James Sneed
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audio, art, ambidex — currently @planetmoney
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Articles by James Sneed
Charles Ponzi's scheme (plus a new scam)
Charles Ponzi's scheme (plus a new scam) : Planet Money Charles Ponzi was down on his luck. In 1919, the Italian immigrant had spent a decade and a half in the U.S. He was looking for a way to get rich and tried his hand at everything — including bookkeeping, sign painting, grocery clerk, dishwasher, and librarian. He caught a lucky break in August, when he received a letter from Europe. In the envelope was an International Reply Coupon, a clever way to prepay for international postage.
Where all those weird new drinks are coming from
Mocktail seltzers? Protein sodas? Where are all these new beverages coming from? : Planet Money It's getting pretty wild in the beverage aisle these days — from the rainbow wall of seltzers, to the increasingly strange flavors of Pepsi, to the new "functional" sodas with added fiber or supplements that supposedly offer health benefits. Where are all these new drinks coming from? And why does it seem like the options are multiplying faster than ever?
Who’s gonna pay for your Social Security?
Ways to make more money and save Social Security if we act now : Planet Money Very soon, Social Security may not have enough money to make full payments to retirees. Very soon. Like by 2032, just six years from now. So what are we gonna do about it? Today on the show, we look at some of the most talked about possible solutions; and exactly whose wallets we’ll have to rifle through to find the money to pay for each.
Branded fruit: How produce got “Honeycrisp-ified"
Are fancy tomatoes like Rutgers’ Scarlet Sunrise the next Honeycrisp apples? : Planet Money The produce aisle is changing. You’ve noticed this, I’m sure. It is now full of superstar fruits and vegetables: The Honeycrisp apple, The Cotton Candy grape, The Cuties mandarin orange. They stand out. They cost more. They have branding and sometimes trademarks and patent-ish kinds of protections.
Can World Cup mania grow MLS in the U.S.?
Mbappé? Haaland? Kane? Can MLS use the World Cup to get the next Messi? : Planet Money As the World Cup comes to a close, so does a massive real-time experiment happening just around the edges. Major League Soccer – the top men’s professional soccer league in the U.S. and Canada – has been scrambling to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity when average American sports fans suddenly cared a lot about soccer.
Around the Rings: 2026 MAQHA Corporate Challenge
paykwik al online sportwetten paykasa Filed under: Around The Ring Galleries,Featured,Show Results & Gallery | All photos from MAQHA Corporate Challenge. The annual Corporate Challenge, brought to exhibitors by the Missouri and Minnesota Quarter Horse Associations, was held July 8-12, 2026, at National Equestrian Center in Lake St. Louis, Missouri.
Seven allegedly fake Chanel bags vs The RealReal
When the luxury brand Chanel sued The RealReal for selling counterfeit bags : Planet Money Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy a luxury brand item secondhand (say, a Chanel handbag) you had to have an in. There was no easy way to find one. But over the past decade, the market for secondhand luxury goods has exploded. There are now many online resellers where you can shop for used and discounted luxury items. One big problem — how can you be sure if it’s real and authentic?
We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail? Original
Why the first smartphone failed, and what it teaches us about constraints. : Planet Money In the early 90’s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow people to check email, make phone calls, even play games. It was basically a smartphone. But it never caught on. On today’s show, a theory about why this device failed. General Magic had generous investors, world-class talent and creative freedom. But is it possible what they needed was constraints?
The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enough
The real horror of ‘Alien’ is the Monopsony : Planet Money Maybe the real monster in the Alien franchise isn’t actually the killer alien. Because behind the acid blood and jump scares is an even more insidious horror: a single employer with unchecked power. That employer is named Weyland-Yutani, a mega-corporation that dominates workers across the galaxy.
It’s my tree. Why can’t I cut it down?
The tug of war between property rights and zoning laws : Planet Money Can the government stop you from cutting down your own tree? In many towns and cities these days, removing a tree now requires a permit. You might have to pay a fee, or promise to plant replacement trees. But sometimes, the city won't let you cut down the tree at all, even a tree in your own backyard. That's because trees are important for air quality, for flood control, and for public health.
The giant factory town that might be a giant mistake
Why millions of TVs are manufactured in the middle of the Amazon rainforest : Planet Money How does a poor country become a rich country? There's a simple blueprint — or at least, that's what many economists used to believe. But over the years, a lot of rapidly developing economies have stalled out. These countries aren't poor anymore, but they're not rich either. They're stuck in the middle.
Reese’s heir vs. chocolate skimpflation
When ingredient costs skyrocket, companies have three basic options: They can raise their prices (a sort of product-specific inflation), shrink the size of the products (often called "shrinkflation"), or, sometimes, find more creative ways to reduce costs by degrading the quality of their products - which our very own Greg Rosalsky has dubbed as "skimpflation." The latest alleged culprit? Hershey's.
