Week of October 6th, 2014

ESPN The Magazine's Mina Kimes and Shane Ferro from Business Insider look back on the week's news.

Record labels are relying on comedy as music sales continue to decline.

Where do you live? Why do you live there?

This weekend, Lizzie O’Leary talks with Marketplace’s John Sepulvado and record label Kill Rock Stars’ Portia Sabin about the supply and demand of the comedy industry … Fisherman Dean Blanchard tells us about his business off the Gulf Coast in light of a Supreme Court case about grouper fish … And could you please put your cell phone on silent? Marketplace’s Ben Johnson tells us why more venues are banning phones inside. 

A look at the weird things and people that have caused markets to crash.

What does Enron have in common with a fish?

The Westport, Ct. library has two robots that patrons can learn how to program.

The market’s up; the market’s down. What’s causing all the volatility?

Fracking for oil is expensive, so at some point falling prices will make some wells unprofitable.

Why the money you spend on coffee is not, in fact, enough to retire on.

Saudi Arabia is keeping its pumps going despite a glut of oil and falling prices. In the meantime, some U.S. companies could start shutting down rigs if prices fall much more. Plus: the market’s up; the market’s down. You can – and people have – blamed everything from Germany’s slowdown to problems in the Middle East to the weather. 

The television ratings company has been reporting incorrect ratings for the past six months.

Some worry that people are too busy spending to remember why they have a day off.

The Wall Street Journal's Sudeep Reddy and Redfin's Nela Richardson joined Kai Ryssdal to talk about the week that was.

There's a new, higher price tag for the fight against ISIS.

More kids than ever are taking the SAT, but lots aren’t ready for what comes next.

World economies, mental health days, and Bolivia's elections.

The sell-a-thon persists on world stock markets this morning. This is the week that the International Monetary Fund revised downward its forecast for economic growth around the world, not so much the U.S., but a lot of other places, including Asia and Europe. More on that. Plus, we talk about a connection between the digital device that so many of us can’t seem to do without and digging big holes in the ground–Electronics need certain rare metals and other natural materials that are often in limited supply and hard to find.      

First up, Faith Hope Consolo, Chair of the Retail Group at Douglas Elliman Worldwide, talks about Amazon’s brick-and-mortar retail store opening in New York City. And how well have you kept up with the week in tech news? Host Ben Johnson takes on Anna Sale, host of the Death, Sex, and Money podcast, for this week’s Silicon Tally.

Only 45 percent say they get help from employers to meet mental health needs.

President Barack Obama will declare it a national monument on Friday.

How well have you kept up with the week in tech news?

The government agency that gives loans to American exporters is raking in interest payments.

On the air since 1982, the company has to strategize for an app-driven world.

Women-owned businesses win less than five percent of the government's contract work.

Shell-branded Lego toys are not much longer for toy store shelves.

A former corporate raider looking to remold companies. His current target? Apple

AIG lawsuit reveals former the Fed chairman corresponded as "Edward Quince."

Activist Investor Carl Icahn is going after Apple again, asking the company to buy more shares and more quickly. We ask the question: What does Icahn actually want? Next: A company called GT Advanced is in bankruptcy court Thursday, reeling from the casualties of its relationship with Apple. It had hoped to make glass for the iPhone 6, but Apple went with Corning instead. Finally: Lego announces it won’t renew a long-standing partnership with Shell, after Greenpeace used the toys in an animated video attacking Arctic oil development. Greenpeace, they say, in effect mugged Lego to make its point about the Arctic.   

Lego and Shell are strange bedfellows, but they're far from the strangest.

A plant took on an outsize importance in the fracking world and created huge price swings.

The state has worked on creating a culture of safety.

The JPMorgan breach might include more banks: Here's what we're reading Thursday.

The Gap falls into the gap, President Obama as fundraiser, and the Paris Motor Show.

First up, Chairwoman of the FTC, Edith Ramirez, talks about cramming and AT&T’s $80 million settlement. Plus, BBC reporter, Theo Leggett, joins host Ben Johnson to discuss why some manufacturers devote time and money to building futuristic cars that no-one will ever be able to buy.

