Episodes (Page 9)
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OIRA (Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs), an obscure but powerful office near the White House, is gaining expanded authority under Trump's executive order
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A Canadian small business navigates the uncertainty of Trump's tariff announcements, pauses, and restarts affecting their trade relationships
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Trump's tariff strategy centers on eliminating the U.S. trade deficit
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War on Drugs anti-cocaine efforts in Peru led to trade policies that enabled year-round fresh blueberry imports to America
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Mainstream economists historically opposed tariffs, but Trump administration economists argue they can correct trade imbalances and serve policy goals
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Planet Money partners with Radiolab to examine Earth's finite raw materials including sand, copper, and oil, and how much supply remains
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Planet Money purchases a diamond from a suspiciously cheap online retailer and sends it to Gemological Institute of America for analysis
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick proposes removing government spending from GDP calculations, a major change to nearly a century-old methodology
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Investor Walter Schramm loses a small fortune through an obscure government program called escheat that seizes forgotten money
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Tupperware revolutionized kitchen storage and pioneered the direct-sales party model through charismatic entrepreneur Brownie Wise
Decoder Ring
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Examines the 1990s federal workforce reduction under a Democratic administration for lessons applicable to modern government downsizing
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Follows the step-by-step process of founding a community bank from initial concept through opening day operations
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Peanut the squirrel became a viral animal influencer, then a political symbol after being euthanized by authorities
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Memecoins started as satirical commentary on crypto speculation but became a tens-of-billions-dollar market
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Tyson Foods closed a 1,200-worker meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa, citing efficiency concerns in a town of 8,000 people
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Mathematical trading models at Long Term Capital Management identified tiny market price discrepancies for profitable arbitrage in the 1990s
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President Trump claims the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is unconstitutional and attempts to freeze trillions in federal spending
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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