The Indicator from Planet Money - Walmart scams, expensive recycling, and overdraft fees

It is Friday. And Indicators of the Week is back — Plastics Edition. Today, we dig into how fraudsters have used Walmart gift cards to scam consumers out of more than $1 billion. We also find out why recycled plastic is actually more expensive now than newly produced plastic. And we learn how overdraft fees might be going way down.

Related Articles
ProPublica - How Walmart's Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet

Financial Times - Petrochemical glut makes new plastic cheaper than recycled

Related episodes
Overdraft fees: From perk to penalty

The problem with banning plastic bags

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Emperor Nero

In the year 54, the Roman Emperor Claudius died, and his adopted son Nero became the Emperor of Rome at the age of 16. 

His reign was one of the most infamous in history, and over 2000 years after he came to power, his name is still used to invoke the image of a cruel ruler and a despot.

But what exactly made him so bad, and was he really as bad as the legends say?


Learn more about Emperor Nero and why his reign became so infamous on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. 


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NPR's Book of the Day - Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney and the evolution of the Republican party

Today's episode focuses on two Republican legislators who, over time, came to feel like outsiders for sounding alarms about Trump. First, NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with former representative Adam Kinzinger about Renegade, his new memoir detailing his career and the way January 6 ultimately broke his allegiance to the Republican party. Then, journalist McKay Coppins speaks with Here & Now's Jane Clayson about his new biography of Mitt Romney, and how the former presidential candidate reflects on the conspiratorial leanings dominating today's politics.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Five tips for understanding political polls this election season

Election season is upon us, and so is the barrage of election polls. What differentiates a good poll from a bad one? How can we be smarter poll consumers? Today on the show, a couple of polling experts give us their top tips.

Related episodes:
Planet Money tries election polling

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Bay Curious - The Hidden History of Fort Scott

Wander onto the parade ground of Fort Scott, and one of the first questions that comes to mind is: "What is this place?" A large grassy field is bordered by tall beige buildings with red roofs. Their windows are boarded up and the place feels deserted. It's particularly odd because Fort Scott is just steps away from epic views over the Golden Gate Bridge, a well-traveled cycling path, and one of the biggest thoroughfares running through the park. But none of that bustle seems to reach this collection of empty buildings. What's the history of this place and why isn't being put to more modern use? In this episode KQED's Bianca Taylor takes us into the history of Fort Scott.

Additional reading:


Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts

This story was reported by Bianca Taylor. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joshua Ling, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.


Everything Everywhere Daily - Cahokia

You are probably familiar with several of the great pre-Columbian cities in the Americas. Places like Tikal in Guatemala, Copan in Honduras, and Tenochtitlan in Mexico are some of the great legacies of the civilizations that came before. 

However, all of these population centers were located in Mesoamerican. Most of the people who lived in what is today the United States and Canada were nomadic and never built any large cities.

However, there was one major exception. 

Learn more about Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian settlement in North America, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘The Frozen River’ tells the fictionalized story of a real 18th century midwife

Martha Ballard was a real midwife in the late 1700s who delivered more than 1,000 babies without ever losing a mother. Ballard kept a diary of her life and the town secrets she learned thanks to her profession — and she's at the center of Ariel Lawhon's new novel, The Frozen River. In today's episode, Lawhon tells NPR's Scott Simon how she stumbled upon Ballard's story while pregnant with her own child, and why it was important for her to make a 54-year-old woman the hero of her book.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - The surprising leader in EVs

The number one producer of electric vehicles in the world is ... BYD? On today's show, we look at how the Chinese EV manufacturer rose from a battery company to global dominance. It took a mix of obsessive attention to detail, scale, government support and ... guitar-string-related quirks. Plus, we consider whether BYD can crack the U.S. market.

Related Episodes:
How electric vehicles got their juice (Apple / Spotify)

How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)

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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Irish Potato Famine (Encore)

In 1845, farmers around Europe suffered from a blight that devastated the potato crop. 

This lasted for several years, but nowhere was it more pronounced than it was on the island of Ireland, where it resulted in death and mass migration.

The effects of this potato blight can still be witnessed in the world today.

Learn more about the Great Irish Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


Sponsors

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ButcherBox

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off." 


Subscribe to the podcast! 

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--------------------------------

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