At five major U.S. airports, the government will screen passengers for Ebola symptoms. In Spain, three more people have been quarantined, and in Texas, Thomas Eric Duncan succumbed to the disease yesterday. As the death toll from the Ebola epidemic approaches 4,000, the World Bank is out with a new report on the economic effects of the virus’s spread, estimating the cost could be $32 billion. Meanwhile, a new report reveals that senior citizens in 49 out of 50 states don’t have enough money to replace their pre-retirement income. Experts say retirees need at least 70 percent of the income they earned in their working years, but only seniors in Washington, D.C. and Nevada are in a position to make this happen. Also, many consumers don’t know that bills are negotiable. Sometimes, all you have to do is pick up the phone and call your cable or cell phone provider and you could save as much as 10 percent from your monthly bill.    

Over 270 companies from 20 countries show off their latest vehicles.

The Chairwoman of the FTC, Edith Ramirez, on the fight to save you money.

The president is doing less campaigning lately. Is that helping Democrats?

Seniors in 49 states don’t have the money to replace their pre-retirement income.

Few of us realize how much we can save by asking companies for a better deal.

An oil company finds a creative way to participate in Breast Cancer Awareness.

An industry group wants to reclaim a term from opponents of oil drilling.

Self-driving cars are the Next Big Thing, but they face several road blocks.

There's a disconnect between the jobs market and what workers are looking for.

The U.S. is 'the one eyed man in the country of the blind.'

The IMF had stern words for the state of Europe’s banks and the policy tools it’s used — and still using — to ease the continent out of recession.  The U.S., whose approach was initially scorned by Europe, is pulling out ahead. Is that good for the global economy? For the US? Plus, unemployment is low, and job openings are now at a 13-year high. But it takes 25 days to fill a vacancy — so what’s the disconnect between what the labour market is offering and what workers are looking for? Finally, Western Pennsylvania is ground zero for the battle between industry and citizens over fracking, the oil-and-gas procedure. And now it’s a battleground for the word “fracking,” as oil drillers try to reclaim fracking as a positive term.  

The CDC's on-the-ground work involves risk, problem solving, and money management.

Lisa Goldenberg of Delaware Steel Company shares how the economy feels day-to-day.

Americans leave bigger tips than in the past and it could be all about appearance.

New Ebola screenings and waiting for Fed minutes: Here's what we're reading today.

Water and sewer utilities raise rates to meet infrastructure costs.

Paid screenings, student loans, and laying transatlantic sea cables

Worries about the economies of Europe, Japan, and China helped shove the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 272 points, yesterday, 1.6 percent. The S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent. But a counter-vailing push could come later today as companies start to release their quarterly profits and losses. Monsanto’s results come during the trading day. Alcoa’s after the market closes. Stock prices have been held up in part by the trend of using profits to buy back company shares. But are companies taking this too far? And forty years ago tonight, October 8th, 1974, President Gerald Ford went before congress and declared a kind of war: the Whip Inflation Now speech. We take a stroll down inflation memory lane. Plus, Fortune Magazine’s senior editor at large Alan Sloan, has been reflecting on this autumn’s big Moment (capital M) for bond investors. He joins us to discuss.

First up, Scott Defelice, President and CEO of Oxford Performance Materials, drops in to talk about 3D printing medical devices and FDA regulation. Plus, Molly Wood, Technology Columnist at the New York Times, on Samsung’s rough year. And Rob Spiro, co-founder of Good Eggs, talks about his food delivery startup that acts as a middleman between local farmers and customers.

Critics have sounded alarms that companies are pumping up their stock price.

A startup that bridges the gap between local farmers and customers.

A new report shows 20-somethings' average student loan debt is up $10,000 from 2005.

This time for police cars.

Celebrities and fashion lines are almost guaranteed to attract eyeballs.

Decisions about fuel have as much to do with gender norms as energy density.

There's no federal law requiring companies to say if your data has gone astray.

Plenty of shows are resurrected, but not all can pull it off.

Education technology companies unveil a new privacy pledge. How far does it go?

David Lynch broke ground for today's best — and darkest — series decades ago.

Timothy Geithner, former head of the New York Fed is in court today, testifying about the AIG bailout. This is a big deal because the evidence he gives could change the popular narrative about how the crisis was handled and why. Plus, in an attempt to protect the rapidly growing ed-tech business and get out in front of new laws or regulations, several big-name ed-tech companies are signing a “voluntary” privacy promise, vowing not to sell student data or use it for marketing purposes.  Thing is…lots of big names (Google, Apple, Pearson) aren’t there. And it’s a pretty thin promise. Finally, David Lynch is bringing back “Twin Peaks” after 25 years… 25 years during which the short-lived TV series became a cult classic among new generations of DVD viewers.

