Business

Bike stripped of parts

Tracking the underground bike theft economy

A few years ago, bike enthusiast Bryan Hance got a tip. A whole bunch of expensive bikes that were stolen in the Bay Area had suddenly turned up ... for sale on a Facebook page in Mexico. The revelation started Bryan down a years-long investigation where he would uncover an intricate, large-scale criminal operation out of Jalisco, Mexico.

In today's episode, we talk to freelance reporter Christopher Solomon who wrote about Hance's journey in WIRED Magazine.

Related episodes:
Is retail theft getting worse? (Apple / Spotify)
The economics of stealing bikes

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keystone speech ahead of Computex 2024 in Taipei on June 2, 2024. (SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)

The tower of NVIDIA

For a moment last week, semiconductor chip designer NVIDIA eclipsed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company. How did it get there?

Today on the show, David Rosenthal, one half of the tech podcast Acquired, explains how NVIDIA's founder Jensen Huang laid the groundwork for the company's meteoric rise, and why there may be obstacles ahead.

Related episodes:
The life and death spirals of social media networks (Apple / Spotify)
The semiconductor founding father

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Photo courtesy of Darian Woods

Boeing's woes, Bilt jilts, and the Indicator's stock rally

Indicators of the Week are back! We are here, as always, to bring you the most fascinating snapshots from the week of economic news.

On today's show, we're digging into the embattled aerospace company, Boeing. We look at how paying your rent with a Wells Fargo credit card is costing the bank millions of dollars a month. And we learn how much richer the Planet Money coffers are after we invested in the funds that track stock trading by congresspeople and their families on both sides of the aisle.

Related Episodes:
Invest like a Congress member
Help Wanted at Boeing

ICYMI, preorder our new Indicator t-shirt at the NPR shop. For more ways to support our show, sign up for Planet Money+ where you'll get sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to even more Indicator merch.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Electronic cigarettes and pods by Juul, the nation's largest maker of vaping products, are offered for sale at the Smoke Depot on September 13, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

The Vapes of Wrath

When the vape brand Juul first hit the market back in 2015, e-cigarettes were in a kind of regulatory limbo. At the time, the rules that governed tobacco cigarettes did not explicitly apply to e-cigarettes. Then Juul blew up, fueled a public health crisis over teen vaping, and inspired a regulatory crackdown. But when the government finally stepped in to solve the problem of youth vaping, it may have actually made things worse.

Today's episode is a collaboration with the new podcast series "Backfired: the Vaping Wars." You can listen to the full series at audible.com/Backfired.

This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Leon Neyfakh. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Jess Jiang with help from Annie Brown. It was fact checked by Sofia Shchukina and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
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