Planet Money

  • Everything’s more expensive!! Pet Care!! Concert Tickets!! (Two Indicators)

    People in the U.S. are feeling the financial squeeze, in part because of rising inflation, higher consumer prices and slowing job growth. The Indicator from Planet Money is tackling a special series on the rising…


  • After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble

    This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, and…


  • The remittance mystery

    For decades, the U.S. has been the single biggest source of remittances worldwide. A remittance is a transfer of money, typically from an immigrant to their family in their country of origin. But we are…


  • Should the fine have to fit the crime?

    The U.S. Constitution famously outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments.” But there’s another, far more obscure part of the Constitution called the Excessive Fines Clause, which basically says that the fine has to fit the crime.…


  • TikTok’s Trojan Horse Strategy

    When TikTok videos started to go viral on Instagram and Reddit, TikTok turned to professional sound designers to protect their content. More and more companies are paying to develop a “sonic identity” – a series…


  • How Russia’s shadow fleet is sailing around oil sanctions

    Bjarne Caesar Skinnerup works as a maritime pilot in the straits of Denmark. That means he’s used to seeing oil tankers. But after the start of the war in Ukraine, the tankers started getting weird.…


  • The year NYC went broke

    In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thousands of city employees and robust social services by taking on billions of dollars…


  • How the government got hedge funded

    The U.S. government spends a ton of money, on everything from Medicare to roads to defense. In fact, it spends way more than it takes in. So…it borrows money, in the bond market. By selling…


  • Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)

    Pre-order the Planet Money book here for your free gift.  Our sister show, The Indicator, is chronicling the evolving business of crime for its Vice Week series. Today, we bring to you two cases of…


  • The Planet Money Game: Test our prototype

    It’s here! It’s free to download and playtest! It’s the Planet Money game! (Download here.) Download and playtest the game go here  Sign up for the 11/1 virtual AMA event and get updates about the…


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