The Rest of the Story, 2025

Summary

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Planet Money (NPR)

Episode: The Rest of the Story, 2025

Release Date: December 26, 2025
Host: Nick Fountain
Contributors: Sarah Gonzalez, Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, Jeff Guo, Alex Goldmark

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Overview

This episode of Planet Money is the annual “Rest of the Story” update, where hosts check back in on people and stories previously covered throughout the year. The focus: illustrating that while news stories may end, economic forces and human lives continue to evolve. Updates span the subscription economy, the diamond industry, life in Gaza post-ceasefire, the launch of the Planet Money board game, the journey of safer power tools, and even a legal tussle over the show's namesake phrase.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Subscription Trap and Its Limbo (04:24–09:18)

Background Recap

• Subscription Model Domination: Last fall, Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi explored the growth of the subscription-based business model, tracing its expansion from software to everyday goods.
• The 'Click to Cancel Rule': The FTC introduced a rule to make subscriptions easy to cancel, aiming to reduce “subscription traps.”

Update and Regulation Fallout

• The 'Click to Cancel' rule was struck down by a federal appeals court due to procedural errors, and the FTC chair was replaced by Andrew Ferguson, an opponent of the rule.
• Ferguson: “Unfortunately, the previous administration, as they often did, cut tons of corners... They skipped important procedural steps, and a court had to strike the rule down.” (06:05–06:16, Alexi + Ferguson on Fox News)
• FTC will now rely on existing tools like the ROSCA act for selective enforcement.

Entrepreneur Perspective

• Harun Mokhtarzada, co-founder of Rocket Money (a subscription management service), ironically found success by charging a subscription for a service that cancels subscriptions.
  • “What if we charged a subscription for this service? ... I just said, this is crazy, guys. Like, we can't have a subscription cancellation service that charges people a subscription for. Just seems so ridiculous.” (07:13–07:28, Harun Mokhtarzada)
• Despite the failed rule, Mokhtarzada says business is booming:
  • “The subscription economy continues to boom. This year we saw the average user adding three subscriptions... We processed over 10 million cancellations this year.” (08:31–08:45)

Memorable Moment

• Hosts joke about using this segment as motivation to cancel unused subscriptions:
  • “New Year, new us, let's cancel some stuff.” (09:15, Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi)

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2. Diamonds: The Price is (Still) Not Right (09:24–14:04)

Background Recap

• Lab-Grown Diamonds: Jeff Guo bought a one-carat lab-grown diamond for $137, despite retail prices hovering around $1,000.

Update

• Retail prices for lab-grown diamonds have dipped further, down to ~$800 but still significantly higher than the wholesale price.
  • “The prices are getting cheaper. So we’re down from $1,000 to about $800 now.” (11:03–11:12, Jeff Guo)
• The specific diamond is still with Jeff, though a listener, Adam, had asked to use it for a proposal. Adam ultimately got engaged using his parents’ ring, sharing the joyful story with the hosts.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I was too busy gazing into the sparkliness of this beautiful diamond.” (11:49, Jeff Guo)
• Adam reflects on love and proposals:
  • “I was sitting in my car having just heard this podcast about six months into dating and thinking, you know, I really like this girl...” (12:36)

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3. Gaza: Cash, Ceasefire, and the Cost of Living (14:15–20:54)

Recap of Previous Reporting

• Gaza’s economy was collapsing: Israel had restricted paper shekels, making cash scarce and decrepit. Prices for staple goods soared, and families lived in tents due to destroyed housing.

2025 Update

• Despite a ceasefire, cash is still not allowed into Gaza. The same scarcity persists, with worn-out cash and not enough of it.
• Humanitarian conditions have improved—there’s more food and stability, but the economic situation remains dire.
  • Tomato prices: Once $32/kg, now ~$3/kg.
  • Diapers: Down from $75/pack to ~$9–10, but still higher than pre-war prices.
  • “Chocolate, by the way, is selling for about A$50 to US$6 right now, Mohammad says.” (19:48, Sarah Gonzalez)
• Moving stories: Muhammad’s family is now in a new tent, making a mosaic floor from marble rubble, growing vegetables, but still facing severe hardships like his wife Wala’s illness and the near-impossibility of securing medical evacuation.

