Bart Simpson's American Dream

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year, we analyzed whether or not the Simpson family's lifestyle was attainable for the middle class. A writer on the show listened to that Indicator, and decided to answer that question with an episode of their own. Today, we bring you a sneak preview of their take on America's shrinking middle class.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	NPR.
0:03.4	This is the Indicator from Planet Money, I'm Paddy Hirsch.
0:14.6	And today, Stacey Vanick Smith is with me and I asked her to join me with this very special
0:18.8	episode.
0:19.8	Thank you for joining me, Stacey.
0:20.8	Well, I couldn't not join Paddy.
0:22.4	I was very, very excited about this episode.
0:25.0	Just over a year ago, we did what we rarely do and we dedicated an episode of the indicator
0:29.3	to a single person, a patriarch of one of America's favorite families.
0:34.1	Homer J. Simpson.
0:39.7	The iconic American economic every man with his middle class job at the nuclear power plant,
0:46.0	his suburban home, his two car garage complete, of course, with two cars and his beloved
0:51.8	family, his wife Marge, his son Bart and his daughter's Lisa and Maggie.
0:56.8	And Homer is kind of regarded as you say Stacey as America's every man.
1:00.3	Yes.
1:01.3	However, as we find I don't know our show last year, that image is deeply flawed.
1:05.5	And that message appears to have resonated around the American economy because a lot of
1:09.0	people listen to that show.
1:10.4	Yes.
1:11.4	And one person in particular listen to it.
1:12.8	I am Tim Long and I am a longtime writer, producer for The Simpsons.
1:18.3	The Simpsons writers listen to the indicator.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.