Transcript
Mary Childs (0:02)
So figured out a way to pitch this.
Bobby Allen (0:04)
We know books aren't exactly a new medium.
Narrator/Reporter (likely the main reporter, possibly Bobby Allen or a co-reporter) (0:07)
You know, a friend of mine once told me about a deeper bond with the product nostalgia. It's delicate but potent, sure, but let's not overthink this. He told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. Books aren't a spaceship, but a time mission. Spaceships.
Mary Childs (0:29)
Listen, why don't we just tell listeners straight that it is called the Planet Money book. It has a collection of some of our favorite stories with updates and tons of new original reporting. Plus, it's available in bookstores now, wouldn't
Narrator/Reporter (likely the main reporter, possibly Bobby Allen or a co-reporter) (0:42)
that back home again to a place we know we are loved.
Bobby Allen (0:50)
This is Planet Money from npr. My friend and colleague Bobby Allen has been covering the bananas growth of prediction markets for npr. You know, the ones where you can bet on everything from Taylor Swift's wedding date to the war in Iran. And Bobby says this craze has kind of come out of nowhere. Like a few years ago, when the CEO of one of the biggest prediction markets in the world reached out to
Narrator/Reporter (likely the main reporter, possibly Bobby Allen or a co-reporter) (1:13)
Bobby, like, hey, FYI, might be worth like incorporating like some cowshi prediction markets into your coverage. And I was like, a prediction, what? Like Kalshi? Isn't that a cereal?
Bobby Allen (1:23)
The first thing that made Bobby think, wait, this may be a really big deal happened last December. First he saw Kalshee was partnering with cnn, meaning that CNN would be telling people the news and also telling them what people were betting on that news. And around the same time, people were actually betting on whether a famine would be declared in Gaza.
Narrator/Reporter (likely the main reporter, possibly Bobby Allen or a co-reporter) (1:42)
Those two things colliding made me think like, what is this company all about? Who, who's using it? Why does CNN care about it? I guess, wtf? How is this a thing?
Bobby Allen (1:51)
Ever since, Bobby has been listening to Kalshee's proponents and its detractors and trying to sort out exactly what this company is doing, either for us or to us. And we at Planet Money, we asked Bobby to take us along on the ride he's been on, starting with the Kalshi traders he met when he went looking for them, where they hang out in chats on Discord.