Indicators of the Week are back! We are here, as always, to bring you the most fascinating snapshots from the week of economic news.
On today's show, we're digging into the embattled aerospace company, Boeing. We look at how paying your rent with a Wells Fargo credit card is costing the bank millions of dollars a month. And we learn how much richer the Planet Money coffers are after we invested in the funds that track stock trading by congresspeople and their families on both sides of the aisle.
Related Episodes:
Invest like a Congress member
Help Wanted at Boeing
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For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - A captive market: The high price of prison phone calls
When Diane Lewis' son, Jovaan, was sentenced to prison, she told him to call her every day. What he didn't know at the time is that those collect calls often meant Diane was unable to pay her other bills. Today on the show, how prison phone calls got so expensive, and the movement to make them free.
Related listening:
The Uncounted Workforce
From Prison to the Workforce
The Prisoner's Solution
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Related listening:
The Uncounted Workforce
From Prison to the Workforce
The Prisoner's Solution
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Curious City - Reflecting On More Than 10 Years Of Curious City
As Curious City goes through some changes, we take some time to look back and reflect on more than a decade of answering listeners' questions and lessons learned over the years.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Worse mortgages, better readers, and potholes on the moon
Will Conservative policies raise mortgages by ?4800, as Labour claim? Are primary school kids in England the best readers in the (western) world, as the Conservatives claim? Are there more potholes in the UK than craters on the moon?
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Kate Lamble Producers: Nathan Gower, Simon Tullet Beth Ashmead-Latham and Debbie Richford Production coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon
Cato Daily Podcast - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America
The CFPB has long been controversial. Its unique structure makes it powerful in ways other agencies are not. Jennifer Schulp and Tommy Berry detail the recent Supreme Court holding that the agency's funding doesn't violate the Appropriations Clause.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Indicator from Planet Money - Invest like a Congress member
There are some new funds that track stock trading by members of Congress and their family. So we thought, why don't we get in on that? Today on the show, we crack open the Planet Money Investment Jar to learn more about how our political leaders play the market, investing in funds tracking Democratic and Republican stock trades.
Whether Congressional stock trading should be limited is a hotly debated matter. So to test whether lawmakers are beating the market, Dartmouth College economist Bruce Sacerdote and his co-authors pitted lawmakers' stock picks against reindeer at a Christmas-styled theme park.
Trust us for this ride! It'll all make sense with some intriguing results.
Related listening:
Stock traders are trying to beat the market — by copying lawmakers
WTF is a Bitcoin ETF? (Apple / Spotify)
Planet Money's Toxic Asset
Planet Money Summer School: Investing
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Whether Congressional stock trading should be limited is a hotly debated matter. So to test whether lawmakers are beating the market, Dartmouth College economist Bruce Sacerdote and his co-authors pitted lawmakers' stock picks against reindeer at a Christmas-styled theme park.
Trust us for this ride! It'll all make sense with some intriguing results.
Related listening:
Stock traders are trying to beat the market — by copying lawmakers
WTF is a Bitcoin ETF? (Apple / Spotify)
Planet Money's Toxic Asset
Planet Money Summer School: Investing
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Cato Daily Podcast - Digital Currency or Digital Control?: Decoding CBDC and the Future of Money
Arguments on behalf of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) don't stand up to scrutiny. Nicholas Anthony runs down and interrogates the arguments in his new book, Digital Currency or Digital Control?: Decoding CBDC and the Future of Money.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Indicator from Planet Money - Spud spat
The federal government classifies potatoes (whether they be baked, waffled, curly, fried) as a vegetable.
Recently some nutritional scientists were questioning that logic as the feds updated their dietary guidelines for 2025.
On today's episode, why potatoes have such sway on Capitol Hill and the real financial stakes spuds have in staying a veggie.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Recently some nutritional scientists were questioning that logic as the feds updated their dietary guidelines for 2025.
On today's episode, why potatoes have such sway on Capitol Hill and the real financial stakes spuds have in staying a veggie.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Cato Daily Podcast - How to Achieve the Lowest Tax Rates in A Century
Between the needless complications of the tax code and various special-interest giveaways in it, overall tax rates are higher than they could be otherwise. Adam Michel explains in a new paper what would be required for Congress to lower overall rates.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Shakespeare?s maths
AWilliam Shakespeare might well rank as the most influential writer in the English language. But it seems he also had a knack for numbers.
Rob Eastaway, author of Much Ado about Numbers, tells Tim Harford about the simple maths that brings Shakespeare?s work to life.
Presenter: Tim Harford Readings: Stella Harford and Jordan Dunbar Producer: Beth Ashmead-Latham Series producer: Tom Colls Production coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon