A beautiful bill, Mamdani's market, and stock subscriptions

0:01NPR.

0:06This is the Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong. And I'm Ricky Mulvey. And this is the Indicator Quiz. We test your knowledge of topics that we've been covering on the show. And you, dear listener, can play along, too. Yeah, we're trying to keep your mind sharp in these dog days of summer. and today we have listener Daniel Kane who works as a professor and just got back from a little vacation. Welcome to the show Daniel. Thank you. You're relaxed, you're tanned, you're ready to do this quiz. Yeah. All right well today you're going to be playing for your choice of NPR merch. I actually just went on the website and there's this new line of 90s themed merch that's really exciting.

0:47And now we have our own indicator t-shirts and like a new line of merch that's for our show on Planet Money. Very exciting. By the way, all available to purchase on shop.npr.org. And now I think it's time to play. Coming up after the break. This message comes from Capella University. You know that feeling when there's a spark building inside you that you were meant for more? That's your own drive pushing you towards what's next. Capella University gets that. With their FlexPath learning format, you can set the pace and earn your degree without putting life on pause. You've built experience and know what you're capable of.

1:28Now, this is your time to turn that momentum into more. The only real question is, what can't you do? Learn more at capella.edu. This message comes from Edward Jones, where they believe rich is about taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your financial advisor personalizes your plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich. Edward Jones, member SIPC. This message comes from Work Life, a podcast from TED. Company builder Molly Graham uncovers valuable insights from people on the inside of highly successful companies to help you find out what actually works when nothing goes as planned.

2:11Find work life wherever you listen.

2:16It is indicator quiz time with our guest, Daniel. And Ricky here is going to be your helping hand if you need a hint. Okay. That's right. I'm, you know, your, let's say Zoom a friend. You can Zoom me if you need me. Yeah. Or like your teaching assistants use a college metaphor. Although I guess the TA doesn't help the professor. The TA helps the student. If you need to ask your advice from your TA, something's probably gone wrong. All right. Let's start with an easy question before heading into some of our other quiz segments. There's a proposal to put President Trump on a new$250 bill. While it's controversial, the show suggests one specific group might find these high-value notes very useful.

3:01Who is it? Is it A, travelers looking for more convenient sums of currency to swap on vacation? B, criminals because high denomination bills make it much easier to transport and conceal large sums of money for illicit purposes. C, the U.S. Treasury because larger notes are printed sparsely compared to other bills, thus keeping inflation worries at bay. Or is it D, nature preservationists because larger notes means fewer hundred dollar bills get printed and you save more trees. I remember this. This would be B. Ding, ding, ding. Excellent work. Now, this new segment is something we're calling Test Your Terms.

3:43It is a series of questions on economic terms, people or organizations that we've covered in our episodes. Are you, Daniel, ready to test your terms? Sure. If you're a grad, you've been navigating a new world of loan repayments. And if you're a future college student, you're going to face stricter borrowing caps. What is the specific name of the legislation introduced by the Trump administration that changed borrowing and loan repayments? Is it A, the Fiscal Freedom and Capstone Accord? B, the Student Debt Erasure Initiative? C, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act? Or D, the Higher Education Enablement Amendment?

4:26Well, the third one of those is the only bill that I actually recognize.

4:37and probably is the right one. Your instincts are correct. It is, in fact, the one big beautiful bill act. Seemingly, every legislative change falls under that act. Yeah, well, I guess you need to get things through reconciliation and you can only pass so many bills that way. Exactly. All right. Number two, in Test Your Terms, President Trump had recently discussed terminating a trade deal he previously called the fairest ever achieved. It's the USMCA. What does USMCA stand for? Is it A, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement? B, United States Mutual Commerce Act? C, Universal Standards for Manufacturing and Consumer Affairs?

