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The Indicator from Planet Money
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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.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
1 day ago
What Is Trumponomics?
Danielle Kurtzleben from NPR's Washington Desk breaks down Donald Trump's economic policies and plans for a second term.
9 min
2 days ago
What Is Bidenomics?
Danielle Kurtzleben from NPR's Washington Desk breaks down Joe Biden's economic policies.
10 min
3 days ago
The 99% Invisible City With Roman Mars
Podcast host and co-author of The 99% Invisible City Roman Mars joins the show to talk about his new book, the ways people shape their cities, and how to combine beauty & function in design.
10 min
4 days ago
Questions From Kids
Stacey and Cardiff answer questions from kids...also, a few animal facts.
10 min
5 days ago
A New DAWN On Broadway
As arts workers continue to struggle, they're trying their hand at something new. Not a new performance or show, but a piece of legislation which would keep their industry alive through the pandemic.
10 min
Oct 23, 2020
The Great Remittance Mystery
In 2019, migrants sent a record $500 billion back to their countries of origin. Then COVID hit, and the World Bank predicted a 20 percent drop in that flow of cash. But now the data is in, and it turns out remittances have held steady.
9 min
Oct 22, 2020
The Case Against Google
A few days ago, The Department of Justice filed a massive antitrust lawsuit against Google. The case focuses on the company's dominance in search, but what about the rest of Google's empire?
10 min
Oct 21, 2020
Hope Vs. Despair
Should we feel hope or despair about the future of the American economy? Cardiff and Stacey debate.
9 min
Oct 20, 2020
Why Women Are Leaving The Workforce
Of the 1.1 million people who left the job market in September, over 860,000 were women. Today we look at why women are dropping out of the workforce and what it will mean for the economy.
10 min
Oct 19, 2020
Economic Consequences Of The Census
The coronavirus pandemic, distrust of the government, and a surprising political battle have the 2020 Census count.
10 min
Oct 16, 2020
The Lehman Trilogy
Just before Broadway shut down, team Indicator saw The Lehman Trilogy, about the origin of Lehman Brothers. We talk with playwright Ben Power about the firm, the family and the consolation of history.
10 min
Oct 15, 2020
Inequities Of The Pandemic
The coronavirus has devastated the U.S. economy, but it hasn't affected everyone equally. Today on the show, four ways the pandemic has deepened inequality.
8 min
Oct 14, 2020
Daymond John Plays Overrated Or Underrated
Daymond John and what he thinks is overrated and what's underrated
9 min
Oct 13, 2020
How Vikings Launched Globalization 1.0
How the Vikings trading with a North American Indigenous group shortly after the year 1000 connected global trading networks and kicked off the first version of globalization.
10 min
Oct 12, 2020
An Economist Walks Into A Bar
There's a long history of bars playing a vital role in innovation and economic growth. What happens when they all close down?
10 min
Oct 9, 2020
WFH From Barbados
The Barbados economy depends on tourism, so travel restrictions have been devastating. But the island nation has come up with an innovative stopgap: A visa that lets visitors work remotely from Barbados for a year.
9 min
Oct 8, 2020
Where's Everyone Moving To?
Remember all the predictions about the pandemic pushing people to quit big, expensive cities? Six months in, the data is providing some clues about which cities Americans are leaving, and where they're moving to. An update on the "urban exodus."
9 min
Oct 7, 2020
The Great Fridge Freeze-Out
For months now, there's been a shortage of refrigerators and freezers across the U.S. Shoppers can't find appliances to buy and stores can't find enough appliances to sell. Alina Selyukh joins The Indicator to explain why.
10 min
Oct 6, 2020
The Semiconductor Standoff
As the trade war continues, China hasn't purchased nearly as many exports from the United States as it previously agreed to. There was one bright spot though: semiconductors — but that may soon change.
10 min
Oct 5, 2020
Commercial Real Estate's Great Reckoning
The coronavirus has caused a massive downturn in commercial real estate. As the pandemic continues and companies back out of leases, the future of commercial real estate is brought into question.
10 min
Oct 2, 2020
Jobs Friday: The Worker Shortage Mystery
The U.S. is experiencing the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. Meanwhile, some employers claim that they can't find the workers they need. What's going on?
9 min
Oct 1, 2020
The Economic Legacy Of Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe served as Japan's Prime Minister for nearly eight years before suddenly announcing his retirement in August. Today on the show, the lessons of Abenomics for the US and other countries.
9 min
Sep 30, 2020
Big Donors & Pay-To-Play Politics
The Center for Public Integrity joins The Indicator with an excerpt from The Heist, a new podcast exploring money and politics in the Trump Administration.
10 min
Sep 29, 2020
The Indicator World Tour
The Indicator brings listeners economic indicators from the other six continents.
10 min
Sep 28, 2020
Behind The Art Of The Deal
Stacey talks to Tony Schwartz, co-author of Trump: The Art Of The Deal, about the book and the recent New York Times report exploring President Trump's tax records.
10 min
Sep 25, 2020
Some Listener Questions!
Cardiff and Stacey answer some listener questions about the rebounding demand for gas, the rise of contactless payments, and how wages have changed for low-income workers over the past few years.
10 min
Sep 24, 2020
RIP Business Suit?
For 400 years, the business suit has been a staple in men's fashion...then the pandemic struck. Today on the show, the end of the business suit?
10 min
Sep 23, 2020
The Invention Of Paper Money
Paper currency has become standard around the world, but that wasn't always the case. Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein tells the story of how paper money came to be — and why it temporarily went away.
10 min
Sep 22, 2020
A Few Freaky Facts
Stacey and Cardiff discuss some of the non-obvious ways the coronavirus pandemic — and the policy response to it — has reshaped the U.S. economy.
10 min
Sep 21, 2020
Jamaican Monetary Policy: Behind The Music
Jamaica's Central Bank has a unique way of explaining its policies: Reggae music videos. The Indicator talks with the Central Bank about why they've taken this unique approach.
9 min
Sep 18, 2020
Downturn Start-Ups: A Conversation With Guy Raz
Since the pandemic started, nearly 100,000 businesses have closed permanently. Opening a business now might seem crazy. But downturn start-ups have some advantages.
10 min
Sep 17, 2020
DIY Firefighting
Emergency services are spread so thin in the West that some property owners are taking a D-I-Y approach to firefighting.
9 min
Sep 16, 2020
How Immigration Is Changing The U.S. Economy
Nearly 17 percent of the U.S. labor force is made up of immigrants. That's up from 12.4 percent in 2000, and 6.7 percent in 1980. What that means for the economy.
10 min
Sep 15, 2020
A Smarter Approach To Lockdowns
The coronavirus has put millions of people out of work. Greg Ip talks about his recent article in the Wall Street Journal and argues that lockdowns are "an overly blunt and economically costly tool."
10 min
Sep 14, 2020
The Birth Of The Greenback
In the mid-1800s, the US had 8,370 kinds of money. How that happened, and what it meant for the US economy.
10 min
Sep 11, 2020
The Science of Hoops
The three-point shot has revolutionized basketball, but its unintended consequences could mean trouble for the sport's future.
10 min
Sep 10, 2020
Making The Most Of Scarce Space
Lockdowns, working from home, and remote learning have all made personal domestic space more scarce. Emily Anthes has some solutions.
10 min
Sep 9, 2020
Parenting In The Time of Corona
COVID, lockdowns and working from home made life complicated for parents. Trying to educate kids from home has made things even tougher, so tough many women are dropping out of the workforce.
10 min
Sep 8, 2020
The Great Lego Scam
Counterfeit Lego kits, made illegally in China, are giving collectors a headache.
8 min
Sep 4, 2020
More Job Growth, But Slower
The August unemployment numbers were better than expected. But doesn't mean the labor market is the picture of health.
10 min
Sep 3, 2020
Overrated Or Underrated: The Nobel Edition
Nobel economics prize winners Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee on whether foreign aid, french bread and dating an economist are overrated or underrated.
10 min
Sep 2, 2020
Opening Schools: Mission Impossible
The question of whether to reopen schools or educate children at home is medically sensitive, logistically complicated and politically fraught. How one superintendent is handling it.
9 min
Sep 1, 2020
Your Brain On Retail Trading
Stock-picking retail traders have been jumping into the market this year. They may not understand the risks.
10 min
Aug 31, 2020
The Inclusion Payoff
Women and non-white men are gaining ground when it comes to science and engineering degrees, but not when it comes to patents.
10 min
Aug 28, 2020
An Ode To Taxes
Taxes get a bad reputation, but they were central to the formation of representative government and even the written word.
10 min
Aug 27, 2020
What A Piece Of Work Is The Post Office
The rather Shakespearean situation of the U.S. Postal Service
10 min
Aug 26, 2020
5 (More) Ways Life Has Changed
From smoking more cigarettes to stocking up on meatless meats, the pandemic has changed consumer behavior in some unexpected ways.
9 min
Aug 25, 2020
A Conversation With Janet Yellen
Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen talks about her New York Times op-ed with Jared Bernstein, proposing a two-punch solution for boosting the economy.
10 min
Aug 24, 2020
Egg Prices: States Cry Foul
The price of eggs skyrocketed at the start of the pandemic. That has some people crying foul ... and filing suit.
10 min
Aug 21, 2020
Why Do Diamonds Cost More Than Water?
The Diamond-Water Paradox: If we need water to survive and we don't need diamonds, why are diamonds expensive and water cheap?
10 min
Aug 20, 2020
The Looming Eviction Crisis
Millions of renters in the US are facing the prospect of eviction from their homes.
10 min
Aug 19, 2020
Becky, We Hardly Knew Ye
We bought a junk bond back in December. Then COVID-19 sent the economy into a tailspin, and the company that issued the junk bond declared bankruptcy. But that wasn't the end of the story.
10 min
Aug 18, 2020
Making the Middle Class Great Again
The argument that the key factor that boosted the middle class post WW2 — and could help the middle class again — is access.
10 min
Aug 17, 2020
Science, Economics And Vaccines
Everyone wants to develop a coronavirus vaccine. But vaccine development usually takes years. The White House is betting money can speed things up.
10 min
Aug 14, 2020
The Economics of Gods and Mortals
The first milestone in the history of economics was an 8th century B.C. poem — a lecture by an ancient Greek poet to his deadbeat brother.
10 min
Aug 13, 2020
When $600 Goes Away
Millions of jobless Americans are desperate to know whether their unemployment benefits will be extended, and by how much. But Congress just went on vacation.
10 min
Aug 12, 2020
An Immigration Backfire?
Limiting high-skilled immigration to the U.S. may not save jobs for Americans; it might even cost jobs.
8 min
Aug 11, 2020
Coronavirus Comes To Venezuela
Venezuela's economy was already struggling, for a variety of reasons. The coronavirus pandemic couldn't have struck at a worse time. Now the country's economy is on life support.
