Keith Romer
@keithromer.bsky.social
Host/reporter at NPR’s Planet Money. Sometimes an editor. Sometimes magazines. Sometimes audio. www.keithromer.com Signal: keithromer.79
My latest from Planet Money is about the plumbing behind Scott Bessent’s offer to (functionally) loan Argentina $20 billion.
The US has offered $20 billion to Argentina. Congress didn’t authorize it–the money comes from an obscure Treasury slush fund called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Where did this fund come from? And how likely is this bet on Argentina to pay off?
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
November 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
My latest from Planet Money is about the plumbing behind Scott Bessent’s offer to (functionally) loan Argentina $20 billion.
Reposted by Keith Romer
The US has offered $20 billion to Argentina. Congress didn’t authorize it–the money comes from an obscure Treasury slush fund called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Where did this fund come from? And how likely is this bet on Argentina to pay off?
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
November 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The US has offered $20 billion to Argentina. Congress didn’t authorize it–the money comes from an obscure Treasury slush fund called the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Where did this fund come from? And how likely is this bet on Argentina to pay off?
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
buff.ly/kcsPx8e
Happy 50th anniversary to the 1975 NYC fiscal meltdown! My latest from @planetmoney.bsky.social features Donna Shalala and some truly satisfying archival of how people talked in 1975. Also, people burning their trash in the streets! www.npr.org/2025/10/15/n...
The year NYC went broke : Planet Money
In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thousands of city employees and robust social services by taking on billions of dollars in debt. But eve...
www.npr.org
October 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Happy 50th anniversary to the 1975 NYC fiscal meltdown! My latest from @planetmoney.bsky.social features Donna Shalala and some truly satisfying archival of how people talked in 1975. Also, people burning their trash in the streets! www.npr.org/2025/10/15/n...
Reposted by Keith Romer
This fun, creative contest seriously highlights how hard the entire Planet Money team works to communicate economics in a way that both educates and entertains.
Three Planet Money hosts throw down in our latest edition of Econ Battle Zone. Their challenge – to elucidate the fight over the federal budget, while incorporating their mystery ingredients: rhyme, music, and the genre of romantic comedy.
buff.ly/zjhaaYo
buff.ly/zjhaaYo
npr.org
June 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM
This fun, creative contest seriously highlights how hard the entire Planet Money team works to communicate economics in a way that both educates and entertains.
For all the people wondering -- why aren't more economics podcasts set up like reality TV cooking competitions? We got you: www.npr.org/2025/06/25/1...
Econ Battle Zone: Budget Showdown : Planet Money
Econ Battle Zone is back! On today's episode Mary Childs and Kenny Malone enter Econ Battle Stadium to throw down against reigning champion Erika Beras.Can Mary explain what effect extending the 2017 ...
www.npr.org
June 26, 2025 at 5:41 PM
For all the people wondering -- why aren't more economics podcasts set up like reality TV cooking competitions? We got you: www.npr.org/2025/06/25/1...
Reposted by Keith Romer
Great reporting & great episode. I will warn listeners though, even I, as an avid @planetmoney.bsky.social fan and listener, was not prepared for @keithromer.bsky.social's villainy. @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social, I'll pitch in on any GoFundMe.
What does the US-China trade war look like through the lens of game theory? Well...it's complicated. It's not clear the two sides even agree on the game being played. I talked to @emilyjblanchard.bsky.social and the Stimson Center's Yun Sun to make sense of it all: www.npr.org/2025/05/30/1...
The U.S.-China trade war, according to game theory : Planet Money
Over the last few months U.S.-China trade relations have been pretty hard to make sense of – unless you look at what's happening through the lens of game theory. Game theory is all about how decisions...
www.npr.org
June 2, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Great reporting & great episode. I will warn listeners though, even I, as an avid @planetmoney.bsky.social fan and listener, was not prepared for @keithromer.bsky.social's villainy. @amandaaronczyk.bsky.social, I'll pitch in on any GoFundMe.
What does the US-China trade war look like through the lens of game theory? Well...it's complicated. It's not clear the two sides even agree on the game being played. I talked to @emilyjblanchard.bsky.social and the Stimson Center's Yun Sun to make sense of it all: www.npr.org/2025/05/30/1...