Notable Moment

• Happiness at small victories (daughter finally gets chocolate), countered by ongoing tragedies.

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4. Community-Driven Economics: Board Game and Book Updates (22:37–26:21)

Planet Money Board Game

• Co-created with Exploding Kittens, the board game has evolved through extensive community playtesting and feedback.
  • “It really feels like we're doing this as a community at this point.” (25:03, Alex Goldmark)
• Rules have been simplified and refined; new versions are out for testing with further feedback encouraged at PlanetMoneyGame.com until January 15.

Planet Money Book

• An economics book is set for April release, with pre-orders supporting its bestseller push:
  • “If you pre order now, you get a special gift and it will help us get on the bestseller list.” (26:05, Alex Goldmark)

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5. A Safer Saw and the Stalling of Regulation (26:22–30:05)

Background

• Steve Gass, inventor of SawStop (a table saw that instantly stops to save fingers), spent years lobbying to make the technology mandatory.
• Over 10,000 fingers estimated saved by the technology.

Update

• After political shake-ups, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) saw key members fired, stalling the regulation that would have made finger-detection mandatory.
  • “It's like watching a car wreck and not being able to do anything to prevent it. In this case, tens of thousands of woodworkers who will be injured seriously, life changing injuries that didn't need to occur.” (28:38–29:04, Alex Goldmark)
• Gass is frustrated but moving forward with market-based solutions, designing a safer band saw.

Humorous Addendum

• Host correction: It’s “brat,” not “bratwurst,” in reference to the sausage used to test the saw’s safety.

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6. Meta Update: Paul Harvey’s Legacy and Lawsuit (30:05–31:13)

• “Rest of the Story” was originally a radio segment by Paul Harvey. His estate is now suing Paramount over alleged unauthorized use, demanding removal and damages.
  • Nick Fountain jokes, “And that is the rest of the rest of the story. Please don’t sue us.” (31:10)

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Memorable Quotes

• Nick Fountain (on the phone vs. social media):
  “I bring this up because lately at Planet Money, it has been so satisfying to call up old sources.” (01:13)
• Harun Mokhtarzada (on subscriptions):
  “The sheer irony ... is why I personally was adamantly opposed to it. I just said, this is crazy, guys.” (07:16–07:21)
• Sarah Gonzalez (on Muhammad’s family in Gaza):
  “They collected broken marble from rubble and they made this like mosaic floor and it's actually like really beautiful.” (17:05–17:37)
• Alex Goldmark (on the board game community):
  “It really feels like we're doing this as a community at this point.” (25:03)
• Alex Goldmark (on the failed saw regulation):
  “It's like watching a car wreck and not being able to do anything to prevent it.” (28:38)

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Timestamps of Major Segments

• 04:24 – 09:18: Subscription economy and regulation update
• 09:24 – 14:04: Lab-grown diamonds follow-up and Adam’s proposal story
• 14:15 – 20:54: Gaza: economy, daily life, and the aftermath of conflict
• 22:37 – 26:21: Planet Money board game & book
• 26:22 – 30:05: Safer saw innovation, regulation limbo
• 30:05 – 31:13: Paul Harvey legacy lawsuit

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Tone & Style

The episode maintained the original Planet Money tone: witty, conversational, and honest, without shying away from tough realities or poking fun at their own work and the quirks of the economy.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode serves as both a look back and a reminder that the “rest of the story” is always being written. Policies shift, lives evolve, and the economy’s strange forces persist—often with unintended consequences, clever solutions, and a little community spirit along the way.

Transcript

[Announcer]

This message comes from the International Rescue Committee, co founded with help from Albert Einstein. The IRC provides emergency aid and support to people affected by conflict and disaster. Donate today by visiting rescue.org rebuild hey.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Erica Baris, here we are almost at the end of 2025, and there is no way to sugarcoat it. It has been a tough year for NPR and for local stations. But with your support, NPR will keep reporting the news. And here at Planet Money, we'll keep doing what we do best, explaining the economy in the most entertaining and accessible ways we possibly can. If you're already an NPR supporter, thank you so much. If not, please join the community of public radio supporters right [e-mail] signing up unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from across NPR's podcast. Visit plus.NPR.org today. Thanks. This is Planet Money from npr.

[Nick Fountain]

We have so many ways to communicate these days. Email, text, WhatsApp, snap. Recently, some people have been communicating in the Spotify comments of our podcast. Episodes are working theories that it's teens trying to get around their phone's parental controls. Thanks for juicing the algorithm kids, I guess. But lately, and I know this makes me sound like a grandpa, I have just been picking up the phone and calling people on the phone. There's no subtext, there's no being left on read. There's no little ellipsis while you wait for someone to respond. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's instantaneous, unlike voice memos, which are an assault on human dignity. You want to tell me something but don't want to talk to me about it? Type it out, bro. Anyways, the phone. Try it. It's my 2026 resolution. More phone, not scrolls, calls. I bring this up because lately at Planet Money, it has been so satisfying to call up old sources. It's for a show we do every year around this time where we recognize that while we write nice endings to our stories, the music doesn't just bait up on the people we talk to or the storylines we're covering. Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Nick Fountain. Today we check in on an engineer and patent attorney who made a safer saw on the Planet Money game. We have updates and on a diamond that may or may not have had a second life, it's a show we named after the radio great Paul Harvey, who had a radio show called the Rest of the Story Foreign.

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[Nick Fountain]

It's Planet Money. It's our yearly rest of the story show where we check in on people and stories we've reported on throughout the years. All our first update comes from Planet Money's consumer disservice correspondent, Alexi Horowitz Ghazi.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Hello Nico de la Fontaine.

[Nick Fountain]

Alexi, last fall you reported a story about how the subscription business model has basically taken over the economy. And you have an update about that story.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

That's right. So the episode explained why we're all living in this sort of subscription based hellscape at the moment, where, you know, a lot of us are signed up for way more services than we can keep track of. And the story started back in the late 90s when this company called Salesforce started offering their software as a subscription service. Then we explained how Silicon Valley venture capitalists helped export that model to everything from razors and meal kits to streaming services or, you know, new features on the tractor you just bought.

[Nick Fountain]

And a big part of the story, if I recall correctly, was about the downsides of this explosion in subscriptions. You actually called the show the subscription trap because people are not just getting over subscribed out of forgetfulness. A lot of companies have also been doing more nefarious things like making it difficult to cancel on purpose. But it seemed like this might all be about to change.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

That's right. When we aired the show last fall, the Federal Trade Commission, the ftc, had just passed this new regulation called the Click to Cancel Rule. The rule was supposed to require companies to make it just as easy to leave a service as it was to sign up. And also, it would have put big fines on companies that did not do that. Then two big things happened. First, President Trump announced a new FTC chair named Andrew Ferguson, who'd actually voted against passing the Click to Cancel rule. He said it was ideologically motivated and rushed through. And second, a federal appeals court struck down the rule, citing procedural errors. Here's Ferguson talking to Fox News about it.

[Adam]

Unfortunately, the previous administration, as they often.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Did, cut tons of corners.

[Nick Fountain]

They were more concerned about press releases than they were about delivering results for Americans. They skipped important procedural steps, and a.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Court had to strike the rule down.

[Nick Fountain]

But this is one of my priorities.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Ferguson said the agency does still have another tool to fight subscription abuse, including the Restore Online Shoppers Confidence act, or Rosca for the real heads. And they're continuing to bring lawsuits against the most egregious offenders.

[Nick Fountain]

So, in summary, this rule that would have maybe gotten us out of the subscription trap is in a kind of limbo for now, but there is still going to be one off FTC enforcement actions.

[Alex Goldmark]

That's right.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay, but, Alexei, we promised we were going to check in on the people we met along the way. And one of my favorite parts of your episode was the story of these three brothers who were trying to fix this. What's up with them?

