❗Help close the gap: We still need to raise $40,000 by the end of March. Donate now
Small Talk

Small talk: Beer, Fed, snuggies

Marketplace Staff Jul 31, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Small Talk

Small talk: Beer, Fed, snuggies

Marketplace Staff Jul 31, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

KAI RYSSDAL:It being a Friday afternoon and all, it’s time to leave the big news behind and let Rico Gagliano do that thing he does: Talk to the Marketplace staff about some of the stories that didn’t make the headlines. The kinds of things you might want to talk about at a dinner party this weekend.


Rico Gagliano: George Judson, managing editor, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?

George Judson: Beer.

Gagliano: So what else is new? No, why?

Judson: A brewery in Scotland just put out the highest alcohol content beer in the UK, 18.2 percent.

Gagliano: Because, if there’s one thing that the Brits need it’s more alcohol in their diet.

Judson: Well, their argument is is that their beer is so filling that you just can’t drink too much of it.

Gagliano: So the strongest beer in the UK is going to curb binge drinking?

Judson: Well, as one critic said, if the average size woman drank one bottle of this that would be binge drinking.

Gagliano: Nancy Farghalli, editor, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?

Nancy Farghalli: The Gallup poll released a survey this week that said Americans hate the Fed more than they hate the IRS.

Gagliano: This is like losing to Stalin in a popularity contest.

Farghalli: Yeah.

Gagliano: It does make sense tough, right? Because when the IRS comes knocking at your door, you know how they’re going to mess with you. If the Fed shows up, even after they explain it, you won’t know what they’re doing.

Farghalli: I’m not sure they know either.

Gagliano: Stacey Vanek-Smith, senior reporter at Marketplace, go.

Stacey Vanek-Smith: You know the Snuggie, the blanket with sleeves that people are wearing? They make it for dogs now.

Gagliano: You are kidding me.

Vanek-Smith: No no no, check it out.

Snuggie Dog commercial: Now there’s Snuggie Dog. The little blanket with sleeves, designed to fit your dog.

Gagliano: Stop it. It’s too much.

Vanek-Smith: This might be the down-scaling equivalent of like Louis Vuitton making matching dog-and-people outfits. Now you can just have a matching Snuggie.

Gagliano: We can all look like morons together.

Vanek-Smith: Yes, but warm morons.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.