The Business of Heated Rivalry Original
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Heated Rivalry, the steamy hockey romance show, was made for about $2 million per episode. That is remarkably cheap for an hour-long drama. Today on the show, a conversation with Heated Rivalry creators Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady about their television miracle on ice. It's not just that the show was made efficiently and cleverly. Heated Rivalry comes from a Canadian economic system of making TV and movies that is completely different from how we do things in the US.
By Kara Swisher Verified, Kenny Malone Verified, Jess Jiang Verified, James Sneed Verified, Lara Naman, Zoe Marcus Verified, Taylor Griffin
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NPR
Verified
Don't hate the replicator, hate the game Original
The world of science has been stuck in an existential crisis over whether we actually know the things we thought we knew. Re-running an old study today doesn't always yield the same result. Same with re-enacting old experiments. Collectively, this is known as the "replication crisis." Economist Abel Brodeur has come up with one way to help fix this crisis: he's invented an internationally crowdsourced surveillance system, designed to keep social scientists honest.
Betty Boop, Excel Olympics, Penny-isms: Our 2026 Valentines
Book tour event details and ticket info here. An iconic cartoon character liberated from copyright, journalism from the world of competitive spreadsheeting, a controversial piece of US currency. Each year the Planet Money team dedicates an episode to the things we simply love and think you, our audience, will also love. In this year's Valentine's Day episode: The Public Domain Day list from Jennifer Jenkins' of Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain and her colleagues.
Iran, protests, and sanctions : Planet Money Original
The recent protests in Iran are about so many things. Human rights, corruption, freedom. But this time – they are also motivated by economic hardship. Hardship caused, in part, by US sanctions. The US has been sanctioning Iran in one way or another for 47 years. But sanctions, as a tool, only work some of the time, and US sanctions on Iran have not always conformed to what experts consider best practices. On today's episode: What did US sanctions do to Iran's economy?
BOARD GAMES 3: What’s in a name? : Planet Money
Planet Money has teamed up with the company Exploding Kittens to make a board game inspired by the legendary economics paper The Market for Lemons. We've decided we want a mass-appeal party game that quietly sneaks in the economics, so that we can report from inside a world that no other Planet Money project has entered: the real shelves at real big box retail stores. We have a great game mechanic and a set of rules. Now all we need is a good name and theme.
How much money President Trump and his family have made : Planet Money Original
How much money President Trump and his family have made Before President Donald Trump's first term, he was in a "tight spot" financially, according to New Yorker writer David Kirkpatrick. At the start of his second term, David says, Trump was in an "even tighter" spot. But after just six months into his second term, Trump's financial situation started looking really good.
How Black hair care grew Black power : Planet Money Original
The Afro is one of the most iconic hairstyles of the last century. And one of its main ingredients was a hair product – Afro Sheen. But Afro Sheen did so much more than make Black afros shine. It was the money behind the television show Soul Train, it helped fuel the civil rights movement – all because of an entrepreneur named George Johnson. For decades, Joan and George Johnson owned and ran Johnson Products Company, a Black hair care company out of Chicago.
The Consumer Sentiment vs. Consumer Spending Puzzle : Planet Money Original
Wherever consumer sentiment goes, consumer spending usually goes too. They're like buddies that do everything together. Consumer sentiment wants a hair cut, its buddy consumer spending does too. But lately, these friends are drifting apart. While consumer sentiment about the economy is down … spending remains strong. And not just that… Interest rates are still high, inflation is growing, tariffs have made the prices of goods go up. And yet, consumer spending looks good. What gives?
After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble : Planet Money Original
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After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble This week's SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, and who foots the bill for the program. That last part is a huge change. For the entire history of the food stamp program, the federal government has paid for all the benefits that go out.
By Jeff Guo Verified, Marianne McCune, Jess Jiang Verified, Willa Rubin Verified, James Sneed Verified
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NPR
Verified
TikTok’s Trojan Horse Strategy : Planet Money Original
When TikTok videos started to go viral on Instagram and Reddit, TikTok turned to professional sound designers to protect their content. More and more companies are paying to develop a "sonic identity" – a series of sounds, songs, and micro-jingles to help maintain a unified brand. In this episode, in conjunction with the sound design podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, we hear the backstory to possibly the most successful audio branding campaigns in history.
The year NYC went broke : Planet Money
In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thousands of city employees and robust social services by taking on billions of dollars in debt. But eventually investors were no longer willing to lend the city any more money. New York teetered on the edge of bankruptcy — the city shuttered more than a dozen firehouses, teachers went on strike and garbage piled up in the streets.
