Planet Money

  • The President’s Golden Share in U.S. Steel

    LIVE SHOW ALERT: August 18th, NYC. Get your tickets here. When news broke that a Japanese company, Nippon Steel, was buying the storied American steel company U.S. Steel, it was still 2023, just before an…

  • The President’s Golden Share in U.S. Steel

    LIVE SHOW ALERT: August 18th, NYC. Get your tickets here. When news broke that a Japanese company, Nippon Steel, was buying the storied American steel company U.S. Steel, it was still 2023, just before an…

  • Summer School 3: How government decides what to spend our money on

    Although it seems like the government can spend an endless amount of money, it cannot actually do all the things it wants to do. So the big question in this week’s lesson is: How do…

  • Why are we so obsessed with manufacturing?

    It seems like politicians cannot agree on a lot. But many seem to agree on… manufacturing. Leaders of both political parties have been working to try and make the U.S. a manufacturing powerhouse again. On…

  • Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media

    Act now to ensure public media remains free and accessible to all. Your donation will help this essential American service survive and thrive. Visit donate.npr.org now. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy…

  • Made in America

    What people might picture when they think of “Made in America” … might not look like the “Made in America” we have today. The U.S. does have a domestic manufacturing industry, including a garment manufacturing…

  • Summer School 2: How taxes change behavior and the economy

    We all know the government uses taxes to pay for things. But what about using taxes to control behavior? This week on Summer School, Professor Darrick Hamilton of The New School, helps us explore the…

  • Summer School 1: A government’s role in the economy is to make us all richer

    Government. The Big G. We like to imagine the free market and the invisible hand as being independent from political influence. But Nobel laureate, Simon Johnson, says that influence has been there since the birth…

  • The simple math of the big bill

    If we think about the economic effects of President Donald Trumps big taxing and spending and domestic policy bill, we can roughly sum it up in one line. It goes something like this: We will…

  • A thought experiment on how to fix the national debt problem

    There’s an economic fantasy you sometimes hear in D.C. It often gets trotted out when politicians are trying to add billions or trillions to the national debt. They claim that all the new spending will…