Tag Archives: planet money

All about the Benjamins

Leave a reply
New $100 bill

New $100 bill

The new $100 bill design was unveiled today, and will go into circulation next February. The new $100s are aimed at preventing counterfeiting. NPR’s Planet Money reports:

The $100 is a favorite of counterfeiters, for obvious reasons, and the government’s rolling out new bills to try and make life harder for them. It seems like the old antibiotics-versus-bacteria thing, where the pathogens/counterfeiters are always catching up to the drugs/government.

Watch the unveiling of the new bill, complete with patriotic theme music:

Revisiting earthquake economics

Leave a reply

In the months since the Haiti earthquake, tent cities have sprung up in Port-au-Prince. Frontline and NPR’s Planet Money report on the communities that have developed out of economic necessity.

Planet Money’s Adam Davidson in Haiti:

Beyond housing, various industries are also having to adjust to the new economy in Haiti. Miami Herald and WLRN reporter Niala Boodhoo visited a rum distillery, a cocoa farm, and a microfinance organization to find out how the country’s production has changed.

Boodhoo joined The Takeaway for a chat about her findings in Haiti, including the food crisis and the issue of remittances – monies sent from families abroad to help their families in Haiti.

I think the immediate problem for a lot of people is food. You have a country where 2/3 of the labor force is engaged in agriculture but is still producing less than half the food that’s needed in the country.

(function(){var s=function(){__flash__removeCallback=function(i,n){if(i)i[n]=null;};window.setTimeout(s,10);};s();})();

One year later

Leave a reply
Fannie Mae headquarters/Credit: Flickr/FutureAtlas

Fannie Mae headquarters/Credit: Flickr/FutureAtlas

It’s been a year since both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were taken over by the federal government (here’s a look at why), followed by the fall of Lehman Brothers. While the recession may have deeper roots, the banking collapse got the media looking at how we got here, and now – how to get out. Planet Money’s first podcast, a year ago this week, looks at how investments in China may have contributed to banking insecurity.

Fast forwarding to this week, NPR’s Tell Me More spoke with Wall Street experts Marcus Mabry of the New York Times.

“You already had a recession, and recessions happen. That’s a normal part of life in a capitalistic system… The financial crisis took what was already a recession that was well underway and just amplified its effects,” Mabry said on the program. “I mean, the fear here – and we saw this with the recovery under George W. Bush. We saw jobless recovery for the majority of that recovery, which meant that the economy was growing, but companies were exacting so much from their current workers that they actually -as far as work and productivity – that they were actually not hiring new workers….Ironically, those banks that we talked about, the ones that survived the economic cataclysm of a year ago, are actually many of them wealthier and richer – Goldman Sachs comes to mind – than ever.”

Has the stimulus package had an effect yet on helping average Americans survive the crisis that started with the banking system? On the 200th day since the Recovery Act was passed, Vice President Joe Biden argued that the bill was an overall plan, not a single “silver bullet” for bringing back jobs and helping those in need. ProPublica’s Shovelwatch blog fact-checked some of Biden’s claims:

“According to Biden, one of the main goals of the Recovery Act was to “bring relief to those hardest hit by the recession.” But as ProPublica reported last month, a county-by-county breakdown of contracts, grants and loans showed no relationship between where the stimulus money is going and either unemployment or poverty.”

Recovery.gov has a new chart plotting tax relief so far from the Recovery Act

But while most economists agree that the worst is over, even many major banks aren’t out of the woods yet. NewsHour reported just this week that more banks may be on the road to failure, having not recovered from bad loans and the mortgage crisis.

Where the jobs are (and aren't)

Leave a reply

Looking for work is a daunting task, regardless of the economic climate, but how do you muster sympathy for those at the top and bottom of the chain when so many in the middle are struggling?

NewsHour’s Paul Solman reports on executives and ex-convicts who are in an oddly similar position. Former execs with extensive networks report job hunting for over 30 hours a week.
For the ex-cons, the tables are turned, but the circumstances still leave them jobless.

“I’ve tried several times. I mean, I’ve gone, I’ve filled out applications thinking that I’m going to get the job, but they won’t hire me,” ex-convict Larry Wohlgemuth told Solman.

How is the average person faring? Is the stimulus money creating solid, full time opportunities? ProPublica.org’s ShovelWatch finds that “States are using the money for short-term projects, filling budget gaps rather than paying for long-term improvements.”

Those fed up with the search have started turning to independent consulting. But can a newly minted consultant make a go of it in the current environment? On the Media talks to Nick Corcoldilos, a headhunter who highlights some of the advantages and disadvantages of going solo.

To put it all in perspective, consider that 2.5 billion people live on $2 per day. Today’s Planet Money podcast looks at communities around the world that are surviving on very little, but still make room for traditions and ceremonies of cultural importance.