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Right? So this guy, Harun Mokhtarzada, and his three brothers started a company to help people keep track of their subscriptions and even cancel them. But for a long time, the brothers couldn't figure out how to make this work as a profitable business until they finally asked the question they'd been avoiding for years.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

What if we charged a subscription for this service? And, I mean, the sheer irony of that is, is why I personally was adamantly opposed to it. I just said, this is crazy, guys. Like, we can't have a subscription cancellation service that charges people a subscription for. Just seems so ridiculous. But when you're on death's doorstep, basically, you're willing to kind of do whatever.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Soon after they pivoted to a subscription model, the company's revenue started taking off. Just a few years later, they ended up selling the company for over a billion dollars. This week, I got Haroun, the CEO of Rocket Money, back on the phone, and I started by asking him how he'd been thinking about this new click to cancel regulation back when it looked like it was gonna happen. Was any part of you worried when you heard there might be tighter government regulation of subscription services? Like worry that they might cut into the subscription management business?

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

No, I think that would be a little dark to feel that way.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Haroun says his company's whole mission is to help people get a hold of their finances. So they had welcomed click to cancel. They were sad to see it struck down. But in any event, he says his business is still growing just like it was before this whole regulatory back and forth.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

Well, I mean, the subscription economy continues to boom. This year we saw the average user adding three subscriptions, you know, in the course of a year. So one one every four months.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Okay.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

We processed over 10 million cancellations this year.

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah.

[Nick Fountain]

Wow.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

I'm realizing I signed up for Mubi to watch the Mussolini miniseries and I did not follow my reminder to cancel it. I'm realizing now I've got to use this update as an excuse to get my house in order again.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

It's the right time to do it.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, Alexi Horowitz Ghazi, thank you for the update and thank you for reminding us once again. It may be time to go out and cancel some stuff. Maybe you've inspired some New Year's resolutions, sir. Thank you, Nick.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

New Year, new us, let's cancel some stuff.

[Nick Fountain]

Heck yeah.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Except, of course, your Planet Money subscription.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay, now for a quick update. You will remember that earlier this year, Planet Money's Jeff Guo went out and bought a real, also a lab grown diamond and sent it in the mail to Sarah Gonzalez.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Jeff, what is this? Is it a fake diamond or a real diamond?

[Jeff Guo]

Sarah, it is a one carat, colorless, ideal cut diamond. It's basically an engagement ring quality diamond.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Wait, this is like creme de la creme. Perfect cut, perfect clarity. Dude, it's sparkly.

[Nick Fountain]

Jeff joins me now. Hi, Jeff. Hey, Nick. All right, so remind us how much you paid for that diamond.

[Jeff Guo]

Right, so for context, a natural diamond like this, it would cost four to $5,000. This, of course, is a lab grown diamond. It is a real diamond. It was just grown in a lab. And we got it off a Chinese e commerce website back in January for $137.

[Nick Fountain]

So cheap. Which of course is game changing for the diamond industry and also why you did the show.

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah, so what we learned is that $137, it's pretty close to the wholesale price for a decent one carat lab grown diamond. But here's the weird thing. At the time, the retail price of a lab grown diamond like this, it was still around $1,000.

[Nick Fountain]

And that was the lingering question from your episode. If it is so cheap, to make these lab grown diamonds. Now why are prices in stores still so high? Right, so have they dropped since then?

[Jeff Guo]

You know, I was looking around online a couple days ago and the prices are getting cheaper. So we're down from $1,000 to about $800 now.

[Nick Fountain]

Interesting. Any updates on the specific diamond? What happened to it? Did you put a ring on it? What's going on with the diamond?

[Jeff Guo]

Oh, I still have it. Nick.

[Nick Fountain]

What?

[Jeff Guo]

Wait, you want to see it?

[Nick Fountain]

Yes.

[Jeff Guo]

Wait, hang on, hang on. Where is it? I think it's in here. Oh, I found it.

[Nick Fountain]

Found it. Here it is. Oh, it's beautiful. This is my first time seeing it.

[Jeff Guo]

Look at that. The Planet Money diamond. Look at how sparkly it is, Nick.

[Nick Fountain]

Jeff, you still have that thing? I hear you got some offers for it, is that correct?

