NPR's Planet Money

Many politicians and voters are disenchanted with economists. Now Trump has even fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On our latest show, trust in experts is down. And economists are feeling the burn.

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On our latest show: what even is a “golden share”? When has it been used before, and why? And, could deals like this be a good way to get foreign investment in American manufacturing… or is it simply government overreach?

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“It is a novel arrangement,” says Sarah Bauerle Danzman, a political economist at Indiana University who previously did a stint on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

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The deal says steel mills can’t close and workers can’t have their pay docked without the president’s signoff. The U.S. government can appoint a member to the company’s board. Trump calls it: a “golden share.”

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Nippon Steel is acquiring the storied American company U.S. Steel. But under the new owner, President Trump — and the United States — will have an unusual amount of power.

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It's true - you can Venmo the US gov't to help pay down the nat'l debt (as made famous by NPR's Jack Corbett)!

People have mailed paper checks, gold, and even old blankets to the Treasury.

What can YOU do to fix the national debt? Listen to The Indicator's 2023 story:

www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1...

Politicians on both sides of the aisle don’t agree on much, except about… trying to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S. What makes manufacturing special, that every politician wants to bring it back to America? Is that even a good idea?

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We bought a garment made by factory workers in the U.S. A basic purple sports bra. We tell you how many people it took to make it, how much workers got paid to work on it … and whether garment manufacturing is a job Americans want – or even know how – to do.

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Most of your clothes were probably NOT made in the U.S. Maybe your shirt’s label says, “made in Vietnam.” Your pants? They could be from Bangladesh. Your underwear? Maybe from China.

But the U.S. does have a domestic garment manufacturing industry, too.

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Govt 1: Why Are Some Countries Rich and Some Countries Poor? (Institutions) : Planet Money Summer School Government. The Big G. We like to imagine the free market and the invisible hand as being independent from political influence. But Nobel laureate, Simon Johnson, says that influence has been there ...

Why are some countries rich and others poor? How do institutions drive prosperity — or inequality? @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social unpacks these questions and more on this week's @planetmoney.bsky.social episode.

www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1...

Is AI already affecting your job hunt?

If you are thinking about this question - how should I handle my career given AI - we wanna hear from you!

Email us at planetmoney@npr.org with the subject line: AI Career Question

The simple math of the big bill : Planet Money If we think about the economic effects of President Donald Trumps big taxing and spending and domestic policy bill, we can roughly sum it up in one line. It goes something like this: We will make many...

The taxing and spending bill we’ve been hearing so much about has passed the House and President Trump is set to sign it into law.

The big economic headline: A bigger deficit. What does that mean for you and me?

www.npr.org/2025/07/04/1...

Just a few years ago, Trump shunned cryptocurrencies, calling them “based on thin air.” Today, a large part of the Trumps’ business ventures are built on stablecoins, memecoins, and crypto mining. All while Trump makes way for deregulation in the crypto world.

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Three Planet Money hosts throw down in our latest edition of Econ Battle Zone. Their challenge – to elucidate the fight over the federal budget, while incorporating their mystery ingredients: rhyme, music, and the genre of romantic comedy.

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The U.S. has been policing bribery all over the world for nearly half a century. But President Trump has said that our anti-corruption laws are crippling American businesses. On our latest episode, is bribery making a comeback?

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What was it like to work inside DOGE? The initiative promised transparency, but most of its actions have been shrouded in secrecy. NPR reporters have been trying for months to get anyone from DOGE to talk publicly. We follow one former DOGE staffer during his days inside DOGE.

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About a dozen lawsuits are now challenging the President's tariffs, claiming they are unlawful and possibly even unconstitutional. What are their arguments, and why are some courts starting to listen?

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What does the U.S.-China trade war look like through the lens of game theory? Are Trump and Xi competing in a game of chicken? Or is it more like a prisoner’s dilemma?

We look at who is playing well and who might need to adjust their strategy.

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Why does the government fund research at universities? : Planet Money American universities are where people go to learn and teach. They're also where research and development happens. Over the past eight decades, universities have received billions in federal dollars…

The Trump administration is cutting or threatening to pull back that federal funding for universities. In our latest episode, we get into: what that could mean for universities as we know them. buff.ly/dWU545N

After the war, that partnership continued. Expanded. Scientific research boomed in the postwar period. And it got more and more federal funding to support that work. Federal grants helped pay for inventions people use today – like drone technology. Google’s Search code. The computer mouse.

During World War II, the federal government partnered with university scientists for defense research – resulting in projects like the Manhattan Project.

Universities are places of learning, yes. But they’re also so many other things. Including: science labs. Many of which get federal money for research. That system’s been going on for decades.

Recession indicators are going viral on social media right now… which, we love! Today on the show — we’re also going to dig into some recession indicators and try to answer the same question behind the viral internet trend: Is a recession coming?
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What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war : Planet Money The U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products each year — things like soybeans, corn and pork. And over the last month, these exports have been caught up in a trade war. U.S.…

The U.S. exports billions of dollars worth of ag products each year. Now some of these exports are caught up in a trade war with China and subject to retaliatory tariffs.

So what happened the last time U.S. farmers were collateral damage in a trade war?

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What "Made in China" actually means : Planet Money Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Think of it as the official place it comes from. And this is the country that counts for calculating…

Ever since President Trump put an additional 145% tariff on products from China, many companies have been wondering: What even counts as a "Product of China"? How much of it actually has to come from China to be “Made in China”? On today’s show, we dive into the surprising answers.

Why it's so hard to find a public toilet : Planet Money Why is it so hard to find a bathroom when you need one? In the U.S., we used to have lots of publicly accessible toilets. But many had locks on the doors and you had to put in a coin to use them. Pay…

For even more about why we’re stuck, needing to go, with nowhere to go – check out the latest Planet Money buff.ly/8O6VIsY

Toilets exist in this weird economic and legal netherworld. Not quite a public good. Not quite fixable by the free market.

Eventually, pay toilets were banned. But nothing really took their place.

The cost: a nickel or a dime. They were ubiquitous decades ago. But they led to a system of haves and have-nots when it came to bathroom access. Like, why should people have to pay for a human need?

Why is it so hard to find a toilet when you need one?

Especially because…we used to have thousands of publicly accessible toilets!