Week of November 24th, 2014

The story first broke online, and social media have been a force throughout.

The average household nearing retirement has just $110,000 socked away in retirement accounts, one expert says.

Six rules for better shopping.

Law professors make a radical proposal: Scrap the traditional board of directors.

Black Friday may be known as one of the busiest shopping days, but it’s also one of the biggest protest days.

Toyota couldn't find people with the skills they needed. So they trained them.

The material in blu-ray discs make solar panels more efficient.

In addition to holiday shopping and leftover turkey, it’s open-enrollment season—time to think about financial choices for next year, like retirement savings. Plus, some law professors and now some entrepreneurs are playing with the idea of outsourcing boards of directors. How would it work?  Like an accounting firm provides accounting services, or a law firm provides legal services.

Plus: Tweeting to skip delays at the airport and staying secure on Cyber Monday.

A well-timed tweet can help you snag the last seat on the next flight out.

How kids perform in early grades could shape their path to college.

How well have you been following this week's tech news?

Britannica has moved away from books and toward free content on the web.

A lot of people are opting to avoid shopping on Black Friday altogether – or at least to stay at home and shop in their PJs. We weigh the safety of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, especially in regards to hacking. Then, robotics expert Ryan Calo enjoys us to play Silicon Tally. 

Retailers are using what they learn online to sell you stuff in the store.

Every year at this time, the president of the United States, leader of the free world, participates in a truly bizarre political ritual.

Oil slides … stores gear up for Black Friday mania … and two lucky turkeys get off scott free.

This weekend, don't forget about Small Business Saturday.

First off, the EU has voted overwhelmingly to break up Google and other search engines to prevent them from stacking results with their own services. We’ll talk about what the vote means and doesn’t mean. Then, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is meeting Thursday, and with oil prices at a four-year low the group is at a […]

Hint: Soon.

With oil prices falling, the group will have to give up market share or profits.

First up: European Union is voting Thursday on the extent to which Google can promote its own services in search results. Google has a 95 percent market share in Europe, and while today’s vote is nonbinding, it could build momentum to break up the tech giant. Then we take a look inside the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, quite literally: how do they get those giant balloon characters filled up every year? Finally, Ben chats with the Atlantic’s Alex Oosola about the way women of different races see opportunities in STEM fields.

Lawmakers say Google shouldn't promote its own services in search results.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is meeting Thursday, and with oil prices at a four-year low the group is at a crossroads. Scott Tong tells us about OPEC’s tough choice: cut production and sacrifice market share to raise prices, or stay the course and let prices keep falling. Plus, from northern Michigan’s largest food pantry in Traverse City, we look at how they are handling the demand on their help this holiday season. Finally, they call it the shopping season for a reason. American consumers are expected to spend a third of their annual retail expenditures between now and the end of the year. We take a look at what day is best to buy. 

Traverse City, Michigan, is home to one of the state's largest food pantries. Here's how it's handling demand for its services.

Tennessee Promise is as much an experiment in marketing as it is in funding.

You've probably heard it's the day businesses finally make a profit. Nope.

Driving from one end of the town to the other provides some perspective on where protests are taking place.

Changes in global supply and demand have weakened OPEC's influence in the market.

Agency is forbidden from taking costs into account when writing rules like one proposed this week that would lower amount of smog-causing ozone allowed in the air.

Some traders are betting that stock in American chicken producers can only go down from here.

Crop prices have fallen, so Deere & Co. predicts farmers will buy less equipment.

34,000 tons, to be exact. Happy Thanksgiving.

Two economists who studied the long-term effects of urban rioting say many cities never truly recover.

Pollution is an issue in big cities in the U.S., but how and when do regulators weigh the economic costs of allowing pollution against the environmental benefits of curbing it? And how has the process changed over the years? Plus, Deere & Co. earns two-thirds of its revenue from farm and turf machinery, so when times are tough for farmers, times are also tough for John Deere. The company says it expects sales to fall further, because low prices for commodities like grain are pushing down demand for tractors and other equipment.

In Atlanta, a case study in rebranding and how transit can reshape a neighborhood.

It's the EPA vs. Industry in a battle of cost versus benefit.

Buying back foreclosed homes, immigration reform, and eating out for Thanksgiving.

First up, host Ben Johnson visits a hacker house in the Kansas City Startup Village, where he talks with Home For Hackers founder Ben Barreth and residents Chris Baran and Bryce Lenhart, from TravelingNuker.com. Then, Max Read, Editor-In-Chief of Gawker, joins us to talk about how the site moderated racist and hateful comments on a post about the Grand Jury ruling on Darren Wilson.

Coal fired power plants put out toxins like Mercury, a pollutant linked to problems with fetal development and other ill effects. Now, there’s word that the U.S. Supreme Court is taking on a case challenging clean air rules put into place by the Environmental Protection Agency. The issue raises broader questions about regulating power plants, as the Obama administration plans to issue further rules. Plus, activists angry at the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson are encouraging a nationwide Black Friday boycott. As lower-income, non-white Americans are the ones who primarily lineup for those deals a successful boycott could have a significant economic impact. More on that. And at a time when the threat of Ebola has scared Americans, many were not sparing a thought for the ‘flu. Influenza can kill adults as well as children, puts thousands of adults in the hospital, and sickens one out of ten of us every year. Yet, we can’t get it together for a flu shot. We look at some reasons why.  

The numbers we're reading and watching for Wednesday.

Restaurants that serve dinner on Thanksgiving are increasingly busy.

"The more people that get shots, the safer the group will be," says one expert.

It depends on whether customers just buy the same stuff later. Or get creative.

