Planet Money

Companies are getting billions of dollars back. How about us? 

It seems simple, right? We paid higher prices for imported goods because of tariffs. Then the tariffs were ruled illegal. Courts said the money paid to the U.S. government had to be refunded. Companies are getting that money now. 

It would seem like we, the customers, should get paid back, too. But … it’s not so simple. 

Once again, we’re dipping back into the drama of import tax law. We’re engrossed in the ups, downs, betrayal, and romance of … the Days of our Tariffs. 

In this edition:  “Refunds and Regrets.” 

How and why some companies and people are getting their IEEPA tariff refunds and other people are out of luck. 

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- Planet Money Live at Kilkenomics. Kilkenny, Ireland Nov. 6th - 7th

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This episode was hosted by Kenny Malone. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and James Sneed. It was edited by our executive producer Alex Goldmark. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley and Cena Loffredo. Special thanks this week to everyone who wrote in with a tale of tariff drama.

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Charles Ponzi was down on his luck. In 1919, the Italian immigrant had spent a decade and a half in the U.S. He was looking for a way to get rich and tried his hand at everything — including bookkeeping, sign painting, grocery clerk, dishwasher, and librarian.

He caught a lucky break in August, when he received a letter from Europe. In the envelope was an International Reply Coupon, a clever way to prepay for international postage. Ponzi realized he might be able to use these coupons to make his fortune. All he needed was investors.

What happened next made him a household name. This is the story of the man behind the eponymous Ponzi scheme — a tale of financial fraud that lives up to its linguistic legacy.

(Note: The original version of this episode ran in 2023.)

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This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez, mastered by Natasha Branch, and edited by Jess Jiang. It's based on the book Ponzi's Scheme, by Mitchell Zuckoff.

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It's getting pretty wild in the beverage aisle these days — from the rainbow wall of seltzers, to the increasingly strange flavors of Pepsi, to the new "functional" sodas with added fiber or supplements that supposedly offer health benefits. Where are all these new drinks coming from? And why does it seem like the options are multiplying faster than ever?

Today on the show, we go behind the scenes at one of the nation’s top-secret beverage laboratories. The food scientists in this lab have quietly helped companies design many of the new drinks on the shelves these days. We taste things we have never tasted before, including a sports hydration … broth? We learn what a strawberry has in common with a block of cheese. And we discover why the business of beverages will never be the same again. 

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This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, and edited by Jess Jiang. Vito Emanuel is our fact-checker, and Kwesi Lee engineered the show. Alex Goldmark is the executive producer of Planet Money.

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Very soon, Social Security may not have enough money to make full payments to retirees. Very soon. Like by 2032, just six years from now. So what are we gonna do about it? 

Today on the show, we look at some of the most talked about possible solutions; and exactly whose wallets we’ll have to rifle through to find the money to pay for each. Then we’ll run the options by the Social Security Administration's former Chief Actuary. The guy Congress used to call to crunch numbers and give them the bottom line. 

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This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Erika Beras and Jeff Guo, it was produced by James Sneed, and edited by Marianne McCune. Sierra Juarez is our fact-checker, and Annlie Huang & Robert Rodriguez engineered the show. Alex Goldmark is the executive producer of Planet Money.

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Wanna know who is really in the top 1%? And how they use their influence? It may not be who you think.

Look beyond Silicon Valley. Look beyond Wall Street. Look beyond the “oligarchs”. There's a much larger class of wealthy Americans hiding in plain sight. And, often, they got rich in mundane ways. They own car dealerships. They sell hot dogs and frozen mini-quiches. They run waxing salons. They supply fabricated metal and urinal cakes. They are dentists.

Collectively, these "Main Street millionaires" control much more wealth than the billionaire lightning rods who launch rockets into space, appear on manosphere podcasts, and have Hollywood movies made about them. Many of these millionaires have also grown rich enough to afford superyachts, 10,000-square-foot homes, and pet tigers. 

At the center of their story is a quiet revolution in the American economy: the rise of a particular kind of private business. On today’s show, how did the power of the “stealthy wealthy” millionaires come to rival that of the billionaire oligarchs? And, how are they shaping policies that lower their taxes and raise your prices?

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This episode was hosted by Greg Rosalsky and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Marianne McCune with fact checking help from Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

Music: NPR Source Audio - "Collectible Kicks," "Blazed and Emboldened," and "Arturo’s Revenge


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(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2024.)

$40,000,000,000,000. Four commas. Thirteen zeroes. It’s an eye-popping, almost infinite-sounding pile of money. And every time the debt passes a big round number, almost everyone asks the same question: How much debt is too much?

It’s maybe the most important question in macroeconomics. It’s also surprisingly hard to answer. When two economists tried to answer it back in 2010, it ignited a research slugfest that lasted a decade. 

We did a show on this question in 2024, outlining everything we know and don’t know about when the national debt becomes a problem. But a lot has changed. Interest rates have risen and stayed high. Spending has steamrolled ahead. Doves have become hawks. 

So on today’s show, we update our 2024 episode to revisit the age-old question: Is our debt finally too much? 


