Week of December 26th, 2011

The death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs probably drew the most headlines of any technology-related story this year. Though the world knew Jobs had been sick for some time, it still came as something of a shock to lose one of the people most associated with personal technology. But the death of Jobs wasn’t the only story this year. We asked some of the regular guests on our program to look back and tell us the big items of 2011.

A graph of the stock market in 2011 looks like a contour map of Death Valley glued to the Himalayas. Despite huge swings, the S&P 500 index ended the year remarkably close to where it began. Derek Jaskulski from Portland Global Advisors says you got to hand it to a market that can go through such scary volatility and still end up pretty much with a shrug. He offers us some tips on what to watch in the new year.

2011 was a year of leadership changes and a rise in cloud computing in the world of Silicon Valley. IBM joins other tech giants and gets a new CEO. Verizon has reversed its decision to add a new $2 fee; Eve Troeh looks at how customers fought back on fees this year. The Weekly Wrap talks about the most negative and positive news from Wall Street in 2011, while the Dinner Party guys offer their favorite offbeat stories. And as a biopic of Margaret Thatcher opens this weekend in theaters, Stephen Beard visits the former U.K. prime minister’s hometown.

States could expand lotteries and start new games like online poker thanks to a new ruling that allows Internet gambling. The Times Square celebration brings in a worldwide audience and millions of tourist dollars to NYC every year. And now that U.S. troops have pulled out Iraq, turns out direct benefit for American oil companies never materialized.

Happy New Year! We gathered our all-star gang of personal finance experts to give us insight on what 2012 may bring us. And we focus on jobs, jobs, jobs: The changing employment landscape, terrible bosses, the etiquette of unemployment and how to get a job, keep that job and keep moving up.

The past year wasn’t kind to those with money in the Greek market, but Zambian investors are laughing all the way to the bank.

Sorting out a busy year, from Steve Jobs to the Arab Spring to Internet security to the 'kill switch.'

Reviewing the most negative and positive headlines from Wall Street and the business world this year.

The movie about Margaret Thatcher has mixed reviews. Opinions on the former British prime minister are also divided.

Poor weather on election day can mean fewer voters at the polls, and bigger expenses for the candidates.

China has unveiled plans for space exploration over the next five years. The country says it'll launch space laboratories, manned spaceships, and an eventual goal of building a space station and putting a man on the moon.

After years of record numbers, spurred in part by colleges' own marketing, applications may fall as families consider the cost of tuition. Some colleges are even hoping for a drop.

I'm 25. After listening to your show, I decided, Hey, I ought to start saving for retirement, so I opened a Roth IRA. Now my question is: Is that it? Do I just put money in there and it grows? Or is this the type of thing where, once it's created, I then have to allocate the money in there to various investments? If it's the latter, what the HECK should I direct my first investments toward? Love the show, cheers! Sam, Concord, NH

SOPA plans to ask GoMommy instead

Verizon is introducing a new fee in January. Anytime a customer pays their bill over the phone or online with their credit card, they'll have to come up with an additional $2.

You can't hear them now.

The new $2 fee could end up hurting those customers the most who can least afford it.

Verizon's had its "B of A moment," reversing on its decision to add a new fee after customers retaliated.

A showcase of the most amusing under-the-radar business stories of 2011.

Commentator Cecilia Marquez describes the experience of taking a risk to get a paycheck.

Low interest rates and low inflation will help play into policy decisions, such as the future of the Federal Reserve.

States could expand lotteries and start new games like online poker thanks to a new ruling that allows Internet gambling.

A new fee will be hitting some Verizon users paying monthly bills with a credit card. That decision has already caused a bit of consumer backlash.

Virginia Rometty takes over leadership of "Big Blue," and sees a profitable future in making sense of the growing mountain of digital data.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University say that our currently yearly calendar makes things complicated for businesses.

You didn't say it, did you?

Now that U.S. troops have pulled out Iraq, turns out direct benefit for American oil companies never materialized.

Nickeling, diming, two bucking.

What can we expect from the housing, jobs, and European markets in the year ahead?

Maybe Rubio can help?

It's that whole "no one wants it" thing.

