plainwire

the systems
that run your day

explained plainly, with every number sourced.

Most of what you pay for passes through systems you never see: card networks, shipping lines, app stores, insurers, the rules behind a pension. plainwire takes them one at a time. Each episode starts with the part everyone sees, then follows the money through the rest to show who pays and who profits.

The tone is calm. An episode names a villain only when the documents do, and it makes the strongest case for the other side before it reaches a conclusion.

one system per episode

anywhere money moves,
there's a wire under the floor

A path the money takes that nobody shows you. plainwire traces them one at a time, wherever they lead.

we follow one line

• Every number is sourced: on screen in the episode, and here in full, with links.
• Press releases, trade groups and campaigners on any side are labeled as advocacy, with who funds them.
• The strongest case against an episode's conclusion is made inside the episode.
• When something is wrong, the article is corrected with a dated note saying what changed.

follow the wire

It starts on YouTube. The rest of the wire is being connected.

New episodes also arrive by rss.

line up the cut
to make contact

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