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Our original episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Molly Messick. This update was reported and produced by Vito Emanuel. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee. And it was edited by Alex Goldmark, Planet Money’s executive producer. 


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Did a pizza restaurant’s humble status page change how we wait forever? 

When you order a Lyft or Uber, you get texts every few minutes about your car approaching and arriving. When you have a package coming, you get a notification when it’s shipped, when it’s en route, and when it’s out for delivery. Why do so many companies send these constant updates?

We have a theory: It’s because of Domino’s. In 2008, Domino’s launched the Pizza Tracker, a novel tool that delighted customers by allowing them to obsessively monitor their pizza’s progress from order to oven to delivery. The Pizza Tracker became a canonical model for other companies trying to improve their customers’ experiences of waiting for all kinds of products and services. And now? Pizza Trackers are everywhere. 

On today’s show: how the Domino’s Pizza Tracker shaped the internet, and how trackers went from transparently sharing information with consumers to — in some cases — actively deceiving us. 

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This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Alex Mayyasi. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, edited by Liza Yeager, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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Margin borrowing and sports gambling “investments” are both on the rise! Today on the show, two stories from Planet Money’s daily podcast The Indicator about the ways investing is changing, and getting riskier.

According to one study, more than half of Gen Zers are using investment dollars for sports gambling. On average, this is not a smart strategy for the long term. It might be that sports betting today is like day trading was for a previous generation of young investors: something a lot of young people, typically men, do, lose money at for a while, then quit. We review the early research on this trend and meet a state legislator proposing ways to stem problem gambling.

More, generally younger people are also investing with borrowed money. Trading on margin is at an all time high of over $1.5 trillion. In the past, high levels of margin investing have led to crashes. We hear those stories and find out what the Fed might do to reign in the risk. 

Related Indicator episodes
— How AI might mess with financial markets
— Prediction markets are threatening national security. Who's gonna fix it?

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These episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money were produced by Corey Bridges and Cooper Katz-McKim. They were engineered by Travis Hagan and Cena Loffredo, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. They were edited by Julia Ritchey and Kate Concannon. 

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There is a new type of loan that is sweeping through the country right now. It’s advertised as a super quick and super easy way to get a mortgage to buy a home. In recent years, Wall Street has been funneling billions of dollars into these loans. 

But these loans are also raising questions. Are they a financial innovation that’s helping the housing market? Or ... a sign that Wall Street might be forgetting the mistakes that led to the Global Financial Crisis? 

On today’s show, we head to Baltimore, where abandoned rowhomes have become a familiar sight. Reporters Hallie Miller, Jack Bologna and Sahana Jayaraman from The Baltimore Banner have been following this new loan as it’s been bringing millions of dollars into some of Baltimore's most distressed neighborhoods. 

But, a few years ago, two local landlords quickly and quietly amassed what might be one of the largest private real estate portfolios in Baltimore: Over 700 homes and $100 million dollars in borrowed cash. Using this hot new loan. And then they tried to disappear. We talk with the Banner reporters about what they found at the heart of this mystery, and why it might have implications for the rest of the country. 

Read the Banner’s reporting:

The housing hustle igniting a foreclosure crisis in Baltimore
Before mass foreclosures, DSCR loans looked good for Baltimore 
Could a few 'bad actors' upend Baltimore's housing hopes?
Baltimore will investigate New York investor group for housing discrimination 
Baltimore is striking fear into private lenders across the country 
From $3.7M to $9.9M: Federal probe focuses on 42 Baltimore homes sold again and again
The FBI is investigating the New York investors behind Baltimore’s foreclosure wave
Fake deeds, real money: New York investors accused of another Baltimore scam
How do you build a huge portfolio of Baltimore rentals? It helps to know a guy.
The loans behind Baltimore’s foreclosure crisis are surging in cities across the nation  
Baltimore ballroom ‘icon’ survives a life of grit with glamour

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This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Travis Hagen. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

Music: Universal Production Music - "Slick Groove," "Seven Secrets," and "Jazz Move"

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In this economy it is boom times and doom times all at once. The statistics aren’t really capturing it. K-shaped only goes so far as a metaphor. So … we asked you to help. And you delivered! 

One one hand, the stock market is on a prolonged, upward trajectory. Unemployment is low and inflation has come down from its peak. But on the other hand, inflation is frustratingly sticky and higher than we want, job turnover is extremely low making looking for work an endless grind, and more than 75% of Americans say they’re stressed about money. 

So we asked you – our listeners – how is the economy working for you? We got a range of responses. Some people are going to great lengths to save money and make ends meet, others are thriving and feel kind of guilty about their good fortune. We also heard from a new generation being shaped by this economic moment into hyper cost-conscious shoppers. You might call them the inflation generation. Each story helps us understand what’s actually going on in the economy and what the stats aren’t capturing. 

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This episode of Planet Money was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Alex Goldmark. Reporting help from Charlotte Isidore. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Special thanks to all our listeners and all of you who wrote in to let us know how you’re doing. 

Music: NPR Source Audio  - "What I Need," "Feel the Love," and "Red Line"


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