50-year mortgages, falling real wages, and doing your rideshare due diligence

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s … Indicators of the Week! We look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news and bring them to you.

On today’s episode: The cost of living is outstripping wage growth for most of us, the math behind the Trump administration’s proposed 50-year mortgages, and how we’re just giving Uber and Lyft free money.

Related episodes:

Trump's plans for the housing market

The Money Illusion: Have Americans really gotten a raise?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.7	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
0:13.7	I'm Waylon Wong here with Daryan Woods.
0:16.5	Hey, hey.
0:17.5	Joining us today, the rambling Keith Romer.
0:21.3	Rambling Keith Romer.
0:22.5	I accept.
0:23.2	I take it.
0:23.7	You've ambled into our happy little studio today because, do you know what time it is, Keith?
0:29.1	I believe that this is indicator of the week, time, Waylon.
0:34.6	It's indicators of the week.
0:36.3	On today's show, we have some not so great news for people on low or middle incomes, which is most of us.
0:42.7	We dig into a new proposal for 50-year mortgages.
0:46.0	And how the ride-share app in your pocket may be taking more money from you than you know.
0:53.0	It is Indicators of the Week. Darien Woods, you're up first It is Indicators of the Week.
0:54.7	Darien Woods, you're up first.
0:56.8	My indicator of the week is negative 2%.
0:59.8	That's how much wages have fallen over the last year for low-income households once
1:04.6	you account for inflation.
1:06.5	This was shown in a Bank of America report this week.
1:09.1	Yeah, not great news, right?
1:10.5	No, we want our wages to be increasing.
	...

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