Week of December 10th, 2012

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http://features.marketplace.org/slideshows/1000.html Slideshow goes above this

http://features.marketplace.org/slideshows/1000.html Slideshow goes above

Swiss bank UBS is reportedly close to a $1 billion settlement with regulators over the LIBOR rate-rigging scandal.

A final note on today's tragedy in Newtown, Conn.

In the Weekly Wrap, Kai Ryssdal talks to Catherine Rampell from the New York Times and Felix Salmon from Reuters about the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer has named a new member to its board of directors. The Swiss bank UBS is likely to be fined around $1 billion for its role in a recent LIBOR scandal. To boost the country’s housing market, the Spanish government is offering a sweet deal to foreigners who buy a home there: citizenship. And Townsend Kyser, a catfish farmer from Greensboro, Ala., talks about how his business is doing after this summer’s drought.

The effects of the summer's drought in the Midwest linger for catfish farmers in Alabama.

As health care costs climb steadily for employers, wellness programs are moving to the factory floor.

Spain mulls new law offering residency to foreigners who buy pricey property.

This time of year, the spirit of volunteerism begins to creep out of the deepest reaches of the cerebral cortex and sends well-meaning people in search of a deserving outlet for a helping hand. Commentator Zachary Slobig says for the greater good, please resist that impulse.

With the in-fighting in Washington over the fiscal cliff, the future of tax deductions for charitable giving is uncertain. But author and philanthropist Kevin Salwen argues, if anything, we need to encourage more giving.

Yahoo has had four different CEOs in quick succession. Now it's changed almost all its directors in a single year. What can that say about a company?

President Barack Obama addressed the nation in an afternoon appearance at the White House: "Our hearts are broken today."

Marketplace Wealth and Poverty reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji takes a look at how the charitable tax deduction has changed over time and why some think lowering it could benefit the middle class.

The Federal Reserve says it will keep interest rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent. But what will it take to get there?

Every December, millions of Americans spend their hard-earned money on Christmas trees. To find out why this tradition persists and how consumers decide which tree is right for their budget, Tony Cox visited a busy Christmas tree lot in L.A.

The U.S. has advocated policy backed by major tech players like Google — that Internet regulation needs a light touch, if any.

U.S. Inflation: Wrapped up tight — with a bow on top. We'll talk falling consumer prices, and find out why the US and its allies want nothing to do with a new international treaty to regulate the Internet. We'll also hit on the long-lost proposal to call up a U.S. National Guard of Geeks, and get the story behind what I think is one of the best company names I've ever heard: Jewpon.

Turns out consumers got an early gift for the holidays last month. The Labor Department reported this morning that its Consumer Price Index dropped 0.3 percent in November. So, inflation is well under control. That’s good news for the Federal Reserve.

On Monday, Congress takes up a $60 billion recovery package for areas affected by Superstorm Sandy. When the lights went out and the floodwaters moved in, people needed food and sandbags, sure — but they also needed information and connectivity.

It’s the season for giving, and this year that apparently includes company bonuses. Workers are also giving back to their companies, by skipping vacations. How has charity changed over time and why ’tis better to give than to receive? Plus, we give you a first hand lesson in Christmas tree buying and share why some people think you shouldn’t volunteer for the holidays.

Those who earn $50,000 to $75,000 donate about eight percent of their discretionary income. That's twice as much — percentage-wise — as those making above $200,000.

Families and experts share how they express their generosity without pulling out the plastic.

It used to be that you might get a turkey from your boss as a holiday bonus, but today a bonus check is more like it.

The Swiss banking giant UBS is reportedly headed for a $1 billion settlement over accusations it rigged LIBOR interest rates — the benchmark for global lending.

People who don’t like the Apple maps that came with the new iPhone–quite a few–can finally go back to Google Maps, which seem to do a better job getting you where you’re going. The iPad version is also here soon. But the map battles are not over.

New study says some states are writing blank checks for incentives that don't pay off.

A new report from the Pew Center on the States points out some pitfalls of tax incentives for businesses. The report says states don’t realize how much the incentives will eventually cost them. Throughout the fiscal cliff debate, you’ve probably heard a certain metaphor that compares the nation to a household. But that comparison bothers one of the nation’s leading economists. And there’s a new law in effect called the CALM Act, and it means that TV commercials now have to be the same volume as the programming they interrupt.

Throughout the debate about the deficits and debt, you've probably heard a certain metaphor: One that compares the nation to a household. Well, that metaphor bothers one of the nation's leading economists, Robert Shiller of Yale University.

A Google Maps option for iOS 6 lets users a sigh of relief.

More Americans are using less vacation time. Are people too stressed and too cash-strapped to coordinate a getaway or are employers making it more difficult to take time off?

Can moving expenses be written off of your taxes if you relocated to be closer to your mate? How should you report a large gift to a non-dependent? Financial expert Louis Barajas answers listeners' questions related to end-of-year filing.

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For transportation app company, Uber, a victory in New York and Washington D.C., suggests a bright future.

