Week of May 8th, 2017

It's that time of year, again. Celebrities, politicians and business leaders are dispensing advice through commencement speeches. Here are some highlights.

Corporate landlords bought up properties during the housing crisis. It's worked out well for them.

Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post and Linette Lopez of Business Insider join us to discuss the week’s business and economic news. This week they talk about if President Trump’s firing of James Comey will slow down the administration’s economic agenda. Plus, they analyze Trump’s handling of the facts in his interview with The Economist.

'Sending a note feels so much more meaningful than a text,' says card maker Rosanna Kvernmo.

Hmm, who could he be talking about?

We want to hear about the worst infrastructure problems in your area.

We have a lot to talk about on the Weekly Wrap this week: We’ll cover the economic impacts of Comey’s firing, the interview President Trump gave about his own economic policies and that letter about Trump’s Russian business interests or lack thereof. Then: State governments submitted more than 500 infrastructure projects to the White House for consideration as Trump puts together his spending plan. We’re tracking what’s on each state’s wishlist along with APM Reports. Plus: What the Justice Department’s new action on drug offenses means for the private prison business.

Taxpayers foot the bill for congressional and special counsel investigations, but where does the money go?

We’ve got your infrastructure woes this week, plus we look into Los Angeles’ metro expansion. Then, Georgetown law professor Laura Donohue explains what government investigations cost the public, and author Zeynep Tufekci and Lizzie discuss modern-day protests that are happening via social media. Plus, just in time for Mother’s Day, Lizzie stops by a stationery and greeting card store whose business is booming.

Demonstrations without infrastructure are less effective, says author Zeynep Tufekci.

Is it a cuss?

Outlets became part of our shopping lives during the recession. Now they're taking on the trappings of full-price malls.

Europe’s highest court will decide in a few months whether Uber is a software company or a transportation service. If it rules the latter, that could mean unionization among the company’s workers and guaranteed benefits for them. But could the ride-sharing giant withstand the cost increases associated with this regulation? Plus: We’ll end the week by playing Silicon Tally with Alex Davies, a transportation editor for Wired.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has announced that U.S. and China have reached a deal to open each other’s markets up to one another — kinda. Which industries stand to benefit, and will this actually bode well for the future of their relationship? The BBC’s Andrew Walker breaks it down for us. Afterwards, we’ll look at the growing comparisons between the mortgage-lending crisis of 2008 and the current market for car loans, and then talk about the role private investors could play in the president’s infrastructure plans.

By the way, he didn't coin the phrase 'priming the pump.'

The first qualified applicant must be approved under the ordinance. Landlords are suing.

Glenn Kelman says the most important qualification for his job is passion.

Drug-related deaths highlight a critical need for more trained pathologists.

There's a lot of momentum in the courts to update the meaning of sex under the Civil Rights Act, a women's rights attorney says.

As we await tonight’s already-a-bombshell conversation with NBC News, there’s another Trump interview we’ve been unpacking today. The president and two of his key economic advisers sat down with The Economist to talk health care, trade and more. We’re going to zoom in on one part, where Trump said he’ll “prime the pump” of the economy while claiming he invented the term. He didn’t, but we’ll talk about what it means and why that policy matters. Then: The Senate has confirmed Robert Lighthizer as the U.S. trade representative, and he’s going to have his hands very full (see above). Plus, we’ll look at a grim but hidden dimension of this country’s opioid epidemic: morgues and medical examiners are overwhelmed.

Marketplace correspondent and host Sabri Ben-Achour explains the fundamentals of the North American Free Trade Agreement and what would happen if NAFTA was terminated. 

The Economist thinks it's 'dangerous.'

The music of Make Me Smart.

States, unions, campaign advisers and consultants flood the White House with proposals. The president’s pledge to cut regulations and his condition for funding – “If you have a job that you can’t start within 90 days … it doesn’t help us” – risks leaving critical construction and repair behind.

Former executives from companies such as Panera will join the grocery chain.

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has hit a record high in value this week. What many, including the Fed, also see value in is Bitcoin’s underlying technology, blockchain. We’ll chat with Jim Cunha, a senior vice president for the Federal Reserve, about why the group has interest in this weird, esoteric technology. Next, we’ll discuss the thousands of anti-net neutrality comments left on the FCC’s site (all using similar language), and then hear from Gizmodo’s Ashley Feinberg about the publication’s experiment involving a fake email phishing hack and some pretty high-profile figures — including former FBI Director James Comey.

Trump and other key staffers from his cabinet sat down with some editors for the Economist to talk about the administration’s approach to the economy. Zanny Beddoes, the publication’s editor in chief, joined us to talk about the president’s perspective on trade and tax reform. Plus: A look at the struggles that retailers across the U.S. are facing and what they can do to overcome declining traffic.

Snapchat's parent company dropped back to its IPO price of $17 a share.

Even after cutbacks, the district is facing a $10 million deficit.

