Small talk: Tweeting, first class babies and ATM fees
Bob Moon: And finally, it seems appropriate to raise a toast, given this is a day for celebrating. So let’s join the Dinner Party Download crew for a special holiday installment, hosted by our own Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam and members of the Marketplace staff.
Rico Gagliano: Ethan Lindsay, producer of the Marketplace Morning Report. What story are you going to be talking on this 4th of July?
Ethan Lindsay: I’m actually going to be tweeting with Ashton Kutcher.
Gagliano: No you’re not…Really?
Lindsay: Well I’ll tweet to him. He has seven million followers — greater than the population of Ireland — but because he has so many followers, the LAPD is relying on him to get out public service announcements.
Gagliano: What do they want him to tweet?
Lindsay: Well if you’re in L.A., you’ve certainly heard about it — they’re calling it “Carmageddon.” They’re shutting down one of the busiest freeways in the country for a whole weekend. And they’re asking Twitter celebrities to get out to their followers to not drive that weekend.
Gagliano: And they couldn’t just, like, get the mayor to talk on television about it?
Lindsay: They may be doing all that but they asked Ashton Kutcher and Lady Gaga and a lot of others to tweet about it. Ashton Kutcher did, but he also wanted the LAPD to forgive him for a traffic violation. He said it was a yellow light!
Brendan Newnam: Rod Abid, senior producer of Marketplace Morning Report. What story are you going to be talking about?
Rod Abid: Well it’s Malaysian Airlines, which is defending its brand new policy of banning babies from first class.
Newnam: Wait a second — don’t babies make up most of first class?
Abid: But these are the tiny ones, not the tall ones in Armani suits.
Newnam: Oh, I see. So what happens with rich people with kids? What are they going to do?
Abid: Well I’ve got a feeling that I get to babysit the kid when the mother stays in first class.
Newnam: That’s right, the first class ticket will come with an extra ticket for the nanny in coach.
Abid: Exactly, the au pair, please.
Gagliano: John Haas, editor. What story are going to be talking about this 4th of July?
John Haas: Two weekends ago, somebody took $400 out of an ATM in the Hamptons.
Gagliano: So?
Haas: Whoever it was left behind their ATM receipt and it got picked up by a bunch of blogs and websites and it turns out he has, in his savings account, $99,864,731. And he had to pay the $2.50 ATM fee.
Gagliano: Of course. No one’s outside the long arm of bank fees. I’m surprised he allowed his account to dip down below $100 million. I think banks in East Hampton will ding you $10 a month for that.
Haas: That’s how they get ya.
Moon: There’s more where that came from, on a podcast Rico and Brendan call “The Dinner Party Download.”
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