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Apr 02, 2025
President Trump and top officials are considering a deal that would create a new U.S. entity and lease TikTok's algorithm to get around China export regulations.
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Apr 02, 2025
What are tariffs good for?
For years, mainstream economists have basically said: tariffs are not good. They are an import tax paid by consumers, they've said, and they discourage free trade, and we want more! Because free trade has broadly led to more global economic growth.
But global trade hasn't been all positive for Americans, and in the worldview of President Trump's administration, tariffs can be used to right some of those wrongs. And the U.S. has economic leverage. So if the U.S. wants to level the playing field, it should use that leverage, and use tariffs to accomplish its policy goals.
Today on the show: the case for tariffs. We talk to a lonely economist who's been sounding the alarm for years that more and free-er trade isn't always better. And we speak to economists in President Trump's orbit who make the case for how tariffs can be a potent economic and political tool.
This episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Meg Cramer. It was fact-checked by Sarah McClure and engineered by James Willetts. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Music: Universal Music Production: "
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Apr 02, 2025
Eight-point-seven billion.
Four-hundred million.
One-hundred-seventy-five million.
These are just some examples of the money the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Harvard University.
That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard has not done enough to curb antisemitism on campus.
Some educators say the administration's moves to cut funding at colleges and universities amounts to a war on higher education. But the loss of those funds will be felt far beyond the college campuses.
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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Apr 02, 2025
The disappointing global deliveries of the company's electric car models come as CEO Elon Musk's role as President Trump's cost-cutting czar sparks a backlash among consumers.
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Apr 02, 2025
Trump is expected to impose "reciprocal tariffs," which economists believe could be painful for U.S. consumers. And, the Trump administration says it mistakenly deported a man to El Salvador.
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Apr 02, 2025
President Trump has been promising new "reciprocal tariffs" to punish other countries for their tariffs and trade barriers. Markets are nervous that a trade war could hike prices and hurt the economy.
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Apr 02, 2025
Trump said his administration will apply a 10% tariff on all imports, and that other trading partners will face additional "reciprocal tariffs" ranging as high as 49%.
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Apr 02, 2025
The U.S. has generally kept tariffs low, but a few domestic industries have long been protected by import taxes and other trade barriers. They offer clues about how Trump's new tariffs might work out.
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Apr 02, 2025
President Trump's tariff talk has been big — and also unpredictable. He's frequently made threats only to back off or shift deadlines. Here, a look at how the tariff agenda has rolled out.
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Apr 02, 2025
NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG US, about the potential impacts of new tariffs that President Trump says he plans to announce Wednesday afternoon.
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Apr 02, 2025
Billions of tech dollars flowing into a community to build data centers should transform a local economy ... right? Well, maybe not.
On today's episode: Why data centers create few permanent jobs. And why communities might want them anyway.
Related episodes:
Why China's DeepSeek AI is such a big deal (Apple / Spotify)
Is AI overrated? (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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Apr 02, 2025
At the beginning of the year, Brittany spoke to ELLE Fashion Features Director and author, Véronique Hyland, about the growing trend of underconsumption content online. No-Buy January, buying secondhand, and mending old clothes seemed to be taking hold amongst some of the most popular influencers - even though the guiding principle of underconsumption is something we've been doing for a long time.
Then, Trump started implementing tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada - and now even the European Union. That made Brittany think: how would fast fashion be affected by this? And would underconsumption move from a hashtag to a lifestyle? To find out, The Indicator's Wailin Wong joins the show to break down how tariffs will affect Americans who love to shop... when the prices drop.
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Apr 01, 2025
President Trump is preparing to announce another big round of tariffs Wednesday. He argues that import taxes help to protect U.S. producers from foreign competition.
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Apr 01, 2025
In President Donald Trump's telling, tariffs are the political equivalent of duct tape: you can use them to fix anything.
For example, they're a negotiating tool — he used the threat of tariffs to pressure Canada and Mexico to implement border policies he liked. He also sees tariffs as a revenue source that might help offset his proposed $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and as a shield to protect American manufacturing jobs from overseas competition.
