MetaFilter posts tagged with npr and planetMoney

Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America

liketitanic — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:10:03 -0800

"In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government." A multimedia story by Planet Money reporter Chana Joffe-Walt, also featured on This American Life this week.

What am I, an idiot? I mean, kind of?

garlic — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:26:59 -0800

Ask A Banker: What's The Deal With High Frequency Trading? From the planet money NPR team.

The Future of Energy, according to Daniel Yergin

hamandcheese — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:45:41 -0800

Daniel Yergin was recently interviewed on NPR's always informative Planet Money podcast. Yergin—most famous for his 1992 Pulitzer-winning opus on 20th century petroleum development, The Prize—has penned a sequel, of sorts, examining the modern quest for sustainable energy amidst the looming threat of climate change. If The Prize was an epic glorification of the quest for money, oil and power, The Quest is a look at those who might have to clean up the whole mess. "The heroes are the engineers and scientists of the energy world — the geeks, in other words." As an author, analyst and talking head, Yergin (and his organization: IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates) has been criticized for being too sympathetic to big oil, for downplaying peak oil, and for suggesting that oil production is likely to continue largely unabated, among other things. In the interview, Yergin offers a fairly nuanced primer on most of the fossil fuels alternatives, including nuclear, wind, and biofuels. He also suggests his approach is based on a self-described "marriage of optimism and realism." In Yergin's view, the ambitious prospect of rapidly restructuring our energy-hungry economy is unlikely in the short term, but inevitable in the long game. He's also hopeful that solutions to our toughest energy problems might still be solved through innovation and more consistent R&D funding. The interview earns some bonus points for a bit on Thomas Edison and Henry Ford's early interest in electric cars. More Yergin online: PBS series based on The Prize, over at Google Video. Yergin on the Colbert Report. (available in U.S. only) Yergin on Charlie Rose in 2008. A roundup of reviews of Yergin's latest book: The Quest. danielyergin.com/

On Snuggies and Business Models

mrgrimm — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:29:40 -0800

"Now is a better time to be a musician, or a fan of music, than any other time in all of human history." Last Friday, the NPR Planet Money podcast featured musician Jonathan Coulton, whose online success prompted one host to compare the man (or his brand) to the blanket-with-arms Snuggie, i.e. "we didn't know we wanted it, and then all of a sudden we did." Coulton responds with his own thoughts on new business models for musicians in the Internet/file-sharing age.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

phyrewerx — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:40:49 -0800

The Crisis of Credit by graduate design student Jonathan Jarvis is a thorough and visually appealing animation which explains the current credit crisis in clear terms. From the ever helpful NPR Planet Money.