Category: 3-EconSometimeCommentary

If you cut every single federal job President Donald Trump wants to cut, how much money would that save?

A president has tried to massively shrink the size of the federal government before. It was in the 90s, under a Democrat.

Today on the show: Where they found waste the last time we really looked. (Hint: it wasn't jobs.) And why the pace of firings under Trump might start to slow down.

For more:
- Lessons for the Future of Government Reform
- Is government too big? Reflections on the size and composition of today's federal government
- Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Jess Jiang and engineered by Jimmy Keeley. We had fact-checking help from Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Special thanks to Ben Zipperer.

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Music: Audio Network - "West Green Road," "Raise Up," and "Blue and Green."

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How do TV producers decide how much money to give away? A little psychology and a lot of math. Zachary Crockett phones a friend.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Bowen Kerins, math teacher and former contestant on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.
  • Arthur Smith, CEO of A. Smith & Co. Productions and author of "Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television."
  • Aaron Solomon, television producer.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "‘The Price Is Right’ Celebrates 10,000 Episodes With Extra Big Wins for Contestants That Top Off at $100,000!" by Rosemary Rossi (Variety, 2025).
  • "Why haven’t more game show prizes been adjusted for inflation?" by Janet Nguyen (Marketplace, 2023).
  • "Deal or No Deal? Decision Making under Risk in a Large-Payoff Game Show," by Thierry Post, Martijn J. van den Assem, Guido Baltussen, and Richard Thaler (American Economic Review, 2008).
  • "Why Game Shows Have Economists Glued to Their TVs," by Charles Florelle (Wall Street Journal, 2006).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Bowen Kerins on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (2000).

In some ways, starting a bank is a lot like starting any other business. Who will you hire? Where will you be located? What color will the couches be? But it's also way more complicated. There are tons of regulations on banks–and you can understand why. Lots of new businesses fail. But if a bank fails, it can have ripple effects for the entire economy.

Today on the show, a baby bank is born. We go along for the ride from idea to ribbon cutting as a community bank gets off the ground.

This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Katie Mingle. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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Music: NPR Source Audio- "Numbers Game," "Smoke and Mirrors," and "Lets Start A Movement"

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Memecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influencers like Moo Deng the pygmy hippo have been turned into cryptocurrency. But what are the costs of all the hype?

On today's show — a modern parable. How an orphaned baby rodent became a world famous animal influencer, became a political martyr, and was finally transmuted into a billion dollar cryptocurrency. It's a tale about how a chance encounter can lead to fame and fortune. But also how all that can spin wildly out of control in this brave, new – kind of terrifying – attention economy we're all living in.

This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Nic Neves. This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang. Fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. And engineered by Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

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On this special crossover episode, Ideas of India podcast host, Shruti Rajagopalan, interviews Christopher J. Coyne on the economics of conflict and peace, the history of the U.S. security state, the US intervention in Afghanistan, domestic consequences of militarism abroad, and much more!

For the full length transcript and for more episodes like this, check out the Ideas of India podcast page.

Shruti Rajagopalan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University School of Law. She leads the India political economy research program and Emergent Ventures India at Mercatus and hosts the Ideas of India podcast.

Christopher J. Coyne is Associate Director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and Director of the Initiative for the Study of a Stable Peace (ISSP).

If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Virtual Sentiments, a podcast series from the Hayek Program, is streaming. Subscribe today and listen to season three, releasing now!

Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

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CC Music: Twisterium

A fast-food burger has to taste the same — and cost the same — thousands of times a day at restaurants across the country. Zachary Crockett mans the fryer.

 

• SOURCES:
  • John Karangis, vice president of culinary innovation at Shake Shack.
  • Walter Zuromski, owner and chief culinary officer of the Chef Services Group.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "How Shake Shack’s New Test Kitchen Is Shaping the Future of the Brand," by Stefanie Tuder (Eater, 2018).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Truffles," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).

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 humble memecoin began as a sort of satirical send up of speculation in the crypto world. But it was a joke that soon became very real. In the decade since the launch of Dogecoin in 2013, a series of cultural shifts and technological leaps enabled an explosion in the number of new memecoins. And this memecoin explosion has not only minted millionaires but also led to hordes of unlucky investors and untold scams.

On today's show, what's in a memecoin? How they went from a one-off joke to a speculative frenzy worth tens of billions of dollars? And who are the winners and losers in this brazen new market? wow such tease many listens

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Last year, Tyson Foods shuttered a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa. The company said it made the decision because the plant was old and inefficient. But the closure was devastating for the residents of Perry. The plant had employed some 1200 workers in a town with a population of only 8000.

At the same time, Tyson was also busy hiring workers elsewhere. It was working with a non-profit group that helps connect companies with asylum seekers and refugees looking for work. Tyson ultimately hired hundreds of new workers through this partnership.

Was this just a coincidence? Or were these two stories actually one story - a story about one of the country's biggest meat processors forcing out American workers and replacing them with migrants? On today's show we take a look at the controversy surrounding Tyson's hiring moves and how things look from the perspective of the workers themselves.

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American golfers lose 300 million balls a year — and all those bad swings are someone else’s business opportunity. Zachary Crockett hits the links.

 

• SOURCES:
  • Todd Hutchinson, president and owner of BallHawker.
  • Lashan Wanigatunga, founder of Two Guys With Balls.

 

• RESOURCES:
  • "BallHawker, Challenge Enterprises Turn Wayward Golf Shots Into Successful Endeavor," Natalie Gilstrap (Clay Today, 2023).
  • "Temecula Golf Ball Diver Nets $100,000 a Year," by Jeff Zevely (CBS8, 2022).
  • "Golf’s Recycled Ball Market is Big Business," by Erik Matuszewski (Link, 2021).
  • "The Inside Story of What the Original Titleist Pro V1 Launch Was Really Like," Andrew Tursky (Golf Digest, 2020).
  • "Head of Golf Ball Retrieval Company Sentenced for Manslaughter After Diving Death at Wales Golf Course," by Alex Myers (Golf Digest, 2017).
  • "Man Dies While Illegally Diving for Golf Balls," by Alex Myers (Golf Digest, 2015).

 

• EXTRAS:
  • "Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

 

There's this cautionary tale, in the finance world, that nearly any trader can tell you. It's about placing too much confidence in math and models. It's the story of Long Term Capital Management.

The story begins back in the 90s. A group of math nerds figured out how to use a mathematical model to identify opportunities in the market, tiny price discrepancies, that they could bet big on. Those bets turned into big profits, for them and their clients. They were the toast of Wall Street; it looked like they'd solved the puzzle of risk-taking. But their overconfidence in their strategy led to one of the biggest financial implosions in U.S. history, and destabilized the entire market.

On today's show, what happens when perfect math meets the mess of human nature? And what did we learn (and what did we not learn) from the legendary tale of Long Term Capital Management?

This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Mary Childs and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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