5:25or D, United Supply Management Customs Alliances. All right, this one's A. You knew that one right off the dome. It is the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. And President Trump recently chose to decline renewing this agreement, instead opting for an annual review of the agreement for 10 more years. Daniel, you dominated. Test your terms. Now we're moving on to a segment we call Numerical Nuggets. We test you on numbers featured in episodes, and if you need a hint, you can get two answers wiped off the board. Does that sound okay? Sounds great. All right, we're diving in. On a recent Indicators of the Week episode, we discussed New York City Mayor Zoran Mondani's city-owned markets.

6:11He's offering a discount on groceries at his proposed grocery stores. How much is that discount? Is it A, fruits and veggies are 100 % free? Is it B, a 30 % discount on some basic groceries? Is it C, a 50 % flat discount on everything? Or is it D, a 5 % discount on processed foods? Well, common sense suggests that A and D are wrong here. I think the answer is B, but if you can take out half the possibilities, I'm not certain enough I want to risk it without that. Here's your hint. Knockoff choices C and D. Okay, yeah. I'm pretty confident that the answer is B and not A. Yes, you are correct. It's a 30 % discount on some basic groceries that the mayor hopes will help battle rising food prices.

7:12All right, you are just on such a winning streak, Daniel. How do you feel? Pretty good. Excellent. Okay, rolling on. President Trump's social media company Truth Social wants to sell investors early access to its posts. When Trump announces tariffs or news strikes on Iran, those who subscribe get that info milliseconds before it hits the public and then the markets. So how much is Truth Social charging for this? Is it A, up to$100 ,000 a month? Is it B, a million dollars per post? Is it C, no money, just a handshake deal with the Trump administration for a business deal down the line? Or is it D, Truth Social announced this but hasn't announced a price yet?

7:56This is A. Okay. Yeah, you remember. This is pretty recent. Yeah. Yeah. So, Ricky, did you sign up? For the$100 ,000 a month at early access? Did you plunk down that$100 ,000? Not yet. I'm still on the free trial. They got you with that freemium model. The BBC says that more than 10 firms have paid for this. I'm like, is that a lot or a little? I don't know. It's not that many companies. But I wonder who they are. OK. Now, here's a segment we call Capital Concepts, where we see what concepts you have retained from indicator episodes. Here we go. For decades, tech like semiconductors got cheaper as it got faster.

8:37AI may be ending that run, but what's the name of the principle stating that the number of transistors on a chip will double roughly every year, making computers exponentially faster, smaller, and cheaper over time? I think you're a computer science professor, aren't you? Yes. So you probably don't even need multiple choice for this one. This is Moore's Law. This is Moore's Law. You didn't even get to hear our clever fake answers. All right. Here is your next question. From new sites like NPR to your favorite blog, digital publishers are watching their web traffic nosedive because AI models are summarizing their content right on the search page.

9:17What is the official term for a search that ends without the user ever clicking on a link? Is it A, the phantom zone? Is it B, LLM cannibalization? Is it C, link loss dilemma? or D, zero click web? This is D. Yes, that is correct. Zero click web. I don't know if this is the way you use the internet. Now I'm still clicking through. I believe in clicking through. Well, Daniel, you did amazing. You got every single question right and you just blazed through this quiz like you wrote it. So very impressive. And thanks for being such a faithful listener to The Indicator. Yeah, thanks a lot. This was fun.

9:58Daniel, you did 100%. No misses. And so that means you get merchandise, T-shirts, tote bags. What do you think you're going to pick out? I think I'm going for a T-shirt probably. I asked my three-year-old daughter if she wanted the alligator plushie, but thought it was scary. Oh no! Oh no, now we've terrorized your child. We apologize.

10:21If you want to be a contestant on our next quiz show, email indicator at npr.org. This episode was produced by Angel Carreras with engineering by Sina Lafredo. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Kicking Cannon is our editor, and The Indicator is a production of NPR. This message comes from EasyCater, making it easy for organizations to order food for meetings and events from favorite restaurants, set up meal programs for their employees, and manage food spend all in one place at EasyCater.com. This message comes from Rosetta Stone, offering an alternative approach to language learning. Without relying on traditional memorization, the platform guides users to intuitively think in a second language.

11:04More information at rosettastone.com.