In an age of slashed state university budgets, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block calls Geffen's gift "visionary."

NASA and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation among the best on the list.

Advertising Age’s top 10 viral ads show that many ad campaigns now originate on the Internet rather than as TV commercials.

To avoid the fiscal cliff, some want to change the Consumer Price Index to reflect lower real inflation. That would cut Social Security payments.

Google Maps are back on Apple products. There’s also an app called Uber that allows you to request car service from wherever you are, but it’s become a nightmare for cab drivers who make money doing the same thing — Kai Ryssdal talks to Uber’s CEO about the situation. The British government gave the okay for a company to resume test drilling for shale gas using the method known as fracking. We look into the concept of chained CPI and how it could solve our country’s deficit woes. Commentator Robert Reich shares an observation about gift-giving, and we imagine a world without holidays and holiday shopping seasons.

Britain's government has given a company the green light for further hydraulic fracturing. The extraction of shale gas is seen as an economic lifeline as North Sea oil and gas deposits dwindle.

Advertisers who turned up the volume to catch the attention of television watchers finally annoyed enough people that Congress outlawed the ploy.

Industry has fought tighter restrictions on soot from power plants for years. Today is the court-ordered deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency to deliver the new rules.

Does the embrace of online shopping lessen the meaning of the holiday season?

Google's new maps app was a blockbuster download on its first day. Will Apple ever lure its users back to Apple Maps?

How would the economy be affected if we didn't have Christmas and other holidays to stimulate our spending?

The first real look at holiday retail sales. In Europe today: 'One bank to rule them all' — a big step closer to a banking union. Google Maps is back for iPhone — could this actually be good for Apple? And speaking of Apple, what happens when you give an iPad to the Pope?

The new Google Maps app, released late yesterday for iPhone, may not be so unwelcome.

Despite some worries about consumer demand this holiday season, U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% in November.

Jdeal is one of several daily deal sites targeting ethnic minorities, women of color, vegans and others.

Michigan workers protested Governor Rick Snyder's decision to pass the right-to-work bills into law yesterday. They say the laws weaken unions.

The news of Michigan's 'right-to-work' law has reignited the debate about the role of unions in our country today, so how is the issue playing with the American public?

European finance ministers struck a major new deal over their debt crisis. They agreed that the European Central Bank — Europe’s equivalent of the Fed — should take over the supervision of the continent’s biggest banks.

China’s new leader Xi Jinping has only been in office a month, but he’s already turning heads.

You could believe the advertising about who has the fastest Internet connections or you could believe Netflix. The company’s movie streaming service generates useful data about which data service providers are fastest. Now it’s sharing its latest list. Plus, General Electric has come up with a new way to cool down electronic devices that’s quiet and thin. Dual piezoelectric cooling jets that quietly inhale and exhale. Think fireplace bellows or when you gently waggle the blankets for a bit when the bed overheats.

Unions in Michigan are facing a new reality. They'll have to convince their members to keep paying dues after Republicans passed a law that makes Michigan a right-to-work state. Governor Rick Snyder put his signature on the law.

On Capitol Hill today, fiscal conservatives are likely to argue against the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies that go to Amtrak each year. But Hurricane Sandy showed you need to spend if you want to save.

Unions in Michigan are facing a new reality. They’ll have to convince their members to keep paying dues after Republicans passed a law that makes Michigan a right-to-work state. What does the state’s governor, Rick Snyder, think about the new law? The Federal Reserve has spelled out what it’s going to do next to try and juice the economy. And it’s all about the ends rather than the means. And the Obama Administration is asking Congress to approve about $60 billion in federal aid for recovery from Hurricane Sandy — hundreds of millions of dollars of which would go to Amtrak.

The Federal Reserve has spelled out what it’s going to do to try to juice up the economy. Yesterday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced a new strategy that ties the Fed’s actions to unemployment and inflation rates.

Hurricane Sandy sparked spending in the Northeast, but Black Friday is national and so has more impact on retail sales.

General Electric has created a new quiet and super thin cooling system that could revolutionize consumer electronics, and Netflix has ranked our Internet Service Providers.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said he's going to keep interest rates at or near zero as long as the unemployment rate is higher than 6.5 percent, and the inflation rate is 1.5 percent or less.

Some wealthy individuals say a higher estate tax is fair, but others are fighting against proposed changes.

Some business people are definitely counting on the world not ending next week, with the end of the Mayan calendar. Have a commemorative beer!

A few bucks an hour more for low-wage workers can raise prices, but also boost economic growth for the country overall.

The deadline for states to decide whether they'll run their own insurance exchanges is looming.

What economists like to give (and get) as Christmas gifts. Spoiler alert: economists don’t think like the rest of us.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke about the fiscal cliff and QE4 today. As some prominent rich people are calling for the government to raise the estate tax as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations, we look at this history of this tax. A number of businesses are benefitting from the ‘apocalypse economy.’ States have until Friday to decide if they will operate their own health care exchanges or let the federal government do it. Freakonomics Radio’s Stephen Dubner talks about what economists like to give — and get — during the holidays. And micro-micro-brewing? It’s actually called nano-brewing, and reporter Mark Garrison has the story of the explosion of super-small craft beers.