[Jeff Guo]

Oh, yeah. Someone wrote in asking if he could use it to make an engagement ring for his girlfriend.

[Nick Fountain]

What'd you say to that?

[Jeff Guo]

I'm so sorry. I never responded. I was too busy gazing into the sparkliness of this beautiful diamond.

[Nick Fountain]

Interesting.

[Jeff Guo]

I'm not trying to sell people diamonds.

[Nick Fountain]

Right. Hey, Jeff, you know that guy who asked you for the diamond?

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah, this is him.

[Nick Fountain]

This is Adam.

[Jeff Guo]

Hey, Jeff. Hello. Oh my gosh. Wait, what?

[Alex Goldmark]

No.

[Jeff Guo]

Nick.

[Alex Goldmark]

Hi.

[Jeff Guo]

It's great to meet you. I'm so sorry I never responded to your email.

[Adam]

You know, I've been waiting. I figured that one day you'd finally get around to it and I guess Nick just took care of it for you.

[Jeff Guo]

Well, did you ever get around to it?

[Adam]

Well, I know that this is a radio program, but do you guys mind if I share my screen?

[Nick Fountain]

Sure. Yes. Oh, it looks like you got engaged. That's so sweet. On the banks of a river.

[Adam]

So my now fiance and I live in Seattle. There's us at Gasworks Park. It's a picture of her looking at her hand, wondering why she had just said yes to me when I emailed you. I was sitting in my car having just heard this podcast about six months into dating and thinking, you know, I really like this girl, you know. Then somebody forgot to hit reply.

[Jeff Guo]

You look very happy.

[Nick Fountain]

Did you make it yourself?

[Adam]

So in lieu of making my own ring, this is actually my parents engagement ring. I called my mom, I told her I wanted to propose and she pulled this thing out for me.

[Nick Fountain]

Wow, the family heirloom is way better.

[Jeff Guo]

Are we invited?

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

No.

[Nick Fountain]

Jeff, stop it. Those things are expensive.

[Adam]

Listen, if you guys want to know more about the economics of planning a wedding, just let me know. You've got about eight Months to prepare.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, the awkwardness can end right now. Jeff, anything you want to say to Adam? Adam, anything you want to say to Jeff?

[Jeff Guo]

Adam, I'm so happy for you. Congratulations.

[Adam]

Thank you, guys. This was awesome.

[Nick Fountain]

Adam, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. And, Jeff, I am sorry for hazing you, but that's all we have.

[Jeff Guo]

I can't believe this was an ambush. Nick Fountain. Sorry, I'm just staring at this diamond now.

[Alex Goldmark]

Wow.

[Jeff Guo]

It's so shiny. It's so pretty, and it's so precious.

[Nick Fountain]

One of the most memorable episodes from this year for me was one we did about Gaza, about how money was literally and figuratively falling apart there. This was before the ceasefire that was announced in early October. Food was scarce. Israel had blocked cash shekels from entering Gaza for about two years. And the paper cash that was there before the war started was. Was not doing so well. The money become hurt and destroyed. So when you offer it to a seller, they don't accept, become nothing, become worthless. That's Mohamed Alwad, who was in Gaza. Sarah Gonzalez was the reporter on the episode, and she has been checking in with Muhammad. Sarah, hi.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Hey, Nick.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, so big headline update. Has money been getting into Gaza since the ceasefire?

[Sarah Gonzalez]

No. Israel is still not letting cash into Gaza. So Muhammad says they still have the same problem. There is not enough cash. The cash that's there is falling apart. But he did say that things have improved significantly.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay, and we'll get to that in a bit. But before, can you just remind us what was going on with Muhammad when we last heard from him?

[Sarah Gonzalez]

All right, well, first of all, Muhammad had been working with his best friend Al Din in Belgium, basically trying to move shekels that were sitting in bank accounts all around the world so that more people in Gaza would have access to shekels since Israel had cut Gaza off. Right. But the last time we talked to Muhammad, he said that the Israeli military had just destroyed his tent in the tent camp that they were living in. So he, his wife, his two kids, they had all been staying in a relative's home that was partially destroyed. So there were no exterior walls. It was, like, really crowded. And he actually really preferred having his own tent. But when we spoke to him at the time, tents were selling for, like, almost a thousand US Dollars for just, like, a normal tent, regular tarp, like, tent. And they were not gonna spend that kind of money on a new one. Right. So that's why they were in this situation.