The Planet Money Game: Test our prototype : Planet Money
It's here! It's free to download and playtest! It's the Planet Money game! (Download here.) • Download and playtest the game go here • Sign up for the 11/1 virtual AMA event and get updates about the game • Submit your feedback on the game • Watch the how-to video with Kenny and Elan for playtest instructions In this episode, the story of how we arrived here.
We make a board game
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It'd be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly and Catan are hugely popular and basically little economy simulators, after all.) Well, turns out, it's quite hard! We're in a golden age of tabletop games. Thirty years ago there were around 800 new games each year. Now it is more like 5,000. Just a handful of those get to be hits.
BOARD GAMES 1: We're making a game : Planet Money Original
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It'd be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly and Catan are hugely popular and basically little economy simulators, after all.) Well, turns out, it's quite hard! We're in a golden age of tabletop games. Thirty years ago there were around 800 new games each year. Now it is more like 5,000. Just a handful of those get to be hits.
BOARD GAMES 1: We're making a game : Planet Money
Planet Money and Exploding Kittens team up to make a board game : Planet Money We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It’d be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly and Catan are hugely popular and basically little economy simulators, after all.) Well, turns out, it’s quite hard! We’re in a golden age of tabletop games. Thirty years ago there were around 800 new games each year. Now it is more like 5,000.
How refrigeration took over the world : Planet Money
How refrigeration took over the world The next time you open your fridge, take a second to behold the miracles inside of it: Raspberries from California, butter from New Zealand, steak from Nebraska. None of that would have been remotely possible before the creation of the cold chain. The cold chain is the name for the end-to-end refrigeration of our food from farm to truck to warehouse to grocery store and ultimately to our fridges at home.
Buy discount Ozempic here now click this link
Jeff Guo Jeff Guo (he/him) is a co-host and reporter for Planet Money, NPR's award-winning podcast that finds creative, entertaining ways to make sense of the complicated forces that move our economy. He joined the team in 2022. Marianne McCune Marianne McCune is a reporter and producer for Embedded: Buffalo Extreme who has more than two decades of experience making award-winning audio stories.
Buy discount Ozempic here now click this link : Planet Money
Buy discount Ozempic here now click this link In the past couple years, demand has gone wild for drugs like Ozempic – and its cousins, Zepbound, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. For people who had never been able to lose weight before, suddenly the numbers on the scale were plummeting. And everybody wanted to get their hands on them. Now, in most industries, if a product goes viral like this, it’s a golden ticket.
Econ Battle Zone: Budget Showdown
Econ Battle Zone is back! On today's episode Mary Childs and Kenny Malone enter Econ Battle Stadium to throw down against reigning champion Erika Beras. Can Mary explain what effect extending the 2017 tax cuts will have on economic growth AND make her entire segment rhyme? Will Erika be able to overcome her fear of singing and craft a country song about the history of Medicaid?
How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is coming
Lately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a viral moment: recession indicators! From the more practical (like sales for lipstick going up and men's underwear going down) to the absurd and nonsensical (like babysitter buns coming back into style?) — people are posting to social media every little sign they see that a recession is coming. And we LOVE it.
How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is coming : Planet Money Original
How economists (and TikTok) know if a recession is coming Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1252663619/1269345350" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Romain Costaseca/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Romain Costaseca/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Lately we've noticed that something we think about all the time here at Planet Money is having a viral moment: recession indicators! From the more practical (like...
What "Made in China" actually means
Virtually every product brought into the United States must have a so-called "country of origin." Think of it as the official place it comes from. And this is the country that counts for calculating tariffs. But what does it really mean when something is a "Product of China"? How much of it actually comes from China? And how do customs officials draw the line? Here in the U.S., the rules are delightfully counterintuitive.
What "Made in China" actually means : Planet Money
What "Made in China" actually means Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249592921/1269275951" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> A 'made in China' sticker is seen on a shipping crate of items seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for further inspection at the Air Freight Federal Inspection Facility near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 4, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Patrick T.
Planet Money complains. To learn.
On today's show: we're ... venting. We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles. But we recently realized many of us have something in common: We're annoyed consumers. So we're going to get ranty ... but then try to understand the people annoying us. Like stingy coffee shops, manufacturers that don't design things for repair ... and stores that send way to many emails every day.
Planet Money complains. To learn. : Planet Money
Planet Money complains. To learn. Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1248091506/1269229788" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Screenshot of Sarah Gonzalez' Inbox Sarah Gonzalez hide caption toggle caption Sarah Gonzalez Screenshot of Sarah Gonzalez' Inbox Sarah Gonzalez On today's show: we're ... venting. We at Planet Money are an ensemble show – each with different curiosities and styles.