10 min
Aug 10, 2020
Roller Coaster Economy (Scream Inside Only)
As Democrats, Republicans and the President fight about how much support to give laid-off workers during the pandemic, we take the temperature of this up-and-down economy.
9 min
Aug 7, 2020
Jobs, Labor And The 1936 GM Strike
The brutal unemployment situation in the US today is making a lot of people think again about labor unions. Which had their first major victory after a 1936 strike.
9 min
Aug 6, 2020
One Drug, Two Prices
Faced with the prospect of paying for an expensive drug to treat his daughter, this dad found a nearly identical product for thousands of dollars less. But the insurance company wouldn't let him.
10 min
Aug 5, 2020
Why Your Internet Sucks
We answer two questions today: Why is American internet so bad? And why was the unemployment benefit extension set at $600?
9 min
Aug 4, 2020
An Artful Pivot
How a theater company in Philadelphia is reacting to the existential threat posed by the coronavirus.
10 min
Aug 3, 2020
Protest And A Black-Owned Business
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations brought people together to protest injustice. But alongside the protests came riots, at a great cost to some Black-owned businesses.
10 min
Jul 31, 2020
Sharing The Vaccine
The biggest, wealthiest nations in the world are in a race to produce a coronavirus vaccine. It's obviously in a country's interest to win that race and protect its citizens. It's also in its interest to share.
10 min
Jul 30, 2020
This quarter's Gross Domestic Product numbers could be the worst on record. But what do they mean, exactly?
8 min
Jul 29, 2020
The Coronavirus Housing Boom
Most of the U.S. economy is in crisis: Unemployment and bankruptcies are skyrocketing, and millions aren't paying rent. But home sales are skyrocketing, too. In fact, they're rising at a record pace.
10 min
Jul 28, 2020
Work After COVID
The use of technologies that help office workers do their work remotely could have unanticipated, long-lasting effects for low-skilled workers too.
9 min
Jul 27, 2020
The Extra $600
Nearly one in five U.S. workers is on unemployment benefits. And most of them are about to see their checks cut in half, as Congress' expanded benefits expire this month.
9 min
Jul 24, 2020
The Power Of Workers
The three main drivers behind the decline in worker power.
9 min
Jul 23, 2020
Can Restaurants Reopen?
Restaurants are going out of business in droves. But some are battling hard to keep their doors open.
10 min
Jul 22, 2020
Question Time!
What's the garbage situation? How can we invest in Black-owned businesses? And what's the state of the gig economy? Your questions, answered.
10 min
Jul 21, 2020
A Tale Of Two Camdens
The city of Camden, New Jersey is cited as an example of how cities can change their approach to policing. But the story of Camden and its cops isn't a simple one.
9 min
Jul 20, 2020
This Weekend's (Fiscal) Cliffhanger
Unless Congress acts, unemployment benefit enhancements will expire. And that could have big effects on the economy.
9 min
Jul 17, 2020
A Conversation With Gary Cohn
Gary Cohn was President Trump's economic advisor, and a prime mover behind the $2 trillion tax cut of 2017. We talk to him about the state of the economy.
9 min
Jul 16, 2020
A Race Reckoning In Economics
The economics profession has a serious inclusion problem, and that matters for how all of us understand the economy.
10 min
Jul 15, 2020
When SNAP Gets Squeezed
One in five American households doesn't have enough food to eat. And the program that's supposed to help is about to shrink.
9 min
Jul 14, 2020
Oil Storage Wars
Because of the global economic slowdown, there's a glut of oil on the market right now. And companies are coming up with creative ways to store it.
9 min
Jul 13, 2020
Leaving Prison In The COVID-19 Economy
Reentering the world and the workforce after you've been in prison is hard enough at the best of times. The coronavirus pandemic has made it a whole lot harder.
10 min
Jul 10, 2020
The Small Business Roller Coaster
Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream in Seattle has been on the same economic and political roller coaster ride many small businesses have. Now they're trying to open back up, survive and grow.
10 min
Jul 9, 2020
Texas Hospitals Battle COVID-19
Rural hospitals in Texas are scrambling for equipment and staff to combat the surge in coronavirus cases.
10 min
Jul 8, 2020
Why We Need Black-Owned Banks
Black-owned financial institutions are a shrinking part of the U.S. financial system. We look at what that means for America's entrenched racial disparities.
10 min
Jul 7, 2020
Live Music Industry Blues
Live music events are like micro-economies that support hundreds of small businesses. Coronavirus is hammering them.
10 min
Jul 6, 2020
Unintended Consequences, Hidden Deaths
The way organizations and governments respond to disasters often have hidden consequences; sometimes those consequences can be fatal.
10 min
Jul 2, 2020
Jobs In June
The BLS jobs report for June was better than expected, but showed the U.S. economy is still suffering badly from coronavirus.
9 min
Jul 1, 2020
The Market For Student Loans
Americans owe about $1.5 trillion in student debt. But who actually owns those loans? One borrower goes looking for an answer—and uncovers a multi-billion dollar shadow market.
10 min
Jun 30, 2020
Listener Questions: Past Pandemics And Property Prices
On the Spanish Flu, housing prices, and the resilience of Australia's economy. Indicator listener questions, answered.
9 min
Jun 29, 2020
The Uncounted Workforce
Incarcerated Americans make goods for American companies, and get paid next to nothing for their labor.
9 min
Jun 26, 2020
Sadie Alexander, America's First Black Economist
Sadie Alexander was the first African-American to earn a PhD in economics. We think her contributions deserve another look.
9 min
Jun 25, 2020
Liar Loans
Many businesses have been negatively affected by the pandemic. But some companies that have borrowed a lot of money are manipulating their numbers, to avoid breaking their debt agreements.
10 min
Jun 24, 2020
Black Workers And The Fed
How the Federal Reserve manages the economy can have an outsize effect on Black workers. Here's how to make sure it doesn't leave them behind again.
8 min
Jun 23, 2020
The Economics Of Vaccine Pricing
Governments and drug companies agree: We need to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. But their motives for developing a vaccine are different. And that will have a big effect on the vaccine's price.
10 min
Jun 22, 2020
Poker, Markets And Life
How a psychologist who learned how to play high stakes poker as a way to study human behavior learned a lot about risk management, mendacity and the markets.
9 min
Jun 19, 2020
Daymond John: Swimming With Sharks
Daymond John, founder of the iconic brand FUBU and investor on the reality show Shark Tank, talked to us about how he got his start and maintained his lead in the cutthroat world of fashion apparel.
10 min
Jun 18, 2020
When A Boomtown Goes Bust
Williston, North Dakota doubled in size during the shale oil boom a decade ago. Now oil prices have fallen and the town's facing hard times.
10 min
Jun 17, 2020
How Other Countries Handled Their Jobs Crises
Not all countries approached the COVID-19 economic crisis the way the U.S. did. How different strategies on unemployment had radically different outcomes.
10 min
Jun 16, 2020
Who Pays For The Police?
Police fines and fees have helped to fill city coffers, but they've done serious damage to community relations.
10 min
Jun 15, 2020
High-Frequency Indicators
Five "high-frequency" indicators help us track the health of the U.S. economy
9 min
Jun 12, 2020
The Business Of Police Surveillance
The companies that lead the field in surveillance technology are turning against it.
9 min
Jun 11, 2020
Story Of A Paper
Why a groundbreaking paper by Lisa Cook on the effects of racist violence took ten years to get published.
10 min
Jun 10, 2020
The Cost Of Contact Tracing
Contact tracing is one of the most effective ways to contain a pandemic and dates back to the 1300s. But the modern versions are coming at a real cost.
10 min
Jun 9, 2020
The Post Pandemic City
Big American cities might never look the same again, post coronavirus. And that could be the making of them.
10 min
Jun 8, 2020
The Minnesota Paradox
Minnesota is often touted as one of the best places to live in the U.S. — it has the numbers to prove it. And yet, the state has some of the worst racial disparities of any state in the country.
10 min
Jun 5, 2020
Unemployment And The Racial Divide
How well a family can endure a spell of unemployment depends on how much of a buffer it has to fall back on. And there are big racial and ethnic disparities in how big those buffers are.
10 min
Jun 4, 2020
The Business Of Antibody Tests
Companies all over the world are jockeying for position in the lucrative COVID-19 antibody testing market, but are quality standards getting lost in the shuffle?
10 min
Jun 3, 2020
Police Unions And Civilian Deaths
There appears to be a relationship between police unionization and the number of people killed by officers.
9 min
Jun 2, 2020
Where Are The Business Bankruptcies?
When the coronavirus hit, economists predicted a tsunami of bankruptcies. But that hasn't happened.
9 min
Jun 1, 2020
Racism And Economics
The coronavirus pandemic has been called "the great equalizer." But in fact, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected African Americans in all kinds of ways.
9 min
May 29, 2020
The Beige Book And The Pig Farmer
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book provides anecdotes from various parts of the economy. This month's edition illustrates the pain being suffered by pig farmers.
9 min
May 28, 2020
Melissa Dell On Security And Prosperity
Mellisa Dell, this year's John Bates Clark Medal winner, explains the relationship between security, prosperity and the rule of law.
9 min
May 27, 2020
#WFH Forever?
Many of us are working from home for now. Some could be destined to do it forever.
10 min
May 26, 2020
Rent In The Time Of Coronavirus
The landlord-tenant relationship is often a tense one and it's becoming a national problem.
10 min
May 22, 2020
Stocks Are Up But The Economy's Down
The stock market has recovered more than half the ground lost when it crashed nearly 34 percent starting in late February. But the economy hasn't recovered. Why is there such a stark disconnect?
10 min
May 21, 2020
Waiting For A Surge
Hospitals lost millions of dollars preparing for a surge of COVID-19 patients. Some were swamped, but others only saw a handful of coronavirus cases. Now many are struggling to survive.
9 min
May 20, 2020
The Persistence Of Poverty
Melissa Dell, winner of the John Bates Clark Medal for economics, on why poverty and insecurity are so persistent in certain parts of the world.
9 min
May 19, 2020
The Public Transit Problem
Public transit systems are vital to cities. Many have been shut down or slowed during the pandemic. Now city administrators have to figure out how to reopen them.
10 min
May 18, 2020
Small Banks' Corona Crunch
Many banks have changed the way they work, as they hurry to get billions in CARES Act cash to small businesses.
9 min
May 15, 2020
Waiting For A Check
State unemployment offices have been slammed, as 36 million Americans have lost their jobs. And now individuals and the U.S. economy are depending on these often underfunded operations to step up.
10 min
May 14, 2020
Reopening Sports: Does MMA Point The Way?
Mixed martial arts is the first major spectator sport in the U.S. to host live events since the coronavirus lockdown. Other sports are watching to see whether MMA could point the way.
