Planet Money

Wanna know who is really in the top 1%? And how they use their influence? It may not be who you think.

Look beyond Silicon Valley. Look beyond Wall Street. Look beyond the “oligarchs”. There's a much larger class of wealthy Americans hiding in plain sight. And, often, they got rich in mundane ways. They own car dealerships. They sell hot dogs and frozen mini-quiches. They run waxing salons. They supply fabricated metal and urinal cakes. They are dentists.

Collectively, these "Main Street millionaires" control much more wealth than the billionaire lightning rods who launch rockets into space, appear on manosphere podcasts, and have Hollywood movies made about them. Many of these millionaires have also grown rich enough to afford superyachts, 10,000-square-foot homes, and pet tigers. 

At the center of their story is a quiet revolution in the American economy: the rise of a particular kind of private business. On today’s show, how did the power of the “stealthy wealthy” millionaires come to rival that of the billionaire oligarchs? And, how are they shaping policies that lower their taxes and raise your prices?

Read: 
Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life 
Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter

Follow: 
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Facebook

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

This episode was hosted by Greg Rosalsky and Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Marianne McCune with fact checking help from Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

Music: NPR Source Audio - "Collectible Kicks," "Blazed and Emboldened," and "Arturo’s Revenge

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2024.)

$40,000,000,000,000. Four commas. Thirteen zeroes. It’s an eye-popping, almost infinite-sounding pile of money. And every time the debt passes a big round number, almost everyone asks the same question: How much debt is too much?

It’s maybe the most important question in macroeconomics. It’s also surprisingly hard to answer. When two economists tried to answer it back in 2010, it ignited a research slugfest that lasted a decade. 

We did a show on this question in 2024, outlining everything we know and don’t know about when the national debt becomes a problem. But a lot has changed. Interest rates have risen and stayed high. Spending has steamrolled ahead. Doves have become hawks. 

So on today’s show, we update our 2024 episode to revisit the age-old question: Is our debt finally too much? 

Read Planet Money: 

Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life 
Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter
Follow: 

Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Facebook
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

Our original episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Molly Messick. This update was reported and produced by Vito Emanuel. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee. And it was edited by Alex Goldmark, Planet Money’s executive producer. 

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Did a pizza restaurant’s humble status page change how we wait forever? 

When you order a Lyft or Uber, you get texts every few minutes about your car approaching and arriving. When you have a package coming, you get a notification when it’s shipped, when it’s en route, and when it’s out for delivery. Why do so many companies send these constant updates?

We have a theory: It’s because of Domino’s. In 2008, Domino’s launched the Pizza Tracker, a novel tool that delighted customers by allowing them to obsessively monitor their pizza’s progress from order to oven to delivery. The Pizza Tracker became a canonical model for other companies trying to improve their customers’ experiences of waiting for all kinds of products and services. And now? Pizza Trackers are everywhere. 

On today’s show: how the Domino’s Pizza Tracker shaped the internet, and how trackers went from transparently sharing information with consumers to — in some cases — actively deceiving us. 

Support:
— Planet Money+

Read:
— Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
— Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
— Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter

Follow:
— Instagram
— TikTok
— YouTube
— Facebook

This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Alex Mayyasi. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, edited by Liza Yeager, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Margin borrowing and sports gambling “investments” are both on the rise! Today on the show, two stories from Planet Money’s daily podcast The Indicator about the ways investing is changing, and getting riskier.

According to one study, more than half of Gen Zers are using investment dollars for sports gambling. On average, this is not a smart strategy for the long term. It might be that sports betting today is like day trading was for a previous generation of young investors: something a lot of young people, typically men, do, lose money at for a while, then quit. We review the early research on this trend and meet a state legislator proposing ways to stem problem gambling.

More, generally younger people are also investing with borrowed money. Trading on margin is at an all time high of over $1.5 trillion. In the past, high levels of margin investing have led to crashes. We hear those stories and find out what the Fed might do to reign in the risk. 

Related Indicator episodes
— How AI might mess with financial markets
— Prediction markets are threatening national security. Who's gonna fix it?

Connect with Planet Money & The Indicator
— Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly link round up newsletter!
— Sign up for Planet Money’s weekly longform newsletter!
— Buy the Planet Money book
— Find our socials, YouTube and more!
— For sponsor-free episodes, subscribe to NPR+ 

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

These episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money were produced by Corey Bridges and Cooper Katz-McKim. They were engineered by Travis Hagan and Cena Loffredo, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. They were edited by Julia Ritchey and Kate Concannon. 

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

There is a new type of loan that is sweeping through the country right now. It’s advertised as a super quick and super easy way to get a mortgage to buy a home. In recent years, Wall Street has been funneling billions of dollars into these loans. 

But these loans are also raising questions. Are they a financial innovation that’s helping the housing market? Or ... a sign that Wall Street might be forgetting the mistakes that led to the Global Financial Crisis? 

On today’s show, we head to Baltimore, where abandoned rowhomes have become a familiar sight. Reporters Hallie Miller, Jack Bologna and Sahana Jayaraman from The Baltimore Banner have been following this new loan as it’s been bringing millions of dollars into some of Baltimore's most distressed neighborhoods. 

But, a few years ago, two local landlords quickly and quietly amassed what might be one of the largest private real estate portfolios in Baltimore: Over 700 homes and $100 million dollars in borrowed cash. Using this hot new loan. And then they tried to disappear. We talk with the Banner reporters about what they found at the heart of this mystery, and why it might have implications for the rest of the country. 

Read the Banner’s reporting:

The housing hustle igniting a foreclosure crisis in Baltimore
Before mass foreclosures, DSCR loans looked good for Baltimore 
Could a few 'bad actors' upend Baltimore's housing hopes?
Baltimore will investigate New York investor group for housing discrimination 
Baltimore is striking fear into private lenders across the country 
From $3.7M to $9.9M: Federal probe focuses on 42 Baltimore homes sold again and again
The FBI is investigating the New York investors behind Baltimore’s foreclosure wave
Fake deeds, real money: New York investors accused of another Baltimore scam
How do you build a huge portfolio of Baltimore rentals? It helps to know a guy.
The loans behind Baltimore’s foreclosure crisis are surging in cities across the nation  
Baltimore ballroom ‘icon’ survives a life of grit with glamour

Read: 
Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life 
Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter

Follow: 
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Facebook

Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Travis Hagen. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer. 

Music: Universal Production Music - "Slick Groove," "Seven Secrets," and "Jazz Move"

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy