Category: News

"There's no bad weather, only bad clothing." That's the motto of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where Austan Goolsbee is president. As economic weather conditions stay unpredictable, Austan tells us how he's gearing up for tariffs, inflation, and more.

Related episodes:
The Fed cut rates ... now what? (featuring: Sasquatch) (Apple / Spotify)
Tariffied! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
A chat with the president of the San Francisco Fed (Apple / Spotify)
Is the economy going stag(flation)?

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Today on the show, we meet Canada's new Prime Minister, economist Mark Carney.

What's it like when your former job — being a non-political banker who decides a country's interest rate — bleeds into your now-political decisions on everything?

Related episodes:
A polite message from Canada to the U.S. (Apple / Spotify)

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President Trump claims a main goal of his crippling tariffs is to address the U.S. trade deficit. So is the U.S. trade deficit a problem? On today's show, why we'll never have a trade surplus with every single country; what the benefits of a trade deficit are; and whether or not the trade deficit affects jobs.

Related episodes:
Tarrified! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
Why there's no referee for the trade war (Apple / Spotify)
Common economic myths debunked (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Trump's wave of tariffs is here. Just about everyone in the world of business is still processing exactly what this means. It's a massive, widespread increase in taxes. Today on the show, we hear from business people we've had on the show who tell us what they're doing in response to the latest, and largest, wave of tariffs.

Related episodes:
Trump's contradictory trade policies (Apple / Spotify)
How's ... everybody doing? (Apple / Spotify)
How Shein became a fast-fashion behemoth (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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It's Jobs Friday and all eyes are on government workers. Will the Trump administration's layoffs finally show up in the latest jobs report? Today on the show, we look at the numbers for federal workers and who's trying to hire them.

Related listening:
Can ... we still trust the monthly jobs report (Apple / Spotify)
The last time we shrank the federal workforce (Apple / Spotify)
A 'Fork in the Road' for federal employees (Apple / Spotify)
How local government is propping up the U.S. labor market

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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There have now been a few major vinyl booms. And unbeknownst to many, a small village in the Czech Republic has been responsible for manufacturing a large number of these albums. On today's show, how this dominant player became a problem for its competitors in the U.S.

Related episodes:
Rumor has it Adele broke the vinyl supply chain
'Let's Get It On' ... in court (Update) (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Billions of tech dollars flowing into a community to build data centers should transform a local economy ... right? Well, maybe not.

On today's episode: Why data centers create few permanent jobs. And why communities might want them anyway.

Related episodes:
Why China's DeepSeek AI is such a big deal (Apple / Spotify)
Is AI overrated? (Apple / Spotify)

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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Mexico is gearing up to directly elect federal and state judges for the first time this June. President Claudia Sheinbaum says the new system will combat nepotism and increase the integrity of the courts. But critics see it as a naked attempt to dilute the court's independence. Today on the show, how Mexico's judicial reforms are creating angst for businesses at home and abroad.

Related episodes:
SCOTUS: De-facto pro-business?

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Fact-checking by Cooper Katz-McKim. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Brands trying to be your best bud. Generational labels. Gendered double standards.

Today on the show: three advertising experts bring their three pet peeves in advertisements.

Related episodes:
How to make an ad memorable (Apple / Spotify)
J. Screwed
The Gender Gap Series: The Problem With The Pink Tax

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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On Indicators of the Week, we look at a huge projected tax shortfall, the price of copper and the afterlife of Napster, the peer-to-peer file-sharing service that refuses to die.

Related episodes:
A new-ish gold rush and other indicators (Apple / Spotify)
Can the Federal Reserve stay independent (Apple / Spotify)

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