10 min
May 13, 2020
Coronavirus, Farmworkers And America's Food Supply
The working conditions on many farms mean that agricultural laborers are at high risk of getting COVID-19. That poses a real threat to those workers and to the country's food supply.
9 min
May 12, 2020
Pay Cuts Vs. Layoffs
Companies hammered by the economic collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic are being forced to make a hard choice: lay staff off or cut their pay.
10 min
May 11, 2020
On Demand
The U.S. economy depends on consumer demand. And demand is way down because of the coronavirus pandemic. What happens if it doesn't come back?
10 min
May 8, 2020
A Brutal Jobs Report
The jobs report for this month was nightmarish. But as bad as it was, it hid some even worse news about the employment situation.
10 min
May 7, 2020
Gov. Newsom On Reopening California
California Governor Gavin Newsom talks with Stacey Vanek Smith about his plans to reopen the fifth largest economy in the world.
10 min
May 6, 2020
Masks En Vogue
If the pandemic goes on much longer, or its aftereffects linger, face masks will inevitably become a fashion accessory.
10 min
May 5, 2020
Italy Reopens: A Tale of Two Bookstores
Italy was one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus, and was one of the first to shut down its economy. Now it's reopening. But not everyone's happy about it.
10 min
May 4, 2020
The Workplace In The COVID-19 Era
As businesses make plans to reopen their workplaces, we're probably going to find that these spaces will look very different than before.
10 min
May 1, 2020
Creating A Post Pandemic World
We're all thinking about what the world might look like after this pandemic. Several years ago, Justin Marks had a vision of how things might be, in his TV show, Counterpart.
10 min
Apr 30, 2020
Essential Workers
Essential workers put themselves at risk of infection every day to keep the economy running. But many aren't well protected or compensated for the dangerous work they do.
9 min
Apr 29, 2020
Getting Back To Business
Small and medium size enterprises tend not to have much of a cash cushion, so most are desperate to get back to work. But many are finding that reopening after a pandemic is a messy business.
9 min
Apr 28, 2020
Disease In A Globalized World
Globalization and urbanization historically have made the global economy more productive and efficient — and also more vulnerable to pandemics. But now they can be forces for good in the fight against disease.
10 min
Apr 27, 2020
The Bankruptcy Question
The COVID-19 pandemic is driving thousands of people and businesses into bankruptcy.
9 min
Apr 24, 2020
How The Fed Fights Coronavirus
Much has been made of the unprecedented legislation passed by Congress in its attempt to curtail the economic damage of COVID-19. But what about the Federal Reserve?
10 min
Apr 23, 2020
The Great Potato Giveaway
Supermarket shelves are empty, and food banks around the country are besieged. So why are farmers dumping, destroying and giving away food?
9 min
Apr 22, 2020
Why We Didn't Prepare For The Pandemic
We've had plenty of warnings over the years that we weren't ready for a pandemic. Today on the show: the psychology and economics of why.
10 min
Apr 21, 2020
Oil: Less Than Zero
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell below zero. In other words, suppliers were paying people to take it off their hands. How did that happen? And what does it mean?
10 min
Apr 20, 2020
Coronavirus And The Digital Divide
We're spending more time at home, and more time with technology — highlighting a deep digital divide in the United States and introducing thorny ethical dilemmas.
10 min
Apr 17, 2020
Where's My Stimulus Check?
Sending $1,200 checks to millions of Americans was a big part of the aid bill Congress passed last month. Around 80 million Americans got that money this week. But 60 million are still waiting.
9 min
Apr 16, 2020
Small Businesses On Their Own
Congress' recent aid package directed $370 billion to help small businesses. The fund is out of money, and it seems very few who applied got help.
10 min
Apr 15, 2020
Performing After A Pandemic
Live performance has always been a risky business, run on thin margins. The COVID-19 pandemic has ratcheted up that risk and sharpened those margins to a razor's edge.
9 min
Apr 14, 2020
Rural Hospitals: The Waiting Game
Rural hospitals already walk a scalpel's edge between solvency and collapse. Coronavirus threatens to push many of them over the brink.
10 min
Apr 13, 2020
The Story So Far
Five indicators provide a gauge of how daily economic life in America has changed.
9 min
Apr 10, 2020
Why Hospitals Are Laying People Off
Hospitals are ramping up and gathering supplies to deal with a deluge of coronavirus patients. At the same time, revenues are down. All of this means hospitals across the U.S. are laying off workers.
10 min
Apr 9, 2020
Why Sweden Isn't Locking Down
Most of the world's developed economies have gone on total economic lockdown to combat coronavirus. Sweden has kept its economy open. Sweden says this is better for the economy and for public health.
10 min
Apr 8, 2020
Coronavirus and Trade
The coronavirus pandemic may have pushed trade wars off the front page, but such wars are still with us — and they're complicating the world's ability to fight the virus.
10 min
Apr 7, 2020
Coronavirus And The Gig Economy
Many gig workers have suddenly found themselves providing essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic. But many also feel like they have to work in an unsafe situation.
10 min
Apr 6, 2020
Pandemic-onomics: Lessons From The Spanish Flu
Different cities responded in different ways to the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918. And their economies fared differently as a result.
10 min
Apr 3, 2020
The Jobs Crisis
We had almost a decade of growth in the jobs market. But in the last two weeks, nearly 10 million people lost their jobs. Today, we look at the labor market — what's happening and where it's headed.
9 min
Apr 2, 2020
The Coronavirus Pivot
Faced with the prospect of shutting up shop because of coronavirus, some companies are retooling and pivoting to keep their doors open and their workers employed.
10 min
Apr 1, 2020
Three Ideas To Fight The Recession
Policymakers can still do more to fight the coronavirus recession. Here are three ideas that we haven't yet tried.
9 min
Mar 31, 2020
Scarcity In The Emergency Room
Emergency rooms all over the country are struggling with limited resources: masks, ventilators, hospital beds, doctors. We talk to one ER doctor in New York about how she is managing those resources right now.
10 min
Mar 30, 2020
Listeners Ask, We Answer
Coronavirus questions on the yield curve and refinancing. And some of the ways individuals can help.
10 min
Mar 27, 2020
When Should We Restart the Economy?
President Trump got major backlash this week when he suggested businesses should reopen by Easter. Critics said that was way too early. How do we know when it's safe for businesses to reopen?
9 min
Mar 26, 2020
The Labor Market Catastrophe
Layoffs and furloughs due to the coronavirus clampdown have pushed 3.3 million Americans to apply for unemployment benefits, the largest weekly increase in U.S. history.
10 min
Mar 25, 2020
Stimulus Rex
The Senate has managed to negotiate a $2 trillion relief package to help keep the U.S. economy afloat as we deal with the coronavirus pandemic. What's in it and will it be enough?
9 min
Mar 24, 2020
Pandemic Bonds
A few years ago, the World Bank issued bonds designed to get cash to needy countries in the event of a pandemic. Sounds like a great idea! But the bonds haven't paid out yet and they may never.
10 min
Mar 23, 2020
The Most Vulnerable Workers
Because of social distancing, the U.S. restaurant industry has entirely disintegrated with unimaginable speed, leaving its workers to face an uncertain future.
9 min
Mar 20, 2020
Our COVID-19 Indicators Of The Week
Zero and 27 are our indicators of the week. Zero (or nearly zero) is the Fed's new benchmark interest rate. 27 is the number of days that around half of small businesses in the U.S. can go without making money.
10 min
Mar 19, 2020
The Test Shortage
A short supply of test kits, staff and equipment have put the U.S. behind in terms of coronavirus testing. We talk to one healthcare worker about what's been limiting their coronavirus testing ability.
10 min
Mar 18, 2020
China's New Normal
China appears to have stopped the spread of coronavirus within its borders. People there are now beginning to adjust to a new normal.
9 min
Mar 17, 2020
Working From Home
Millions of people all across the world are now having to work from home. Including team Indicator. Today, a look at how this might change the way we work... and what it's like to skip the office.
10 min
Mar 16, 2020
The Sudden Stop
As social distancing kicks in and cities begin moving aggressively to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the U.S. economy is hitting the brakes. Hard.
9 min
Mar 13, 2020
Economic Fear Factor
The global economy is being hammered this week - markets have tanked, businesses are closing down. The spreading virus is part of it, but most of the effect is coming from fear.
10 min
Mar 12, 2020
Healthcare And Economic Despair
The U.S. spends more on healthcare as a share of its economy than any other wealthy country. In addition to making care less affordable, that also causes indirect damage to the rest of the economy.
9 min
Mar 11, 2020
Disease Detectives
As the outbreak of COVID-19 becomes officially classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, we look at the role of the Epidemic Intelligence Service the CDCs "disease detectives".
10 min
Mar 10, 2020
Tracking The Impact Of Coronavirus In Real Time
The economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak will take some time to show up in the most important economic indicators. We offer three high-frequency indicators to track its effects in real time.
8 min
Mar 9, 2020
Oil Shock
A spat between Russia and Saudi Arabia led to a collapse in oil prices over the weekend. Stock prices followed. What happened and what it means.
10 min
Mar 6, 2020
Coronavirus And The Labor Market
Today's healthy jobs report was uncontaminated by the coronavirus outbreak, but some parts of the labor market may be especially vulnerable in the months ahead.
10 min
Mar 5, 2020
Health Policy Is Economic Policy
U.S. policymakers are taking steps to limit the spread and impact of coronavirus. But they're not helped by American health policy, which could use an overhaul if it's to limit the spread of viral outbreaks.
10 min
Mar 4, 2020
The Corona Bump
As coronavirus wreaks havoc on the global economy, some businesses are actually experiencing a boom in demand. Today on the show, what happens when everyone suddenly wants to panic-buy your product.
10 min
Mar 3, 2020
Coronavirus: Update From Italy
The coronavirus continues to roil global markets and economies - including here at home, where the markets took yet another dive. Today, we look at an epicenter of the virus outbreak: northern Italy.
9 min
Mar 2, 2020
The Economic Lessons Of A Free Solo Climb
In 2017, rock climber Alex Honnold ascended Yosemite's rock formation El Capitan free solo, meaning without ropes or equipment. On today's show, we look at the economic lessons revealed by Honnold's extraordinary feat.
10 min
Feb 28, 2020
Coronavirus: A View From Hong Kong
As coronavirus fears roiled markets this week, we hear from Bloomberg's Tracy Alloway, who's based in Hong Kong, about what it's like to live in a city in the throes of an outbreak
10 min
Feb 27, 2020
How Wealth Has Changed
The world has changed, and nearly two thirds of global wealth is human capital. Policymakers and politicians may not understand just what that means for global politics.
