Week of June 22nd, 2015

A safe, clean place for belongings is critical to getting and keeping work.

Airing on Friday, June 26, 2015: The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling expanding marriage rights to same-sex couples changes the financial landscape for gays and lesbians in the U.S. We tally the implications when it comes to taxes, federal benefits, job mobility and so on. Next: This could be another record breaking weekend at the box office, with three huge movies primed to haul in millions. Hollywood is having quite the summer and it has barely started. But can it last? Marketplace explores. 

Kai Ryssdal talks with Phil Edwards from Vox about the money behind those cranes.

Saying 'I do' to higher tax brackets after the Supreme Court's ruling.

3 movies are primed to haul in millions this weekend. We're seeing halos.

Catherine Rampell and Felix Salmon join Kai Ryssdal to recap the week in business and finance.

The people will decide.

On this episode of Marketplace Weekend, guest host David Lazarus explores opportunity in our jobs, personal finances and the global economy. David speaks with Marketplace’s Paddy Hirsch about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership could impact market opportunity. Career coach Hallie Crawford discusses job opportunities and Gabriel Wisdom, president of American Money Management, speaks about the biggest missed opportunities from the past. Marketplace’s Molly Wood talks about capitalizing on car sharing programs, and the Wharton School’s Peter Cappelli talks about how opportunity in the U.S. has changed over time. 

Is the United States still an economic promised land?

Business is tough in a profession earmarked for reform and greater competition.

What if you want to improve your current gig?

Letting Healthcare.gov take over may make sense.

The Chinese stock market, checking in on the Greek economy, and negotiating with Iran.

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

Airing on Friday, June 26, 2015: First up, we’ll talk about how health care marketplaces may adapt after the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act. Next, we’ll talk about Nissan buying the naming rights to the Tennessee Titan’s stadium. So what’s in a stadium name? Turns out, millions of dollars. We also talk to Ariella Cohen of Next City about her outfit’s assertion that Rust Belt cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland should focus on their manufacturing roots when it comes to startup funding and innovation.   

Nissan buys the naming rights to the Tennessee Titans' venue.

Sanctions are the sharpest tool as John Kerry heads to Vienna for nuclear talks.

The first step is realizing your town may not be a Silicon Anything.

Airing on Friday, June 26, 2015: First up, Dan Slater, author of “Love in the Time of Algorithms,” comments on Match.com’s IPO. Plus, we’ll talk to Marketplace’s Dan Gorenstein about using healthcare data to look at the whole patient. And how well have you kept up with the week in tech? It’s time for Silicon Tally! This week, host Ben Johnson takes on actor and podcaster Jeff Cannata. 

Here are the numbers we're reading and watching for Friday.

U.S.-educated businessman serves up some tough love for his homeland.

Kai Ryssdal takes you inside the room with some of the world's most prominent business leaders.

Marketplace chats with the brains behind the designer-dress rental company.

Marketplace catches up with Jack Dorsey on life post-Twitter.

Quartz and Marketplace look at the history of American Apparel's controversial former CEO, jerk bosses and German erotica.

The Obama Administration has scaled back its proposal to hold colleges accountable for cost and value.

Airing on Thursday, June 25, 2015:  The Department of Education is bailing on its giant college ratings system, but plans to launch a website this summer that will let users compare colleges against a series of yet unnamed criteria, which may include employment and earnings data and graduation rates. How useful will the site be for students? Marketplace explores. Next: Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal talks to Funny Or Die CEO Dick Clover and President Mike Farah for Marketplace’s newest installment of “Conversations from the Corner Office.” The team talks about surviving the recession, taking risks and attracting A-list talent. 

Hospital stocks jumped eight to 15 percent as the ruling came down.

Turns out iPhone users are more likely to go for soups and salads.

Denmark gets some 40 percent of its power from wind energy — but it's aiming for even more.

The heads of Funny or Die discuss their silly path to success.

What's the best opportunity you've ever come across?

One former inmate uses coding to help those still in prison.

