The Indicator from Planet Money

SpaceX is capping off a busy 2024, with more than 100 rocket launches, including its vaunted Starship. NPR Science Correspondent Geoff Brumfiel attended the November launch of Starship alongside SpaceX founder Elon Musk and president-elect Donald Trump. He spoke with NPR's Short Wave about the environmental impact of these launches in south Texas — and what a second Trump administration could mean for the company.

Related episode:
Elon's giant rocket

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From retail to fast food to nursing, one-day strikes have been a growing trend over the last decade.

But what makes one-day strikes more or less effective than longer strikes? Do they achieve the same goals?

On today's show, what do short strikes say about union power in the US and what can you accomplish with only 24 hours on the picket line.

Related Episodes:
What the data reveal about U.S. labor unrest
The Indicator Quiz: Labor Edition
The never-ending strike

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Boeing continues to struggle. Safety concerns, a door blowing off mid-flight, a labor strike, impending layoffs ... and that's just the past year.

What's gone wrong at Boeing? For many observers, the mistake was shifting focus from engineering to financial engineering.

Today on the show we explain what financial engineering is and why this cultural change at Boeing may have led to the company's current problems.

Related Episodes:
Help Wanted at Boeing
Boeing's woes, Bilt jilts, and the Indicator's stock rally

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President-elect Donald Trump made a lot of economic promises on the campaign trail, but none as sweeping as his plan to enact tariffs. Trump believes taxing imports from other countries will help reduce the U.S. trade deficit and raise money for things like tax cuts. Today on the show, how might these tariffs work and will they work? Or is everything about to get more expensive?

Find more of Kyla Scanlon's work on YouTube and TikTok.

Related episodes:
What are Trump's economic plans (Apple / Spotify)
Why tariffs are SO back (Apple / Spotify)
Trade wars and talent shortages (Apple / Spotify)
A brief history of tariffs

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Many were waiting longer than expected to hear Donald Trump name his nominee for Treasury Secretary, the person in charge of pursuing his economic agenda. Now, we have an answer: hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. Today on the show, what are the actual implications of what a Treasury Secretary does on you and me? And how does the Treasury Department affect regular Americans?

Related episodes:
The IRS wants to do your taxes for free. Will it last? (Apple / Spotify)
The U.S. economy's biggest superpower, explained (Apple / Spotify)

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Across the U.S., millions of people are feeling the burden of high housing costs. During his campaign, president-elect Donald Trump promised to do something about that. But what exactly is that something? Today on the show, NPR's business correspondent, Laurel Wamsley, explains Trump's ideas for the housing market. 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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Housing affordability is a top concern for Americans and a hot political topic. Estimates for the number of needed homes stretch into the millions, but how is this actually counted? Today on the show, we explain the tricky business of quantifying the US housing shortage.

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We are back with a pricey Indicators of the Week. Today, we're digging into why it's so hard to get price information from funeral providers, how much a single banana could possibly cost, and just how much richer Elon Musk has become since Donald Trump's election win.

Related episodes:
Why is everyone talking about Musk's money? (Apple / Spotify)
Artists vs. AI (Apple / Spotify)

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As Wall Street investors divine what a second Trump administration might mean for markets, there's talk of a new gang in town: the bond vigilantes. On today's show, where they came from, what they want, and how to tell when they're about to spring into action.

Related episodes:
Trying to solve the mystery of big bond yields
What the 'bonkers' bond market means for you

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There's been a lot of research showing how third spaces — a place that isn't the home nor the workplace — have brought communities together, even catalyzed revolutions. New research shows that coffee shops in particular could be key to sparking new businesses, too.

Today on the show, caffeine-fueled entrepreneurship. We go back a few decades for the story of how Magic Johnson partnered to build Starbucks cafes in Black and Latino neighborhoods, and how new research has shed light on how Magic's plan changed entrepreneurship in those communities.

Related Episodes:
Oil gluts, Russian bucks, and Starbucks
Magic Johnson on basketball, business, and being the face of HIV

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