10 min
Feb 26, 2020
The Rise And Fall (And Rise?) Of NASCAR
Last week's Daytona 500 came at a precarious time for NASCAR. Once a behemoth in the world of professional sports, the company is now trying to entice a new generation of race fans.
10 min
Feb 25, 2020
Why Netflix Turned To Junk
Netflix had to become a content producer to compete with other streaming services. To raise the money to pay for all that content, the company turned to junk bonds.
10 min
Feb 24, 2020
For Richer Or... Richer
The effects of assortative mating, or, what happens when people increasingly marry only other people with similar incomes and education.
9 min
Feb 21, 2020
The Indicator The Candidates Should Be Talking About
Political Economist Jared Bernstein watched this week's Democratic debate. Many economic issues came up, but he thinks the candidates need to start talking about how much U.S. households are saving.
10 min
Feb 20, 2020
Timecard Capitalists
People who make the highest salaries are increasingly the same people who draw the highest incomes from their capital.
10 min
Feb 19, 2020
Meet Our Junk Bond!
Last year, Team Indicator bought a junk bond! The bond was from a company called Hornbeck Offshore Services. On today's show, we learn more about the company and we check in on our investment.
9 min
Feb 18, 2020
Listener Questions: Minimum Wage & Gender-Fluid Tadpoles
Cardiff takes on the national debt, minimum wage, and gender-fluid tadpoles to get answers to your burning questions.
9 min
Feb 14, 2020
How Economists Do Valentines
It's an Economic Valentine! Economics isn't known as a language of love. But economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers say it's central to their relationship and to their decisions as a couple.
10 min
Feb 13, 2020
For Rent: Fast Fashion
Buy or rent? That's becoming a question for manufacturers of more and more types of products. Now fast fashion brands are trying to get in on the movement, too.
9 min
Feb 12, 2020
The First Milestone In The History of Economics
The first milestone in the history of economics was an 8th century B.C. poem — a lecture by an ancient Greek poet to his deadbeat brother.
10 min
Feb 11, 2020
Why Cheap Solar Could Save the World
In the last fifteen years, the cost of solar energy has declined so sharply that it has recently become the cheapest form of energy in the world. Now, major companies are jumping in to invest, but will the markets follow?
10 min
Feb 10, 2020
Coronavirus And The Global Economy
The coronavirus has sickened more than 40,000 people and killed more than 900. In addition to that devastating human toll, the outbreak is likely to have economically destructive effects as well.
10 min
Feb 7, 2020
Jobs Friday: The Racial Unemployment Gap
The unemployment rate for black workers is roughly twice that of white workers - and has been for half a century. Today we discuss the reasons for the gap, and how to shrink it.
9 min
Feb 6, 2020
Betting On The Oscars
Betting on the Oscars is now legal in New Jersey and Indiana, so we went down to Atlantic City to place a bet on Best Picture. And we spoke to a few experts beforehand to understand how to make a better bet.
10 min
Feb 5, 2020
Triple-A Ratings Are So Yesterday
It used to be that companies strove for the best credit rating possible. Today, however, almost everyone's happy to slide by with a barely passing grade.
10 min
Feb 4, 2020
Peak Misery And The Happiness Curve
How do you measure happiness? Economist David Blanchflower says age has a lot to do with it.
10 min
Feb 3, 2020
Even The Facts Are Polarized
As Iowans prepare to make their selection for the Democratic presidential nominee, a new study sheds light on just how polarized Americans are, even when it comes to reality itself.
9 min
Jan 31, 2020
A Business Owner's View On Brexit
Today is Brexit Day. As of 11:00pm tonight (GMT), the UK will no longer be part of the European Union. We spoke to a small business owner about what that might mean.
10 min
Jan 30, 2020
American Dynamism In Decline
America has a hard-earned reputation for being the most dynamic economy on the globe. But that dynamism could be waning.
10 min
Jan 29, 2020
The Economic Impact Of An Infectious Disease
As the coronavirus spreads internationally, we wanted to know what it looks like when an infectious disease shuts down one of the world's largest economies. We speak with NPR Beijing correspondent, Emily Feng.
10 min
Jan 28, 2020
Weird (Amazon) Flex, But Okay
Nearly half of Amazon's packages are delivered not by UPS or USPS, but by the company itself. Amazon employs thousands of gig workers to make its deliveries, administering them through an app called Amazon Flex.
10 min
Jan 27, 2020
The Indicator Plays 'Ms. Monopoly'
Monopoly recently rolled out a version of its classic board game, meant to highlight female contributions to the economy as well as women's economic issues. Today on the show, we play Ms. Monopoly.
10 min
Jan 24, 2020
Fun Fact Friday: Aggressively Passive Edition
Cardiff is back to present three economic facts for Stacey to deem fun, not fun, or just plain fascinating.
10 min
Jan 23, 2020
Buddhists, Sociopaths And The Art Of Investing
There's been a lot of troubling economic and political news over the last few years. In spite of that, the stock market has just kept on climbing.
10 min
Jan 22, 2020
Dueling Indicators: Stock Market Edition
Stacey and Cardiff face off on the question of whether the stock market is overvalued or undervalued.
10 min
Jan 21, 2020
Can You Name Five Fine Artists That Are Women?
On average, work by women artists sells for 40% less than work by male artists. Their work also represents just a small sliver of what's displayed in museums. So, how did women get shut out of the art world?
10 min
Jan 17, 2020
A Bag of Bolívares: And Other Indicators From Venezuela
Venezuela started 2019 with rolling blackouts, hyperinflation, and crippling food shortages. Things have actually gotten a little better, mostly thanks to the economic innovations of everyday people.
10 min
Jan 16, 2020
China Trade Deal: A Truce Awakens?
The U.S. and China signed a trade deal yesterday - one where China has pledged to buy $200 billion worth of U.S. goods over the next two years. Seems like a big win for the U.S., but is it?
10 min
Jan 15, 2020
How The FCC Is Trying To Take On Robocalls
In October 2019, Americans received a record number of robocalls: 5.7 billion. We talked to Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus about these pesky calls and how we can avoid them.
9 min
Jan 14, 2020
How Amazon's Counterfeit Products Threaten Safety
Over half of sales on Amazon are from third-party sellers, some of whom are selling counterfeit goods. Faulty car seats are threatening children's safety, but is Amazon being held liable?
10 min
Jan 13, 2020
How Trade Wars Fill The Swamp
How lobbyists' campaigns for exclusions to the trade war have skewed incentives and disadvantaged small businesses.
10 min
Jan 10, 2020
Episode 500! And Jobs Friday
Two reasons to blow the airhorn today: it's Jobs Friday, and The Indicator's 500th episode!
10 min
Jan 9, 2020
What To Watch In 2020
Predictions can be a fool's errand. Instead, we take a look at economic trends that we're planning to keep an eye on this year.
10 min
Jan 8, 2020
The Popularity Of (And Problem With) Municipal Bonds
Thirsty for yield, and eager for tax breaks, investors are falling over themselves to buy municipal bonds. That could be a problem if the economy turns sour.
9 min
Jan 7, 2020
All The Single Ladies...Are Losing In The Housing Market
A home is the largest purchase most Americans will ever make. Why single women are losing out in both buying and selling compared to their male counterparts.
9 min
Jan 6, 2020
The Business Behind The Color Of The Year
Since 2000, the Pantone Color Institute has announced a "color of the year." This year's color: Classic Blue.
10 min
Jan 3, 2020
The Skyrocketing Cost Of Air Ambulances
After a catastrophic accident, you may be rushed to the hospital in an air ambulance. It could save your life, but there's no way to predict how much it will cost.
10 min
Jan 2, 2020
The Bubble That Broke Kuwait
How a simple financial innovation turned a parking garage in Kuwait into one of the most important markets in the world... and how it all came crashing down.
10 min
Dec 31, 2019
The Great British Bicycle Bubble
We continue our series on financial bubbles with the British bicycle mania of the 1890s and the trail of bankrupt companies it left behind.
10 min
Dec 30, 2019
The Roman Financial Crisis Of A.D. 33
What lessons should we learn from one of the earliest documented financial crises in history?
10 min
Dec 27, 2019
The Work Week, Episode 4: Is The Unemployment Rate Broken?
Economist Jared Bernstein thinks it's about time we admit that the unemployment rate is not as useful as it used to be. He offers three alternative indicators.
10 min
Dec 26, 2019
The Work Week, Episode 3: Gender Segregation In The Workplace
The most common jobs for men and the most common jobs for women tend to be different — and this separation has big effects for everyone.
10 min
Dec 24, 2019
The Work Week, Episode 2: What Happened To U.S. Workers?
The share of people aged 25 to 54 in the labor force has fallen in the past couple of decades. What happened?
10 min
Dec 23, 2019
The Work Week, Episode 1: The Strike That Changed U.S. Labor
The 1937 union agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union ushered in a period of tremendous worker prosperity and union strength. But today, labor is nowhere near a powerful as it used to be. What happened?
9 min
Dec 20, 2019
Fun Fact Friday!
Stacey busts out the funometer and casts judgment on Cardiff's facts.
10 min
Dec 19, 2019
We Buy A Junk Bond!
Cardiff said the best gift he could imagine getting was a junk bond... so we thought, "Can we actually buy one of those? Also, what exactly is a junk bond?"
10 min
Dec 18, 2019
How Economics Excludes Black Women
Economics is an academic field notorious for its lack of diversity. This is especially true for black female economists. Why are they being left out?
10 min
Dec 17, 2019
A Guide To Holiday Scams
"It's the most wonderful time of the year. But for consumers, it's also the most dangerous." David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times discusses some of the major scams that arise during the holidays.
10 min
Dec 16, 2019
The Efficient Christmas: Why Economists Hate Gifts
When economists see holiday gifts, they see waste: sweaters that never get worn; books that never get read. Many recommend cash or no gift at all. Economist Tim Harford may have a compromise.
10 min
Dec 13, 2019
A Trade War Truce?
The Trump administration announced it would hit the brakes on a new set of tariffs that were set to go into effect on Dec. 15. Could it be the start of a détente in the ongoing trade war?
10 min
Dec 12, 2019
Underrated Trends Of The 2010s
The 2010s have been a rich decade for economic megatrends. But some trends haven't gotten the attention they deserve.
10 min
Dec 11, 2019
Debt And The Dairy Farmer
Mary Rieckmann and her husband run a small dairy in rural Wisconsin. But a perfect storm of factors has plunged farmers like her into crippling debt.
10 min
Dec 10, 2019
The Disappearing Small Farmer
It's been a tough year for small farmers hit by trade wars and extreme weather. And as Time's Alana Semuels reports, this latest trouble is just part of a decades-long decline in small-scale farming.
10 min
Dec 9, 2019
New York City's Luxury Condo Hangover
When the rich stop buying luxury condos, sale prices drop for everyone. But rents are a different story.