With all of these potentially conflicting aims, and with another major round of tariffs expected to be announced on Wednesday, what is the strategy behind them?
Rana Foroohar, a Financial Times columnist and the author of Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World, says they're an "experiment" that could lead to a big change in the way the global economy works.
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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Apr 01, 2025
Sales of electric vehicles worldwide have been growing and the largest manufacturer of EVs is China's BYD. Their global revenue was over $100 billion in 2024, beating Tesla. To keep up that growth and to try to stave off the pain of U.S. tariffs, BYD is expanding in emerging markets. One of the markets where their cars are selling big is Brazil, where BYD is investing nearly a billion dollars in a factory. But as our Brazil correspondent tells us there have been some difficulties along the way.
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Apr 01, 2025
Tariffs are roiling stock markets — but making gold hotter than ever.
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Apr 01, 2025
NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Rana Foroohar, a columnist for the Financial Times, about President Trump's goal with tariffs.
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Apr 01, 2025
A controversial study raised the specter that Girl Scout cookies are unsafe. Authorities say they are safe, but the whole saga highlights a breakdown of trust in American institutions.
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Apr 01, 2025
There are now more than 3,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes' annual ranking of the wealthiest people. They collectively hold about $16.1 trillion in wealth.
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Apr 01, 2025
Goldman Sachs raised the probability of a U.S. recession to 35%, up from 20%. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, talks with NPR's Michel Martin about the direction of the economy.
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Apr 01, 2025
Investors are bracing for more turbulence, as President Trump prepares to unveil a new set of tariffs on Wednesday.
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Apr 01, 2025
Mexico is gearing up to directly elect federal and state judges for the first time this June. President Claudia Sheinbaum says the new system will combat nepotism and increase the integrity of the courts. But critics see it as a naked attempt to dilute the court's independence. Today on the show, how Mexico's judicial reforms are creating angst for businesses at home and abroad.
Related episodes:
SCOTUS: De-facto pro-business?
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 Cooper Katz-McKim. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Mar 31, 2025
Hyundai just opened a high-tech auto plant in Georgia. Originally meant to just build EVs, it's expanding towards plug-in hybrids — a sign of bigger shifts in the auto industry.
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Mar 31, 2025
Brands trying to be your best bud. Generational labels. Gendered double standards.
Today on the show: three advertising experts bring their three pet peeves in advertisements.
Related episodes:
How to make an ad memorable (Apple / Spotify)
J. Screwed
The Gender Gap Series: The Problem With The Pink Tax
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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Mar 31, 2025
Asian shares were sharply lower on Monday as worries are building over a potentially toxic mix of worsening inflation and a U.S. economy slowing because households are cautious to spend.
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Mar 31, 2025
Asian shares were sharply lower on Monday as worries are building over a potentially toxic mix of worsening inflation and a U.S. economy slowing because households are cautious to spend.
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Mar 30, 2025
President Trump is set to announce new tariffs on a range of countries. We take a closer look at who actually pays for them.
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Mar 30, 2025
What do Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, social media sensation Hawk Tuah, and the President of the United States all have in common? They've all inspired highly valuable, highly volatile memecoins. The memecoin began as a sort of joke cryptocurrency, but it soon became very real.
On today's episode of The Sunday Story, we turn to our friends at NPR's Planet Money to help us understand the phenomenon of memecoins. What are they, and how did they go from a one-off joke to a speculative frenzy worth tens of billions of dollars? Who are the winners and losers in this brazen new market?
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Mar 29, 2025
FCC chair Brendan Carr said he wants a review all of Disney's DEI practices — both past and present — to determine whether the company has ever violated any FCC regulations.
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Mar 29, 2025
Charlie Javice, whose startup claimed to be revolutionizing the way college students apply for financial aid, was convicted of defrauding the banking giant by exaggerating her customer base tenfold.
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Mar 29, 2025
The protests are scheduled to take place at Tesla facilities across the U.S. and in Europe on Saturday, as part of a grassroots campaign against Tesla CEO Elon Musk's work in the Trump administration.
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Mar 29, 2025
At a rally in Los Angeles, 65-year-old Phil Ansell said he wanted to participate because "I want to do everything possible to protect democracy in this country."
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Mar 29, 2025
Trump senior adviser Kari Lake is regrouping after U.S. judges blocked her from taking further actions against the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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Mar 28, 2025
The temporary injunction issued by Judge Berman Jackson seeks to preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a lawsuit filed by the agency's union proceeds.
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Mar 28, 2025
Cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could reduce the number of scallops harvested this season. Less data about the health of the fishery forces lower limits on harvesting.
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Mar 28, 2025
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Trump can fire Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board after a lower court had them reinstated.
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Mar 28, 2025
Elon Musk is hoping his role in the White House will give a big boost to Starlink, his fast-growing satellite broadband network. And Musk may have the allies he needs in the Trump administration. Critics of Musk fear the billionaire could be poised for huge giveaway in the form of broadband and radio spectrum contracts.
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Mar 28, 2025
Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we? This episode, we partner with Radiolab to take stock of the essential raw materials that enable us to live as we do here on Earth — everything from sand to copper to oil — and tally up how much we have left. Are we living with reckless abandon? And if so, is there even a way to stop? A simultaneously terrifying and delightful conversation about bird poop, daredevil drivers, and some staggering back-of-the-envelope math.
Radiolab's original episode was produced and edited by Pat Walters and Soren Wheeler. Fact-checking by Natalie Middleton. The Planet Money edition of this episode was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Alex Goldmark and Jess Jiang. Special thanks to Jennifer Brandel.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Music: NPR Source Audio - "Wir Rollen"
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Mar 28, 2025
President Trump's new executive order ends collective bargaining for wide swaths of federal employees, as part of his broader campaign to reshape the government's workforce. Unions are vowing to sue.
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Mar 28, 2025
President Trump cites risks from fentanyl to justify tariffs on Canada and Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says interceptions of eggs are way up, compared to 63 fentanyl cases last month.
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Mar 28, 2025
The World Trade Organization has long served as the referee for global trade disputes. But recently, it has been sidelined by the U.S. and others, which means there's no referee to mediate the trade wars.
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Mar 28, 2025
President Trump says a 25% tariff on cars and auto parts will bring more auto manufacturing jobs to the United States. Jim Ross, the mayor of Arlington, TX, a city with a large General Motors auto assembly plant, says it will likely do the opposite.
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Mar 28, 2025
Reaction to President Trump's plan to slap a 25% tariff on imported cars has been mixed. Unionized autoworkers are cheering, but investors who own stock in auto-makers are considerably less enthusiastic.
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Mar 28, 2025
On Indicators of the Week, we look at a huge projected tax shortfall, the price of copper and the afterlife of Napster, the peer-to-peer file-sharing service that refuses to die.
Related episodes:
A new-ish gold rush and other indicators (Apple / Spotify)
Can the Federal Reserve stay independent (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Mar 27, 2025
President Trump's newly announced 25% import tariffs on foreign cars will increase vehicle prices by thousands of dollars, experts say, but Tesla is likely to fare better than other carmakers.
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Mar 27, 2025
A newspaper on the rural Colorado-New Mexico state line says new tariffs on Canadian newsprint could be the straw that breaks their back financially. Many newspapers are barely hanging on.
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Mar 27, 2025
Some prominent conservative media figures suggested that adding a prominent journalist to the group chat was evidence of the "deep state" though others said it was a security breach.
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Mar 27, 2025
Conservative media figures are responding to the news that top officials shared sensitive military information over texts. Some claim it's a hoax, others that it was a brilliant ploy.
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Mar 27, 2025
China has long been the world's factory, but it's economy is starting to face serious headwinds. Demand for Chinese goods has slumped, China is saddled with too much industrial capacity and heavy debt. And now a tariff war with the United States further darkens China's economic outlook. We have two reports on reactions to China's economic state. We hear how the Chinese government is encouraging business investment, but it's a hard pitch to sell in a communist state that hasn't always been kind to entrepreneurs. And how Vietnam, another communist country, seeks to capitalize on China's uncertain future and is experiencing a manufacturing boom.