[Nick Fountain]

But as we mentioned, in early October, there was that ceasefire. How have Things changed for Muhammad. Or have they?

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

So Muhammad said that conditions have improved significantly. He said, especially since the bombing has stopped. He said that there are still some breaches now on the breaches front, there have been many reports of Israel violating the ceasefire. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office. They say that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured still even during the ceasefire. And there are also reports of Hamas violating the ceasefire too. Right. But you know, Muhammad says that overall, yeah, things are much better.

[Nick Fountain]

Yeah. What, what is life like right now?

[Sarah Gonzalez]

So he is in his own tent now. He sent me pictures. It's like that standard white dome shaped UNICEF tent. They're growing vegetables. So they have like, I don't know, like seven rows of vegetables of greens. And inside, his wife Wala and his daughter Mariam, they actually made this like really beautiful kitchen floor in their tent in the area that they have set up to be their kitchen. So they collected broken marble from rubble and they made this like mosaic floor and it's actually like really beautiful. Can I show you pictures?

[Nick Fountain]

I'd love that.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Let me show you pictures.

[Nick Fountain]

That is quite gorgeous, all things considered.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Yeah, but I mean, it is still a tent, right, for a family of four. And Muhammad said winter in a tent is making life difficult for them.

[Nick Fountain]

Yeah, I can imagine. As you can imagine, Sarah, I relistened to the show earlier today and what stuck with me were the prices. How Gazans were paying 32 bucks US dollars a for a kilo of tomatoes, like six tomatoes, medium tomatoes, a pack of diapers, something very near and dear to my heart right now. It used to be six bucks, now was $75.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Yes, $75 US for diapers in Gaza.

[Nick Fountain]

Insane. And that was because there were so few goods and so little food being allowed in. So prices were just getting jacked up like crazy. Have prices gotten more normal since the ceasefire?

[Sarah Gonzalez]

More normal, according to Mohamed, but still not what they used to be. So like for example, a kilo of tomatoes right now is a little more than US$3, down from US$32. Eggs have apparently just arrived. Meat is available now also. That's going for $19 a kilo, Mohammed said. And diapers. Diapers are now a little more than US$9. So that would be like 30 Israeli shekels. Before the war, that same pack of diapers was more like 20 shekels.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, so prices have come down, but the economy hasn't come back. Right. The vast majority of businesses have been damaged or destroyed their very few jobs. But food is now More available.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay. Sarah, I did want to ask you. In the episode, Muhammad told us that his daughter would watch these cooking videos and ask for some of the food in the videos. Yelling me, I want this.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

I want this.

[Nick Fountain]

I want this. It seemed delicious.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

I want this.

[Nick Fountain]

Most of her ask about chocolate and I promise her and try to promise her to bring it.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Yeah. For two whole years his four year old daughter Mariam would ask her dad for chocolate. And little update, Maryam finally got some chocolate. Chocolate, by the way, is selling for about A$50 to US$6 right now, Mohammad says. So you know, it is kind of a mix of these like really nice developments for this family, but also they're still in a tent. And I think what is really weighing on the family right now is that Muhammad's wife, her name is Wala Ewida, she is pretty sick. The World Health Organization apparently approved her for medical evacuation from Gaza. She needs this surgery to remove a mass that is near her pancreas and things can get serious very quick for her. Doctors in Gaza have told the family that there is no treatment for her in Gaza, so she has to go somewhere else. She has been on a travel waiting list since last June. But the process for being approved to leave Gaza even when you are sick is very, very slow. Only a few people can leave every month. So even with the ceasefire, people in Gaza still cannot leave often or easily, including when they are very sick.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, thanks for the update on Muhammad and thank you again for making that show for us.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Thanks, Nick.

[Nick Fountain]

Coming up after the break, books, games, power tools, hot dogs.

