 2025
President Trump is calling for the resignation of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook after a Trump ally accused her of making false statements on mortgage applications.
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Aug 20, 2025
The Trump administration is pursuing an unusual deal that would make the U.S. government a major stakeholder in chipmaker Intel. NPR unpacks the proposal with Bloomberg reporter Mackenzie Hawkins.
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Aug 20, 2025
There's been an era-defining race underway between two types of batteries used in electric vehicles: lithium batteries that use cobalt, and ones that use iron phosphate. Cobalt, a metal with a checkered human rights record, has been in the lead. Until recently.
Henry Sanderson's book on the elements that build electric vehicles is Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green.Related episodes:
The race to produce lithium
How batteries are already changing the grid
How batteries are riding the free market rodeo in Texas
How EV batteries tore apart Michigan (Update)
Batteries are catching fire at sea For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us:
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Aug 20, 2025
The risk from the recalled shrimp is "quite low," said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University. Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions.
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Aug 19, 2025
The 50-year-old casual dining chain Chili's has posted five straight quarters of double digit sales increases. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Slate's Dan Kois about what's behind the brand's turnaround.
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Aug 19, 2025
The home-improvement chain is now one of the companies most caught up in Trump's immigration crackdown. The retailer's history with day laborers is long. So far, it's choosing to keep its distance.
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Aug 19, 2025
The flight attendants' union said a new agreement guarantees members will be paid for work performed while planes are on the ground, resolving one of the major issues that drove the strike.
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Aug 19, 2025
Air Canada said it will gradually restart operations after reaching a deal with the flight attendants' union to end a strike that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers.
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Aug 19, 2025
A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments.
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Aug 19, 2025
Social media has birthed an entire lexicon replicated by millions online — even if these words don't actually mean skibidi. On today's show, we talk to author Adam Aleksic about how TikTok and Instagram's engagement metrics, and viral memes, are rewiring our brains and transforming language at warp speed.
Adam Aleksic's book is Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language Related episodes:
What we're reading on the beach this summer For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 18, 2025
Growing up with immigrant parents, first in Canada and then in the U.S., Yang was "obsessed" with pop culture and Saturday Night Live. Now he's up for an Emmy for his performances on the venerated sketch series.
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Aug 18, 2025
The right-wing news channel Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election. A trial had been scheduled for October.
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Aug 18, 2025
Innovation is crucial for long-term economic prosperity. One area where that's happening aplenty: medical technology. From a cancer vaccine to an Alzheimer's blood test to a life-changing exoskeleton, we take you on a tour of the economics of health technology. Related episodes:
The hidden costs of healthcare churn (Apple / Spotify)
More for Palantir, less for mRNA, and a disaster database redemption arc (Apple / Spotify)
It's actually really hard to make a robot, guys (Apple / Spotify) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Voice-over by Greg Hardes. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook,
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Aug 17, 2025
Air Canada will resume flights Monday evening, claiming the union illegally directed flight attendants to defy a return-to-work order.
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Aug 17, 2025
In small town Washington — where hydropower is plentiful — data centers are creating jobs and funding amenities. But water and energy aren't unlimited — and some worry about long-term sustainability.
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Aug 16, 2025
More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike after a deadline to reach a deal passed, leaving travelers around the world stranded and scrambling during the peak summer travel season.
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Aug 16, 2025
Canada's government forced Air Canada and its striking flight attendants back to work and into arbitration Saturday after a work stoppage stranded more than 100,000 travelers around the world.
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Aug 16, 2025
Scott Simon remembers former longtime NPR colleague Ted Clark, who passed away last week at the age of 79.
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Aug 16, 2025
A recent executive order paves the way for retirement accounts to include a lot more than stock and bond funds.
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Aug 16, 2025
Electricity prices are rising more than twice as fast as overall inflation. That's especially costly during the dog days of summer when air conditioners are working hardest. In addition to hot weather, a variety of factors are causing power bills to climb, including the high cost of natural gas used to generate electricity and soaring demand from data centers.
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Aug 15, 2025
The suit claims the popular service may be recording and processing millions of users' private conversations without consent.
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Aug 15, 2025
Home Depot stores have been the location of dramatic federal raids targeting day laborers. But the company has largely been quiet.
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Aug 15, 2025
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he doesn't agree with federal subsidies for high-speed EV chargers, but that his department "will respect Congress' will" and release the funds.
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Aug 15, 2025
For most Americans, we just lived through the highest period of inflation in our lives. And we are reminded of this every time we go grocery shopping. All over TikTok, tons of people have posted videos of how little they got for … $20. $40. $100. Most upsetting to us: an $8 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Food prices are almost 30% higher than they were five years ago. It's bad. And those new, higher prices aren't going away.