10 min
Dec 6, 2019
Job(-switch) Friday!
It's time for our favorite Friday of every month: Jobs Friday! This week, we look at job switching and what it reflects about the tightening labor market.
10 min
Dec 5, 2019
Nike Swooshes Out Of Amazon
Nike, the country's largest sporting brand, is pulling its products off of Amazon. What spurred this decision, and will other companies follow suit?
10 min
Dec 4, 2019
The Case For Hope In 2020
Today, the show takes a distinctly positive stance in making the case for being optimistic about the economy in 2020. Five reasons why you should, plus kittens and rainbows.
10 min
Dec 3, 2019
The Map That Made Manhattan
Manhattan is known for being a grid. But 200 years ago, it was a hilly, bucolic wilderness. The transformation all started with a secret map. And the reason was all about economics.
10 min
Dec 2, 2019
Hudson's Kill
Back in the early 1800s, Manhattan was a wild, sparsely populated place, but it was just about to be developed big-time. There was a lot of money to be made knowing what would go where.
10 min
Nov 27, 2019
The Sahm Rule With The Eponymous Economist
Economist Claudia Sahm explains the eponymous Sahm Rule, and how changes in the unemployment rate point to whether or not we are in a recession.
9 min
Nov 26, 2019
Niche Products In Our Grocery Stores
Niche food products at grocery stores have been getting more and more popular. But, what took so long?
10 min
Nov 25, 2019
The $100 Million Apple
Next week, a new product will hit store shelves. It's been in development for 20 years and cost millions of dollars to bring to market. It's a new kind of apple. And the stakes are high.
10 min
Nov 22, 2019
Saudi Arabia's IPO Fail?
After years of teasing, deliberating and negotiating, oil behemoth Saudi Aramco finally looks poised to go public. But the IPO is shaping up to be a lot more modest than the original plan.
9 min
Nov 21, 2019
Ready Your Wallet For Thanksgiving Dinner
What will Thanksgiving dinner cost you this year? Also, Cardiff brings back the debate on which is better, pumpkin or pecan pie.
9 min
Nov 20, 2019
Lancaster Spotlight, Part 2: A Refugee's Tale
In our second spotlight episode on Lancaster County, we look into what Lancaster's success can tell us about the relationship between refugees and the local economy.
10 min
Nov 19, 2019
Grocery Store Wars
The profit margin for groceries is razor thin. To stay competitive against increasingly large competitors like Amazon Prime, retailers are turning to a new service: curbside pickup.
10 min
Nov 18, 2019
How Does The Economy Influence Voters?
The economy is one of the most important factors in how people vote. But its influence has been changing and it has everything to do with politics.
7 min
Nov 15, 2019
Fun Facts Fridays
Cardiff surprises Stacey with three feel-good facts about the economy, and she decides whether or not those facts are awesome.
10 min
Nov 14, 2019
Winning The Nobel
Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee talk about their work and what happens when you win a Nobel Prize.
9 min
Nov 13, 2019
Politics And The Trade War
Did President Trump's trade policies cost Republican votes last year? We talk to economist Chad Bown to find out.
9 min
Nov 12, 2019
The Great Cranberry Scare Of 1959
Sixty years ago, a food scare nearly crushed the cranberry business. Cranberries have bounced back since then, but the industry is facing new threats.
10 min
Nov 11, 2019
Why Sam Sanders Is Binging 'Friends'
Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Hulu, Disney, NBC, they're all at war for your eyeballs. Today on the show, the streaming wars. Who the major players are, what's at stake and what it will mean for you.
10 min
Nov 8, 2019
The Lancaster, Pa., Puzzle
A heavily rural county with a big manufacturing base and a low share of college graduates has found a way to thrive.
9 min
Nov 7, 2019
Your Secret Score
It's no secret that every online platform you use is keeping track of your information. But what if this data is being used to give you a 'score' as a customer?
10 min
Nov 6, 2019
What's The Beef? The Declining American Leather Industry
The leather manufacturing industry was once a backbone of the American economy. Now the industry is in decline, and the trade war isn't helping.
10 min
Nov 5, 2019
Openness Versus National Security: A Dilemma For U.S. Schools
Last year, the Education Department reported that U.S. universities received over $1.3 billion dollars in the form of gifts and contracts. Most of this money came from China.
10 min
Nov 4, 2019
The American Dream And The Children Of Immigrants
A new working paper suggests that children of poor immigrants have higher rates of upward economic mobility than children of poor US-born parents. What factors are at play?
11 min
Nov 1, 2019
Jobs Friday: The Broken Unemployment Insurance System
In this week's edition of jobs friday, we look into why 72% of unemployed people do not have unemployment insurance.
10 min
Oct 31, 2019
Scary Stories From The Eek-conomy: Part II
In our second episode on scary stories on the economy we ask Tim Harford and Jared Bernstein what keeps them up at night. Also, has anxiety about the economy spooked off the Halloween spirit?
10 min
Oct 30, 2019
Lights Out For California
PG&E announced it was shutting off power to thousands of Californians to lessen the risk of wildfire. This is costing residents and businesses dearly and PG&E says it will likely be the new normal.
10 min
Oct 29, 2019
Are The Humanities Underrated? (And Other Questions)
We invite Tyler Cowen once again to play another round of overrated/underrated.
9 min
Oct 28, 2019
Can Global Shipping Go Zero Carbon?
A lot of the stuff we buy comes via ship, using a particularly dirty kind of fuel. Now the shipping industry wants to change.
10 min
Oct 25, 2019
WeWork And The Future Of Co-Working
WeWork has had a rough few weeks — its CEO was fired, it's lost billions of dollars and it's laying off thousands of workers. What happened? And what does that mean for the business of co-working?
10 min
Oct 24, 2019
Is The Unemployment Rate Broken?
Economist Jared Bernstein thinks it's about time we admit that the unemployment rate is not as useful as it used to be. He offers three alternative indicators.
9 min
Oct 23, 2019
Scary Stories From The Eek-conomy
We ask economists what scares them about the US economy right now.
10 min
Oct 22, 2019
Housing: It's About More Than Money
Our housing options matter not just for how much money we spend, but also in other ways that have a lasting impact on our quality of life.
10 min
Oct 21, 2019
Brexit: It's Complicated
Tomorrow the UK Parliament will vote on Brexit... again. Today, we take a look at what's happening, why Brexit is taking so long and what's at stake.
10 min
Oct 18, 2019
The 2019 IPO Awards!
2019 has been a very dramatic year for the IPO market. From Uber to Pinterest to WeWork--the headlines just kept coming. We celebrate it all with the first Annual IPO Awards!
10 min
Oct 17, 2019
The Jekyll And Hyde Economy
There are so many conflicting indicators about the economy's health, it's difficult to know where we're headed. We present the Jekyll and Hyde economy.
9 min
Oct 16, 2019
How Stories Shape The Economy
Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller talks about his new book, which looks at how narratives drive economic change and may help economists more accurately forecast recessions.
9 min
Oct 15, 2019
Of Diet Coke And Nobel Prizes
We talk to newly-minted Nobel Prize winner Michael Kremer about using economics to solve real-world problems and what it's like to receive his field's highest honor.
9 min
Oct 11, 2019
What The %!&$# Is The Repo Market?
Lots of people have been freaking out over the repo market... but what IS the repo market?
8 min
Oct 10, 2019
The U.S. And Global Economy: A New Relationship
The global economy used to have a simple rule: the US leads, everybody else follows. Things have changed.
10 min
Oct 9, 2019
The Cost Of Climate Change
Climate activists have long used political and social pressures to decrease the use of fossil fuels and preserve forests... but now many are following the money to try and affect change.
10 min
Oct 8, 2019
Five Economic Firsts
We're seeing a lot of firsts in this economy. Some good, some not so good, some surprising.
10 min
Oct 7, 2019
Forever 21's Fast Fashion Fail
Forever 21's bankruptcy filing highlights the flaws in fast fashion.
10 min
Oct 4, 2019
Jobs Friday: Crunching The Numbers
On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a jobs report which includes the number of new jobs added to the U.S. economy. But how is that number calculated?
10 min
Oct 3, 2019
How Iceland's Tourism Bubble Deflated
The tourism explosion in Iceland helped the tiny island recover from the 2008 financial crisis, but did the tourism industry grow too big, too fast?
10 min
Oct 2, 2019
The Rise And Fall Of Iceland's WOW Air
A budget airline, WOW Air, helped fly the tiny island nation of Iceland out of a financial crisis — but then it all came crashing down.
9 min
Oct 1, 2019
Is Cash Overrated? And Other Questions
We play Overrated, Underrated with Jill Schlesinger, CBS business analyst and author of The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money.
10 min
Sep 30, 2019
What's Gonna Trip Us Up In Q4?
Another quarter ends today, but the news is nuts right now, so we take a step back and guide you through the big themes we'll be looking at in the fourth quarter of the year.
10 min
Sep 27, 2019
Finance Fridays With Mary, Volume 6: Nuns & Guns
In an attempt to stem the tide of gun violence, a group of religious organizations turned to an unlikely place: the markets.
10 min
Sep 26, 2019
The Probiotics Heist
Probiotics are increasingly popular — flying off of the shelves, even being stolen from pharmacies. But the jury's still out on their safety and efficacy. So, how did they get on store shelves?
9 min
Sep 25, 2019
Millennial Mythbusting
Data shows that many of the popular assumptions about millennials are dead wrong.
10 min
Sep 24, 2019
How Much Are Thoughts And Prayers Worth?
A gesture which is given out freely to victims of big, catastrophic events are thoughts and prayers. But what if you could assign a monetary value to this gesture?
9 min
Sep 23, 2019
Our Five Favorite Fun Facts & Figures
We stumble on interesting nuggets of economic information all the time. Here are some of our recent favorites.
10 min
Sep 20, 2019
Finance Fridays With Mary, Volume 5: Why Fees Matter
Do hedge funds and private equity firms charge too much money to their investors — including, potentially, your pension fund?
10 min
Sep 19, 2019
Unsung Economists: Edith Penrose
Edith Penrose transformed our understanding of how businesses grow, and also lived a remarkable life full of adventure, intrigue, and tragedy.
10 min
Sep 18, 2019
What Separates Urgent Care And The ER? Your Bill.
Urgent care centers look a lot like emergency rooms. But they're a lot cheaper, both for patients and operators.
10 min
Sep 17, 2019
Physical Stores Are Back, Again
Brands are struggling to strike a balance between the real and digital worlds.
10 min
Sep 16, 2019
An Attack On Saudi Arabia's Oil
What the attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil production facilities could mean for the global oil industry.
9 min
Sep 13, 2019
How China Transformed The Luxury Goods Market
Chinese consumers not only account for a growing share of high-end luxury goods purchases; they're transforming the way the market works.
