Week of May 31st, 2010

Easy answer: none that really matter….

Tess Vigeland talks to Professor Gary Chaison about the drastic career changes the fishermen, oystermen and other workers on the Gulf coast may have to make.

Host Tess Vigeland reads some of your thoughts on our recent coverage of retail rebates, kids and allowances and on paying — or not paying — for music.

Tess Vigeland talks to Pete Gerica, a third-generation fisherman in New Orleans, about his outlook on the future of his livelihood.

Brilliant.

The Federal Trade Commission, for the second time, told Kellogg to rein it in. And to stop advertising that kids who eat Rice Krispies can boost their immunity. Gregory Warner reports.

Say cheese! With food blogs and review sites growing in popularity, more diners are reaching for their cameras at the table. Is it generating buzz for restaurants or slowing down service and tying up tables? Sally Herships finds out.

Marketplace's Brendan Newnam chats with fellow staffers Paddy Hirsch, Ethan Lindsey, and Adriene Hill about under-the-radar business stories: Iceland's rehabilitation campaign, Facebook's CEO, and cleaning ducks with Dawn soap.

The Big Money's Heidi Moore and The Atlantic's Megan McArdle talk with Kai Ryssdal about how damaging it is to BP that two major ratings agencies downgraded its creditworthiness, and whether BP can survive the oil disaster.

Frustration over the BP oil spill is mounting — both in the Gulf of Mexico and Washington. The worst oil spill in U.S. history has politicians scrambling to come up with more creative and dramatic punishments for BP and the oil industry. Brett Neely reports.

A jury in Minnesota says Wells Fargo owes $30 million to four nonprofits who trusted the bank to look after their money. Jurors say the bank stopped looking after its clients' best interests and started looking after its own. Jeff Horwich reports.

European stock markets fell sharply for two apparently unrelated reasons: fears about the country of Hungary, and the French bank Societe General. But the two were linked by a common and familiar thread: government debt and rumors of default. Stephen Beard reports.

The math on the May jobs numbers goes like this: 431,000 jobs were added to the economy last month. Subtract 411,000 — they're temporary census workers. And what you have is a dispiriting 41,000 net new places to work for the month of May. Reporter Mitchell Hartman takes apart the numbers with Kai Ryssdal.

Question: My wife and I purchased a house in 2006 for about $130k, with the mortgage currently at $90k. We are planning on moving someplace warmer…

Easy answer: none that really matter….

Google data collection mess gets messier China blocking FoursquareU.S. Cyber Command wants to ‘operate freely' to protect and defend computer…

The Twitter account at @BPGlobalPR is not run by BP and isn't really a pr account. It's parody of a pr person trying to spin the disaster in the…

Here in Minnesota, prankster students draped the Carleton College observatory to look like R2-D2. Good thing they didn't make it look like Jar-Jar…

An Israeli tech company has come up with a new gadget that will check the stress and mood levels of people on their computers.  It uses sensors to…

Coulomb Technologies is seeking to install 4,600 charging stations for electric cars in nine metro areas by the end of 2011.  The charging…

Well, that would be nice, wouldn't it? Scientists at the wonderfully named National Ignition Facility are conducting an enormous laser fusion…

At the D8 conference, AOL chairman Tim Armstrong said that the company, which is currently using Google for search on its sites, is looking for a…

Me, I like to get back together with all my old friends from the Windows 7 launch parties I went to. Good times. Good. Times.On Tuesday, Microsoft…

TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld stumbled across a YouTube help page that offers buttons for things like "moderator" and "live stream". The online…

U.S. Cyber Command wants to "operate freely" to protect and defend computer resourcesOn Thursday, General Keith Alexander who heads the U.S. Cyber…

China is blocking the mobile social media service Foursquare. People using/playing Foursquare use mobile devices to "check in" wherever they go and…

New charges in Oregon claim that Google intentionally collected data from unsecured wi-fi networks as it drove around taking pictures of everyone…

This week: Bill Radke explains why he's not in the loop.

