The Indicator from Planet Money
Daily economic indicators explained, short and fast, numbers traceable to source
9:23Why used cars are selling for new-car prices
New-car price increases drag used cars up with them through the ‘price waterfall’; pandemic production cuts left the car market digesting the shock for years, like a snake swallowing a mouse; and US automakers simply stopped building cheap sedans — the cars you can get for $10,000 to $15,000 went from 5 years old to 9 years old.
9:10US Strategic Oil Reserve Hits Bottom, and Venezuelan Oil Can't Save It
The salt-cavern reserve has fallen to its lowest level since 1982, and overuse is dissolving the salt walls and destabilizing the caverns; Venezuelan oil is a different grade and needs $100 billion in infrastructure, and it still runs into the dead end of congressional appropriations.
8:40Even Legal-Cannabis States Can't Escape: A Federal Ban Is About to Empty the THC Shelves
A loophole in the 2018 farm bill let hemp-derived THC grow into a $28 billion industry, and now Congress wants to close it — even legal-cannabis states will feel the pinch when they lose the cheap alternative.
9:09OpenAI says safety is why it won't IPO. Do you buy it?
Altman says going public now is "unwise," citing safety; meanwhile OpenAI is negotiating a $1.2 trillion raise, and the CFO has been shut out of investor meetings.
8:34The Houthis seize a second strait, and $100 oil is just the start
Red Sea shipping volumes have already halved from their peak and never recovered; now the Houthis have taken Barim Island in the Bab-el-Mandeb, putting Saudi Arabia's alternative export route around Hormuz in doubt too.