Planet Money

Since we started Planet Money Records and released the 47-year-old song “Inflation,” the song has taken off. It recently hit 1 million streams on Spotify. And we now have a full line of merch —…

Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest bank in America, the bank of choice for tech startups and big-name venture capitalists. Then, in the span of just a few days, it collapsed. Whispers that SVB…

Over the past year, dozens of shows have been disappearing from streaming platforms like HBO Max and Showtime. Shows like Minx, Made for Love, FBoy Island, and even big budget hits like Westworld have been…

As a kid, Ryanne Jones’ friend accidentally hit her in the mouth with a hammer, knocking out her two front teeth. Her parents never had enough money for the dental care needed to fix them,…

The 90s sit-com Seinfeld is often called “a show about nothing.” Lauded for its observational humor, this quick-witted show focussed on four hapless New Yorkers navigating work, relationships…yada yada yada. Jerry, George, Elaine & Kramer…

If you are a congressperson or a senator and you have an idea for a new piece of legislation, at some point someone will have to tell you how much it costs. But, how do…

More than 20 years ago, something unusual happened in the small town of Dixfield, Maine. A lady named Barbara Thorpe had left almost all of her money—$200,000—to benefit the cats of her hometown. When Barbara…

This episode originally ran in 2020. In 2005, Franklin Leonard was a junior executive at Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company. A big part of his job was to find great scripts. The only thing — most…

Every year, the U.S. government spends more money than it takes in. In order to fund all that spending, the country takes on debt. Congress has the power to limit how much debt the U.S.…

A lot of the time, economic policy can seem pretty impersonal — cold, hard, data-driven. But at the heart of the Federal Reserve are people: fallible, complicated people who are just doing their best to…