If you watch TV online, you're likely to see the same ad over and over again.

Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner testifies at the AIG trial.

IMF, LED, CDC and IBM: All the acronyms we're reading about Tuesday.

A look at the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from 1989 and 2013.

Collusion on wall street, LinkedIn ranks colleges, and sponsored festivals in India.

First up, we get a new window on jobs in America—one the Federal Reserve watches closely to measure the strength of the overall labor market. It’s called JOLTS, or “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.” We have more on what a certain number in that report—the Quits Rate—says about the U.S. economy. And it’s turning out to be a bleak autumn for factories in one pivotal global economy: Germany’s. More on that. Plus, public health officials continue to track the well being of about 50 patients in Dallas who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. To date there are no signs of infection. The labor-intensive surveillance operation is being run by local health officials and a pair of epidemiologists for the CDC. The two are officers in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. With the Ebola outbreak growing, these ‘disease detectives’ are taking on an increasingly important role. On todays show, a profile of people who fly into communicable disease hotspots for a living.

First up, Lindsey Turrentine, Editor-In-Chief of Reviews at CNET talks about GoPro and why they’re doing so well despite the decline of point-and-shoot digital cameras. Plus, a conversation with Nicholas Carr, author of The Glass Cage, on the hidden costs of automation and taking pleasure in difficult work.

The Quits Rate in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover report remains low.

LinkedIn makes a foray into university rankings by looking at "desirable" jobs.

'Geeky problem solvers' who keep tabs on people potentially exposed to Ebola.

The number of charter schools is rising fast in some states.

How can a video game teach us a valuable life lesson? Nicholas Carr explains.

Find one of our ads on a New York City bus, tweet at us and you could go for free.

A new survey from Pew worries Kai Ryssdal.

Corn is not what you think. For starters: Most of the time, it's not human food.

Between labor disputes and declining ticket sales, budget issues and contract disputes, classical music halls are having a tough time.

The NBA announced a deal with networks, giving us a glimpse into the future of TV.

Public parks are trying to get people away from screens and into the community.

Kai Ryssdal talks to YouTube lit adaptor Bernie Su about the web-series industry.

Silicon Valley stalwart Hewlett-Packard is going to divide itself two publicly traded companies. One will focus business technology, including software and services, while the other will sell PCs and printers. HP isn’t the first company (tech or otherwise) to change it’s business model of late. Plus: Reading behind the news that the JP Morgan hack was the tip of a very large iceberg, it turns out that the regulations governing disclosure of hacks to the public are full of holes. They vary from state to state, and in some cases, depending on what information has been compromised, may not require disclosure at all. Finally, as part of its latest deal with the NBA, ESPN will offer online streaming of regular season games live, even for people who aren’t cable or satellite TV subscribers. It’s a major shift in approach. We run down the questions remaining.  

The split formalizes two different directions the company was already headed in.

New census data says more adults ages 18–24 are getting diplomas.

If patients avoid the ER, it could mean big revenue losses for hospitals.

HP, bitcoin and more numbers we're watching today.

A Marriott hotel in Nashville, TN, is in trouble for jamming guests' Wi-Fi.

Silicon Valley stalwart Hewlett-Packard divides itself into two companies.

A conversation with William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

First up, William Dudley, president of the New York Fed, responds to criticism his team needs to be tougher on Wall Street firms. This question moved to the foreground after the public radio program This American Life–with news organization ProPublica–obtained audio recordings made secretly inside the New York Fed. The recordings were made by a then-New York Fed employee who would later sue for wrongful dismissal. Next, to Brazil, where the incumbent president Dilma Rousseff now faces a tough run-off election, after a more pro-business candidate did much better than expected in voting yesterday. The candidacy of the centrist had been practically written off at one stage in the campaign with attention focused on a third, upstart candidate, who fizzled. The Brazilian economy has weakened under the incumbent, as capital moved away from emerging markets, like Brazil. Some middle class Brazilians took to the streets in the past year to protest poor government services.

First up, Will Oremus, Senior Tech Writer for Slate, joins us for a preview of Tesla’s newest vehicle, “the D,” which is being unveiled at an event on Thursday. Plus, Buzzfeed’s Katie Notopoulos stops by to talk about installing teen-monitoring software on a stranger’s phone to spy on her digital life.

The New York Fed president talks inflation and addresses recently leaked tapes.

The middle class's giving, as share of its income, grew.