Kellyanne Conway went on CNN this morning to talk about President Trump’s bombshell firing of FBI director James Comey and said this: “You want to question the timing of when he hires, when he fires. It’s inappropriate. He’ll do it when he wants to.” Um, asking questions is exactly what a free press in a representative democracy is supposed to do, and we still have a lot of them. Questions like: what’s gonna happen with health care? Tax reform? Trump’s trillion-dollar infrastructure package? And there’s a broader question that’s unique to this president: Is this how you run a business? Is it how you run the government like a business? We’ll talk about it. Plus: the state of schools in Erie County, Pennsylvania and the second part of our interview with Susan Burton.

A candid conversation with Glenn Kelman about technology, the real estate market, 'Love in the Time of Cholera,' and why he needs to be the excited person at the company.

Marketplace Weekend wants to know about the infrastructure in your community.

What effect will the FBI director's ouster really have on the president's plans for health care, infrastructure and tax reform?

A legal adviser to the European Court of Justice (essentially the EU’s version of the Supreme Court) will give his views on whether Uber is a transportation company or a digital service — which could mean much stricter rules for the ride-sharing giant. The New York Times’ Mike Isaac is here to talk about how Uber has tried to define itself and its biggest blind spot. Afterwards, we’ll look at the launch of another Amazon internet-connected device, The Echo Show, and then discuss Salt Lake City, Utah’s promise as a growing tech hub.

With a fight looming in Congress about replacing FBI director James Comey, we’ll take a look at how the incident could translate into slower economic growth. Afterwards, we’ll discuss another unsolved mystery in Washington that involves America’s central bank. Jeffrey Lacker, the president of the Fed’s regional bank in Virginia, retired early over allegedly confirming confidential information to a Wall Street analyst. 

We'll talk about the reason the White House gave and what this means for Trump's policy goals.

After doing several stints herself, helping women transition out of prison is personal.

We look back at the creation of the standard deduction, which President Trump is looking to double.

What is the best way to buy gold bars?

We went three rounds.

President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey, the White House said, for the way he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. We’ll talk with Politico’s Sudeep Reddy about whether that reasoning passes the sniff test and what this news means for Republicans’ congressional goals. Then: The Trump administration has put off a decision about staying in the Paris climate agreement as coal production is up. The long term for coal is trickier though. Plus: “American Idol” is back from the dead.

VIX, known as the 'fear index,' gauges market volatility.

Teams of girls are coming up with financial apps as part of a global tech competition.

It’s National Teacher Day, which means kids will likely be showering their teachers with thank-you notes and gift cards and apples. And they need all the support they can get — about half of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years. On today’s show, we’ll explore the dissatisfaction they face and the negative effects such a high turnover rate has on schools. Afterwards, we’ll look at why a key measure of investor anxiety, VIX, may have closed at its lowest level in decades, and then talk with Marketplace regular Allan Sloan about his proposal for how people should pay Social Security taxes.

Comcast and Charter, companies with a combined 47 million customers, put out a vague press release this week stating they would explore opportunities for “operational cooperation.” Roger Cheng, executive editor of news at CNET, explains why the two are coming together and what that could mean for consumers’ internet options. Afterwards, we’ll take a brief look at the story of Dread Pirate Roberts. No, not the character from “The Princess Bride,” but the man who created the Silk Road website using that name as his online pseudonym: Ross Ulbricht. Nick Bilton, author of “American Kingpin,” stopped by to talk about controversy over the creator’s identity, legal pushback against the site, and ethical quandaries surrounding the dark web.

Is the time savings worth the risk?

West Texas has always been a vast, desolate, windy place. Now the skies are filling up with turbines.

Trump's election triggered a rise in nationalism. A populist leftist candidate is channeling that feeling.

Co-founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf wants you to see 'the complex, gorgeous realities of the continent' in African books.

Besides the dangers of dysentery and cholera.

Emmanuel Macron easily won France’s presidential election over the weekend, but he has a rough road ahead. Parliamentary elections are next month, and the rest of Europe will be watching. We’ll look at what comes next, then turn to Mexico, where U.S. President Trump’s plans for a border wall and continued uncertainty over NAFTA have triggered a national conversation there about the American border and economic freedom not seen in years. Plus: a whopping fourth of Starbucks’ sales come through its mobile app, but that app could be vulnerable to fraud. 

An immigration emergency can cost thousands of dollars in fees and lost income.

His victory may signify a rejection of Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, instead of support for him.

Snap has tons of daily active users, tons of daily active media brands, and soon, it could have television programming. Shalini Ramachandran from the Wall Street Journal shares the type of programming Snap is planning to roll out, and how the company will collaborate with old media like NBC. Afterwards, Jalek Jovanputra, a managing partner and founder of Future Perfect Ventures, explains how the underlying technology of bitcoin might be used in the physical world. 

The pro-European Union candidate, Emmanuel Macron, just won the French election, so why’s the euro down this morning? Its dampened value may be a sign of things to come during his term. On today’s show, we’ll take a look at the uphill battle Macron could face in the near future. Afterwards, we’ll talk with Jose Quiñonez about the approaches his nonprofit, the Mission Asset Fund, is using to support families who face deportation.