Call it the Iceland addition. Low-cost, European airline EasyJet said it will team up with an investor to test a radar that can detect volcanic ash…

A new breast cancer study finds a link between the way private oncologists get paid and how much chemotherapy they prescribe.

The Gillette's latest razor is finally hitting store shelves after months of hype, and the skirmish pits the consumer products behemoth against Schick, a smaller but still formidable challenger.

The Labor Department says the U.S. produced 431,000 jobs in May, a jobless rate drop of 9.7% over 9.9% in April.

This calculator that runs on water is really so much more eco-friendly than the traditional gas-powered calculators we all grew up on. And don't…

In the wake of the BP leak, the U.S. will soon order shallow water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to temporarily shut down. Is shallow drilling safer?

Google has begun handing over personal and commercial data collected during its street view service in European countries, which may have included bank account numbers.

New Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan inherits what many call a "lost economy. So far, the markets seem to think he can turn it around.

Employees of the retail giant can work towards an associate or bachelor's degree at American Public University, an online school.

From the Department of Misery Loves Company: The World Bank released a study that says the unemployed feel better when their friends are in the…

Each week on Marketplace Money, host Tess Vigeland looks at the week's major national and international stories that will impact the average listener's wallet.

Marketplace Morning Report for Friday, June 4, 2010

Marketplace Tech Report for June 04, 2010

Marketplace for Friday, June 4, 2010

After a botched call at a baseball game, we wonder why we still bother relying on ourselves instead of machines.

Host Tess Vigeland and economics editor Chris Farrell take your questions on personal finance. This week we hear how a clumsy bike trick led to a credit score of zero, how Warren Buffett's neighbor hopes to pass his own fortune down to the next generation and why a future politician is nervous about how a personal bankruptcy could affect a run at public office.

Tess Vigeland talks to a personal finance columnist Nancy Trejos, whose own personal finance mess is detailed in her new book "Hot (broke) Messes."

Personal bankruptcies have been on the rise since the Great Recession, and with it, perhaps a decline in the stigma against throwing in the hat when your finances become too much.

Marketplace's Ashley Milne-Tyte weighs the pros and cons of moving your money to a community bank.

Gizmodo points out that the Prime Minister of Japan resigned and then headed straight to Twitter where he asked people to keep following him:…

Remember Kazaa? One of the first file-sharing programs on the Web? It was sued by record companies for settled for millions of dollars. But it's…

Boy, there are a lot of wiggly words in that headline. Such are the times we live in. The Twitter account @BPGlobalPR has well over 100,000…

Latinos have a lot of buying power. So some of America's biggest brands are collaborating in a network focusing on understanding the Hispanic consumer. Jeff Tyler reports.

Josh Kun, associate professor at the University of Southern California, talks with Kai Ryssdal about the why regional Mexican bands are huge business for cell-phone ringtone providers and major labels.

It's difficult to regulate some risk-taking that seems hardwired into industries like Wall Street, where traders are in constant competition to sell more stocks and make money. Commentator K.C. Cole says the first step is to behave in a way we want others to follow.

This year's NBA finals have served up a great rivalry: the Lakers vs. the Celtics. No two teams have so dominated the history of the NBA. Even though young phenoms like LeBron James are sitting this one out, advertisers are banking on a combination of nostalgia and great basketball. Jeff Horwich reports.

April retail sales were below expectations for stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and JC Penney. Many analysts are blaming the weather. Jeremy Hobson reports.

New York Times columnist David Leonhardt talks with Kai Ryssdal about why the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon happened — not the mechanics of it, but the human nature of it.

Ratings agencies Moody's and Fitch downgraded BP's credit status by one notch and warned of further downgrades if BP doesn't stem the Gulf oil leak. Doubts about BP's future grow everyday. Some analysts say it may have to sell off its most prized assets to weather the storm. Stephen Beard reports.

The Skype 3G app for iPhone is hugely popular. Free calls! Free calls! Until next year!Umpire's blown call ruins pitcher's perfect game. Call out…

Question: My wife (age 68) and I (age 69) have about $80,000 to invest. Our mortgage is paid off and we have no debts. Our current income (our Soc…

Checking in to a teaching hospital any time next month? Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but July might not be the best month to do so….