A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence
President Donald Trump has been loudly critical of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for years now. Since January, the President has accused him of playing politics by keeping interest rates high. Trump has also threatened to oust Powell — which would mark an extraordinary shift away from the independence of the central bank.
A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence : Planet Money
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A primer on the Federal Reserve's independence Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246593555/1269203355" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell arrives to testify during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing on "The Federal Reserve's Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report," on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 12, 2025.
By Wailin Wong Verified, James Sneed Verified, Corey Bridges, Brittany Cronin, Julia Ritchey Verified
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NPR
Verified
Planet Money buys a mystery diamond : Planet Money
Planet Money buys a mystery diamond Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1240892101/1268476830" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> The Planet Money mystery diamond Sarah Gonzalez/Sarah Gonzalez hide caption toggle caption Sarah Gonzalez/Sarah Gonzalez The Planet Money mystery diamond Sarah Gonzalez/Sarah Gonzalez The deal seemed too good to be true.
The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin : Planet Money
The Parable of Peanut the Memecoin Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1235939360/1267423581" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Peanut the squirrel. (Photo by Mark Longo) Mark Longo/Mark Longo hide caption toggle caption Mark Longo/Mark Longo Peanut the squirrel. (Photo by Mark Longo) Mark Longo/Mark Longo Memecoins are having a moment.
How the scratch off lottery changed America : Planet Money Original
How the scratch off lottery changed America Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1229744816/1265889656" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Americans spend more on scratch lottery tickets per year than on pizza. More than all Coca-Cola products. Yet the scratch ticket as a consumer item has only existed for fifty years.
After the fires : Planet Money Original
Firefighters work the scene as an apartment building burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles county, California on January 8, 2025. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images Firefighters work the scene as an apartment building burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles county, California on January 8, 2025. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images The fires in Los Angeles are almost out.
Why you bought your couch : Planet Money Original
Why you bought your couch You probably own a chair or a table or a sofa. And you probably think you know why you bought it. Because it was comfy. Or blue. Or the right price. But what if the style, the color, the cost, maybe even whether you would like it, were choices made for you years before you even thought about buying that piece of furniture. Today on the show: The city that makes or breaks the furniture world.
The veteran loan calamity : Planet Money Original
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Ray and Becky Queen live in rural Oklahoma with their kids (and chickens). The Queens were able to buy that home with a VA loan because of Ray's service in the Army. During COVID, the Queens – like millions of other Americans – needed help from emergency forbearance. They were told they could pause home payments for up to a year and then pick up again making affordable mortgage payments with no problems. That's what happened for most American homeowners who took forbearance.
By Kenny Malone Verified, Chris Arnold Verified, Quil Lawrence Verified, Meg Cramer, James Sneed Verified
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NPR
Verified
The Subscription Trap : Planet Money Original
Over the past two decades, there's been a sort of tectonic economic shift happening under our feet. More and more companies have switched from selling goods one by one to selling services, available as a subscription. These days everything from razor blades to meal kits to car washes have become subscriptions. But all that convenience has also come with a dark side – some companies have designed their offerings to be as easy as possible to sign up for and also as difficult as possible to cancel.
One man's trash: A look at the hot commodities of the 'junk economy'
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The junkyard economist : Planet Money Original
Junkman Jon Rolston has spent the last two decades clearing out houses and offices of their junk. In that time, he's become a kind of trash savant. James Sneed/NPR hide caption toggle caption James Sneed/NPR Junkman Jon Rolston has spent the last two decades clearing out houses and offices of their junk. In that time, he's become a kind of trash savant. James Sneed/NPR On today's episode, we ride through the streets of San Francisco with a long-time junkman, Jon Rolston.
The case of the stolen masks : Planet Money Original
About thirty years ago, Yagya Kumar Pradhan woke up to the news that the temple he and his clan used had been broken into. The temple had been ransacked. And someone had stolen two holy Bhairav masks. Yagya says they had been in his family for more than five hundred years - since the 16th century. Yagya is a kind of Hindu priest for his clan. And he says, these Bhairav masks were very holy. People made offerings to them during Dashaun, a festival held in the fall.
FTX and the Serengeti of bankruptcy : Planet Money Original
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FTX and the Serengeti of bankruptcy Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197958783/1246003348" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> For the last year and a half, the story of FTX has focused largely on the crimes and punishment of Sam Bankman-Fried. But in the background, the actual customers he left behind have been caught in a financial feeding frenzy over the remains of the company.
By Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi Verified, Amanda Aronczyk Verified, Jess Jiang Verified, James Sneed Verified, Sam Kesler
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NPR
Verified
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