The U.S.-China trade war, according to game theory : Planet Money
Over the last few months U.S.-China trade relations have been pretty hard to make sense of – unless you look at what's happening through the lens of game theory. Game theory is all about how decisions...
www.npr.org
June 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
What does the US-China trade war look like through the lens of game theory? Well...it's complicated. It's not clear the two sides even agree on the game being played. I talked to @emilyjblanchard.bsky.social and the Stimson Center's Yun Sun to make sense of it all: www.npr.org/2025/05/30/1...
Do you work in compliance at the IRS (or did you until recently)? I'd like to talk with you for an upcoming story for NPR's Planet Money. Hit me up here or on signal: keithromer.79
April 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Do you work in compliance at the IRS (or did you until recently)? I'd like to talk with you for an upcoming story for NPR's Planet Money. Hit me up here or on signal: keithromer.79
What should I know about what's going on at the IRS? Hit me up on signal: keithromer.79
April 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
What should I know about what's going on at the IRS? Hit me up on signal: keithromer.79
A senior White House official told me “There are no independent federal agencies.” My latest from Planet Money looks at an executive order consolidating presidential control over federal regulation by independent federal regulators like the SEC, FTC, and FCC: buff.ly/evMKTyl
OIRA: The tiny office that's about to remake the federal government : Planet Money
OIRA — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — is an obscure, but powerful federal office around the corner from the White House. President Trump has decided that it should get even more po...
buff.ly
April 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
A senior White House official told me “There are no independent federal agencies.” My latest from Planet Money looks at an executive order consolidating presidential control over federal regulation by independent federal regulators like the SEC, FTC, and FCC: buff.ly/evMKTyl
Reposted by Keith Romer
This is maybe the most profound and important take ever for us to all internalize.
Powell's answer to what he's learned from the pandemic business cycle is perhaps the classic advice:
"However fat you think the tails are, they're fatter than you think."
"However fat you think the tails are, they're fatter than you think."
March 8, 2025 at 1:26 AM
This is maybe the most profound and important take ever for us to all internalize.
Reposted by Keith Romer
Earlier this week, a very friendly-looking whale made a financially devastating splash in the stock market, taking hundreds of billions of dollars of value out of AI companies. What is DeepSeek, and what does its very powerful software tell us about the future of AI?
How DeepSeek changed the market's mind : Planet Money
On Monday, the stock market went into a tizzy over a new AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek. It seemed to be just as powerful as many of its American competitors, but its makers claimed to have…
buff.ly
February 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Earlier this week, a very friendly-looking whale made a financially devastating splash in the stock market, taking hundreds of billions of dollars of value out of AI companies. What is DeepSeek, and what does its very powerful software tell us about the future of AI?
Reposted by Keith Romer
I have some wicked smart colleagues and you should follow them go.bsky.app/GNFwoSV
January 27, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I have some wicked smart colleagues and you should follow them go.bsky.app/GNFwoSV
Reposted by Keith Romer
Here's what we import from Colombia that will get socked with 25%/50% tariffs if imposed . . .
January 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Here's what we import from Colombia that will get socked with 25%/50% tariffs if imposed . . .
Proud of the reporting Sarah Gonzalez and Nick Fountain did from inside the Altadena burn zone. Some really moving moments of audio journalism in this episode.
Fires ripped through Los Angeles this month, destroying thousands of homes and businesses. What’s next for the people who lived there? We pass through the National Guard checkpoints to see the challenges awaiting those who want to rebuild.
https://buff.ly/4hmQqCr
https://buff.ly/4hmQqCr
npr.org
January 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Proud of the reporting Sarah Gonzalez and Nick Fountain did from inside the Altadena burn zone. Some really moving moments of audio journalism in this episode.
Reposted by Keith Romer
Really interesting write-up of the immigration raids in Bakersfield. It's harvest season, and they put out a dragnet to grab immigrants on the way to work.
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Column: Inside the Bakersfield raids that showed how Trump's immigration policies will sow chaos
The U.S. Border Patrol ran rampant through Bakersfield in what immigration advocates say was nothing but racial profiling aimed at intimidation. More such raids are coming.
www.latimes.com
January 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Really interesting write-up of the immigration raids in Bakersfield. It's harvest season, and they put out a dragnet to grab immigrants on the way to work.
