NPR.
Whalen, I hate to tell you, but we have a new competitor.
Don't tell me there's another short form nerdy business podcast out there.
Even more concerning.
You know how we do a show every time the Federal Reserve publishes the document known as the beige book where we highlight the best stories?
while now the Fed is cutting out the middleman and becoming their own influencers.
Oh no!
Yeah, the Minneapolis district of the Fed is now doing a hip video version of their beigebook entry.
Listen to this.
Our surveys for the latest beigebook show hiring demand is weak,
and more firms are seeing their headcount shrink than grow.
There's bad news.
We even have that jaunty piano music like the cereal podcast.
Are we toast?
We're toast.
We are going to have to up our game.
We no longer have a monopoly on the Beige book coverage.
We'll have to do today's episode with extra prizes and glitz and glamour.
It's the Beige Awards,
our eight times a year salute to the art and science of telling stories about the economy.