9 min
Sep 12, 2019
The White Claw Tax Law Flaw
White Claw could be the hottest alcoholic beverage of the summer of 2019. You can thank tax policy for (some of) that.
9 min
Sep 11, 2019
The Debt That Never Dies: China's Imperial Bonds
Bonds issued by Chinese governments more than a century ago could come back to haunt the People's Republic of China.
10 min
Sep 10, 2019
The Olympic Bounce
When new sports are added to the Olympics — like surfing and sports climbing — they see a bump in the year following the games. But, what happens after that?
9 min
Sep 9, 2019
Listener Q&A, Another Policy Wonkout
NPR politics correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben answers your questions about student loans, taxes and tariffs.
9 min
Sep 6, 2019
Jobs Friday: Future Edition
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has some predictions about the future of the US labor market.
8 min
Sep 5, 2019
Tech's Convenience Store
Amazon is opening new stores — in the real world. And in true Big Tech fashion the experience is meant to emphasize convenience. All you need to do is walk in, grab your stuff, and go.
10 min
Sep 4, 2019
What Medicare For All Might Mean For Jobs
Proponents of Medicare for All argue it'll give all Americans health insurance and cost less. But even supporters admit it could mean job losses in the short term.
10 min
Sep 3, 2019
How A String Quartet Explains Healthcare Costs
The costs of education and healthcare have climbed faster than other prices throughout the economy — for decades. An under-appreciated economic theory explains why.
9 min
Aug 30, 2019
Finance Fridays With Mary, Volume 4: The Worry of Wall Street
There's a trend emerging in the finance world: Billionaire financiers are increasingly — if belatedly? — acknowledging inequality in America.
9 min
Aug 29, 2019
America's Rare Earth Conundrum
America doesn't produce much in the way of rare earths. As the trade war with China intensifies, that's becoming a problem.
10 min
Aug 28, 2019
Listener Q&A, Policy Wonkout Edition
Policy can take a back seat to politics in the run-up to elections. But that's no excuse for not watching to see what effects policy can have on an economy.
10 min
Aug 27, 2019
Not All Goods Are Traded Equal
Not all goods are created equal: some are exempt from tariffs.
10 min
Aug 26, 2019
More Money, More Votes?
The 2020 election cycle is almost in full swing. People can barely go a day without seeing an ad from candidates asking for money. But does more money really mean more votes?
10 min
Aug 23, 2019
Finance Friday With Mary, Volume 3: Snack-Sized Questions
Our inbox is pretty much always filled with great questions about business, the economy and how the markets behave. Today, we answer three questions specific to the financial world.
9 min


text:
Wood Chipper/Shredder Operation Tips
- Before starting the machine, make sure the chipper chute, feed intake, and cutting chamber are empty and free of all debris.
- Thoroughly inspect all material to be shredded and remove any metal, rocks, bottles, cans, or other foreign objects which could cause personal injury or damage to the machine.
- Do not allow an accumulation of processed material to build up in the discharge area. This can prevent proper discharge and result in kickback of material through the feed opening.
- Never operate without either the inlet nozzle or optional hose attachment (if applicable) properly attached to the machine. Never attempt to attach or change either attachment while the engine is running.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Good news for Mac users: LaCie has at long last made its Thunderbolt-connected Little Big Disk external hard drive available to buy.
The LBD's metal box contains a pair of RAID-able 2.5in drives. You can have up to a terabyte or 2TB of storage, the latter setting you back a cool £400. The 1TB model is £300.
The US Apple Store also has an SSD-equipped version on its books: 240GB of storage capacity for $900 (£582). If you value speed over space, that may be the one to go for.
LaCie quotes drive read speeds of 480MB/s for the SSD LBD and 190MB/s for the HDD-equipped model.
Separately, Western Digital has tweaked its Mac-centric line of My Passport external drives, changing the products' look.
The My Passport Studio comes in 500GB, 750GB and 1TB capacities, as does the My Passport for Mac. The latter has a USB 2.0 port, while the Studio has two Firewire 800 ports.
Prices are TBD. ®


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Flowers Penrose Hill
Welcome to www.sweetpeahelston.com the online home of Sweet Pea Floral Studio in Helston. Here follows our range of beautiful flowers, bouquets and arrangements available for same day delivery in Helston. We use the finest high-quality flowers in our arrangements, many sourced locally from our Cornish suppliers. We buy British flowers whenever we can. If you're looking for something very specific feel free to give us a call on 01326 572243.You can securely order flowers online from here and we offer hand delivered flowers same day all over Helston. If you require to send flowers nationally or internationally we offer full worldwide flower delivery via our membership with Direct2florist.


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The New York Beauty block, a clean, precise, starburst pattern, has been a classic quilt design for years. The sharp points and curved seams have often intimidated quilters. Thanks to Linda Hahn's simple paper-piecing foundation method, you'll sew a gentle arc that guarantees a perfect New York Beauty block every time. Twenty-one projects, from small to large wallhangings, applications on sweatshirts, and a tote bag showcase the numerous design possibilities that Linda is famous for teaching. Quilting patterns for each project are included as an added bonus for this intriguing book. OUT OF PRINT
|0.00 pounds
|Number of Pages
|Number of Illustrations
|8.50" x 11.00" x .25"
|American Quilter's Society
Customer Reviews
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by Annette Mira-Bateman
- This book already has me feeling good about it even before I have finished the introduction. The technique is "very untraditional and we are going to break some rules" we are told. Linda goes on: "It is my opinion that quilting should be FUN and not stressful." I can't wait to get started! Linda Hahn's book has 21 projects of different sizes. There are numerous possibilities for design changes. She also includes suggested quilting patterns. The simplified New York Beauty block featured in this book has just one row of points, but with Linda Hahn's clever use of color, fabrics and design she is able to demonstrate a huge array of very different styles of quilt. There will be something for everyone in this book. The instructions are clear, with photographs and illustrations to make these techniques easy to follow. Her troubleshooting hints cover a lot of ground. - By Annette Mira-Bateman from www.QuiltBlockoftheMonthClub.com, Online Quilt Magazine – Vol. 2 No. 10 (Posted on 2/20/12)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by Frog Hollow Designs
- With Linda's out of the box technique, you will create a New York Beauty block using ONE pin!! There will be no more agonizing over setting in curves once you experience the WOW. Linda discusses how merely changing the setting and/or fabrics will change the "flavor" of your quilt and she will also cover numerous ways to quilt your top once it's finished! (Posted on 10/19/11)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by James A. Cox, Edtor-in-Chief
- Linda J. Hahn's NEW YORK BEAUTY SIMPLIFIED provides a fine survey of the New York Beauty block pattern and provides a simple paper-piecing techniques resulting in perfect New York Beauty blocks. Over twenty projects range from wallhangings and small projects to full quilts in a guide that offers quilting patterns for each project. --James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, The Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, March 2011. (Posted on 3/11/11)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by Vivian Benton
- Let me start by saying I LOVE the New York Beauty design. So when I saw this book, I knew I was in love all over again. These are not just New York beauty designs, they are New York beauty designs simplified! Linda's simple, paper-piecing methods and out-of-the-box construction methods are guaranteed to give you a perfect block every time. And the quilts are eye-popping beautiful. (Posted on 2/4/11)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by Patti Carey
- I just received a copy of your beautiful "New York Beauty Simplified" today –– thank you so much! The quilts are gorgeous, and the book is a delight to look at –– very well done. (Posted on 1/17/11)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by Kathy Niemann
- This is my VERY favorite block but I had found it too intimidating to make until this book. I like the settings/the contrast of light and dark, and the layering of the block itself. So many quilts with so many different looks. Half sun or full sun. Paper pieced techniques take a lot of the difficulty out of this very fantastic block. (Posted on 1/14/11)
- New York Beauty Simplified — Review by "Subversive Stitchers" blog
New York Beauty Simplified by Linda J. Hahn may be just what you need to ease into points, paper piecing, and curved piecing. Linda, in her introduction reassures us Subversive Stitchers that "The technique you are about to learn is very un-traditional; we are going to break some rules. I have a very relaxed style and I do not like to stress or agonize. It is my opinion that quilting should be FUN and not stressful."
Circles, half circles, quarter circles, serpentine arrangements, and more fill this book. She also offers a variety of photos of many quilts to show off fabric choices. Perhaps it is simply my mood, my need for inspiration, but I found this book upbeat and easy to follow and most of all, calling to my creative urges to give it a try. (Posted on 1/11/11)


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The Practical Application of User Behavior Analytics
Understanding the promise of user behavior analytics is one thing. Deploying them to detect and respond to threats is quite another. Bert Rankin, chief marketing officer of Fortscale, offers tips on practical application of the latest UBA solutions.
"The first obstacle is to begin to really rethink how the enterprise security architecture needs to change to move [the security team] in a direction that is truly going to provide them with security from insider threats, as opposed to viewing this as simply a point solution," Rankin says.
Download this interview about the practical application of user behavior analytics and explore:
- Challenges for organizations deploying user behavior analytics;
- Real-world examples of threats that have been discovered with these solutions;
- How user behavior analytics will evolve in 2016.


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Schools & Colleges
Fulbright awards for international scholars include:
To learn more about how to apply for the various Fulbright Awards visit:
Various Fulbright Programs
Explore OIA
The Office of International Affairs encourages faculty to consider applying for the growing range of Fulbright awards ranging from Fulbright Scholar, Distinguished Chair, Senior Specialists, German Studies Seminar and a number of country specific awards. A number of awards are additionally available in the medical sciences. Short Term International Administrator Awards are available to Korea, India, Germany, Japan, France, and the U.K.
Applying for a Fulbright Award requires research and planning. Knowing colleagues abroad who can support and sponsor your application at a host university, establishing contacts in unfamiliar international sites, advance planning for research collaboration to coordinate with a sabbatical or leave, and outreach to country officers in the Fulbright Program are important components of preparation.
Each year (February) CIES Fulbright releases a roster of Fulbright opportunities with continuing releases for special programs throughout the year with varying due dates. The Office of International Affairs assists faculty with the preparation of applications and assists with establishing vital contacts at partner universities abroad and other aspects of application planning and preparation.
The University of Colorado Denver Scholarship Resource Office assists students with Fulbright applications. A committee of faculty and administrators staff serve as a review committee to screen and nominate students. Successful student applicants make use of both faculty mentoring and the support services provided by the CU Denver Scholarship Office. We had 3 recipients/1 alternate for the 12-13 year cycle, 3 recipients/1 alternate for the 11-12 year cycle. For additional information on Fulbright Awards for U.S. students, please visit their website.
The Office of International Affairs welcomes your inquiries and we look forward to serving you as you plan your Fulbright application.
© The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate. All rights reserved.
Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. All trademarks are registered property of the University. Used by permission only.


