Engaging Choices and Product Origins

New research from the Federal Reserve shows that wealthier Americans are driving retail spending while lower-income Americans have been squeezed by higher prices. We’ll discuss how this disparity could help explain the United States’ often unexpectedly strong consumer economy, and what the Birkin bag side of TikTok can tell us about this divide. And, Cuba is enduring a nationwide power outage. We’ll explain how a grid failure today has left millions in the dark. Plus, we’ll play a spooky season edition of This or That!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “How to Watch the Bright and Speedy Orionid Meteor Shower” from Smithsonian
• “Cuban electrical collapse causes island-wide blackout, paralyzes economy” from The Washington Post
• “Wealthier Americans are driving retail spending and powering US economy” from AP News
• “Chocolate is on its way out. Why Halloween is about gummy candy now.” from The Washington Post

Join Kai Ryssdal and Kimberly Adams for a live taping of “Make Me Smart” on Oct. 25 in Boston. In-person tickets are sold out, but you can still join us virtually. Get your tickets here.