0:01

NPR. This

0:12

is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darian

0:14

Woods here with Adrian Ma. What's

0:16

up? And Planet Money is Greg

0:18

Rizelski. Welcome Greg. I'm just

0:20

here to plug the newsletter. npr.org/Planet

0:23

Money newsletter subscribe please. Yes,

0:26

if you are not subscribed to Greg's newsletter, you

0:28

are missing out. I have a good promo, but

0:30

we are here for indicators of the week. What?

0:34

What? Okay, okay. Let's,

0:37

let's save some of the energy for this

0:39

segment because we are here

0:42

as always to bring some

0:44

really interesting snapshots from the

0:46

week of economic news. Today

0:49

we're digging into why the price of gold

0:51

has gotten so high. We'll also

0:53

talk about how the Biden administration is

0:56

trying to spend down hundreds of billions

0:58

of dollars before the election. And

1:00

finally, we'll talk about why streaming services

1:03

are all seeming to blend together these

1:05

days. Cable is back,

1:07

baby. Should we feel good

1:09

about this? This

1:15

message comes from NPR sponsor RSM. Change

1:19

waits for no one. But when

1:21

it happens, and it always does,

1:23

be prepared to take charge with

1:25

RSM's proven advisors who make it

1:27

their business to fully understand yours.

1:31

RSM brings human insights powered

1:33

by technology, so you can

1:35

leverage the knowledge of future-focused

1:37

minds who look beyond the

1:39

ordinary. RSM. Experience

1:42

the power of

1:44

being understood. Take

1:46

charge now at

1:48

rsmus.com/spotify. There are a lot

1:50

of issues on voters minds right now. Perhaps

1:53

big ones could help decide

1:55

the election. Guns, reproductive rights,

1:58

immigration, the economy, health care

2:00

and the wars overseas. On the

2:02

Consider This podcast from NPR, we

2:05

will unpack the debates on these

2:07

issues and what's at stake. You can

2:09

listen to NPR's Consider This wherever

2:11

you get your podcasts. Indicator's

2:14

the weak time. Darien, why don't you go first? All

2:16

right. Well, my indicator is 14%, which

2:19

is roughly as of today, how much

2:21

the price of gold has gone up

2:23

this year. By contrast, you've got the

2:26

S&P 500 index of stocks, and it's

2:29

gone up about 10%. It's

2:32

not really a bad return on investment,

2:34

right? Given where we're at, just into

2:36

May now. It's very

2:38

good. Some of these very happy gold investors

2:40

will be Turkish central bankers. They've been buying

2:43

up a lot. Chinese central

2:45

bankers, Indian central bankers,

2:47

the US's central bankers as

2:49

well, and also Costco customers.

2:52

Okay. Costco, obviously breaking from the

2:54

pattern here. What's going on with

2:56

that? Right. That's mostly tongue in

2:58

cheek, but Costco did start selling

3:00

these one ounce gold bars made

3:02

in Switzerland. They're just racing out

3:04

the door to spend their multi-thousand

3:06

dollar price tag. But the big

3:08

money is in central banks and

3:10

institutional investors. You've got central banks,

3:13

which hold about a fifth of

3:15

the world's gold. This year began

3:17

hot as they snapped up gold

3:19

at a record rate, 290 metric

3:21

tons in the first three months

3:25

of this year. They're still caught up on

3:27

where the gold bars are in the Costco. Do

3:30

they put them next to the rotisserie chickens?

3:32

No way, dude. It's a dollar fifty hot dogs

3:35

right next to there. Those things are

3:37

gold already. Yes. This podcast is not

3:39

sponsored by Costco, by the way. Back

3:42

to what you were saying, Darian. The central banks are just

3:44

buying up a ton of gold, almost 300 tons

3:46

of gold. The

3:50

reason why they're doing this is

3:52

likely expectations of falling interest rates.

