Class myths, an influx of e-ships, and pricey Olympics tix!

0:01Carda McGowan:NPR.

0:11Darius Rafieyan:This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong, joined today by my co-host, Darian Woods.

0:16Carda McGowan:Great to be here.

0:17Darius Rafieyan:And parachuting in is our producer, Cooper Gatsby-Kim.

0:21Carda McGowan:Oh my gosh, I finally hit ground. Hello.

0:25Darius Rafieyan:Cooper, you have landed at just the right time because it is Indicators of the Week.

0:33Carda McGowan:Today's show, is the American middle class really hollowing out? One company tries to take batteries to sea.

0:40Darius Rafieyan:And can anyone get tickets to the LA Olympics?

0:43Carda McGowan:All of that is after the break. This message comes from ID Tech. ID Tech is where kids 7 to 17 find their people. The Camp Crunch Labs IRL, BattleBots, and Game Design People. Visit IDtech.com and use code IDTECH to save$150. Support for NPR and the following message come from Edward Jones. What does it mean to live a rich life? It means brave first leaps, tearful goodbyes, and everything in between. With over 100 years of experience navigating the ups and downs of the market and of life, your Edward Jones Financial Advisor will be there to help you move ahead with confidence. Because with all you've done to find your rich, they'll do all they can to help you keep enjoying it.

1:30Carda McGowan:Edward Jones, member SIPC. This message comes from NPR sponsor, the Capital One VentureX Business Card. Every business owner needs a serious business travel card that can keep up with their needs. With the Capital One VentureX Business Card, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, no matter where your business may take you. Plus, big purchasing power means you can spend more and earn more. The Capital One VentureX Business Card. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com for details.

2:03Darius Rafieyan:It's Indicators of the Week. Darian, you're up first.

2:06Carda McGowan:My indicator is 31%. That's the share of American families that are in the upper middle class, according to a definition where the upper middle class is, for a family of three, between$133 ,000 and$400 ,000 a year. This is analysis from the American Enterprise Institute, which is a pro-market think tank.

2:27Darius Rafieyan:This has been such a buzzy topic of conversation this week. And I think some people were even arguing whether $133 ,000 is even upper middle class these days.

2:38Carda McGowan:Yeah, mileage may vary depending on where you are in the country. In 1979, only 10 % of families were even reaching that$133 ,000 threshold adjusted for inflation. Now it's almost a third of families. So, Darian, how does this square with politicians always talking about the middle class hollowing out? That is true. There is less of the U.S. middle middle class. But it's actually good news because a lot of them are going into the upper middle class or even higher. So true, but not the full story.

3:15Darius Rafieyan:Is this because women are getting degrees and entering the workforce?

3:18Carda McGowan:That contributes. You know, women's wages are going up more than men's. Not a parity with men's yet, though. They're still lower on average. But yeah, if you've got a household with a man and a woman, the household income will be growing. But that doesn't necessarily mean that an individual man's wage is growing by that much. So especially men without college degrees in the last 40 years or so, their pay packets have not increased that much. And so some of this feeling of wage stagnation can be attributed to those kinds of forces. Okay. So whenever these kind of stories pop up, people often raise the question, what about spiraling college costs or housing costs?

4:01Carda McGowan:So maybe it's worth saying that these numbers take these into account. Yeah, worth reinforcing. These are adjusting for the higher cost of those things. But it is true, yeah, housing, education, healthcare. These are sectors where we're spending more of our budgets on them. But once you take all the other things like food or electronics, overall, that is being taken into account when we look at these numbers.

4:28Darius Rafieyan:Well, ooh-la-la. And I'm going to talk about a kind of certain category of discretionary spending later on. But first, Cooper, what's your indicator?

4:36Carda McGowan:Okay. So I have my number, but I got to wind up a little first. I have a little vamp. So the largest battery maker is full steam ahead on more electric ships, not vehicles. We're going into ships.

4:50Darius Rafieyan:Ooh, they're taken to the seas.

