The reverse stock split is the Iron Lotus of the financial world. It looks complicated and absurd, and it often doesn't end well.

The Iron Lotus

A little show about big ideas. From the people who make Planet Money, The Indicator helps you make sense of what's happening today. It's a quick hit of insight into work, business, the economy, and everything else. Listen weekday afternoons.

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We are back to answer your listener questions. On today's show, we explain reverse mortgages and their risks, why insurance has gotten so expensive, and whether there's a catch to charitable donations at the store. 

If you have a question you'd like us to answer, email us at indicator@npr.org. 

Related episodes:
When insurers can't get insurance (Apple / Spotify) 

Are we counting jobs right? We answer your listener questions (Apple / Spotify) 

When mortgage rates are too low to give up (Apple / Spotify) 

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Why is insurance so expensive right now? And more listener questions

In this edition of Indicators of the Week: the new incentive for speed in cash prizes for Olympic track and field, growing iPhone assembly in India and the curious inflation puzzle of the foot-long cookies at Subway. 

Related episodes: 
Can India become the next high-tech hub? (Apple / Spotify)  

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What Subway's foot-long cookie says about inflation

With tax season upon us, many people are paying someone or a software to get their tax returns done. A small group of people, however, are filing online directly with ... the IRS. For free. Today on the show: how the IRS's tax filing experiment came to be, how it's been working so far, and who doesn't like it.

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The IRS wants to do your taxes for free. Will it last?

Europe wants clean energy, but it's struggling to compete with the low cost of China's green technology. The E.U. just announced it's investigating the subsidies received by Chinese wind turbine suppliers, which play a part in those low costs. 

On today's episode, we speak with Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, about how the E.U. is trying to build and maintain a competitive green tech industry in the face of low-price Chinese imports. And we ask how the U.S.'s climate industrial policy fits into all this action.

Related Episodes:
The surprising leader in EVs (Apple / Spotify) 
Industrial policy, the debate! (Apple / Spotify) 
Why offshore wind is facing headwinds (Apple / Spotify) 

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

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Why the EU is investigating China's wind turbines

You've heard of the British royal family, but what about the "working royals?" Today on the show, an expert on the royals explains what the job is like — how they measure productivity, how they get paid, and how this tiny, specialized workforce of 11 people might cope with the health crises of King Charles III and Kate Middleton. 

Subscribe to journalist Elizabeth Holmes' newsletter on the British royal family. 

Related episodes:
The U.K.'s most famous family firm in crisis 

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

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The Iron Lotus

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