Where the visual pieces of this site come from, and the licenses they are used under.
Photographs
Every photograph below was released for free reuse by its creator — under the Creative Commons CC0 dedication or with a public-domain mark. No attribution is legally required, but we credit each one anyway. Photos show things and places, never the author, and are cropped and resized for speed.
| Explainer | Photo |
|---|
| Why Grocery Prices Don't Come Back Down: The One-Way Ratchet, Explained | Photo: Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| How Airlines Decide What Your Seat Costs: Inside Dynamic Pricing | Photo: Joel Peralta / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| The US Housing Shortage: How America Got Millions of Homes Behind | Photo: Outsource Image / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| How the Fed Actually Moves Your Interest Rates: The Mechanism, Start to Finish | Photo: takomabibelot / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| Why American Healthcare Bills Look Like That: The Billing System, Explained | Photo: sreejagroups / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| What the Debt Ceiling Actually Is (and What Happens Mechanically Without It) | Photo: mctjack / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| Why Tipping Took Over America: The History and the Economics | Photo: Image Catalog / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| How Credit Bureaus Got to Know Everything About You | Photo: Jefferson Lab / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| Why US Cities Can't Just Build More Trains: The Cost Anatomy | Photo: wwward0 / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| The Interstate Highway System: How It Reshaped Everything About American Life | Photo: Eridony (Instagram: eridony_prime) / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| How Student Loans Work Mechanically: Servicers, Interest, and the Programs | Photo: cogdogblog / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| Why Eggs? The Anatomy of America's Most Volatile Grocery Price | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| How the Census Quietly Decides Money and Power for a Decade | Photo: Jennifer Bourn / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| The Electoral College, Mechanically: What Actually Happens in December | Photo: w_lemay / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| Why Your Internet Bill Is What It Is: The Last-Mile Monopoly Problem | Photo: William Mewes / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| How Amazon Delivery Actually Works: The Logistics Machine, Explained | Photo: USDAgov / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| Daylight Saving Time: Why It Exists and Why It's So Hard to Kill | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| How Social Security's Money Actually Flows: The Trust Fund, Explained Neutrally | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| Why American Cheese Is in Government Caves: Ag Policy's Strangest Corners | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| How a Bill Really Becomes a Law in 2026: The Modern Path vs. Schoolhouse Rock | Photo: Hari Shanker R / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| The Chip in Your Card: How Payments Move in the 3 Seconds After You Tap | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| Why College Costs What It Costs: Following the Money Through a University | Photo: w_lemay / Flickr (CC0 1.0) |
| How Weather Forecasts Are Made: From Balloon to Phone Notification | Photo: NOAA NSSL / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| The 911 System: What Happens in the 10 Minutes After You Call | Photo: National Interagency Fire Center / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| Why US Drug Prices Differ From Everywhere: The Supply Chain, Mapped | Photo: unclibraries_commons / Flickr (Public Domain Mark 1.0) |
| How Ports Work: The Container Journey That Sets Shelf Prices | Photo: Moses Cursor Ssebunya / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| The Jones Act, the Farm Bill, and Other Old Laws Quietly Shaping Your Costs | Photo: asternecky / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| How Streaming Royalties Flow: Who Gets What After You Press Play | Photo: Topher / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
| Why Traffic Jams Happen From Nothing: The Physics and the Fixes | Photo: Unknown / rawpixel (CC0 1.0) |
| How the Consumer Price Index Is Actually Measured: One Price, From Shelf to Headline | Photo: Pooja Derashri / WordPress Photo Directory (CC0 1.0) |
Charts and diagrams
Every chart and diagram in our explainers is original, built from the sourced data, with the source named beneath the graphic. See our Editorial Standards.
Typefaces and icons
Headlines are set in Archivo and body text in Source Serif 4, both released under the SIL Open Font License and served from this site. Icons are from Phosphor (MIT license).