3:54

That means that other investments would

3:56

be more similar to gold, which

3:58

of course doesn't offer any interest.

4:01

A big consideration also is

4:03

geopolitical uncertainty. So US dollars

4:05

and Treasury bonds have traditionally

4:07

been seen as a stable

4:09

store of wealth, and

4:11

they still are, but the last few

4:13

years have chipped away at that perception.

4:16

Not only inflation, but

4:18

also the US's unprecedented

4:20

financial sanctions against Russia,

4:23

and also the bellicose actions and

4:25

words are coming out from Washington

4:27

against China. Yeah, it's a

4:30

pretty scary and uncertain world out

4:32

there. I guess gold feels safer.

4:35

I think that's the perception. You've got

4:37

half the world's population voting in elections

4:39

this year. So when the

4:41

world is confusing, central bankers

4:44

and investors buy gold. So

4:46

super fascinating. Haven't thought about

4:48

gold in a while. Adrian,

4:51

what do you got for us? Okay, so

4:53

my indicator of the week is 17%. It

4:57

comes from this really interesting story

4:59

from Politico this week, which analyzed

5:01

four major pieces of infrastructure legislation

5:03

passed during the Biden administration. And

5:06

so just to remind folks of what these

5:08

were, you know, back in 2021, we had

5:10

the American Rescue Plan, which was a pandemic

5:13

stimulus bill that also had

5:15

a lot of money for roads and bridges. That

5:18

same year, they passed another big infrastructure bill. And

5:20

you guys can probably guess what the other ones

5:22

are. Yeah, in 2022,

5:24

the Inflation Reduction Act, the big climate

5:26

bill. And we have

5:28

the Chips and Science Act that

5:31

was aimed at promoting semiconductor manufacturing

5:33

in the US. Bingo and bingo.

5:35

And according to Politico's analysis, these

5:38

laws together pledged about $1.1 trillion

5:40

of direct investment into all kinds

5:43

of infrastructure projects. But

5:45

only about 17%

5:47

of that money has been spent so far.

5:49

I imagine that trying to get it

5:51

out as fast as possible. Some infrastructure

5:54

projects are pretty straightforward. Like money has

5:56

been going to things like helping cities

5:58

replace lead water pipes. that serve people's

6:00

homes, some that has been

6:02

going to tax credits for people who

6:05

buy energy efficient appliances, that money has

6:07

been rolling out. But I'm guessing

6:09

you're saying there is a butt

6:11

here with some less shovel-ready projects.

6:13

Yeah, on the opposite end of

6:15

the infrastructure complexity spectrum, you have

6:17

money that's been earmarked for big

6:20

green energy projects and

6:22

to bolster U.S. manufacturing. Some

6:24

of this money has been getting

6:27

out here and there, right, like

6:29

there's a hydrogen energy storage facility

6:31

in Utah, there's a semiconductor plant

6:33

in Arizona, but overall, money for

6:35

these kinds of things is just

6:37

rolling out a lot slower. And

6:39

so I guess that's why we've only spent 17% of

6:43

the money. Exactly. And

6:46

what's kind of important to

6:48

keep in mind about this money is

6:50

that we have an election just about six

6:52

months away. And one of the candidates in

6:55

that election, Donald Trump, has basically already promised

6:57

to try and pump the brakes on some

6:59

of the spending that the current administration is

7:01

doing. And in fact, the Washington

7:04

Post had a story recently that

7:06

talked about how Trump met with oil executives

7:08

last month. And he said if they help

7:10

him raise a billion dollars to get back

7:12

in the White House, he would immediately reverse

7:15

some of the Biden administration's clean

7:17

energy and electric vehicle policies. All

7:19

right, well, from politics to entertainment,

7:21

what do you have for us,

7:23

Greg? You know, it

7:25

felt like a blast from the past

7:27

this week when Disney and Warner Brothers

7:30

Discovery announced they are teaming up to

7:32

offer consumers a streaming bundle that includes

7:34

Disney+, Hulu, Max, all

7:37

in one gleaming, shiny package, a

7:40

bundle of three. So yes, three

7:43

is my indicator this week. Are

7:45

you trying to sell this to us,

7:47

Greg? First I'm shilling for Costco, now

7:49

I'm shilling for big media. Sorry, okay?

