The Indicator from Planet Money - How the French pensions débâcle is a warning to us all

France has one of the most generous pension systems in the world. But several governments there have collapsed over questions about how the government will fund it. All over the world, aging populations are forcing governments to rethink their assumptions. 

Today on the show, what France’s political fiascos teach all of us about the economics of an aging population, and what a retirement expert’s ideal retirement system might look like.

Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2025

Related episodes: 

What would it take to fix retirement? 

What does the next era of Social Security look like? 

When Retirement Advice Goes Viral 

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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More or Less - Is RFK Jr right about China’s diabetes rate?

The US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is on a mission to make America healthy again. One of his health-promotion ideas is to reduce chronic illness, specifically diabetes. And has part of his campaign he said that: "a typical pediatrician would see one case of diabetes in his lifetime, over a 40 or 50 year career. Today, 1 out of every 3 kids who walks through his office door is prediabetic or diabetic. Twenty years ago, there was no diabetes in China, today 50% of the population is diabetic' Diabetes does carry a huge burden of health, but are his numbers right and how much of a problem is diabetes in the US and around the globe? We speak to diabetes expert and co-author of the Diabetes Atlas, Professor Dianna Magliano to find out more. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Studio Manager: Rod Farquhar Editor: Richard Vadon

Audio Mises Wire - Dystopia Misdiagnosed: How the Rich Drive Health Innovation

The dystopian futuristic movie Elysium portrays a terrible future in which only the rich have medical care while the poor suffer on an overpopulated, polluted planet. The film’s theme—that only huge wealth transfers can bring medical care to low-income people—is fundamentally flawed.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/dystopia-misdiagnosed-how-rich-drive-health-innovation

The Indicator from Planet Money - Can air traffic controllers keep calm and carry on — without pay?

There’s one job that gets all the attention during a government shutdown: air traffic controllers. Today on the show, we spotlight why this job has taken on outsize political influence and one controller’s experience during the longest shutdown on record. 

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 Tyler Jones. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Curious City - Two-and-a-half minutes: Pilot John Ginley’s dance with disaster

While flying over downtown Chicago on July 18, 2018, a World-War-II era single-engine Ercoupe airplane suffered “complete mechanical failure.” “The throttle cable completely broke off of the carburetor,” said pilot John Ginley. “There was no way to control the engine.” Still, Ginley and his co-pilot — his then-girlfriend and now-wife Ally Ginley — managed to land in the southbound lanes of DuSable Lake Shore Drive, successfully avoiding cars, humans, and the 35th Street pedestrian bridge. In our last episode, we heard about the history of forced plane landings on Chicago’s scenic, multilane expressway. Today, we hear Ginley’s story of escaping imminent disaster from the pilot himself.