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[Harun Mokhtarzada]

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[Nick Fountain]

Joining me now is a man who wears many hats at Planet Money, our executive producer, Alex Goldmark. Hi, Alex.

[Alex Goldmark]

Hey, Nick. How you doing?

[Nick Fountain]

You are going to do some business today, some Planet Money business. What do we got?

[Alex Goldmark]

Right. So as you know, Planet Money is making a board game. Yes, we did two episodes on this. We can link to them back in the show notes. But the refresher is we love games. It is a super interesting time in the game industry. But more than that, games are also a way to demonstrate some economic ideas in fun ways.

[Nick Fountain]

And we partnered with this kind of famous game company called Exploding Kittens. We gave them some ideas. They made them what more fun.

[Alex Goldmark]

We gave them like 17 ideas that were like obscure economic concepts and very nerdy. They made the game way less textbook, way more fun, more of a party. And along the way, it opened up this whole door for us and this project. And I'm now so excited for this because it's turning into something where we get to report on the retail industry, like all of retail from the inside. Like, how does a company get into big box stores? Which shelf space is the most important? How do you convince the big box retailers to give you that shelf space? And we now are like getting to be inside this world and that's what this project is going to become next year.

[Nick Fountain]

Is the game ready for primetime?

[Jeff Guo]

Right?

[Alex Goldmark]

Of course. To actually do all this, we need to have a product that is fun and good. And so the game needs to work. And this is where like the real update is. It's a thank you, thank you to the audience for helping us make it better. We had a prototype that was messy. You had to print out, cut out pieces of paper, put it on cards, like do a lot of work to play it. And hundreds of you did. And boy, did you deliver. It's amazing. Okay, so we're shuffling the cards.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

I'll read the instructions.

[Alex Goldmark]

So the goal is to be the first player to get five green chips. We had all these recordings, hours and hours of it.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

This is the Planet Money game. We are playtesting it.

[Alex Goldmark]

They were from families playing at home.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Playing with my son who is 13 years old.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Should I take his deal or your deal?

[Jeff Guo]

Fine.

[Nick Fountain]

You get two more chips.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Thank goodness.

[Alex Goldmark]

Gracious teachers played it with classes and games like economic notes.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

Right now you're forever native for experienced.

[Alex Goldmark]

Gamers who were like searching for edge cases.

[Harun Mokhtarzada]

We did play a second time. We liked the strategy. It was variable, it was limited.

[Alex Goldmark]

It really feels like we're doing this as a community at this point.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

This is also 10. So I won.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

He won.

[Nick Fountain]

Let's play again.

[Sarah Gonzalez]

You won two times.

[Nick Fountain]

Thanks, PlanetMoney. See you guys. I love our listeners. They are the best. Thank you for playing, guys. And we shared all of this stuff with exploding kittens. And I know that we have a newer version of the game. What's the update on where we're at with the game?

[Alex Goldmark]

New version. If you want to try it, the rules are clearer, the game moves faster. We changed the way you win and made it simpler. We changed the way turns work so the design is more sophisticated. There may be a little less economics for some of you, which is an interesting thing that's evolving. We'd like to hear about that. PlanetMoneyGame.com is where you find version 4. Send us your feedback on the forum there. We don't need audio this time. And please do it by January 15th in order to get it into the design of the final version of the game.

[Nick Fountain]

Alex, thank you for that update. I know you have one other very quick update.

[Alex Goldmark]

I am contractually required to mention it every time I come on mic. Planet Money is writing a book. It comes out in April. We're really proud of it. And if you pre order now, you get a special gift and it will help us get on the bestseller list. Planetmoneybook.com thank you for letting me say that into the microphone.

[Nick Fountain]

Thank you.

[Alex Goldmark]

Alex, thank you for letting me hijack your show for a segment. Can I repay you somehow?

[Nick Fountain]

I'm glad you asked. I have an update from my neck of the woods. Do you remember a couple years ago I went to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon to meet the maker of this safer table saw? His name was Steve Gass.

[Alex Goldmark]

I do. This was the saw stop the table saw like spinning blade to cut wood, but did not cut fingers.