Just to let you know there is still bukoos of money in Dubai, Ferrari World got a sneak preview this week. A park that pays homage to the…

South Africa has spent more than $2 billion on infrastructure to get ready for the World Cup. But critics say a lot of the money is pushing aside the poor.

A British regulator fines the firm for adding client money to its own cash pool.

Apps will be the focal point of Apple's World Wide Developers conference this Monday, and some developers are struggling with the technology.

BP is trying its 'top hat' method again and sussing through over 38,000 unconventional ideas for plugging the Gulf oil leak.

Convenience stores are backing a Senate bill that wants to lower the fees card companies charge stores to swipe.

Ford is eliminating the 72-year-old Mercury to work on its Lincoln and Ford models.

Nokia has unveiled a cell phone charger kit for bikes aimed at developing countries with limited access to electricity. The kit costs about $20,…

Finally, a real reason to visit Gary: Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson and Gary mayor Rudy Clay have endorsed plans to build an official…

Marketplace Tech Report for June 03, 2010

Marketplace Morning Report for Thursday, June 3, 2010

Marketplace for Thursday, June 3, 2010

The internet has given us more expansive ways of looking at the oil spill — we're getting more information than ever, but it might be too much.

As teams and soccer fans alike prepare for the World Cup in South Africa, social media sites are preparing for what could be a record level of…

Nowadays when you want to show off your purchases, the thing to do is go online. It's called "social shopping," and websites where consumers can post their latest buys are popping up all over. Sally Herships reports.

Six weeks in, BP and the federal government have started accepting some international help in cleaning up the oil leak. Sophisticated skimmers from the Netherlands are set to be at work in the Gulf. What took so long? Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.

Venezuela has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into social programs. But because oil revenues are down, large-scale government spending has contributed to high inflation. Reece Erlich reports.

The Department of Agriculture says the production of high-fructose corn syrup has been falling for several years. Why? Gregory Warner reports.

AT&T says it is eliminating its unlimited data plan starting next week, which means new iPhone and iPad users will have to limit their usage or pay for extra data. Jeff Horwich reports.

Vice President Joe Biden was at the Brooklyn Bridge to talk about a $30 million federal investment for a major rehab of the 117-year-old span. It was a chance for the Obama administration to tout the benefits of its $787 billion stimulus package. Just how much stimulus is left? Jeremy Hobson reports.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission held a hearing discussing the role of credit ratings agencies in the financial crisis.

Question: My wife and I have two credit cards which we don't want anymore. We never use them and we pay 5.00 per month on one of them….

We're putting together a show for tomorrow morning about how to get the best information online about the oil spill. This post will be updated…

Tethering comes to the iPhone. But it's not free. …

Detroit farm enthusiasts want to turn the vacant one-third of the city into the world's foremost laboratory for urban agriculture.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is proposing a plan to raise the maximum amount that airlines must pay passengers who get involuntarily…

President Nixon gave then-Colorado Governor John Vanderhoof a moon rock the size of a fingernail collected during the Apollo 17 mission. When he…

Hayward is expected to say that concerns over BP's balance sheet in dealing with the oil leak are way overstated.

Starbucks seems to have a shop on almost every corner of Manhattan, and soon it will have a counter at the New York Stock Exchange. The Financial…

The markets may not say it outright, but investors are relieved that Japan's Hatoyama has stepped down.

Facebook users have come up with myriad ideas for plugging the leak (generally ones that reveal a sense of resentment or their political leanings),…

The Berkshire Hathaway billionaire will help explore the role of ratings agencies in the financial crisis.

You knew somehow it couldn't last forever: AT&T has unveiled new alternatives to its current unlimited plan for iPhones and iPads, effectively…

Marketplace Morning Report for Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Marketplace Tech Report for June 02, 2010

Marketplace for Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Apple is pushing its iPad as an e-book reader, while Amazon looks to possibly release a new version of the Kindle by the end of summer.

Political pressure is mounting on the Obama administration over the BP oil leak. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced a criminal investigation. But commentator Robert Reich says the White House needs to go even further.