4:51Carda McGowan:And so what's the current situation? How many ships are electric now? There are ships. They're powered by this Chinese company called CATL, which you may have heard of. They provide batteries to the likes of Tesla, BMW, all sorts of different EV makers. And this company, they're already winning the race in the maritime battery industry. They have like 900 electric ships. And now they want more. The head of CATL's maritime business unit told the Financial Times they plan to more than double their team size this year to, my indicator number, 500.

5:24Darius Rafieyan:I imagine there's some urgency here because you look at what's going on with the Strait of Hormuz and it seems like a good time to figure out how to power a ship without oil.

5:35Carda McGowan:Exactly. I mean, it seems like CETL is saying, look, electrification is still a thing and it can be the greener solution while also avoiding the geopolitical tensions that come with dealing with oil.

5:45Darius Rafieyan:Although you still need to transit the Strait no matter what your ship is powered by.

5:50Carda McGowan:Yeah, you still got to go through. This is true.

5:52Darius Rafieyan:I have a question. Do you know what the ships look like? Do they just look like the ships we know, or do they have a cool new design because they're electrified?

6:01Carda McGowan:Cybertruck, but in the ocean. The Cybertruck does not look like it's going to float. Metallic spider just floating along.

6:10Darius Rafieyan:I was thinking more like a Prius, but okay.

6:13Carda McGowan:So electric's not the only option that ships could consider. There is also green methanol or ammonia. So yeah, there are alternatives to what ships could actually use to become greener. The International Maritime Organization wants to cut its industry's emissions in half by 2050. So there's a lot of incentives for some company to take on this challenge. But these green fuels that you mentioned, they're not really fully commercialized. So CATL is saying, look, we're here. Batteries can be the answer. You may remember that I made you guys do a whole bunch of stories about batteries. It was a great series.

6:48Carda McGowan:They're becoming mainstream, powering cars in the grid, and in large part, that's thanks to China. And that's happening here, too.

6:55Darius Rafieyan:Well, I remember I did this story about lithium-ion batteries catching fire at sea. It was actually really kind of scary. And so is there kind of danger around now ships that are powered by batteries and how safe those will be at sea?

7:11Carda McGowan:Yeah. So CATL, they're obviously very bullish on batteries being out in the ocean, but there are definitely still concerns that can happen. If they build out their team, they want their team to look at the safety risks that come along with this. And the other issue is they need to work on a longer lifespan for batteries because these ships are out in the water for a long time. And while there's a whole infrastructure to power up batteries, if you're driving an EV, you can stop along the road, power up your battery. That doesn't exist yet for electric ships. So there is a lot to do before this will be a thing.

7:42Carda McGowan:Speaking of a lot of preparation work required, the LA Olympics is currently getting built out. That's your indicator, Waylon. Tell us about it.

7:51Darius Rafieyan:Yes, my indicator is$28. That is the cheapest ticket price for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Tickets went on sale to the general public yesterday. You guys in? You guys going?

8:04Carda McGowan:Can we go together? That'd be fun.

8:06Darius Rafieyan:Oh, that would be so fun.

8:07Carda McGowan:You guys want to go? Indicator trip.

8:08Darius Rafieyan:Well, I know some of our coworkers are trying to get tickets, and it's not the easiest process. It's also not the most budget-friendly. It was kind of a tease when I said$28 because that's the starting price that's going to get you into some events like archery, badminton, three-on-three basketball. But, of course, prices go up from there. So if you're looking for gymnastics, you're looking for the opening ceremony, you are going to see prices in the thousands of dollars.

8:33Carda McGowan:I think that I want to see skateboarding. I think that's what I'm going to go to.

8:38Darius Rafieyan:Oh, I should look at what the prices are. Yeah, I wonder if that would be a popular one or not. But regardless of the event you choose, if you are so lucky as to get a ticket, you have to pay a 24 % service fee. And we know this because people who live in around Los Angeles got early access to tickets. And like so many major ticketed events these days, whether you're talking about Taylor Swift's Ares Tour or the FIFA World Cup, there is a lot of frustrated fans. So in the case of the LA Olympics, you had to put your name in a lottery. And then if your name got drawn, you would be randomly assigned a certain time slot to shop for tickets that would be your window.