7:52

This is just the latest wave of

7:54

consolidation and streaming. Last year, for example,

7:56

Disney spent nearly $9 billion

7:59

to acquire $3 billion. Hulu, HBO Max and

8:01

Discovery merged to create Max. That

8:04

sounds kind of like the world of cable.

8:06

I don't know about you, but I literally

8:08

have not had a cable subscription for like

8:11

decades. So I

8:13

don't even know if people even know what cable

8:15

is anymore. So maybe we should just define

8:17

that for one second here. Yeah, yeah.

8:19

It was this thing that you subscribe

8:21

to and got like a bunch of

8:23

different channels. But the catch was

8:26

it was like all live streaming. So like you

8:28

had to watch a specific TV show at a

8:30

specific time. And if you didn't see that TV

8:32

show at that specific time, maybe you would never

8:34

see it. And you would have to like look

8:36

up that time in a little booklet. Yeah,

8:38

I think like TV Guide or

8:40

something. So this all began to

8:42

change in 2007 when a little

8:44

company named Netflix did something major.

8:47

They pivoted from literally renting out

8:49

DVDs to people via snail mail

8:52

to offering the first streaming service

8:54

that allowed consumers to basically watch

8:56

things whenever they wanted. Hello

8:59

binge watching. That's right. Netflix

9:01

sparked the revolution. Amazon Prime,

9:03

Hulu, Peacock, Apple TV Plus.

9:05

But over the last few

9:08

years, streaming services have really

9:10

struggled. According to Quartz, in

9:12

the 17 years since Netflix set in motion

9:14

the streaming revolution, only three

9:16

platforms have managed to turn a profit.

9:19

There are just like too many choices. And

9:21

apparently we all kind of have this kind of habit

9:24

where we like subscribe, we watch

9:26

some shows, we cancel and we move

9:28

on to the next streaming service. There's

9:31

just like a huge amount of churn in the

9:33

industry. And this just didn't happen in the old

9:35

days with cable TV. The old days

9:37

when there were only just like a few cable

9:39

companies. Right. To get around

9:41

this, basically the streaming services are now

9:43

teaming up to convince consumers to stay

9:46

subscribed. Like cable, you'll be getting a

9:48

bunch of different channels to keep you

9:50

entertained. The basic idea is let's keep

9:52

people subscribed. You

9:55

know what is cheaper than a streaming bundle subscription?

9:57

A newsletter? That's right, Adrian.

10:00

subscribe at npr.org-planetmoney

10:03

newsletter. This

10:06

episode was produced by Cooper Katz McKim with

10:08

Engineering by Josephine Neoni and Sina Lofredo. It

10:10

was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kate Kincan edits

10:13

the show and the indicator is a production

10:15

of NPR. Moms

10:19

know the ups and downs of life. It's what

10:21

makes them great subjects for books. This

10:23

is one of the things that fiction can do, right?

10:25

It can give us a window into the battles

10:28

that each person is waging or facing,

10:30

but it doesn't mean that we condone

10:33

her actions. This week on NPR's

10:35

Book of the Day podcast, we are discussing

10:37

books centering mothers. So call your

10:39

mom, then tune into the Book of the Day

10:41

podcast from NPR. Here

10:44

at Planet Money, we bring complex economic

10:46

ideas down to Earth. We

10:48

find weird, fun, interesting stories that

10:50

explain the way money shapes our

10:52

lives. Inflation, recession, the price of

10:55

gas, we've got you. Listen now

10:57

to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. The

11:25

Head Radio Hour from NPR.