To some, brown-nosing is a dirty business. To others, it's an art.

It's got a big camera. Really big.

In the New Year, financial experts will keep a close watch on both the eurozone and China, and their impact on the global economy.

Unemployment may throw a wrench into your personal relationships. Learn tips — for the employed and unemployed — on how to navigate tricky social situations so you keep your relationships even in the face of job loss.

The Times Square celebration brings in a worldwide audience and millions of tourist dollars to NYC every year.

A graph of the stock market in 2011 looks like a contour map of Death Valley glued to the Himalayas. Despite huge swings, the S&P 500 index ended the year remarkably close to where it began.

The big corner-office changes this past year, and why your living room is the next, big battleground for tech giants like Apple and Google.

Wikipedia has always been somewhat idyllic in its business model: an enormous treasury of knowledge accumulated and edited by the whole world. We all collaborate to build the world’s greatest encyclopedia. Still, the number of editors for the site has fallen flat recently, so Wikipedia is changing its editing software in hopes of becoming more user-friendly.

As the Iowa caucuses approach, we look a little deeper at the economic policies of Republican candidate Mitt Romney. New York is threatening to strip some funding from struggling schools that don’t install new systems for evaluating teachers. A hacker collective known as Anonymous stole credit card and other info from security firm Stratfor. And in today’s Attitude Check, we look at how approval of Obama’s economic policies stacks up to presidents of years past.

The NAR Pending Home Sales index went up more than 7 percent in November — the highest number of pending sales since the spring of 2010. Some experts think it could be a sign that the housing market is on the verge of a recovery. Gerard Cassidy, the Managing Director of Bank Equity Research at RBC Capital Markets, is one of them. We spoke to him about his rosy view of housing in 2012.

Which political party do Americans prefer right now, and who are the year’s most admired men and women? Jeremy Hobson gets the answers in the latest Attitude Check with Gallup. U.S. ethanol subsidies are set to expire in January, and sustainability correspondent Scott Tong looks at the myths surrounding another energy source, Canada’s oil sands. A Chinese Internet company could try to buy Yahoo. The Occupy message is spreading to church sermons. Commentator Kristina Wong offers her predictions for what New Year’s Eve 2012 will be like. And Stephen Beard takes a look back at the tumulutous year for Europe.

While many Americans now do their scheduling on computers and smart phones, the printed calendar business is far from obsolete in 2012.

Despite billion-dollar blockbusters, 2011 saw fewer people in movie theater seats. Are bad films to blame? Try tough competition.

What's a good book to give to a loved one in his late 20s who just doesn't get personal finances? I keep suggesting that he listen to Marketplace Money, but I think maybe I'd do better getting him a book. Any suggestions? Marion, Philadelphia, PA

After record highs earlier this year, gold prices are sharply dropping in the U.S. as people lose faith in its value.

The Labor Department says jobless claims were up by 15,000 last week, to 381,000. But as Richard DeKaser explains, the bigger picture still shows things looking up in the job market.

How did Mitt Romney approach business and economics as both a private businessman and as the governor of Massachusetts?

Should look more like word processing and less like programming.

Yes, really.

Prepare to be amused. We've got some exclusive footage of Kai Ryssdal in the studio that you don't want to miss.

You will totally believe the names on this list!

Heading into the election year, we speak to Frank Newport at Gallup about how Obama's economic policies are faring in the American public, and why the economy will be the biggest issue in 2012.

In Greece, tax collectors are on strike to protest benefit cuts while in Italy, the government was able to borrow $9 billion to help pay for services, but banks willing to lend also demanded a high return.

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba wants full ownership of Yahoo. But national security concerns might stop any deal.

Except the ones that are

Big time whoopsie

It's the most wonderful time of the year… At least for cosmetic surgeons.

For years, Betty Crocker's Hamburger Helper dominated that market, but a new product from Kraft called Cheesy Skillet has recently started nibbling away.

The U.S. government could soon bring criminal charges against some BP employees in the company's huge 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Some sermons praise Occupy for raising concern about those in need. Other pastors say Jesus did not endorse an economic or political view.