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We know for certain that the new Evil Dead reboot is gory, but is it also kind of beautiful?
These new images from Filmofilia highlight the glistening goriness and strange beauty captured in Fede Alvarez's remake of Sam Raimi's classic. Even the raping tree is kind of enchanting — terrible, but enchanting! Check it out.
G/O Media may get a commission
Eight Sleep Pod Cover
These stills are getting us pretty excited for the film which will be released into theaters on April 5th,2013.


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Convoy safety coatings provide economical non-slip protection for virtually any surface. They have long been proven to perform under the most demanding conditions whether outdoor or indoor. Super Convoy is perfect for any slippery area like steps, shower rooms, diving boards and pool coping. This high-solids epoxy finish offers a slip-resistant profile which remaining comfortable to your feet.
Recommended for coating shower room floors, pool decks, diving boards, and wading pools. Super Convoy is an unequalled, moderately aggregated two-component epoxy coating. Super Convoy offers excellent slip resistance with fortitude against oil and chemical exposure. Designed for indoor or outdoor application and for heavy foot and vehicular traffic, Super Convoy spreads easily and applies to most any surface. (If applying to wood, it is recommended that you use Convoy II.) This heavy-duty epoxy paint has a long life and will provide excellent results even when exposed to the most severe acid, alkali or chemical conditions.
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!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event September 1987-March 1989: Head US Consular Official Claims He's Told to Issue Visas to Unqualified Applicants. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
Some fighters opposing the Soviets in Afghanistan begin training in the US. According to journalist John Cooley, the training is done by Navy Seals and Green Beret officers who have taken draconian secrecy oaths. Key Pakistani officers are trained, as well as some senior Afghan mujaheddin. Much of the training takes place in Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia, which is said to be the CIA's main location for training spies and assets. Other training takes place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Harvey Point, North Carolina, and Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Subjects are trained in how to detect explosives, surveillance, how to recruit new agents, how to run paramilitary operations, and more. They are taught to use many different weapons as well, including remote-controlled mines and bombs, and sophisticated timers and explosives. Cooley claims that "apparently [no] Arab or other foreign volunteers" are trained in the US. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] However, in the late 1980s, US consular official Michael Springmann will notice fighters from many Middle Eastern nations are getting US visas, apparently to train in the US for the Afghan war (see September 1987-March 1989). Additionally, more training takes place in other countries. For instance, Cooley will note, "By the end of 1980, US military trainers were sent to Egypt to impart the skills of the US Special Forces to those Egyptians who would, in turn, pass on the training to the Egyptian volunteers flying to the aid of the mujaheddin in Afghanistan." Cooley will further note, "Time and time again, these same techniques reappear among the Islamist insurgents in Upper Egypt and Algeria, since the 'Afghani' Arab veterans began returning there in the late 1980s and early 1990s." [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] It is not known how long these training programs continue.
Entity Tags: Green Berets, Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Springmann, Navy Seals
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
Michael Springmann. [Source: Michael Springmann]Michael Springmann, head US consular official in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, later claims that during this period he is "repeatedly ordered… to issue [more than 100] visas to unqualified applicants." He turns them down, but is repeatedly overruled by superiors. [BBC, 11/6/2001; St. Petersburg Times, 11/25/2001] In one case, two Pakistanis apply for visas to attend a trade show in the US, but they are unable to name the trade show or city in which it will be held. When Springmann denies them a visa, he gets "an almost immediate call from a CIA case officer, hidden in the commercial section [of the consulate], that I should reverse myself and grant these guys a visa." Springmann refuses, but the decision is reversed by the chief of the consular section. Springmann realizes that even the ambassador, Walter Cutler, is aware of the situation, which becomes "more brazen and blatant" as time goes on. On one occasion Springmann is even told, "If you want a job in the State Department in future, you will change your mind." [CBC Radio One, 7/3/2002; Trento, 2005, pp. 344-6] Springmann loudly complains to numerous government offices, but no action is taken. He is fired and his files on these applicants are destroyed. He later learns that recruits from many countries fighting for bin Laden against Russia in Afghanistan were funneled through the Jeddah office to get visas to come to the US, where the recruits would travel to train for the Afghan war. According to Springmann, the Jeddah consulate was run by the CIA and staffed almost entirely by intelligence agents. This visa system may have continued at least through 9/11, and 11 of the 19 9/11 hijackers received their visas through Jeddah (see November 2, 1997-June 20, 2001), possibly as part of this program (see October 9, 2002 and October 21, 2002). [BBC, 11/6/2001; St. Petersburg Times, 11/25/2001; CBC Radio One, 7/3/2002; Associated Press, 7/17/2002 ; Fox News, 7/18/2002]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Michael Springmann
A suspected terrorism financier enters the US with apparent CIA help. Philippines investigators had begun monitoring and investigating Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law, earlier in 1994 (see 1994). [Ressa, 2003] According to a 1999 book by Richard Labeviere, near the conclusion of this investigation, the Philippine government expedites an order expelling Khalifa from the country. Khalifa gets a visa to the US through the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the help of the CIA. The CIA had a history of using that consulate to give US visas to radical Muslim militants dating back to the 1980s (see September 1987-March 1989). [Labeviere, 1999, pp. 365; Time, 10/27/2003] Another account claims his visa "was issued, despite his notoriety, because of a computer error." When he applied for the visa in August 1994, the address he gave was that of the bin Laden family company. [US News and World Report, 5/15/1995] He enters the US on December 1. The report detailing his terrorist connections is released on December 15 (see December 15, 1994). The next day, Khalifa is arrested in the US (see December 16, 1994-May 1995). [US News and World Report, 5/15/1995]
Entity Tags: Saudi Binladin Group, Rodolfo Mendoza, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Central Intelligence Agency, Abu Sayyaf
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
The 19 hijackers apply and receive a total of 23 visas at five different posts from November 1997 through June 2001. Hani Hanjour, Khalid Almihdhar, Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami, Saudi citizens, apply twice at Jeddah. Only Hanjour applies for a student visa, others for tourist/business visa. [United States General Accounting Office, 10/21/2002 ; 9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 7-45 ] The fifteen Saudi hijackers apply for their visas in their home country. Four at the embassy in Riyadh: Hamza Alghamdi (10/17/2000), Mohand Alshehri (10/23/2000), Majed Moqed (11/20/2000) and Satam Al Suqami (11/21/2000). Eleven at the US consulate in Jeddah: Hani Hanjour (11/2/1997 and 9/25/2000), Khalid Almihdhar (4/7/1999 and 6/13/2001), Saeed Alghamdi (9/4/2000 and 6/12/2001), and Ahmed Alnami (10/28/2000 and 4/28/2001), Nawaf Alhazmi (4/3/1999), Ahmed Alghamdi (9/3/2000), Wail Alshehri (10/24/2000), Waleed M. Alshehri (10/24/2000), Abdulaziz Alomari (6/18/2001), Salem Alhazmi (6/20/2001), and Ahmed Alhaznawi (11/12/2000). Fayez Ahmed Banihammad and Marwan Alshehhi apply in their home country, the United Arab Emirates, respectively at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi on 6/18/2001 and at consulate in Dubai on 1/18/2000. Mohamed Atta (Egyptian) and Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese) apply, as third-country national applicants, at the US embassy in Berlin, respectively, on May 18 and 25, 2000.
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, US Embassy in Berlin, Ziad Jarrah, Wail Alshehri, US Embassy in Riyadh, Salem Alhazmi, Waleed Alshehri, Saeed Alghamdi, US Consulate, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Office, Mohand Alshehri, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, Ahmed Alnami, Ahmed Alhaznawi, Ahmed Alghamdi, Abdulaziz Alomari, Nawaf Alhazmi, Government Accountability Office, Satam Al Suqami, Hani Hanjour, Marwan Alshehhi, Mohamed Atta, Majed Moqed, Khalid Almihdhar, Hamza Alghamdi
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
Hani Hanjour's September 10 US visa application, which was rejected. The fact he requested permission to stay in the US for three years is highlighted on the right. [Source: National Review] (click image to enlarge)Future 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour applies for a US tourist/business visa at the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Hanjour, who has already spent a good deal of time in the US (see October 3, 1991-February 1992, Spring 1996, October 1996-December 1997, and 1998), uses a passport issued on July 24, 2000. His application is incomplete, as he says he is a student, but fails to give his school's name and address. After his application is screened, he is referred to a consular officer for an interview. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13, 174-5 ] This consular officer is Shayna Steinger, who issues a total of 12 visas to the 9/11 hijackers (see July 1, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Hanjour's application is denied as he says he wants to stay in the US for three years, raising concerns he might become an immigrant. Hanjour also says he wants to attend flight school in the US, changing his status to "student" from "tourist" after arrival. However, this is another reason Steinger denies the visa application, "because he has been in the States long enough to decide what he wanted." Hanjour will return to the consulate two weeks later and successfully obtain a visa from Steinger using a different application (see September 25, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13, 174-5 ] Steinger will later give a series of conflicting explanations about why she reversed her decision and issued the visa (see August 1, 2002, January 20, 2003, and December 30, 2003). After 9/11, a former consular official named Michael Springmann will say that while serving in Jeddah during the Soviet-Afghan War he was sometimes pressured to reverse denials of visa applications by the CIA for apparent mujaheddin (see September 1987-March 1989).
Entity Tags: Shayna Steinger, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Hani Hanjour, Michael Springmann
Future 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour again applies for a US visa at the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An application two weeks earlier had been rejected (see September 10, 2000), but he is successful this time. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13-14 ] The application is dealt with by consular officer Shayna Steinger, who issues a total of 12 visas to the 9/11 hijackers (see July 1, 2000) and who rejected Hanjour's previous application. [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Hanjour apparently applies for a student visa, not a tourist visa, as he had done previously, saying he wishes to attend a language school in California. Steinger will later recall that Hanjour, or someone acting on his behalf, submits an I-20 INS school enrollment form, the documentation required for the visa. She will say: "It came to me, you know, at the end of the day to look at it. I saw he had an I-20 and it [his visa] was issued." This apparently allows Hanjour to overcome his previous rejection, as the two applications are treated as one case. The INS had approved a change of status for Hanjour to attend the same school in 1996, but Steinger does not know of this. She will later say that, if she had known, she might have denied the visa. Although a photocopy of a student visa in Hanjour's passport will later be made public, Steinger now enters the visa in the State Department's records as a business/tourist visa. (Note: the visa in Hanjour's passport may be changed upon his entry to the US (see December 8, 2000).) [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 13-14, 38] Steinger will later give conflicting accounts of her issuance of this visa. She will first falsely claim to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she issued the visa under the Visa Express program and that Hanjour was not even present during the first application on September 10 (see August 1, 2002), but will later change her story for the State Department's inspector general (see January 20, 2003) and the 9/11 Commission (see December 30, 2003). After 9/11, a former consular official named Michael Springmann will say that while serving in Jeddah during the Soviet-Afghan War he was sometimes pressured to reverse denials of visa applications by the CIA for apparent mujaheddin (see September 1987-March 1989).
