The Indicator from Planet Money

It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.  On today’s episode: Why you better hope you retire at juuuust the right time , why the researchers at the Federal Reserve are being scolded by a White House economic advisor, and taking boneless chicken to court.  Related episodes:  Chicken meat, Gulf of Mexico lawsuit and Social Securit...

The Trump administration is planning to pour more than $38 billion into warehouses for mass immigrant detention. While some communities are starting to push back, one rural town has agreed to expand its detention facility. On today’s show, we visit a small town in Georgia to learn about the trade-offs of becoming a detention town.  Related episodes:  How well are ICE’s 12,000 new officers being tr...

The Department of Homeland Security says it has more than doubled the workforce of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Trump. Yet videos of immigration officers killing two U.S. citizens and using aggressive arrest tactics have left some politicians and community leaders rethinking the agency’s approach. On today’s show, law enforcement experts assess the training and culture at DH...

Editor's note: The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran early Saturday, Feb. 28. For current coverage click here . For background context, the story below was published on Feb. 17, 2026. According to activists, Iran has killed over 7,000 people as part of a crackdown on protesters. Why did protests engulf Iran in the first place? A big contributor: Its flagging economy, which has been...

It’s time for … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.  On today’s episode: Analyzing the new jobs numbers, how letting in more immigrants could reduce elder mortality , and betting on the return of … Jesus Christ.  Related episodes:  Just how bad are these job numbers?   A market to bet on the future   Who's gonna take care of grand...

Behind every Ilia Malinin or Alysa Liu, there is an army of elite figure skating coaches and choreographers who have been with them from the beginning. On today’s show, how much does it cost to achieve Olympic glory and why is it so expensive?  Related episodes:  How college sports juiced Olympic development   Why the Olympics cost so much   For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet M...

The prices of gold and silver are on rollercoaster rides; Gold has been rising over the last few years, silver shot up like a skyrocket in January … but then both plunged in price and sputtered around the end of the month.  It raises the question: What is going on?  Today on the show, we talk with some traders about what this volatility of gold and silver is saying about the state of the world.  R...

Food keeps getting more expensive, so how do shoppers respond? They change what they buy, right? It’s not just that cheaper foods get more popular. Shoppers are more nuanced than that. So, today on the show, we choose one classic meal that is tailor-made for this anxious economic moment. Why Hamburger Helper is poised to win 2026. Related episodes:  How niche brands got into your local supermarket...

Trade wars. Financial panics. Inflation. How come it feels like it’s all bad news in the global economy these days? Economist Eswar Prasad’s answer: something he calls the ‘doom loop.’ That’s where massive geopolitical and economic forces feed off each other and send us careening into disorder. Sounds dire. But it’s not hopeless. On today’s show, are we in a doom loop? And if we are … how do we ge...

It’s a weird time for jobs numbers. Another month, another jobs report pushed back by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Averaging two private sources, ADP and Revelio Labs: an estimated 4,500 jobs were added in January. Sounds like … not many.  And, yet, the unemployment rate hasn’t seemed to have risen. This might be, in part, due to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. We’ll explain t...

How did the U.S. become the Olympic powerhouse it is today? Cold War competition. The Soviet Union sponsored their athletes. But America wanted its athletes to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. It birthed an unexpected accelerator of Olympic development: College football. Stay with us now. On today’s show, how college football became an Olympic development engine. And how that engine might n...

People wanting to purchase heat pumps might soon face sticker shock. Many consumers have sought out energy credits to find a greener and more affordable alternative to heating oil, but the tax credit to help make them cheaper has expired. Today on the show: how homeowners, the renewables industry, and its critics all feel about it. Related episodes: Metals, government debt, and a climate lawsuit A...

Data centers are getting a lot of heat right now. There’s neighborhood pushback against them for water usage and environmental concerns, and some politicians on both sides of the aisle aren’t fans for the same reasons. There’s also fear that they could drive up the cost of electricity bills.  But that last bit isn’t set in stone.  Data center electric bill upcharge is not a guarantee. In fact, it...

Kevin Warsh has been tapped as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. We’re sure that he’ll have a lot of questions about how to run the Fed if confirmed. So we put together this briefing. On today’s show, three Fed watchers give their advice for the next chair. On politics, interest rate cuts and dealing with the Fed’s repeated trading scandals. Oh, and can someone please forward this episode to...

It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.  On today’s episode: a HUGE trade deal between India and the European Union, all the hot hockey romance New Yorkers could ever want, and a heavy earnings purse for Olympic competitors, win or lose.   Related episodes:  Why the Olympics cost so much The surprising economics of digital lend...

Macadamia nuts. Labor shortages. Volcanoes. All that might sound like econ Mad Libs, but they’re all connected to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s entry into the Beige Book this month: labor shortages are hurting macadamia nut harvests in Hawaii.  On today’s show, we take a vacation and talk to someone on the Big Island who runs a macadamia nut farm. He calls them “mac nuts.”  Related e...

President Trump has been storming through corporate America — taking a stake in Intel, demanding a cut of Nvidia’s sales, restricting skilled workers, among other big footed policies. Meanwhile, corporate leaders have mostly just … rolled over. Today on the show: As Trump rewrites the rules of doing business, why aren’t business leaders doing more to speak up? Related episodes:  How close is the U...

“Sell America.” There’s new talk of how Europe could turn the economic screws on the U.S. after President Trump’s play for Greenland. Selling U.S. Treasury bonds is one way. Another is a legal tool. It’s been called the EU’s bazooka. On today’s show, taking stock of Europe’s financial arsenal. How could America’s largest foreign lender lighten Americans’ wallets? Planet Money wrote a book and is g...

Pakistan has had some major economic bumps as of late, including a near default in 2023. At the root: seriously low tax collection. Millions of Pakistan residents opt out of paying income taxes entirely. This is a problem a lot of lower- and middle-income countries face. On today's show, we talk about why there are so many tax dodgers in Pakistan and what the government is trying to do about it. ...

It’s time for … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.  On today’s episode: Why does Davos feel interesting this year? What if we did cap credit card interest rates? And we’re paying most of those tariffs, aren’t we?   Also, big news! Planet Money wrote a book and we’re going on tour this spring. Find tickets and info at planetmoneyb...

Beef is back on top. Well, at least on top of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new food pyramid, unveiled alongside updated national dietary guidelines. Red meat really never left the great American menu. But how’d it climb all the way up there? On today’s show, America’s storied love affair with beef. And how big business and government have long influenced what winds up on our plates. Re...

President Donald Trump is dead set on acquiring Greenland, and while national security is the stated reason, the country’s untapped mineral wealth could offer another explanation.  Today on the show: is Greenland really an untapped land of riches? We talk to one Australian geologist who discovered the great costs and potential rewards of extracting these minerals himself.  Related episodes:  Add t...

In early January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening bans on defense contractors paying dividends or buying their stock back. Today on the show, we learn about the Trump Administration’s frustrations with the weapons supply chain, find out what a defense industry investor makes of the move, and ask whether this reflects the state tightening its grip on the industry that a...

Welcome back to Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.  On today’s episode: Influencers for ICE , China’s tremendous trade surplus, and America heads back to the moon.  Related episodes:  We resolve to watch these 2026 indicators  China's trade war perspective   Who owns the moon? For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Plane...

203 years ago, President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off limits to powerful countries in Europe. Fast forward, and President Trump is reviving the Monroe Doctrine to justify intervening in places like Venezuela , and threatening further action in other parts of Latin America and Greenland. On today’s show, how is Trump redefining the Monroe Doctrine and what does it mean for the w...