Government shutdown fallout, price floors, and AI slop against the machine

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s … Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.

On today’s episode: Frozen and canceled federal dollars, America’s intensifying tit-for-tat with China, and a sloppy trend infiltrating the music business. (With a pocket full of shells.)

Related episodes:
China's trade war perspective
Fighting AI with AI

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 Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Whalen Wong. And I'm Adrienne Ma and I'm Darym Woods.
0:17.1	Do you guys feel that in the air? I...
0:21.3	Allergy season?
0:22.4	It is for me. That's true.
0:24.7	What do you smell in there? Pumpkin spice?
0:26.5	In addition to antihistamines and pumpkin spice, it is Indicators of the Week.
0:32.2	Favorite time of the week?
0:33.3	Indicator of the Week.
0:34.7	Today on the show, we have frozen federal dollars.
0:37.9	An escalating trade war with China.
0:40.1	And a strange trend infiltrating the music business.
0:44.0	After the break.
0:48.4	I want it that way.
0:49.7	Was a Backstreet Boys' banger?
0:51.1	But was it also a secret economics lesson?
0:54.0	If you watch the music video, you can really see an illustration of the concept of comparative
0:58.7	advantage.
0:59.6	All right.
1:00.0	In our most recent bonus episode, we compete to see who can pick the most Planet Money song,
1:05.7	movie, and more from 1999.
1:07.8	It's our first ever Planet Money pop culture draft, and you can hear it and support our
1:12.4	work by signing up for NPR Plus at plus.npr.org.
	...

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