NPR: Planet Money
Money makes the world go around, faster and faster every day. On NPR's Planet Money, you'll meet high rollers, brainy economists and regular folks -- all trying to make sense of our rapidly changing global economy.
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#491: The Debt Ceiling, Obamacare And Welfare
On today's show: Three ripped-from-the-headlines stories from Planet Money. What ...
On today's show: Three ripped-from-the-headlines stories from Planet Money. What A U.S. Default Would Mean For Pensions, China, And Social Security If the government defaults on its debt, people all over the world who have loaned the government money won't get paid on time. One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare Obamacare won't work unless healthy people buy insurance. No one knows whether they will. Is Welfare A Rational Alternative To Work? A new paper argues that the value of various welfare benefits add up to well over $30,000 a year. People on welfare disagree. Note: These stories initially aired on the radio. Music: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears' "I'm Broke" and M83's "Steve McQueen." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#490: The Real Economy Of Fantasy Sports
Last year, Americans paid $1.7 billion to play in fantasy ...
Last year, Americans paid $1.7 billion to play in fantasy sports leagues. Billion!On today's show, we find real businesses sprouting up to profit from the fantasy sports economy. One guy sells insurance that pays off if a (real) player on your (fantasy) team gets hurt; another settles disputes that pop up in fantasy leagues.Also on the show today: When fantasy football is a negative externality in a marriage. (Bonus: The marriage in question involves a member of the Planet Money team.)For more, see our story Cashing In On The Fantasy Sports Economy.Music: Manning Brothers' "Football On Your Phone." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#189: Why A Dead Shark Costs $12 Million
On today's Planet Money: Why a dead shark costs $12 ...
On today's Planet Money: Why a dead shark costs $12 million, and a photo of steel wool that looks like a tornado costs $1,265.In other words, we wade into the economics of the art world.For more, read Ed Winkleman's blog and check out his gallery. Browse the works of Matthew Albanese, the man behind the steel-wool tornado. And read "Art Investment as Floating Crap Game" by William Baumol, an economist and artist.Note: This episode was originally posted in 2010.Music: Sia's "Clap Your Hands." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#489: The Invisible Plumbing Of Our Economy
So we're making a T-shirt and we do this Kickstarter ...
So we're making a T-shirt and we do this Kickstarter campaign and we raise $590,807 (which, really, we can't thank you enough). It turns out the money collected on Kickstarter is handled by Amazon. Great, we figure: This is the company that will sell you anything on the planet and get it you you the next day. And what we need in this case isn't even a thing, really. We just need Amazon's bank to send money electronically to a checking account at Chase bank. It's just information traveling over wires. How long could it take: A minute? An hour? It took five days. On today's show: Why the invisible pipes that move money around America are so slow. (And why the ones in England are so much faster.) Music: The Black Keys' "Countdown." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#352: The High-Tech Cow
On today's show, we visit Fulper Farms, a family-run dairy ...
On today's show, we visit Fulper Farms, a family-run dairy in New Jersey. It's a bucolic setting — white farmhouse, rolling hills, etc. But behind that peaceful image lies all the roiling tension, rising inequality and economic volatility of the 21st-century economy. We meet Claudia, the prized, high-tech cow. And we learn why even a barn full of Claudias wouldn't be enough to keep a family-run dairy afloat. For More: Meet Claudia, The High-Tech Cow Note: This episode was originally posted last year. Music: Eddie Albert's "Green Acres" and The Kinks' "Animal Farm." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#488: The Secret History Of Your Cable Bill
If you have cable, your bill has probably doubled over ...
If you have cable, your bill has probably doubled over the past decade. The rise is largely driven by fees for channels you have to pay for, whether you want them or not. ESPN alone is costing you more than $5 a month — even if you never watch it. On today's show, we answer the question every cable subscriber has asked: Why can't I just pay for the channels I want? For more on the cable business, see our post, The Most (And Least) Expensive Cable Channels, In 1 Graph, and Adam Davidson's column, The 'Mad Men' Economic Miracle. Music: Dinah Washington's "T.V. Is The Thing This Year." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#371: Where Dollar Bills Come From
Every single dollar bill in the world — every $20, ...
Every single dollar bill in the world — every $20, every $100, everything — is printed on paper made at one small mill in Massachusetts. That's been the case for 130 years. On today's show, we visit the mill. We hear the story of the guy who jumped out a hotel window to win the government contract to print all that paper. And we ask: Will anybody be using paper money in 50 years? Subscribe. Music: Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Spotify/ Tumblr.
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#487: The Trouble With The Poverty Line
According to the government, there are 46.5 million Americans who ...
According to the government, there are 46.5 million Americans who live below the poverty line. In other words, that's how many people are officially poor. But pretty much everyone who studies poverty agrees: The way we arrive at this figure is completely wrong. On today's show, we figure out how we got here, why still measure poverty in a way that so many people agree is wrong, and how could we do it better.
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#369: If Teens Ran The Fed
We're in a gym full of high school students. The ...
We're in a gym full of high school students. The gym is at the headquarters of the New York Federal Reserve, just a few blocks from Wall Street. The students are here for the High School Fed Challenge. If you're a high school student and you dream of holding the U.S. economy in the palm of your hand — if you want the power to control interest rates and to print money out of thin air — the Fed Challenge is for you. On today's show, we sit in on the finals — and hear from a bunch of teenagers about what Fed policy means for them. Note: This episode was originally posted last year. Music: Fun.'s "We Are Young." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
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#486: Crisis Revisited
Five years ago this month, the financial crisis hit its ...
Five years ago this month, the financial crisis hit its most intense moment. One giant company after another went bust or was rescued at the last minute, as the government launched a wave of bailouts. Another momentous thing happened five years ago this week: The Planet Money podcast came into being. Today, we replay key moments from some of our first shows, when it seemed like the entire economy could seize up at any moment. And we ask: Are we safer now than we were five years ago? Music: Noah and the Whale's "5 Years Time." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/Spotify/ Tumblr. Download the Planet Money iPhone App.
