The Indicator from Planet Money - A trap-loving DJ takes on economics

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

It's time for The Indicator Quiz! We test you, dear listener, on your knowledge of topics that we've covered on The Indicator.Today's quiz show involves a DJ from Vancouver, Washington that tests his economic education on the World Trade Organization, the Panama Canal, and of course, Bad Bunny. Play along with us and see how you do!Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name and phone number at [e-mail] and put "Indicator Quiz" in the subject line.Related episodes:WWE, a very expensive banana, and a quiz contestant (Apple / Spotify)For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

NPR. This is the indicator from planet money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Adrienne Ma. Typically on the show, we do some sort of incisive, very smart, serious econ explainer about the news of the day. But the world is, it's worlding a lot right now. We have got tariff shock and stock market upheaval and Katie Perry going to space. Did you hear what she's saying when they were in space?

Was it, um, no, what did she sing? She's saying, what a wonderful world, the Louis Armstrong song. Good choice, I was going to say. I was like, is it the one about kissing a girl? It's a good song. Where are we? I have blasted off into a different planet. Let's come back down to Earth to take the indicator quiz.

That's right, the indicator quiz, where we test one lucky contestant's knowledge of the topics we've been covering on the show so far. And you, dear listeners at home, you can play along, test your wits. Today on the show, we have, can we call you by your professional name? DJ Melvin, hello. Hey! Hello, DJ Melvin. You are, as your name suggests, a DJ, among many other things in Vancouver, Washington. Welcome to The Indicator.

Hey, thank you so much for having me on. Cass, what kind of DJ are you? If you leave it entirely up to me, I prefer to mix trap music more than any other type of music. Fun. Okay. Now, DJ Melvin, you might have a new co-Dijay for your gags because today you're playing for a plushy of Indy, the Indicator. Indigator! Yeah! It's just one of the best mascots ever, man. I love gaiters and I love economics. I know that sounds goofy. Go.

No, we love it. We are so excited to have you. here. And for those of you playing along at home, all this merch and more is available at shop mpr.org. But for now, we're going to blast off with this quiz. That's after the break. It is indicator quiz time with our guest, Melvin. If you need a hint, I'm your phone a friend in this situation. Okay. All right, Melvin, we're going to get rolling with our first segment, which is something we call alphabet soup. We are going to name an acronym and you tell us what It stands for. You ready? Ready. Okay. President Trump has launched a trade war with, well, pretty much every country.

Big tariffs, then changing course, then more tariffs all across the globe. Is there someone who can mediate this conflict? Well, there is. There is something called the WTO. So what does the WTO stand for? Is it A? Woof, tariffs. Ouch. Is it B, world trade oversight? Or C, world trade. organization. I want it to be A so bad, but I know it's not. I know it's C. World Trade Organization. World Trade Organization. You are exactly right. The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental body that deals with the global rules of trade between nations. And they're supposed to play trade referee for conflicts. But right now it's not really happening as we explained in our

episode. On to the next acronym in our alphabet soup. President Trump, Trump is using tariffs to fight what he considers unfair trade barriers. He singled out Europe's use of VAT as one example. So what does VAT stand for? Is it A, value-added tax? B, vastly assonine tax. Or C, variable actuality tax. Ooh, it's a value-added tax.

You knew it. You are correct. The term value-added tax or VAT refers to a consideration. consumption tax on goods and services levied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. All right, we're rolling on to a round. We're calling test your terms. This is a fill in the blank. And it's an economic term, a person or organization that you're looking to fill in the blank here.

Are you ready to test your terms, Melvin? Absolutely. Let's go. Okay. Your first term. The federal government spends millions of dollars each year on wildlife, damage management. This is a program that includes killing thousands of blank. Rifles, cyanide, even aerial gunning have been used to kill blanks. These methods have actually caused the spread of them to different places. What is blink? Wolves. So close. Coyotes. Coyotes, dang it.

You're like basically wolves, biologists. Don't come for me. And it's funny because I remember that episode because they have an internal thing where, you know, their body will sense that, you know, there's less of us out here and it'll start making way more of them and you're never going to get ahead of them. Oh, man, you really remember that episode. I love the close listening. I love it. I just mixed up to two different dogs, whatever. I mean, they're very similar. Okay, moving on to the next test your terms question. This is a place we've been covering a lot lately on the indicator. It is a critical piece of waterway that President Trump has had his eye on for quite some time now. It's a major hub of international trade. And recently a consortium led by American Investment Fund,

Black Rock, agreed to buy majority stakes in two ports here. What is the name of this waterway? The Panama Canal. That is right. It is the Panama Canal. This waterway connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, creating a more direct and convenient trade and travel route. I just want to know from people listening, Melvin's doing a little like head shimmy in celebration. You should be celebrating. You're doing amazing. Thank you. And now we're going on to a segment called Name That Voice. We're going to play a clip and you have to tell us who it is. The range of answers can go from U.S. politicians to people across the pop culture spectrum to maybe.

someone whose voice just made a little cameo on the indicator. For this one, you may want to get your dancing shoes. This singer was featured in a March episode because they wrote a song about the massive changes hitting their home. The song was full of lyrics, ruining what was being lost on their native island, losing cultural identity by way of gentrification and displacement. Let's hear the clip. I see that glimmer of recognition in your eyes, Melvin.

Who is the singer? That is none other than Mr. Bunny himself, Bad Bunny. Yes, Bad Bunny, as you probably know, is from Puerto Rico. And on a recent episode, we covered how political leaders have been trying to turn Puerto Rico into a tax haven for a long time. The lyrics here are saying, they want to take my river and my beach too, they want my neighborhood and your kids. kids to leave. So that was clip number one. Now we're going to do another name that voice. This one comes from our episode about marketing pet peeves. Hello ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me. Now back at your man. Now back to me.

Sadly, he isn't me. But if you start using ladies send you know what brand this ad is for. I don't know. Old Spice. Is it Old Spice? Am I wrong? Yeah, it is. It is. It is. Old Spice. Yeah, yeah. Your instincts are totally Correct. Yes, it is Old Spice. And in this episode, we explored how brands are getting a little comfier and maybe overly familiar with consumers in their marketing. And one of our marketing experts said that's different from advertisements back in the day, like Old Spice, that had a very strong, distinctive voice. Like, you would never hear the Old Spice guy being like, hey, bestie or whatever. Right. That was awesome. Again, Melvin with the Celebration Dance.

I wish we had some, like, some trap music we could play to, you know, to be your celebration song. No, it's okay. I got all the music right here. Melvin, I have to say, you, like, speed ram this thing. This is truly, truly an impressive run on the indicator quiz. Yeah, it's funny because I, my kids, whenever we went on long road trips, I'd always make them listen to the, to this and to Planet Money and some of these other economic shows I listen to. Oh, no, no, no, fall asleep in the back of the car. And I go, but that's fine.

You know, I like to think that all of this knowledge is seeping in through their brain just by osmosis. Oh, no, it's going to come up at some point in their lives and they're going to go, my dad said Roth IRA. This episode was produced by Angel Correras with engineering by Neil Rouch. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and edited by Julia Ritchie. Gagin Canon is our show's editor and The Indicator is a production of NPR.