This year, there was some economic good news to go around. Inflation generally ticked down. Unemployment more or less held around 4-percent. Heck, the Fed even cut interest rates three times. But for a lot of people, the overall economic vibes were more important. And the vibes... were still off.We might have achieved the soft landing the Fed was hoping for, but we saw some wackiness in the relationship between unemployment and job vacancies. Meanwhile, Bitcoin went to the moon. We have covered all of that in this past year, but which of these economic stories really defined the year?Fortunately, we don't have to decide. You all do.On today's show, a collaboration with our daily podcast The Indicator, we have Indicator Family Feud! Two Planet Money hosts enter, one Indicator host... also enters. And all three leave, having had a great time with lively discussion and light ribbing. Plus, some mild scheduling issues. But, we can't stress enough that no hosts were harmed in the making of this podcast.Then, we look ahead to 2025 to see what indicators we think will define the coming year – the future and the past, on our latest episode!Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What economic indicators defined this year?
Hey, it's Amanda Aronchik. The year is almost over. You've heard a lot of pitches asking you to support NPR. To the many of you who have given, thank you. Now, if you are sick of these pitches, chances are you are a heavy podcast listener that you get a lot out of NPR podcasts like Planet Money, The Indicator, Up First, the NPR Politics podcast.
In order to make all our shows possible, NPR has sponsors. Sponsors slot messages into podcast episodes. You hear them every show unless... You don't. That is just one of the things we offer supporters who sign up for NPR+. Sponsor-free episodes of more than 25 different NPR podcasts, including this one. And those sponsor messages add up.
If you listen to two or three NPR podcasts each week, we could be talking about 12 hours worth of sponsor messages in a year. So just consider, like, what is 12 hours of your time worth? And imagine spending that on something that matters and keeping those 12 hours. Supporting public media is a public good, especially right now. Information matters. Facts matter. Context and perspective matter.
We know you know this. So please take a few minutes to save hours of time in the coming year. This is Planet Money from NPR.
Hey, it's Adrian Ma from The Indicator Podcast, and it's that time of the year when we get to— Hey, this is a weird request.
Are we able to run a crackling fire under this whole intro? Is that possible? Oh, I'm Kenny Malone from Planet Money. Ah, yes. I can feel the warmth right now. Jeff, come on in. Come around the fire. Come on in. Come on. Thanks. Thanks, guys. It's getting kind of cold out there. There's Jeffrey Guo. Jeff Guo. Great to have you here. It's so cozy in here. It is.
Love a combustion event. It's a time of the year where we gather with friends or, as we do on The Indicator, where we gather with our Planet Money family and do what families do best around the holiday season. Engage in brutal, soul-breaking arguments. Yes. In a fashion most public.
There's nothing like it. It's so, so warm and friendly. It's time for Family Feud. That's right. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
Ha-ha. Okay, so today we have a head-to-head-to-head competition between me, Kenny, and Jeff for Indicator of the Year. And then in part two, we've got our best predictions for Indicator of 2025.
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