Marketplace talks to CEO Dick Glover and President of Production Mike Farah about failure, branding and competition.

A boom in spending, the economics of when you were born, and a question about the bird flu.

Airing on Thursday, June 25, 2015: First up, a briefing you might want to hear from someone who has been watching the Greek debt negotiations very closely. Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Risk, a consultancy that focuses on the risks countries face based on their debt, joins us with more. Plus, the federal health insurance law could be thrown into turmoil by the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning states could find themselves facing pressure to extend Obamacare in some way. And as we find out, that creates a business opportunity for some. 

A new research report from CreditCards.com looks at what we’re losing sleep over.

Airing on Thursday, June 25, 2015: First up, we’ll talk to Andrew Fitzgerald of Wall Street Journal about how much water data center uses to cool its machines. And as part of our prison technology series, we talk to the co-founder Collaborative Benefit, a LinkedIn type platform that connects incarcerated individuals with employers, about learning to code in prison. We’ll also talk to Sam Esmail, creator of the new show “Mr. Robot,” about actors playing hackers. 

The jobless rate at graduation makes a difference for years to come.

Some experts say failure of the Greek government is not out of the question.

Experts are still stymied by a bird flu crisis that cost farmers millions of birds.

A Supreme Court ruling is expected soon in King v. Burwell.

Here are the numbers we're reading and watching for Thursday.

The health care world waits for a decision from the Supreme Court.

Greeks resent the prospect of tax hikes and also the way that powerful people seem able to avoid taxes.

Carl Icahn purchased his shares three years ago at $58 a pop. This morning they went for $700.

Airing on Wednesday, June 24, 2015:  A merger between Sysco, a marketing and distribution food corporation, and US Foods has been put to a halt by a federal judge – a victory for the Federal Trade Commission. But on the retail end, European grocery chains Ahold and Delhaize are merging, which will make them the fifth-largest grocery operator here in the U.S. Next: Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal talks to Judd Apatow about his new book, “Sick in the Head,” and about the comedy business. The “Bridesmaids” producer talks about his comedic beginnings, success, and mentoring young comics. 

When it comes to competition, the distribution and retail ends of the grocery business are very different.

Ford Motor Company CEO Mark Fields on how tech is competing with the auto industry.

The U.S. economy, the Greek economy, and the Highway Trust Fund.

Greeks are betting that a car is a safer option for their money than a bank.

Senate is expected to clear fast-track authority legislation and send it to the president.

Airing on Wednesday, June 24, 2015: Senate is expected to clear fast-track authority legislation and send it to the president today. Big labor has gotten the blame or credit, for tough opposition against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The question is: how might they influence the trade deal going forward? Plus, a mega-merger in Europe may seem far away until you realize what it could mean for what you pay for food in America. More on that. And when it comes to providing social services as a way to head off health costs, it’s not one-size-fits-all. It’s one-size-fits-one. We dig into the type of high-intensity interventions that make a difference in the lives of complicated patients.

The Highway Trust Fund runs out of money this summer.

Airing on Wednesday, June 24, 2015: First up, we’ll talk with Alex Gawley, Product Management Director at Google, about Gmail’s new unsend button. And Molly Wood, Marketplace Senior Tech Correspondent, joins us to talk about Amazon’s Echo release. We’ll also speak with Nick Higgins, Director of Outreach Services at Brooklyn Public Library and Luce Maldanado Romero and family, about a program that allows inmates to read to their kids over remote video conference, for the third segment in our “Jailbreak” series.

Interventions that head off medical costs can be deceptively simple.

The TeleStory program lets inmates read to their children through a video connection.

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

In this corner of healthcare, it’s not one size fits all. It’s one size fits one.

Olive Garden's owner will spin off part of its business into a REIT.

Tweets, not rings, will herald the arrival of the vehicles.

Airing on Monday, June 23, 2015: Massachusetts has scrapped the decades-old method of defining low-income students in public schools based on income information submitted on applications for free and reduced-price lunches. The new measure relies on whether families receive benefits like food stamps, and it has “reduced” the number of kids classified as poor. Marketplace looks at this new assessment, its potential impact on school funding and whether it will catch on in other states. Next, Darden Restaurants, owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, announced plans to separate part of the business into a real estate investment trust.  Marketplace looks at how this spin-off/lease-back works and how it makes money for Darden and other companies using it.

As more schools opt to feed all students, officials find other ways to rate need.

Tracking technology companies will "ask for forgiveness, not permission."

Eateries like Chipotle and Taco Bell ditch GMOs and dyes, but to what benefit?

Peanut butter pine cones or dead mice, anyone?

Airing on Tuesday, June 23, 2015: First up, we’ll talk to Lindsey Turrentine, CNET, about Instacart reclassifying some of its workers as employees. Then, Peter Wayner, author and programmer, joins us to talk about Amazon’s new pay-per-page structure for self-publishers and what it means for writers and readers. And Bernadette Rabuy, Prison Policy Initiative, tells us about video visitation in jails, the second segment in our “Jailbreak” series.

Bond markets, airline fees, and job training.

Airing on Tuesday, June 23, 2015: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley declared that the Confederate flag should be removed from the statehouse grounds. Now, Wal-Mart is saying its removing all Confederate flag merchandise from its stores. More on that. And Congress gets to work this week figuring what to do with federal education funding for next year. A lot is on the chopping block, including grants for improving math and science education, and school safety, as well as Title I funds for low-income students. Plus, there’s an increasingly popular theory that underlying problems like poverty, addiction and social isolation drive some patients to be hospitalized and use the ER more. Some doctors, hospitals and insurance companies believe that by addressing those, you can improve health and save money. So why do skeptics outnumber the optimists?  

Airlines now charge their customers a raft of fees for all sorts of things.

But there's little to no chance Obama will sign it into law.

But is it a suitable replacement for in-person visits?

Here are the numbers we're reading and watching for Tuesday.

The idea: lower medical costs a lot by spending a little more on social services.

Airing on Monday, June 22, 2015: Sales of existing homes increased by about 5 percent in May, reaching their highest level since 2009. We look at what’s behind this housing number, and the role of first-time buyers—who accounted for about 30 percent of transactions—in this increase. Next: Instacart is reclassifying part of its workforce as part-timers to get out of the independent contractor issue, which is threatening to drop an anvil on the sharing economy. We’ll use that as the way in, and also look at other approaches to solving this problem, such as the push to create a “dependent contractor,” which would be the first new job classification in years.  

The company is reclassifying some of its independent contractors.

More first-time buyers leaped into the housing market in May, Realtors say.

The former Fed chairman thinks Alexander Hamilton should stay put on the $10 bill.

With an unemployment rate of 25 percent, workers must support extended families.

CEO George Michel says the fast-casual chain is expanding.

Social media shaming caused Apple to change its tune.

Betting big on Greece, and trouble for travelers to the U.S.

State Department says technical experts are working around the clock to fix it.

Airing on Monday, June 22, 2015: Market participants are placing big bets that the Greece debt crisis is about to resolve itself. But are those positions premature? More on that. And patients who are very sick and very tough to treat have been a moneymaker for healthcare providers who get paid by the number of services provided. But with a system that rewards quality, not quantity, the best way to make money is to save money. We’ll hear about a program in Dallas that’s done just that by matching the right care with the right patient.

Airing on Monday, June 22, 2015: A technical glitch in the U.S. Visa system may cause a headache for thousands of visitors to the United States this summer. In addition to recreational travelers, visas for farmworkers from Mexico and visiting students could also be affected. More on that. We’ll also talk to Will Oremus, senior tech writer for Slate, about Twitter’s Project Lightning. And Eric Markowitz, senior writer for International Business Times, joins us to talk about how new technology gets inside prisons, the first segment in our “Jailbreak” series.

Closing loopholes and allowing blocking could help stop annoying calls and texts.

These are the numbers we're reading and watching for Monday.