Episodes (Page 7)
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Trump administration froze federal assistance programs, creating chaos as judge blocked the freeze while confusion persisted across agencies
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Tigran Gambaryan, a former IRS 'Crypto Wizard' investigating dark web cases, was detained in Nigeria in 2024 while representing Binance crypto exchange
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Spanish galleon San Jose sank in 1708 with cargo worth billions in gold, silver, silk, and porcelain, located underwater in 2015
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Scratch-off lottery tickets, now consumed more than pizza annually, didn't exist 50 years ago and faced initial state resistance
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Chinese AI company DeepSeek released model reportedly matching American competitors while using far less computing power and cost
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Battery storage technology evolved from expensive, niche application to critical grid infrastructure enabling 24/7 renewable energy availability
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Trump administration targets Chicago for immigration enforcement with Little Village neighborhood expecting raids and deportations of Mexican-origin residents
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Los Angeles fire survivors return to destroyed neighborhoods facing impossible decisions about rebuilding and whether to remain in burned-out areas
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Addresses listener questions about Trump's second term economic impacts including technology purchases timing and grocery price inflation potential
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Airport Duty Free stores originated in 1940s Shannon, Ireland through tax loophole created to attract wealthy transatlantic travelers
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Nixon administration pressured Fed Chair Arthur Burns to make economically harmful decisions beneficial for Nixon's re-election
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ZIP codes originated after WWII as a mail organization system but have become ubiquitous in modern life, appearing in credit card verification and rental searches.
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For over 25 years, fresh American potatoes were barred from freely entering Mexico despite NAFTA, representing a major gap in US-Mexico free trade.
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AI translation technology is rapidly improving but hasn't yet fully replaced human translators despite industry predictions
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Planet Money revisits past stories to update listeners on major economic developments including zombie mortgages, student loan forgiveness, and Argentina's economy under its new president.
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Despite positive economic indicators in 2024 (inflation down, unemployment stable, three Fed rate cuts), overall economic sentiment among Americans remained pessimistic.
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Mauricio Serna is developing biodiversity credits as a financial instrument to fund habitat restoration on his family's Colombian land, El Globo
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Sports gambling evolved in the 1980s when computers and statistical analysis entered sportsbooks, mirroring changes that occurred simultaneously on Wall Street.
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Three economists won the Nobel Prize for explaining global inequality through the power of institutions and economic systems
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The Smoot-Hawley Tariffs of the Great Depression era explain why Congress delegated tariff authority to the executive branch, a decision with modern relevance.