Not all lawmakers at the end of their term are ready for retirement. An executive recruiter talks about how these "former electeds" make their way into the private sector.

Breweries that make only a few kegs of beer at a time are growing, as demand opens doors for home brewers to turn their hobby into businesses

What's next for right-to-work: We'll look ahead after the big vote in Michigan, talk about the economics of the North Korean missile launch, and talk with the author of Encyclopedia Paranoica — a big fat book of all the horrible threats under which we somehow continue to live our lives.

Seems like every time you turn on the news, there's some new danger to our health or our financial well-being.

Union protestors crowded the capitol, but Michigan lawmakers swiftly approved legislation yesterday making Michigan a so-called "right-to-work" state.

It's the second and final day of the regular policy meeting at the Federal Reserve. Later today we'll hear what, if any, additional monetary stimulus the Fed Board might endorse as the latest round of quantitative easing is set to expire.

North Korea defies international sanctions to launch a rocket. Japan has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which could take place later today.

Government-backed loans with the Federal Housing Administration help borrowers who might look like a foreclosure risk. And the reality is many of them are.

President Obama and House speaker John Boehner are still tussling over the details of any fiscal cliff deal. But the Wall Street Journal reports that, now corporate tax rates have entered the discussion.

There are now less than three weeks left until the fiscal cliff deadline. One option now being talked about as part of a package to avoid the fiscal cliff is an overhaul of corporate tax rates. A report out today from the conservative American Enterprise Institute says government-backed mortgages from the Federal Housing Administration may be too easy to get. And you certainly don’t want to go to a website that puts all your financial accounts in one place and makes charts and graphs out of your money. But of course more and more Americans are joining sites that do just that.

Call it a sign of the end of the world, or a sign of new beginnings…the Pope will likely be trending on Twitter today. Benedict the 16th will be tweeting official answers to followers’ questions in 8 different languages. And Facebook maybe a community but it’s no longer a democracy. Members were given the chance to vote on changes to the company privacy policy, and though the overwhelming majority did reject the changes–it wasn’t big enough.

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Pope Benedict XVI prepares to send out his first tweets after officially joining Twitter, and Facebook users fail to vote on their own privacy settings in a large enough numbers for change.

The 121212 concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden has raised more than $30 million, and the show hasn’t even started.

About 140,000 horses from the U.S. were sold to be eaten abroad. But some horses were never meant for human consumption.

Online health site WebMD plans to lay off 14 percent of its staff. Drug companies have curtailed ads because lucrative patents have expired.

Puzzle maker Ben Tausig on the problems with pay for those who make our daily mind bender.

CEO Tim Armstrong talks about AOL's hopes to reinvent itself and compete with Google and Facebook.

The Wealth & Poverty Desk’s Krissy Clark reports from Lansing, Mich., about the state’s passing of right-to-work legislation. The U.S. Treasury has sold all of its remaining shares of AIG, but the government still owns shares of some pretty big companies. With drug patents expiring, there’s been a drop off in big pharmacy advertising, and that’s hurting Web MD. The consumption of horsemeat is commonplace in the EU, but now there’s cause for concern because some of the drugs given to American horses aren’t safe for humans. And crossword puzzle creator Ben Tausig talks about the economics of creating crosswords for a living.

Sure, AIG's rescue turned a profit, but what about the rest of the bailouts?

Daniel Brock was happily teaching. Then he heard about jobs in the oil fields of North Dakota. Now he's happily working there.

Thousands of union members protest before Michigan becomes the 24th right-to-work state.

The Michigan State Capitol is hosting thousands of protesters this morning. The house is taking up a so-called "right to work" bill.

The International Monetary Fund says a $4.8 billion loan for Egypt is on hold. The IMF cited "unfolding developments on the ground."

Higher oil and gas production in the U.S. will change oil relationships around the world. The Middle East won't be called on to produce as much, costing it income, but Saudi Arabia will remain a key player.

The "right to work" battle is raging in Michigan; A huge penalty for a money-laundering bank; The IMF delays a big bunch of money that was headed for Egypt. And what's the difference between $10 and $15 an hour? Bigger than you might think.

The Federal Reserve committee that sets U.S. monetary policy meets today and tomorrow.

It looks like the U.S. government’s rescue of insurance giant AIG is coming to an end. And, amazingly enough, it’s a happy ending: The government is selling the last of its AIG stock — for a profit.

The United Nations said today that more than half a million Syrians have fled to other countries in the region, as the revolution against the Syrian government rages back at home.

The British bank HSBC is to pay almost $2 billion to U.S. authorities to settle a case over money-laundering and sanctions busting. The penalty is the biggest in the history of U.S. banking regulation.

The European Union, and the euro — for all its faults — has been credited with keeping the continent relatively peaceful of late. And European peace is the subject of our quiz this morning.