C is for C-shaped economy

C是代表C型经济

The Indicator from Planet Money

2026-08-13

8 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Which letter best describes how the U.S. economy is shaped: C or K? We examine the arguments for both and why there’s so much disagreement over who’s faring best in today’s economy.  Fact checking by Sierra Juarez. Your Next Listen — We resolve to watch these 2026 indicators   Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter!— Buy the Planet Money book— Find our socials, YouTube and more!— For sponsor-free episodes, subscribe to NPR+  Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy
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单集文稿 ...

  • NPR.

  • This is The Indicator from Planet Money.

  • I'm Waylon Wong.

  • And I'm Patti Hirsch.

  • We're always looking for clean and simple ways to describe

  • the economy to make it easier for all of us to understand what's going on.

  • And recently, that's extended to using the alphabet.

  • Is the so-called K-shaped economy.

  • The results highlight what some observers have called the K-shaped economy.

  • Why the letter K?

  • What do you mean by that?

  • I know, it sounds like Sesame Street.

  • Sesame Street, the platonic ideal of explainers.

  • The K described an economy that was diverging, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

  • Not the kind of thing an administration likes to hear with the midterms coming up.

  • Not even a Republican administration.

  • This is Scott Besant, Secretary of the Treasury, speaking to CNBC last week.

  • I can say here definitively the K-shaped economy is over and we're seeing more of a C economy.

  • Sea economy?

  • What's a sea economy like?