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Mar 27, 2025
The appointment of Catherine Eschbach could raise conflict-of-interest concerns. She will also lead the downsizing of an agency that holds contractors accountable to federal civil rights laws.
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Mar 27, 2025
Countries have debated for decades whether to allow mining on the ocean floor, a potential trove of critical minerals. Now, a Canadian startup says it will move ahead, whether or not rules are in place.
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Mar 27, 2025
Countries have debated for decades whether to allow mining on the ocean floor, a potential trove of critical minerals. Now, companies are telling regulators they plan to move ahead, whether or not rules are in place.
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Mar 27, 2025
Countries have debated for decades whether to allow mining on the ocean floor, a potential trove of critical minerals. Now, a Canadian startup says it will move ahead, whether or not rules are in place.
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Mar 27, 2025
Many nonprofits accept your used cars as a way to donate. This happens from Make-A-Wish America to Habitat for Humanity to ... public radio stations!
So, how does the process actually work? And who takes a cut along the way?
Today, we follow the car money.
Related episodes:
Show your love for The Indicator from Planet Money by making a donation
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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Mar 26, 2025
The president's latest action on trade enacts a 25% tariff on cars made outside of the U.S., continuing his trade policies focused on boosting American manufacturing.
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Mar 26, 2025
The president's latest action on trade takes effect next week, and will slap a 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts. He says the measure will boost U.S. manufacturing.
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Mar 26, 2025
The legal fight could have far-reaching implications for the media and artificial intelligence industries.
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Mar 26, 2025
Some car owners couldn't claim the EV tax credit for vehicles purchased in 2024 because dealers skipped a key sales reporting step. The IRS is now offering a fix.
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Mar 26, 2025
Some car owners couldn't claim the EV tax credit for vehicles purchased in 2024 because dealers skipped a key sales reporting step. The IRS is now offering a fix.
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Mar 26, 2025
The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at bizarrely low prices. Prices we couldn't find at any retail outlet. Prices so low, we could buy a diamond on a public radio budget. So we did. What we got in the mail was a tiny ziploc bag containing a scintillating mystery.
On today's show: the Planet Money Diamond (or whatever this sparkly rock turns out to be). We get it analyzed by the experts at the Gemological Institute of America. We investigate where it came from. And, we dive into the economics of glittery stones. Was this a new kind of internet scam? Some supply chain anomaly? Or is something just really weird going on in the world of diamonds?
This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Keith Romer with help from Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Emma Peaslee, and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
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Mar 26, 2025
Federal Judge Royce Lamberth ruled the continued operation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was "in the public interest" and froze White House plans to shut it down.
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Mar 26, 2025
A proposal to severely limit guns that use detachable magazines is approaching final passage in the Colorado legislature. The state's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, is expected to sign it into law.
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Mar 26, 2025
More than three-quarters of U.S. wells make just 6% of the country's oil. They're called marginal wells because of their small output. But they're a big deal to oil producers and environmentalists.
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Mar 26, 2025
StubHub has a "Recommended Tickets" filter that only displays some tickets but not others. It's automatically turned on - and it's upsetting users
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Mar 26, 2025
As relations between the US and Europe continue to sour, European countries are working to lower their reliance on the U.S. for weapons and security. Today on the show, we ask what Europe needs to do to become independent militarily and what potential barriers could stand in the way.
Related episodes:
Europe's NATO members take an economic hit (Apple / Spotify)
Two Indicators: Economics of the defense industry (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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Mar 25, 2025
A House subcommittee led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and named after Elon Musk's government-efficiency team has set its sights on the public broadcasters.
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Mar 25, 2025
NPR's Juana Summers talks with John Verdi, senior vice president for policy at the Future of Privacy Forum, about 23andMe's bankruptcy filing and what a potential sale could mean for customers' data.
