Home ownership used to be a central pillar of the American Dream. Today, maybe not so much.

Is Buying A Home A Bad Investment?

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What happens when small town politics collide with the climate crisis? And how do hazard maps—maps that show which homes in your neighborhood are at risk of getting destroyed or damaged by a natural disaster—come into play? On today's episode, how some people—from Indiana to Oregon to Alaska—are facing some very real concerns about insurance and the ability to sell their houses.

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Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge

In Western Colorado, towns and farms are banding together to pay a hundred million dollars for water they don't intend to use. Today on the show, how scarcity, climate change and a first-dibs system of water management is forcing towns, farms and rural residents to get spendy. 

Related episodes:
A watershed moment in the West? (Apple / Spotify) 
The Amazon, the Colorado River and a price on nature 
Water in the West: Bankrupt? 

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How Colorado towns are trying to get some water certainty

It's Jobs Friday and the jobs report is in! There's more jobs! ... but not as many as expected. And there's a teensy bit  more unemployment and slower wage growth. But there's an upside ... Plus, healthcare is growing like gangbusters and how immigrants affect American-born workers.

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Not too hot, not too cold: a 'Goldilocks' jobs report

College campuses nationwide are erupting with protests against Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza. A consistent theme among these actions: a call for university endowment "divestment." 

Today, we unpack what that means and how divestment would work. Plus, we hear from an expert who explains why divestment might not have the effect that many believe.

Related episodes:
Why Israel uses diaspora bonds (Apple / Spotify)  
How much of your tax dollars are going to Israel and Ukraine (Apple / Spotify)

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Protesters want schools to divest from Israel. How would that work?

The Beigie Awards are back to recognize the regional Federal Reserve Bank with the best Beige Book entry. This time, we shine a spotlight on one entry that explains how some businesses are feeling the impacts of higher for longer interest rates.

Related episodes:
The interest-ing world of interest rates (Apple / Spotify) 
The Beigie Awards: Why banks are going on a "loan diet" (Apple / Spotify) 
Where are interest rates going? 

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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Is Buying A Home A Bad Investment?

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