At the same time, prices are no longer inflating at a wild pace. For the last two years, the rate of inflation has slowed way down. And yet, our fears or feelings that things will spiral out of control again? Those have not slowed down.
This mismatch has been giving us all the …. feelings. Inflation feelings. Infeelings.
On our latest show: we sort through our infeeltions. We talk to the economists who have studied us. We learn why our personal inflation calculators don't always match the professional ones.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Support Planet Money, get bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening and now Summer School episodes one week early by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.
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Aug 15, 2025
The Trump administration sent reduction-in-force notices to more than 1,400 staffers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in April.
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Aug 15, 2025
Stars are starting their own companies and marketing products directly to their fans. We talked to people following and making these deals, including John Legend who started his own skincare brand.
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Aug 15, 2025
It's … Indicators of the Week! Our rapid run through the numbers you need to know. On today's episode: John Legend croons; CPI inflation soothes; Same job as mom? You'll earn more, dude; Apple vs. Apple, a courtroom feud. Related episodes:
Why every A-lister also has a side hustle
The DOJ's case against Apple
The Intergenerational Transmission of Employers and the Earnings of Young WorkersFor sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 14, 2025
Corporate America doesn't want to fight with President Trump in public. But as a result, it's ceding him an unprecedented amount of control over the shape — and future — of U.S. business.
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Aug 14, 2025
The left-leaning media outfit has surged in Donald Trump's second term, appealing to progressives outraged by the president. Still, the online streaming world remains dominated by right-wing voices.
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Aug 14, 2025
Critics warn that Trump's demands for business leaders to step down, and for the government to take a cut of sales, threaten American-style capitalism.
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Aug 14, 2025
Seemingly every celebrity has their own brand these days, whether it's booze (Cameron Diaz, Matthew McConaughey) or cosmetics (Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga) or squeezy food pouches (Jennifer Garner). IToday on the show, what is fueling the celebrity business bonanza? We hear from two legendary singers, Lisa Loeb AND John Legend, who are pursuing ventures outside of show business
Related episodes:
The celebrity crypto nexus
The Olympian to influencer pipeline (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 13, 2025
Trump's tax and spending law makes the largest cut in history to one of the nation's biggest safety net programs. Today on the show, we explore how cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, impacts families and grocery stores alike.
Based on the digital story: Independent grocery stores have had a tough five years. SNAP cuts will make it harder
Related episodes:
Do work requirements help SNAP people out of government aid?
When SNAP Gets Squeezed
The trouble with water discounts
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 13, 2025
Kari Lake has sought to dismantle Voice of America and its federal parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media. The agency has recently called her its acting CEO. But the law suggests she's not eligible for the job.
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Aug 13, 2025
This week's inflation report showed core inflation remains stubbornly high. But the stock market rallied Tuesday on hopes the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates in September.
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Aug 13, 2025
In economics, a market is a place (even virtual) where buyers and sellers interact to exchange goods or services. Economists love markets. It's like all of our supply and demand graphs have come to life. Everything you buy goes through some sort of marketplace—your cup of coffee came from trading in the bean markets. Your spouse might have come from the dating marketplace on the apps. Even kids will tell you one Snickers is worth at least two Twix.
But sometimes, as we'll see today, markets can go terribly wrong; greed can run out of control; lives can be at risk. That's when the government often steps in and gives the market a little nudge to work better.
Today's episode: Market Design.
Check out our Summer School video cheat sheet on the origins of money at the Planet Money TikTok.
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Emily Crawford.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
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Aug 13, 2025
In economics, a market is a place (even virtual) where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods or services. Economists love markets. It's like all of our supply and demand graphs have come to life. Almost everything you buy goes through some sort of marketplace—your cup of coffee came from trading in the bean markets. Your spouse might have come from the dating marketplace on the apps. Even kids will tell you one Snickers is worth at least two Twix.
But sometimes, as we'll see today, markets can go terribly wrong; greed can run out of control; lives can be at risk. That's when the government often steps in and gives the market a little nudge to work better. Today's episode: Market Design.
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Emily Crawford.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
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Aug 12, 2025
Ford announced they're putting billions into a Kentucky automotive plant to retool it to make EVs, starting with a midsize pickup that they say will be in the $30k price range.
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Aug 12, 2025
Cutting Medicaid can seem like an easy way to slash the budget. But, the costs can spread to all of us.
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Aug 12, 2025
Inflation remained elevated last month as President Trump's tariffs continued to make their way into the prices that consumers pay. The average cost of living in July was up 2.7%.
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Aug 12, 2025
President Trump's executive order extends a reprieve from the threat of rising tariffs between the world's two largest economies.
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Aug 12, 2025
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Peter Harrell of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about the Trump administration's deal to allow AI chip sales to China in exchange for revenue.