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Mar 25, 2025
President Trump has vowed tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but the U.S. has a trade deal with its North American neighbors, one that Trump crafted in his first term. So what's the point of the deal now?
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Mar 25, 2025
The release of the employees from the Mintz Group comes as China is trying to woo back foreign investors to help revive its sagging economy.
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Mar 25, 2025
The release of the employees from the firm, the Mintz Group, comes as China is trying to woo back foreign investors to help revive its sagging economy.
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Mar 25, 2025
Home health care workers in Nevada are lobbying the state legislature to raise caregivers' minimum wage from $16 to $20 an hour.
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Mar 25, 2025
What's one word you'd use to describe the 2025 economy? That's the question we fanned out across the U.S. with microphones and open ears. From street parties in the South to an L.A. bookstore to a boardroom in Denver, we listen for financial signals in today's economy.
Related episodes:
How many times can you say uncertainty in one economic report? (Apple / Spotify)
The stock market is down, but you don't need to be (Apple / Spotify)
The highs and lows of US rent (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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Mar 24, 2025
Under the Trump administration, federal agencies are calling employees into the office. At the VA, therapists and doctors say this change is more than inconvenient — it could compromise patient care.
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Mar 24, 2025
Whether you're a shopper or a seller, a worker or a business owner, you likely have a lot on your mind when it comes to budgeting, planning trips or big purchases. And we want to hear all about it.
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Mar 24, 2025
India is hoping to attract more manufacturing as the Trump administration's tariff policies make it more expensive to do business in China.
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Mar 24, 2025
Half of all workers are showing signs of burnout according to a survey of international workers. Burnout can come from feeling detached from your work's purpose, having too much work, or ... from specialization. Today on the show, we speak with Shigehiro Oishi, author of Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life.
Related episodes:
Is endless vacation a scam? (Apple / Spotify)
Why we work so much
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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Mar 23, 2025
Frankel was The New York Times' executive editor from 1986 to 1994. He remained with the newspaper for nearly half a century, ushering it through different eras.
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Mar 23, 2025
LIfe Kit has tips on how to improve your resume.
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Mar 22, 2025
Trump said Boeing had won the contract to build the U.S. Air Force's next generation of fighter jets. Little is known about the jet's specifications, appearance or capabilities.
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Mar 22, 2025
Newsmax is being sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems — the same company that sued Fox News over false 2020 election-fraud claims and walked away with a nearly $800 million settlement.
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Mar 21, 2025
Six Voice of America journalists and a director at its parent agency have sued the Trump administration, alleging its moves to shut down the U.S.-funded network are unconstitutional.
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Mar 21, 2025
Owning a home, starting a family or retiring: If these are things you want, what's the best age to do them? The Pew Research Center surveyed 3,600 U.S. adults to find out.
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Mar 21, 2025
There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domestic product (GDP). It's the sum of all final transactions, so all the goods or services bought and sold, in an economy. GDP tells us how hot the economy is running, or how cool — like if we might be heading into a recession. And it's an important tool to compare countries, policies, and politicians. It's used by the U.S. government to allocate money and by businesses to make decisions about the future.
For close to a century the building blocks of GDP have been the same. Now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has proposed a big change: taking government spending out of GDP.
On today's show, can the U.S. change how it measures GDP? We talk with a former head of the BEA — about what he thinks they're likely to do now, and about the pressure he faced while trying to compile GDP for nearly two decades. Turns out, people have always been trying to bend it to make whatever grand project they're working on look better.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.
Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money in Apple Podcasts
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Mar 21, 2025
The lawsuit includes a photo of a notebook found in John Barnett's truck when he died by suicide, bearing the message, "I pray Boeing Pays!!!" In response to the new lawsuit, Boeing said in a statement, "We are saddened by John Barnett's death and extend our condolences to his family."
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Mar 21, 2025
In a sudden move, the CEO of Amtrak stepped down. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with the Rail Passengers Association's Jim Matthews about the future of the U.S. Passenger Rail Service.
