OpenAI's waiting game, gas pump pain, and severe sulfur strain!
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What’s the weekly roundup and why does it matter for the economy?
This
is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong.
I'm Cooper Katz-McKim. And I'm Ricky Mulvey.
You guys, it's already been a roller coaster of a week. The Fed hiked interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday. And if that's how hump day was handled, one can only assume that this will be quite an eventful... Indicators of the Week. That's right. On today's show, we have a real-time tracker for gas costs that might make you cry.
OpenAI doesn't want to go public for safety, allegedly. And fertilizer has a sulfur
problem.
It's
getting a little
pricey.
That's all after the break.
This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy, David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week,
wherever you get your podcasts. Austin Tice is an American journalist who disappeared over a decade ago while reporting in Syria. And for years, we've been searching for him.
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This fall, there are a lot of movies and TV shows on tap for you to see. And we're as excited for all of it to arrive as you are. On Pop Culture Happy Hour, we've got a guide to what's worth keeping on your radar.
How much have U.S. drivers paid extra for gas and diesel since the Iran‑related price shock?
Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is Indicators of the Week. Waylon Wong, you are up first.
All right. My indicator is $108 billion. That is how much American consumers have paid in additional fuel costs since the Iran war started in late February. This number covers both gas and diesel, and it works out to around $820 per U.S. household. These figures come from the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University. It's tracking these numbers live. So if you want to feel anxious, you can go to the website and watch these big red numbers tick up in real time.
Ooh, that sounds stressful. It's perfect. You said additional fuel costs. So what does that mean?
Right. So the number crunchers at Brown are comparing current fuel costs to a counterfactual, basically an alternate reality where the Iran war never happened. Of course, there's no way to know exactly what gas prices would be doing in this other timeline.
Unless, obviously, if you're a time traveler.
Obviously, if you're Marty McFly from Back to the Future, you've got the sports almanac, you know where gas prices are, but not in this case.
OK, so how did they come up with these numbers?
The Brown data uses a 30-day average price from before the war and then adjusts it for seasonal factors. You know, these are variations in how much gas people use depending on the time of year. People going on road trips in the summer, for example, leads to higher demand in warmer months.
Yeah, but not necessarily fighting a war or, excuse me, a military conflict.
That is another thing that can happen in warmer months, I guess. Either way, that's their best calculation of where gas and diesel prices would be if there were no war with Iran. And you might have seen in the news this week that diesel prices are now at a record level. They're over $6 a gallon.
And diesel factors into the costs for consumers, even though most of us aren't filling up our tanks with it.
Why is OpenAI considering a $1.2 trillion funding round instead of going public now?
Yeah, that's exactly what the tracker said. It said higher diesel costs means higher prices for consumers, whether or not they pay it directly at the pump. That's because trucks and trains and factories and farmers use diesel. And when they pay more, those increased costs can flow through to what we pay for groceries or Amazon purchases or what have you.
All right, Waylon, thank
you.
Ricky, what do you got for
us? Okay, my indicator is $1.2 trillion. This is the latest funding round that OpenAI is considering with private investors. It's according to the Financial Times. And this comes at a time when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Fortune he's not ready to take the company public.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What’s the weekly roundup and why does it matter for the economy?
0:00–1:50
2
How much have U.S. drivers paid extra for gas and diesel since the Iran‑related price shock?
1:50–3:46
3
Why is OpenAI considering a $1.2 trillion funding round instead of going public now?
3:46–5:50
4
What safety concerns are driving OpenAI’s hesitation to launch an IPO?
5:50–7:30
5
How has the price of sulfur jumped and why does it matter for fertilizer costs?
7:30–9:17
6
Which global chokepoints are tightening sulfur supplies and pushing food prices higher?
9:17–10:36
7
What are analysts predicting for U.S. food‑price inflation in the coming year?
10:36–10:58
8
Where can listeners find more details and the full Indicator newsletter?
10:58–11:03