The Indicator from Planet Money

This week’s indicators: Tracking your pain at the gas pump in real-time; OpenAI’s IPO hard-launch tug-of-war; one unexpected ingredient is making fertilizer—and potentially your groceries—a whole lot more expensive.

Fact checking by Schuyler Swenson.

Your Next Listen 
— What Iran teaches us about why wars start

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A vital artery for Saudi oil exports is under siege and it’s not the Strait of Hormuz. Today on the show, we explain what’s going on in the Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane connected to the Red Sea, why it’s important, and why the global oil crisis is poised to get even worse. 

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— Fixing the oil crisis might not fix the Persian Gulf   

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Big tech companies are borrowing billions of dollars to finance the build-out of AI data centers, and your 401(k) might be helping to fuel that. Today on the show, what AI hyperscalers are doing to the bond market.

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— Who's financing Meta's massive AI data center?

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Flock cameras promise to reduce crimes like car theft. But these automated license plate readers come with a trade-off: a wide-reaching surveillance network. Today on the show, does Flock actually make communities safer?

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— Stuck In China’s Panopticon

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It’s time for another Indicator Quiz! For today’s quiz, we’re testing the Indicator knowledge of a brilliant mathematician. Will we stump his theoretician brain? Tune in and find out! 

Interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name and phone number to [email protected] and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject.

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— An urban planner, infinite scroll, and … what is a public good?


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This week’s indicators: Is The U.S. Treasury Department futzing with financial markets?; Is Patagonia’s pretty picturesque setting … for data centers?; Was the summer box office actually swell? 

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— A Treasury showdown with the bond market

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Our favorite entry on the regional economy from the latest Beige Book reveals a troubling development in higher education. 

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— Community colleges are kind of underrated

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Why do so many fintech companies — like Square and Mercury — want to be banks? And what does it take to get there? Find out today when we play our fake game show … Who Wants To Be A Bank!

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
—Is this a bank?

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The era of friendly diplomacy has fallen to the wayside once again as the U.S. - Canada trade war enters a new phase. This time, Canada is countering the latest round of tariffs with their own, targeting American dairy, steel and electronics. Today on the show, we hear from the host of CBC’s Cost of Living podcast Paul Haavardsrud on Canada’s trade war strategy.

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— Why there's no referee for the trade war
— Why a trade war makes wigs (and bones) cost more + LeBond James

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With AI disrupting the workplace, is your job going to exist in ten years? The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just the handbook for that. 

Today on the show, we flip through the Occupational Outlook Handbook and answer your questions about the future of work.

This episode originally aired on May 8th, 2026

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen 
— How AI is shrinking the job market for teens

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