[Nick Fountain]

How many fingers do you think this has saved?

[Alex Goldmark]

Well over 10,000 fingers now.

[Nick Fountain]

10,000 fingers?

[Sarah Gonzalez]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex Goldmark]

Fingers get saved on sawstops every day now. And if I remember correctly, this saw can sense when it skims a finger and stops so fast that it does not cut your finger. And you terrified us by pretending that you were going to put your finger under it, but you used a hot dog instead. That moment seared into my brain. That's true. But what the story was really about was how products get safer. And this trade off of regulations that make something more expensive but also safer versus other ways of making something safer, like suing the company and that kind of incentive.

[Nick Fountain]

You passed the test. You remembered the show to a tee. And you also remember that Steve had been pursuing the first way regulation. He had spent years lobbying the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make that finger detecting technology mandatory for table saws. But he had been facing fierce opposition from the industry. The other day I gave him a ring.

[Alex Goldmark]

How are you?

[Nick Fountain]

Good. Long time.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Nick Fountain]

Alex, you'll probably remember that when we left off with Steve, it seemed like finally, after two decades, that regulation was finally going to become the rule of the land.

[Alex Goldmark]

Things were on a promising track.

[Nick Fountain]

I think. I sort of debated how much to say this was a sure thing or not in our writing, you know.

[Alex Goldmark]

But I am sensing by the way you are setting this up that that is not how things went down.

[Nick Fountain]

That's right.

[Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi]

President Trump has fired three of the five members of the US Consumer Product.

[Alex Goldmark]

Safety Commission, including the head of the independent federal agency.

[Nick Fountain]

So that happened in May. And right there Steve realized that this regulation was not gonna go through.

[Alex Goldmark]

It's like watching a car wreck and not being able to do anything to prevent it. In this case, tens of thousands of woodworkers who will be injured seriously, life changing injuries that didn't need to occur. And that's hard to sit with. It's frustrating. It makes me angry because we could do better. Okay, so his update is he's feeling kind of depressed now and also angry.

[Nick Fountain]

He said he's not gonna let it get him down too much. He says he recognizes that this is just one of many anti regulation steps that the Trump administration is taking. And he's trying to bring a new product to market, a safer band saw in the hopes that people will just pay for safety.

[Alex Goldmark]

A market based solution. We love it when that works.

[Nick Fountain]

Yeah. I think Steve doesn't think that that always works. That's why he was, you know, trying to push for this regulation. But it's another way.

[Alex Goldmark]

It's a little like Lucy in the football and you know, I'm Charlie Brown. It's that it just keeps going around.

[Nick Fountain]

Thank you for your time.

[Alex Goldmark]

It's good talking with you again.

[Nick Fountain]

Happy New Year.

[Alex Goldmark]

You too.

[Nick Fountain]

Also, Alex, one final update. Throughout the story, we referred to a particular type of sausage like this, the beef brat. When the brat beef brats, they were cheaper. This is what you put in front.

[Alex Goldmark]

Of the saw instead of a finger.

[Nick Fountain]

Exactly. And the Midwesterners showed up in the emails. I am so sorry. I now know it is called a brat. I regret the error.

[Alex Goldmark]

Most thorough update ever.

[Nick Fountain]

Thank you. We put links in the show notes to all the original episodes we mentioned today and a link to buy the book and get that sweet, sweet presale gift. This episode of Planet Money was produced by Luis Gallo, Edited by Alex Goldmark. Fact Check by Vito Emanuel. I'm Nick Fountain. This is npr. Thank you for listening. Happy New Year. And that is the rest of. Hey. Oh, actually, one more thing. As we were putting together this edition of Rest of the Story, another update that is just so juicy, you'll remember that Paul Harvey is the guy behind that old timey radio show the Rest of the Story. His estate is suing Paramount over the rest of the story. Apparently, Paramount used an excerpt in their show Landman and the Paul Harvey Estate says it was taken out of context and used without permission. And they're suing Paramount. They're asking them to remove the audio and pay them. Paramount did not respond to our request for comment. And that is the rest of the rest of the story. Please don't sue us.

[Announcer]

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