New York threatens to strip some funding from struggling schools that don't install new systems for evaluating teachers. As states roll out new evaluation systems, teachers and administrators are often at odds over how to measure good teaching.

Everyone switch to GoMommy!

Gerard Cassidy thinks today's NAR Pending Home Sales index numbers are a sign that 2012 is the year the housing market recovers.

How do Americans feel about all the GOP candidates before next Tuesday? Also, Gallup's most admired people of 2011, and gauging support for the Democrats and the Republicans after the payroll tax cuts showdown.

The number of people applying for unemployment rose slightly last week, but the monthly average fell to its lowest level since 2008.

As a White House decision looms in February, analysts fact-check the Keystone XL pipeline debate.

The continent has had a dramatic year. The debt crisis seems to be in check right now, but there’s no telling what might happen next year.

Citizens for a Working America had once planned to support Michele Bachmann. It then bought an ad in Iowa for Mitt Romney's campaign.

Commentator Kristina Wong gives her summary of the year that was… 2012, a few months early.

The decades-old tax credit goes away this weekend, without anyone really noticing.

A hacker collective known as Anonymous stole credit card and other info from security firm Stratfor. Here's the lesson for our own online security.

Fast food chains seem to continuing popping around the globe, so why are all of the McDonald's in Bolivia actually shutting down?

It's not a solo act

I feel like I've written this story before

This blog post features Professor Katzenbeisser

For a quiet week on the markets, there was still enough going on the global headlines to bring things down. In the Middle East, Iran’s recent threats to block a key path for crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz had been driving oil prices up the past several days. In Europe, news that even more banks need the cheap loans the European Central Bank’s been handing out also shook up the markets. And Robert Pavlik, the chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, says for some a negative S&P is a good thing. The Daily Pulse is down today on news that public-worker pension funds lost big in the third quarter of 2011. Sometimes when it rains, it pours.

San Francisco has raised to the minimum wage to over $10 an hour, and that will effect the cities famed restaurants. On the other side of the country, negotiations will start today in New York between building owners and the union representing the people that clean those buildings. As the 10 year birthday of the euro approaches, David Brancaccio looks back at how Marketplace’s resident poet described the deal at the time.

Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz over new sanctions that could limit its oil and gas industry. Meanwhile, Poland wants to do business with China. Heidi Moore looks back on the year for the banking industry. U.S. states are cutting back smoking prevention programs. The city of Memphis, Tenn., continues on a slow recovery, while Texas is still dealing with the effects of a major drought. And commentator Robert Reich talks about what he thinks will be 2012’s defining political issue.

When it comes to technology, courts and legal scholars can run into some thorny issues. For instance, when does someone have a right to film you and put those images online? And what can you do about it once those images are up there? Jeffrey Rosen is with George Washington University Law School and has been thinking about how the Constitution addresses modern technology. Also in the show, bad grammar found in spam folders.

Oil prices are down a bit this morning after a Saudi oil official said his country would pump more crude. That follows Iran's threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, where about one fifth of the world's oil passes through.

Bye-bye 2011. So what will we be talking about in 2012? Here's a hint: The federal government.

That's a lot.

Faced with big budget gaps, state governments are taking money away from programs that help people quit smoking. Analysts say this will cost more in the long run.

It'll be the euro's 10th anniversary come New Year's Day. What economists predicted back then, and how true it holds now.

Legal issues loom over privacy and what a person actually is.

A number of museums are already collecting Occupy Wall Street materials in the hopes for future exhibits. Is it too soon?

In the summer of 2010, Memphis was filled with abandoned houses and other effects of the subprime crisis. A year and a half later, how's the city doing?

From pesky hidden fees to the status of Dodd-Frank financial reform, from the impact of Europe's debt crisis to lending — we look back at the year in banking.

So it tells you where to go

This summer, the pension plans of government employees lost a staggering quarter-trillion-dollars in assets.

One industry — restaurants — feels the city's minimum wage policy especially hard.

The National Labor Relations Board is about to lose the ability to enforce the nation's labor laws. On Dec. 31st, three of the five seats on the Board will become vacant. Without a quorum, the NLRB cannot decide cases.