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Reposted by Keith Romer
being tall is like having a truck you just gotta do it
January 5, 2025 at 10:03 PM
being tall is like having a truck you just gotta do it
Reposted by Keith Romer
I got back in front of the mic for this one: How George Soros Broke the British Pound.
@alexgoldmark.bsky.social and I made an evergreen @planetmoney.bsky.social story about George Soros' hedge fund breaking the Bank of England...and then Scott Bessent was tapped to run Treasury, and it turns out the story also works as a Scott Bessent finance origin story: www.npr.org/2024/12/04/1...
www.npr.org
December 7, 2024 at 5:37 PM
I got back in front of the mic for this one: How George Soros Broke the British Pound.
Reposted by Keith Romer
As people try to learn more about Donald Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, one story comes up over and over: a legendary trade that he played a small part in while he worked at George Soros' hedge fund in the 1990s. How Soros broke the Bank of England:
https://buff.ly/4ikph4d
https://buff.ly/4ikph4d
npr.org
December 5, 2024 at 3:53 PM
As people try to learn more about Donald Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, one story comes up over and over: a legendary trade that he played a small part in while he worked at George Soros' hedge fund in the 1990s. How Soros broke the Bank of England:
https://buff.ly/4ikph4d
https://buff.ly/4ikph4d
@alexgoldmark.bsky.social and I made an evergreen @planetmoney.bsky.social story about George Soros' hedge fund breaking the Bank of England...and then Scott Bessent was tapped to run Treasury, and it turns out the story also works as a Scott Bessent finance origin story: www.npr.org/2024/12/04/1...
www.npr.org
December 4, 2024 at 9:16 PM
@alexgoldmark.bsky.social and I made an evergreen @planetmoney.bsky.social story about George Soros' hedge fund breaking the Bank of England...and then Scott Bessent was tapped to run Treasury, and it turns out the story also works as a Scott Bessent finance origin story: www.npr.org/2024/12/04/1...
Reposted by Keith Romer
in my "economics and policy" class (ie, econ 101 for non-majors), I have students earn "participation points" in various ways throughout the semester, and they can earn points by generating econ memes based on course content.
here's a thread of some of my favs from this semester... #econsky
here's a thread of some of my favs from this semester... #econsky
December 3, 2024 at 7:48 PM
in my "economics and policy" class (ie, econ 101 for non-majors), I have students earn "participation points" in various ways throughout the semester, and they can earn points by generating econ memes based on course content.
here's a thread of some of my favs from this semester... #econsky
here's a thread of some of my favs from this semester... #econsky
I want to watch a data visualization of the networks forming on this site as people find each other, new people join, starter packs pull people in one direction or another. It's a busy petri dish right now.
November 21, 2024 at 8:02 PM
I want to watch a data visualization of the networks forming on this site as people find each other, new people join, starter packs pull people in one direction or another. It's a busy petri dish right now.
Reposted by Keith Romer
Hi #EconSky,
Not sure if the Starter Pack party's over, but I've made an Econ Starter Pack of Starter Packs! 😄
It's a work in progress, so I may have missed some. Let me know if there's anything to add—DMs are open!
Thanks for support @economista.bsky.social!
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Not sure if the Starter Pack party's over, but I've made an Econ Starter Pack of Starter Packs! 😄
It's a work in progress, so I may have missed some. Let me know if there's anything to add—DMs are open!
Thanks for support @economista.bsky.social!
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
November 21, 2024 at 1:38 PM
Hi #EconSky,
Not sure if the Starter Pack party's over, but I've made an Econ Starter Pack of Starter Packs! 😄
It's a work in progress, so I may have missed some. Let me know if there's anything to add—DMs are open!
Thanks for support @economista.bsky.social!
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Not sure if the Starter Pack party's over, but I've made an Econ Starter Pack of Starter Packs! 😄
It's a work in progress, so I may have missed some. Let me know if there's anything to add—DMs are open!
Thanks for support @economista.bsky.social!
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
So....starter packs are a thing here? Who's got the good ones to share?
November 19, 2024 at 6:18 PM
So....starter packs are a thing here? Who's got the good ones to share?