"Hipster Flipper" Steven Jones of Better Shelter has bought, renovated and sold dozens of homes in the Highland Park area.

New stars are born less frequently on stage and more frequently online.

It's called 'enterprise tech,' and it's growing: Microsoft, Google, IBM and maybe now Facebook are involved.

This weekend, Lizzie O’Leary talks with Marketplace’s Noel King about the G-word: gentrification. Ben Johnson explains how to stay secure while shopping on Cyber Monday. Lizzie talks about sustainable protein with cricket farmer Andrew Brentano, and has grasshopper tacos for brunch at The Black Ant in New York City. YouTube star Sam Tsui explains his rise to fame in a niche market. And, ’tis the season: how do you balance helping others with your own financial needs?     

Edible insects may help save the environment, if they can be farmed cheaply enough.

Dressing room mirrors with touch screens that tell stores about your preferences and buying habits are part of a wider push to track online and offline shopping activity.

New FDA rules will require more businesses to post calorie counts. Most of them will turn to a database to help them (roughly) figure it out.

People in Ferguson are dealing with police actions, fires, and closings of businesses and schools. We look at the long-term setback in light of the years of redevelopment work in the area. Plus, just who counts those calories in the fast-food items that we see displayed? How do they do it, and how real are the numbers?  

By the end of the year, the airline plans to provide you with an eggheaded excuse to avoid talking to the passenger next to you.

Marketplace's Adam Allington is in Missouri covering the grand jury decision.

A Stanford anthropologist calls the ban a "sideshow" and points out that the country is a "superpower" of cigarette production.

Luxury homes have been selling well of late, partly because of overseas investors.

Students who meet with their advisers are more likely to enjoy college.

Economic growth July through September, calorie counting, and why Peter Thiel likes monopolies.

New FDA rules require more food sellers to reveal number of calories in what they sell.

The numbers we're reading and watching for Tuesday.

First up on today’s show: corruption, international soccer, and corporate sponsorship. Several published reports today say the Japanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony is drop its sponsorship of World Cup soccer. More on that. And the latest U.S. housing numbers come out Tuesday. In recent months, luxury homes have been particularly doing well.  This is due in part to overseas investors. Is this international speculation good for the housing market? Plus, a moment of reflection about America’s innovation economy. We know that in technology hubs like Silicon Valley, it’s cool to fail. That’s the mark of a seasoned, risk taking entrepreneur, having tried, failed and tried again. It may also be cool to draw a mediocre salary. That’s the argument of  one of America’s leading technology venture capitalist, who says he looks for low salaries at the top of start ups when he’s thinking about investing. Peter Thiel was also a co-founder of Paypal and the first outside investor in Facebook. We spoke with him at his offices in San Francisco.  

First up, Cesar Pérez Barnés, partner and the head of the Mexico office of the Southern Cross Group, joins us to talk about coaching and funding startups in developing markets. Then, Lindsey Turrentine, Editor in Chief of Cnet.com, talks about Google Play’s app store standards and what happens when bad apps sneak in. And Harry Coghlan, President and General Manager of Clear Channel Outdoor New York talks the largest digital display billboard in Times Square. 

The Silicon Valley venture capitalist talks cultural issues in the tech industry.

Rewriting the job description for the Pentagon CEO

Even celebrities in financial trouble can make tens of millions after death.

The new policy could reduce stress and increase parent involvement in schools.

Update: Added some information on the St. Louis County grand jury, which has declined to charge Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. We devise a job description for a new Secretary of Defense that reflects the demands of the modern world. Plus, we examine the potential impact of the new immigration policy on higher and lower education. 

The brewing company is partnering with Jay-Z to try to appeal to younger costumers.

Whole states lose out, and, also, global warming.

Fracked oil wells decline in output quickly — requiring more fracked wells

More than 70 percent of American households have a high-speed Internet connection.

Here are the stories we're reading and numbers we're watching Monday morning.

The World Bank moves away from coal, pinning down the wealth gap, and Estonia's e-residencies.

Monday is the deadline for a deal in Iran’s nuclear talks. It’s a case where oil sanctions have been seen as successful in bringing Iran to the table, but unwinding those sanctions could prove tricky, because of all the parties involved. And when that does happen, Iran’s oil exports could add to the worldwide glut of oil. Plus, at a time that Russia calculates it’s losing $40 billion a year because of Western sanctions stemming from the situation in Ukraine, the falling global price of crude oil is not helping. Russia is a huge energy producer and some Russian officials can’t shake the idea that the low prices are a plot designed to hurt Russia. More on that. And when you think of “Turkey,” you might think of the country in West Asia and Southeast Europe. This time of year, Turkey could mean a “large, gallinaceous bird.” Or Turkey: a flop, a dud. Marketplace regular and Fortune Magazine senior editor at large Alan Sloan uses the last definition on this Thanksgiving Week, as he looks at the business turkeys of 2014. 

On today’s show, Will Oremus, Senior Technology writer at Slate, talks about why Yahoo and Mozilla struck a deal over search for Mozilla’s Firefox browser – and why Yahoo is returning to search after so many years of stocks and sports. Plus, Eva Galperin, global policy analyst with the electronic frontier foundation, joins us to talk about a new tool that helps activists and journalists protect themselves from government malware. Last up, we explore Estonia’s announcement that they will allow foreigners to apply for a special e-residency program, giving them access to world-leading digital services from all over the world.

Monday is the deadline for a deal in Iran’s nuclear talks.

The tiny Baltic state of Estonia aims to do just that by offering "e-residencies."

Could stronger marriages narrow the class divide?