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Mar 21, 2025
Already, lower courts have found President Trump's removal of Democratic members of independent agencies to be unlawful. The Trump administration has appealed.
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Mar 21, 2025
It's Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at interesting numbers from the news.
On today's show, we welcome back co-host Adrian Ma.
We also have the price of gold going up, German defense stocking up, and U.S. mergers and acquisitions slowing down.
Related episodes:
NPR's Adrian Ma remembers girlfriend, Kiah Duggins, who died in D.C. plane crash
Europe's NATO members take an economic hit (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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Mar 20, 2025
Farmers already worry about things like crop prices, the cost of farm supplies and extreme weather.
Now, President Trump's signature tariffs — and the federal government under the Trump administration — pose more big question marks.
We hear from Ann Veneman, the Secretary of Agriculture under George W. Bush.
And Robert Smith and Wailin Wong from NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money report on what economic uncertainty means for one farmer.
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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Mar 20, 2025
Ben & Jerry's alleges its parent company, Unilever, ousted its CEO in retaliation for social media posts supporting progressive causes. The last few years have been a rocky road for the companies.
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Mar 20, 2025
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday as concerns loom over President Trump's new tariffs. And, a judge denied a request to block DOGE's takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
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Mar 20, 2025
Some fear a setback for women and people of color after President Trump revoked a 1965 executive order that required federal contractors to identify and address barriers to employment.
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Mar 20, 2025
Some fear a setback for women and people of color after President Trump revoked a 1965 executive order that required federal contractors to identify and address barriers to employment.
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Mar 20, 2025
President Trump fired two Democratic appointees from the independent agency tasked with policing corporate America. One of them told NPR the move is a gift to the president's wealthiest supporters.
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Mar 20, 2025
The Fed held rates steady as it faces a tricky balancing act between promoting economic growth and quelling inflation if President Trump's tariffs push prices up.
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Mar 20, 2025
Pepsi will acquire the upstart prebiotic soda brand Poppi for nearly $2 billion. It may be a sign of the growing interest in the functional beverage market.
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Mar 20, 2025
In 2009, Bitcoin launched as the first cryptocurrency. Just under two decades, President Trump has signed an executive order to create the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile." On today's show, we look at what the U.S. government plans for this new strategy, plus who benefits from a crypto reserve.
Related episodes:
Is an American sovereign wealth fund such a bad idea? (Apple / Spotify)
Is 'government crypto' a good idea? (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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Mar 19, 2025
The argument for international aid is in part a moral one, but it's also been about U.S. interests. As then-senator Marco Rubio put it in 2017: "I promise you it's going to be a lot harder to recruit someone to anti-Americanism, anti-American terrorism if the United States of America was the reason why they're even alive today."
Now, as secretary of state, Rubio serves under a president who is deeply skeptical of the idea of international aid. "We're giving billions and billions of dollars to countries that hate us," President Trump said in a speech last month. His administration shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development. A federal judge said this week that move violated the constitution. What's left of the agency has been folded into the State Department.
Trump has also moved to gut government-funded, editorially independent broadcasters like Voice of America, and attempted to effectively eliminate the congressionally-funded think tank the U.S. Institute of Peace.
This sort of soft power has been a pillar of American foreign policy. Is the Trump administration walking away from it?
We talk to former Democratic congressman and former secretary of agriculture, Dan Glickman, who sponsored the legislation that created the USIP.
And NPR's Emily Feng reports on the legacy of Voice of America in China.
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Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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Mar 19, 2025
Crop prices are at historic lows, fertilizer costs are rising, cuts to federal agencies have created uncertainty over farm bill safety nets, and the current trade war is negatively affecting exports.
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Mar 19, 2025
The Fed held rates steady, but left the door open to cut them later this year if inflation continues to ease. Trump's tariffs, however, could complicate efforts to bring prices under control.
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Mar 19, 2025
The IRS says some Americans who have not filed their 2021 tax returns could be eligible for a pandemic-era relief payment, as long as they do so by April 15. Here's what to know as Tax Day approaches.
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