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How nonprofits get cash from your clunker
Sean Saldana

The Indicator from Planet Money

How nonprofits get cash from your clunker

Many nonprofits accept your used cars as a way to donate. This happens from Make-A-Wish America to Habitat for Humanity to ... public radio stations!

How nonprofits get cash from your clunker

Listen · 8:47
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Planet Money buys a mystery diamond

The Planet Money mystery diamond Sarah Gonzalez/Sarah Gonzalez hide caption

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Sarah Gonzalez/Sarah Gonzalez

Planet Money

Planet Money buys a mystery diamond

The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at bizarrely low prices. Prices we couldn't find at any retail outlet. Prices so low, we could buy a diamond on a public radio budget. So we did. What we got in the mail was a tiny ziploc bag containing a scintillating mystery.

Planet Money buys a mystery diamond

Listen · 32:22
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Can Europe stand without the US?

A convoy of Bundeswehr vehicles and heavily armed soldiers drives along a road in the north of Hanover. Julian Stratenschulte/Getty Images hide caption

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Julian Stratenschulte/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Can Europe stand without the US?

As relations between the US and Europe continue to sour, European countries are working to lower their reliance on the U.S. for weapons and security. Today on the show, we ask what Europe needs to do to become independent militarily and what potential barriers could stand in the way.

Can Europe stand without the US?

Listen · 9:05
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How's ... everybody doing?

Indicator host Darian Woods. (Angel Carreras / NPR) Angel Carreras/NPR hide caption

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Angel Carreras/NPR

The Indicator from Planet Money

How's ... everybody doing?

What's one word you'd use to describe the 2025 economy? That's the question we fanned out across the U.S. with microphones and open ears. From street parties in the South to an L.A. bookstore to a boardroom in Denver, we listen for financial signals in today's economy.

How's ... everybody doing?

Listen · 9:30
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How specialization can lead to burn-out

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Hulton Archives/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

How specialization can lead to burn-out

Half of all workers are showing signs of burnout according to a survey of international workers. Burnout can come from feeling detached from your work's purpose, having too much work, or ... from specialization. Today on the show, we speak with Shigehiro Oishi, author of Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life.

How specialization can lead to burn-out

Listen · 9:28
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Can we just change how we measure GDP?

Howard Lutnick, US commerce secretary, speaks to reporters following President Trump's joint address to Congress on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images hide caption

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Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images

Planet Money

Can we just change how we measure GDP?

There's one statistic that rules them all when it comes to keeping track of the economy: gross domestic product (GDP). It's the sum of all final transactions, so all the goods or services bought and sold, in an economy. GDP tells us how hot the economy is running, or how cool — like if we might be heading into a recession. And it's an important tool to compare countries, policies, and politicians. It's used by the U.S. government to allocate money and by businesses to make decisions about the future.

Can we just change how we measure GDP?

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Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Up First Newsletter

The Fed holds interest rates. And, judge denies request to block DOGE's USIP takeover

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday as concerns loom over President Trump's new tariffs. And, a judge denied a request to block DOGE's takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Fed Rates Pause, USIP Loses Case, Israel Restarts Gaza Ground Invasion

What's this about a crypto reserve?
Leung Man Hei/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

What's this about a crypto reserve?

In 2009, Bitcoin launched as the first cryptocurrency. Just under two decades, President Trump has signed an executive order to create the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile." On today's show, we look at what the U.S. government plans for this new strategy, plus who benefits from a crypto reserve.

What's this about a crypto reserve?

Listen · 9:29
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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a press conference after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues left interest rates unchanged Wednesday. Inflation eased last month, but prices are still climbing faster than the central bank would like. Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

The Fed holds interest rates steady as Trump's trade agenda sparks uncertainty

The Fed held rates steady, but left the door open to cut them later this year if inflation continues to ease. Trump's tariffs, however, could complicate efforts to bring prices under control.

federal reserve

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Why there's no referee for the trade war
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Why there's no referee for the trade war

Thirty years ago, the U.S. helped create the World Trade Organization, a group of countries linked by a common set of free trade agreements. But then the U.S., starting with the Obama administration, turned against the WTO. This leaves a void where there should be a referee to settle trade disputes between countries. On today's show, how American grievances paralyzed the WTO's dispute settlement system and what happens when the U.S. no longer wants to play by the rules it once agreed to.

Why there's no referee for the trade war

Listen · 9:16
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What might save China's economy

President Xi Jinping during the closing of the National People's Congress on March 11, 2025. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images hide caption

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Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

What might save China's economy

China has set out its target for economic growth this year: around 5 percent. That's a hefty goal for a nation coming off a painful real estate slump. But leaders have their eyes set on other industries to help its economy grow. Today, we dig into the headwinds and tailwinds facing China's economy.

What might save China's economy

Listen · 9:07
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This photo shows a close-up of a refrigerator at a grocery store. The refrigerator has glass doors, and a sign on one of the doors says: "Egg Shortage." The shelves behind the doors have cases of eggs, though some portions of the shelves are empty.

A grocery store in Lawndale, Calif., runs short on eggs on Jan. 2. Egg prices in the U.S. have soared to record highs as avian flu and efforts to contain it have killed millions of egg-laying chickens. But just across the border in Canada, eggs remain plentiful and affordable. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

This is why Canada has plenty of eggs — and the U.S. doesn't

While the U.S. grapples with an egg shortage caused by avian flu, eggs remain plentiful and affordable in Canada. There are reasons for that, including that egg farms there tend to be smaller.

The egg shortage hasn't impacted Canada. Small farms may have something to do with it

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Why is the federal government still killing coyotes?
Erica Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Why is the federal government still killing coyotes?

The federal government spends millions of dollars each year on wildlife damage management, a program that includes killing thousands of coyotes. Yet this program may actually have the opposite effect on the coyote's population. Today on the show, why the government keeps spending money on a problem it can't fix.

Why is the federal government still killing coyotes?

Listen · 8:51
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Trump says the economy is in 'transition.' What comes after?

The S&P 500 posted its fourth straight week of losses on Friday. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

Trump says the economy is in 'transition.' What comes after?

"A little disturbance," "a period of transition," "a detox period." These are all phrases that President Trump and his administration have used to describe the economy, as the stock market has plunged in response to one tariff announcement after another.

Trump says the economy is in 'transition.' What comes after?

Listen · 8:14
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How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring

Tupperware products are offered for sale at a retail store on April 10, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

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Scott Olson/Getty Images

Planet Money

How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring

Tupperware is the stealthy star of our modern homes. These plastic storage containers are ubiquitous in our fridges, pantries, and closets. But the original product was revolutionary. So was its breakthrough sales strategy: the Tupperware Party.

How Tupperware took over our homes, with Decoder Ring

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