After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble
This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, a...
1 Nov 202529min
The remittance mystery
For decades, the U.S. has been the single biggest source of remittances worldwide. A remittance is a transfer of money, typically from an immigrant to their family in their country of origin. But we a...
30 Okt 202528min
Should the fine have to fit the crime?
The U.S. Constitution famously outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments.” But there's another, far more obscure part of the Constitution called the Excessive Fines Clause, which basically says that the ...
24 Okt 202525min
TikTok’s Trojan Horse Strategy
When TikTok videos started to go viral on Instagram and Reddit, TikTok turned to professional sound designers to protect their content.More and more companies are paying to develop a “sonic identity” ...
22 Okt 202525min
How Russia’s shadow fleet is sailing around oil sanctions
Bjarne Caesar Skinnerup works as a maritime pilot in the straits of Denmark. That means he’s used to seeing oil tankers. But after the start of the war in Ukraine, the tankers started getting weird. T...
17 Okt 202531min
The year NYC went broke
In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thousands of city employees and robust social services by taking on billions of dollars in debt. But eve...
15 Okt 202531min
How the government got hedge funded
The U.S. government spends a ton of money, on everything from Medicare to roads to defense. In fact, it spends way more than it takes in. So…it borrows money, in the bond market. By selling U.S. Treas...
10 Okt 202528min
Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)
Pre-order the Planet Money book here for your free gift. Our sister show, The Indicator, is chronicling the evolving business of crime for its Vice Week series. Today, we bring to you two cases of cri...
8 Okt 202519min