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Aug 12, 2025
Insulin needles. Sleeping bags. Nutella. These are items Arwa Damon's charity — International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance — has tried to send to Gaza and Israel has rejected. It's a glimpse into the harsh reality of a humanitarian crisis with no end in sight. Today on the show, we talk to Damon about the economics of running a humanitarian nonprofit and what's stopping more aid from reaching Gaza.
Related episodes:
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds
Why the U.S. helps pay for Israel's military
What could convince Egypt to take Gaza's refugees? For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 11, 2025
Ford announced that it will retool itsLouisville Assembly plant in Kentucky to focus on electric trucks. Their goal: To bring down prices for US buyers and compete with Chinese EV makers on the global market.
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Aug 11, 2025
The president said Nvidia would pay the government in exchange for easing export restrictions — and that he'd initially asked for a larger cut.
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Aug 11, 2025
President Trump's new tariffs are pouring in. But it's still only a fraction of overall government revenues — and falls short of new spending in the recent Republican megabill.
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Aug 11, 2025
Trump campaigned on helping American workers through his immigration policies. Now that he's revoked work authorization for thousands of immigrants, those left behind are feeling taxed by their absence.
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Aug 11, 2025
Trump campaigned on helping American workers through his immigration policies. Now that he's revoked work authorization for thousands of immigrants, those left behind are feeling taxed by their absence.
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Aug 11, 2025
It's time for our annual beach reading recs. Today we bring you three books, with a little economic learning to boot. Our recs:
Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott
Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic
Related episodes:
Beach reading with a side of economics How to beach on a budget
How to beach on a budget
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 10, 2025
NPR's Adrian Ma speaks to Jamie Butters, Detroit bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, about how President Trump's tariffs are hitting the automotive market.
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Aug 10, 2025
NPR's Adrian Ma speaks to Sam Levine, former director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, now at UC Berkeley, about the use online data to charge some customers more for products and services.
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Aug 09, 2025
From inflation to recession, we who cover the economy and business at NPR get asked about tariffs all the time. Here are some of the most frequent questions — and what we answer.
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Aug 08, 2025
After President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists and statisticians across the board were horrified. Because the firing raises the spectre of potential manipulation - and it raises the worry that, in the future, the numbers won't be as trustworthy.
So: we looked at two countries that have some experience with data manipulation. To ask what happens when governments get tempted to cook the books. And...once they cook the books... how hard is it to UN-cook them?
It's two statistical historical cautionary tales. First, we learn how Argentina tried to mask its true inflation rate, and how that effort backfired. Then, we hear about the difficult process of cleaning up the post-cooked-book mess, in Greece.
For more:
- Can we just change how we measure GDP?
- The price of lettuce in Brooklyn
- What really goes on at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Update)
- Can we still trust the monthly jobs report? (Update)
- How office politics could take down Europe
- The amazing shrinking economy might stop shrinking
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
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Aug 08, 2025
The Trump administration has replaced former Missouri Congressman Billy Long as IRS Commissioner, after less than two months on the job. It's the latest in a string of management shakeups at the tax collection agency.
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Aug 08, 2025
Alexander Sammon received a suspicious job recruitment text from someone who claimed to be a hiring manager. He decided to play along to see how far the scam would go, and wrote about it for Slate.
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Aug 08, 2025
Economists say, what happens in Vegas matters nationally because it often reflects broader trends on consumer confidence and the overall health of the U.S. economy.
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Aug 08, 2025
An executive order from President Trump would extend the opportunity for 401k fund managers to include private equity in retirement portfolios. What are the risks and benefits?
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Aug 08, 2025
It's ... Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.
On today's episode: Palantir crosses a billion dollars in quarterly revenue (what do they actually do again?); mRNA vaccine research gets a big cut in RFK Jr's health department; and a climate disaster database gets a new lease on life.
Related episodes:
How Palantir, the secretive tech company, is rising in the Trump era
An indicator lost: big disaster costs
Moonshot in the arm
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Cooper Katz McKim. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 07, 2025
President Trump plans to nominate Stephen Miran to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, but only for the next six months.
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Aug 07, 2025
Buying something new can be thrilling in the moment, but will you still be glad you bought it after the fact? NPR readers share their top tips for mindful shopping to avoid regret and overspending.
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Aug 07, 2025
Tensions are escalating between the U.S. and India as the Trump administration imposes tariffs and tries to force India to stop buying Russian oil.
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Aug 07, 2025
President Trump's new round of tariffs took effect today. It will bring in billions of dollars to the government, in part paid for by U.S. importers who can decide whether to pass that cost onto American families. But are these tariffs legal?
Today on the show, the arguments for and against the president's tariffs and what happens to that tariff revenue if Trump loses.
Related episodes:
Trump's tariff role model
Dealmaker Don v. Tariff Man Trump
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 07, 2025
President Trump's new round of tariffs took effect today. It will bring in billions of dollars to the government, in part paid for by U.S. importers who can decide whether to pass that cost onto American families. But are these tariffs legal?