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Hani Hanjour, Shayna Steinger
Future 9/11 hijacker Khalid Almihdhar obtains a second US visa from the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 24-25 ] The visa is issued by Shayna Steinger, a consular official who apparently issues the future 9/11 hijackers with 12 visas (see July 1, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Almihdhar's passport, which was issued two weeks previously (see June 1, 2001), lacks an expiry date, but contains an indicator of possible terrorist affiliation used by the Saudi authorities to track suspected radicals (see November 2, 2007). His application form is incomplete, as it lists his occupation as "businessman," but does not give his employer's name and address. Lies on Application Form - The form, which is submitted through the Visa Express program (see May 2001), meaning Almihdhar is not interviewed, contains two lies: Almihdhar says he has never received an American visa or traveled to the US, whereas he received a visa in 1999 (see April 3-7, 1999) and traveled to the US on it in 2000 (see January 15, 2000). As Almihdhar's first visa was also issued by the Jeddah consulate, through which the CIA sent radical Arabs to the US for training during the Soviet-Afghan war (see September 1987-March 1989), consular officials could discover he is lying, but information about prior visas issuances is not automatically displayed to them. Known Terrorist - By this time, several intelligence agencies are aware that Almihdhar is an al-Qaeda operative; for example, the CIA (see 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. January 5, 2000), NSA (see December 29, 1999), FBI (see January 5-6, 2000), a US Army intelligence program (see January-February 2000), the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency (see 1997), Malaysian Special Branch (see January 5-8, 2000), and an intelligence service in the United Arab Emirates (see January 2-5, 2000)). Parallels to Case of Blind Sheikh - Almihdhar will re-enter the US on the visa three weeks later (see July 4, 2001). The 9/11 Commission will find that the series of missteps preceding the issuance of visas to Almihdhar and the other future 9/11 hijackers has some "eerie parallels" to the "series of exceptional failures" that led to US visas being issued to the "Blind Sheikh," Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman (see December 15, 1986-1989 and July 1990). [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 24-27, 33, 49 ]
Entity Tags: Khalid Almihdhar, Shayna Steinger, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office
Abdulla Noman, a former employee of the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers got their visas, says that he took money and gifts to provide fraudulent visas to foreigners. He pleads guilty and is convicted. About 50 to 100 visas were improperly issued by Noman from September 1996 until November 2001, when he was arrested. However, a former visa officer in Jeddah, Michael Springmann, has claimed in the past that the Jeddah office was notorious for purposefully giving visas to terrorists to train in the US (see September 1987-March 1989). [Associated Press, 5/21/2002]
Entity Tags: Abdulla Noman, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office
Visa applications for the 15 Saudi Arabian hijackers are made public, and six separate experts agree: "All of them should have been denied entry [into the US]." Joel Mowbray, who first breaks the story for the conservative National Review, says he is shocked by what he saw: "I really was expecting al-Qaeda to have trained their operatives well, to beat the system. They didn't have to beat the system, the system was rigged in their favor from the get-go." A former US consular officer says the visas show a pattern of criminal negligence. Some examples: "Abdulaziz Alomari claimed to be a student but didn't name a school; claimed to be married but didn't name a spouse; under nationality and gender, he didn't list anything."
"Khalid Almihdhar… simply listed 'Hotel' as his US destination—no name, no city, no state but no problem getting a visa." Only one actually gave a US destination, and one stated his destination as "no." Only Hani Hanjour had a slight delay in acquiring his visa. His first application was flagged because he wrote he wanted to visit for three years when the legal limit is two. When he returned two weeks later, he simply changed the form to read "one year" and was accepted. The experts agree that even allowing for chance, incompetence, and human error, the odds were that only a few should have been approved. [National Review, 10/9/2002; New York Post, 10/9/2002; ABC News, 10/23/2002] In response to the revelation, the State Department says, "The fact is that with 20/20 hindsight, I'm sure one can always find a reason that you might have turned down a visa." [Nation Review Online, 10/10/2002; State Department, 10/10/2002]
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, US Department of State, Al-Qaeda, Khalid Almihdhar, Abdulaziz Alomari, Hani Hanjour
The General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, releases a report asserting that at least 13 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were never interviewed by US consular officials before being granted visas to enter the US. This contradicts previous assurances from the State Department that 12 of the hijackers had been interviewed. It also found that, for 15 hijackers whose applications could be found, none had filled in the documents properly. Records for four other hijackers (the four non-Saudis, i.e., Ziad Jarrah, Mohamed Atta, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, and Marwan Al Shehhi) could not be checked because they were accidentally destroyed. [National Review Online, 10/21/2002; United States General Accounting Office, 10/21/2002 ; Washington Post, 10/22/2002] The State Department maintains that visa procedures were properly followed. In December 2002, Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) state in a chapter of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry that "if State Department personnel had merely followed the law and not granted non-immigrant visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia… 9/11 would not have happened." [Associated Press, 12/19/2002; US Congress, 7/24/2003, pp. pp. 653-673 ]
Entity Tags: Saeed Alghamdi, Salem Alhazmi, Satam Al Suqami, US Department of State, Pat Roberts, Waleed Alshehri, Wail Alshehri, Nawaf Alhazmi, Ziad Jarrah, Mohamed Atta, Mohand Alshehri, Government Accountability Office, Ahmed Alnami, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, Abdulaziz Alomari, Marwan Alshehhi, Ahmed Alghamdi, Ahmed Alhaznawi, Hani Hanjour, Majed Moqed, Hamza Alghamdi, Khalid Almihdhar, Jon Kyl
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Amid the broken homes and scattered belongings in Washington, Ill., is a community refusing to give up hope, even after it was devastated by a deadly tornado Sunday.
An E-4 twister struck the community in the afternoon, killing one and injuring dozens of others, part of a massive surge that swept across the entire state.
Cheryl Ingram counts herself among the lucky ones who survived. She ran down the stairs minutes before the tornado hit and was soon trapped by debris.
"I grabbed the cushions off my couch and covered up and just prayed," Ingram said. "Within an hour I heard somebody if anybody needed help. I was perfectly fine, but the stairwell was filled with debris and I couldn't get out."
Laurel Icox and her husband rode out the tornado in her basement.
"I told my husband to grab the dog, I grabbed my purse, my phone, we went downstairs and we had about 30 seconds to spare. And the whole house shaking, and you could hear glass breaking and creaking and the noise was incredible," Icox said.
The destruction was more selective in Diamond, Ill., barely touching some homes and completely destroying others.
Nobody died in the small town, but residents still have harrowing tales of waiting out the storm.
"We were hearing things just hit the house and rumbling all over," said Laura Bischoff, who waited out the storm in her basement with her family. "Doors were off, windows were blown. It was just devastating."
But several of the Bischoff's neighbors in the tight-knit subdivision were hit even worse.
"We didn't think we would have much damage, we never lost power through the entire ordeal," Jennifer Elliot said.
Manhattan and neighboring Frankfort were also heavily hit by tornadoes.
"We've seen storms blow through before, but they were blown around us. They didn't come through. This one came through," Jim Allen said, as he picked up the pieces from his damaged home.
Cheryl Allen's sister and nieces were scrounging around on the floor, digging through insulation looking for her wedding ring. Although this story had a happy ending, as hours later it was found. Someone else had put it away for safekeeping.
U.S. & World
Stormchaser Todd Cannon rode out the storm with his son, Matthew, in their SUV. The vehicle was severely damaged as a result, and Cannon said he and his son were saved by "the grace of God."
"Honestly, I thought we were going to die," Cannon said.
Back in town, Ryan Bowers took cover in his basement with his wife and 3-month-old daughter. The couple lay on top of the baby to protect her from falling debris.
"Things were dropping on top of me and splitting in two, like the part of the wall, I think," he said. "We crawled out and looked around, couldn't believe it."
The family made it out unharmed, and Bowers' wife said their daughter even slept through the incident.
Residents are now combing through what's left of their community. For many, the devastation is simply too much to comprehend.
"Nobody has anything left," resident Nancy Rampy said. "It's all gone. It's just awful."
"We'll get through this because we all stand together," Rampy said.


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Want to create a personalized tour of Indiana Dunes Country? Just stop by the Visitor Center. Our front desk destination concierges are supremely knowledgeable and can handpick the perfect attractions, activities and accommodations for you. This includes providing detailed information about dining, shopping, beach access, and assisting with directions and many other needs you may have. If you happen to drop by after hours, the brochure-stocked vestibule is open around the clock. Maps and a phone board listing all the area's accommodations is provided for your convenience. You can also walk through our ever-changing exhibit room, learn about the history and ecology of the Dunes at our in-house movie theatre and pick out educational mementos in our bookstore. Don't miss… taking a walk around our building and learning about its eco-friendly architecture. Go to each station to learn about rain gardens and native landscaping, and get ideas of environmentally friendly things you can do at home.
The Visitor Center is conveniently located at 1215 N. State Road 49, Porter, IN 46304. This is just north of the Indiana Toll Road and Interstate 94, and it is just south of Indiana Dunes State Park and U.S. 20.
Memorial Day to Labor Day: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. CST seven days a week.
Labor Day to Memorial Day: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. CST seven days a week.
Local telephone number: 219-926-2255
Toll free number: 800-283-8687
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web: www.IndianaDunes.com
Indiana Dunes Tourism is the official destination marketing, planning and development organization for Indiana Dunes Country/Porter County, IN. We operate the Visitor Center in partnership with the Indiana Dunes National Park.
© 2020 Indiana Dunes Tourism
Official visitor information site for Porter County, Indiana
Tourism Marketing by VERB


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Mayor's Office
Christmas tree mulch is now available free of charge to Lincoln residents at Hofeling Enterprises, 2200 South Folsom Court. This year, the Christmas tree recycling program collected about 10,000 trees. Since the program began in 1987, the City has recycled more than 196,645 trees.
"I want to thank residents for recycling their trees again this year," said Gene Hanlon, City Recycling Coordinator. "The success of the tree recycling program depends on community cooperation and the support of several other organizations."
This is the third year that Hofeling Enterprises has donated grinding services for the trees deposited at the seven collection sites in the City. Members of the Lincoln Solid Waste Management Association collected trees at the curb, and the City Parks and Recreation Department set up and monitored the collection sites.
Hofeling Enterprises will continue to distribute tree mulch during normal business hours (7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis while the supply lasts.
The City's Christmas tree recycling program is the oldest in the state. Citizens who have questions about the tree recycling program can call the recycling hotline at 441-8215, or visit recycle.lincoln.ne.gov.