Key Takeaways
- FTC's 'click to cancel' rule for subscriptions faces regulatory setbacks.
- Lab-grown diamond prices are falling, enabling unique personal uses.
- Gaza faces severe cash shortages and humanitarian challenges post-ceasefire.
- Planet Money's board game is in public beta, evolving with audience input.
- The inventor of a safer table saw continues advocating for woodworking safety.
Deep Dive
- The FTC's 'click to cancel' rule, designed to simplify subscription cancellations, stalled due to a new FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, and a federal appeals court ruling citing procedural errors.
- Haroon, CEO of Rocket Money, stated his company welcomed the proposed regulations despite their own subscription-based model for managing cancellations.
- Rocket Money processes over 10 million cancellations, with users adding an average of three subscriptions this year.
- Retail prices for lab-grown diamonds, such as the $137 diamond previously bought, dropped from $1,000 to $800 since the original report.
- A listener, Adam, used the specific diamond to propose to his fiancée, incorporating it into his parents' engagement ring.
- Adam had contacted reporter Jeff Guo directly about using the diamond for his proposal.
- Israel had blocked shekels from entering Gaza for two years, leading to a severe scarcity and deterioration of existing paper money.
- Mohammed Awad, a Gaza resident, reported that money is being destroyed and becoming worthless due to the continued Israeli block on cash entry.
- Despite a ceasefire bringing some improvements, essential goods remain more expensive than pre-war, with tomatoes over $3 USD per kilo and diapers over $9 USD.
- Planet Money partnered with Exploding Kittens to develop a board game, which has undergone significant playtesting with audience feedback.
- A revised version 4 of the game is available at PlanetMoneyGame.com, with a deadline of January 15th for further input on its final design.
- The Planet Money book is also due out in April; pre-orders are encouraged via PlanetMoneyBook.com for a special gift.
- Steve Gass's 'SawStop' table saw, designed to prevent finger injuries, has reportedly saved over 10,000 fingers.
- Gass expressed frustration that mandatory safety regulations for table saws did not pass, facing opposition from the industry.
- Gass is now developing a market-based solution with a safer bandsaw, aiming for voluntary consumer adoption of safety features.