Today on the show, the arguments for and against the president's tariffs and what happens to that tariff revenue if Trump loses.
Related episodes:
Trump's tariff role model
Dealmaker Don v. Tariff Man Trump
Are Trump's tariffs legal?
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 07, 2025
The White House said that starting just after midnight that goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union would face tariff rates of 10% or higher.
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Aug 06, 2025
Hundreds of United Airlines flights were disrupted on Wednesday evening as the carrier grappled with a major computer system outage. The airline requested ground stops at its major hubs in the U.S.
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Aug 06, 2025
The chain's bankruptcy filing is the second in seven years. Its troubles include unwieldy debt, shoppers' changing habits and new tariff costs.
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Aug 06, 2025
The chain's bankruptcy filing is the second in seven years. Its troubles include unwieldy debt, shoppers' changing habits and new tariff costs.
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Aug 06, 2025
A judge is demanding answers about the international broadcaster's future from Trump official Kari Lake.
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Aug 06, 2025
Why do revisions to the jobs report happen? Today on the show, we speak with a former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics about why revisions occur and how we should interpret the monthly report's actual message.
Related episodes:
Can we still trust the monthly jobs report? (Update)
What really goes on at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Update)
??How you're using AI at work
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Aug 06, 2025
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here.
Traditional economics says the market is guided by the forces of supply and demand. Customers decide what they want to buy, and private enterprise responds to that need.
So what makes government think that it's smarter than capitalism? Why offer tax breaks to Hollywood or incentives to build silicon chip factories in Arizona? Why those industries and not others? And when does the free market fail and need government to step in?
Today, we discuss what happens when the government really wants to get its hands dirty and shape the direction of the economy, even decide which companies should prosper and which ones should fail, through industrial policy.
Check out our Summer School video cheat sheet on the origins of money at the Planet Money TikTok.
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Emily Crawford.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
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Aug 06, 2025
LIVE SHOW: August 18th in Brooklyn. Tickets here.
Traditional economics says the market is guided by the forces of supply and demand. Customers decide what they want to buy, and private enterprise responds to that need.
So what makes government think that it's smarter than capitalism? Why offer tax breaks to Hollywood or incentives to build silicon chip factories in Arizona? Why those industries and not others? And when does the free market fail and need government to step in?
Today, we discuss what happens when the government really wants to get its hands dirty and shape the direction of the economy, even decide which companies should prosper and which ones should fail, through industrial policy.
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Eric Mennel. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Emily Crawford.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
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Aug 06, 2025
Under the terms, ESPN will acquire NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators and the league will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN.
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Aug 05, 2025
The Trump administration wants to make it easier for companies to use drones for business — from delivering coffee to inspecting power lines to working on farms.
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Aug 05, 2025
Since his return to office, President Trump has waged something of a pressure campaign on economic data and the people in charge of delivering it. His firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner following a weak jobs report now has some wondering: can we still trust the official numbers? Today on the show, we're resharing our conversation with former BLS commissioner, Erica Groshen on her current fears for the integrity of government data. The original version of this story aired March 7, 2025.
Related:
What really goes on at the Bureau of Labor Statistics? (Update) (Apple / Spotify)
Would you trust an economist with your economy? (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram,
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Aug 05, 2025
Americans love olive oil — and import 95% of it. But tariffs are making it harder for Europeans to sell it to Americans.
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Aug 05, 2025
Tesla's board has approved another huge compensation package for Elon Musk - but only if he sticks around to lead the company for at least two more years.
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Aug 04, 2025
Google's AI Overviews feature can deliver an answer to your question before you click a single link. But it spells bad news for the publishers that write the articles that power these AI summaries: their business models depend on site visits to sell ads. And some smaller publishers have already gone out of business as the use of AI summaries grows.
"The extinction-level event is already here," said Helen Havlak, publisher of tech news site The Verge.
NPR's John Ruwitch reports on how companies are adapting to the artificial intelligence shake-up in Google search. And Google is a financial supporter of NPR, but we cover them like any other company.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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Aug 04, 2025
The president says his tariffs will spur America into a "golden age," but that remains far from certain. Here are 5 things to know about how his trade policies could impact the U.S. and the global economy.
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Aug 04, 2025
On Friday, we reported on the latest jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed weaker than expected growth. On Friday afternoon, President Trump fired the person in charge of those numbers.
The monthly jobs report is a critical tool for the economy, used by businesses to make decisions and the Federal Reserve to set rates. So how exactly are those figures collected? Today, we're re-airing our behind-the-scenes look at how the BLS puts together the jobs report ... one call at a time.
This show originally aired June 6, 2022.
Related:
Can we trust the monthly jobs report?
Would you trust an economist with your economy?
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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez and Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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