This podcast is a recession indicator

By Brittany Luse,

Wailin Wong, Jeff Guo, Corey Bridges, Neena Pathak

Published April 11, 2025 at 8:59 AM EDT

Global markets got a case of the jitters this week in the wake of President Trump's global tariff policy. Everyone from hedge fund managers to online content creators have been starting to question the stability of America's economic trajectory. We're now seeing increased fear that a recession is just around the corner.

Brittany is joined by co-host of NPR's Indicator podcast, Wailin Wong, and co-host of NPR's Planet Money podcast, Jeff Guo. Together, they discuss how this moment connects to the economic anxiety of 2008 and why the definition of a recession is a bit harder to pin down than you might expect.

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Brittany Luse

Brittany Luse is an award-winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is the host of It's Been a Minute and For Colored Nerds. Previously Luse hosted The Nod and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She's written for Vulture and Harper's Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, and Teen Vogue.

Wailin Wong

Wailin Wong is a long-time business and economics journalist who's reported from a Chilean mountaintop, an embalming fluid factory and lots of places in between. She is a host of The Indicator from Planet Money. Previously, she launched and co-hosted two branded podcasts for a software company and covered tech and startups for the Chicago Tribune. Wailin started her career as a correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires in Buenos Aires. In her spare time, she plays violin in one of the oldest community orchestras in the U.S.

Jeff Guo

Jeff Guo (he/him) is a co-host and reporter for Planet Money, NPR's award-winning podcast that finds creative, entertaining ways to make sense of the complicated forces that move our economy. He joined the team in 2022.

Corey Bridges

Corey Bridges is an assistant producer at NPR's daily economics podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. Bridges enjoys covering stories ranging from public policy to the economics of sports. At The Indicator, he has worked on stories about how certain environmental regulations can impede climate progress and others about how college athletes are taking advantage of their name, image and likeness.

Neena Pathak