The Indicator from Planet Money

If you've ever passed through airport customs overseas and been refunded a VAT — or value added tax — for souvenirs, you've benefited from the VAT system. But President Trump says VAT is unfair to the U.S. On today's episode, we learn what VAT is and what it isn't.

Related episodes:
What's so bad about a trade deficit? (Apple / Spotify)
Tarrified! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
Why there's no referee for the trade war (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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The federal government has been tracking the weather for more than 150 years. But the rise of the Internet and big tech have made weather forecasting a more crowded space. Today on the show, the value of an accurate forecast and how the Trump administration's early moves are clouding the government's future forecasting. This piece originally aired in November 2024.

Related stories:
Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (Apple / Spotify)
Should we invest more in weather forecasting?
After a year of deadly weather, cities look to private forecasters to save lives

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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Today on the show, we discuss why the IRS is sharing some taxpayer information, why bonds and stocks both fell, and how robots will replace you,or at least most of your chore wheel, in the near future.

Related episodes:
Why are stocks and bonds both falling?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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"There's no bad weather, only bad clothing." That's the motto of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where Austan Goolsbee is president. As economic weather conditions stay unpredictable, Austan tells us how he's gearing up for tariffs, inflation, and more.

Related episodes:
The Fed cut rates ... now what? (featuring: Sasquatch) (Apple / Spotify)
Tariffied! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
A chat with the president of the San Francisco Fed (Apple / Spotify)
Is the economy going stag(flation)?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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Today on the show, we meet Canada's new Prime Minister, economist Mark Carney.

What's it like when your former job — being a non-political banker who decides a country's interest rate — bleeds into your now-political decisions on everything?

Related episodes:
A polite message from Canada to the U.S. (Apple / Spotify)

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President Trump claims a main goal of his crippling tariffs is to address the U.S. trade deficit. So is the U.S. trade deficit a problem? On today's show, why we'll never have a trade surplus with every single country; what the benefits of a trade deficit are; and whether or not the trade deficit affects jobs.

Related episodes:
Tarrified! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
Why there's no referee for the trade war (Apple / Spotify)
Common economic myths debunked (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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Trump's wave of tariffs is here. Just about everyone in the world of business is still processing exactly what this means. It's a massive, widespread increase in taxes. Today on the show, we hear from business people we've had on the show who tell us what they're doing in response to the latest, and largest, wave of tariffs.

Related episodes:
Trump's contradictory trade policies (Apple / Spotify)
How's ... everybody doing? (Apple / Spotify)
How Shein became a fast-fashion behemoth (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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It's Jobs Friday and all eyes are on government workers. Will the Trump administration's layoffs finally show up in the latest jobs report? Today on the show, we look at the numbers for federal workers and who's trying to hire them.

Related listening:
Can ... we still trust the monthly jobs report (Apple / Spotify)
The last time we shrank the federal workforce (Apple / Spotify)
A 'Fork in the Road' for federal employees (Apple / Spotify)
How local government is propping up the U.S. labor market

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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There have now been a few major vinyl booms. And unbeknownst to many, a small village in the Czech Republic has been responsible for manufacturing a large number of these albums. On today's show, how this dominant player became a problem for its competitors in the U.S.

Related episodes:
Rumor has it Adele broke the vinyl supply chain
'Let's Get It On' ... in court (Update) (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

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Billions of tech dollars flowing into a community to build data centers should transform a local economy ... right? Well, maybe not.

On today's episode: Why data centers create few permanent jobs. And why communities might want them anyway.

Related episodes:
Why China's DeepSeek AI is such a big deal (Apple / Spotify)
Is AI overrated? (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy