Week of July 17th, 2017

Amazon just keeps growing. So does its spending on lobbying in support of policies it thinks will aid that growth. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show the company is on track to spend $12 million lobbying this year, $1 million more than it spent in 2016. What’s on Amazon’s wish list? Click the […]

This week, the House of Representatives detailed a 2018 budget plan, a first step toward a tax code overhaul. But it’ll be no small lift to get to the big corporate tax cut President Trump has promised. The administration wants to lower corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 15 percent. That’s going to be […]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a shot across the bow of congressional Republicans in the form of a not-so-subtle message — don’t screw up tax cuts like you did health care reform, or else. Its letter explained that a year from now, the Chamber will be evaluating candidates based on their support for a “free […]

At the U.S.-Mexico border, two of the region's largest urban areas share a water source — and it's become a race to the bottom.

Britain continues its negotiations to leave the European Union.

We pay tribute to the summer movie season with a look back at the thriller that put blockbusters on the summer calendar: “Jaws.” Plus, we talk short selling with the Wall Street Journal’s Ben Eisen and get into Amazon’s $12 million lobbying budget and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s message to GOP lawmakers grappling with President Trump’s tax plans.

The Treasury Department has fined ExxonMobil $2 million for violating economic sanctions against Russia while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was running the company. On today's show, the BBC's Jonathan Frewin joined us to break down the controversy. Afterwards, we'll discuss Sears' new business relationship with Amazon, and then look at a possible cut in federal funding to an early earthquake-warning system.

Sears has inked a deal with Amazon that it hopes will boost its flagging sales. Amazon will begin selling appliances by Kenmore — one of Sears’ flagship brands. But there could also be a downside for the struggling department store chain. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.  

General Electric is expected to report its second quarter earnings before the markets open today . It’ll be longtime CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s last chance to seal his legacy at the company before stepping down at the end of the month. GE’s stock has earned the distinction of being the worst performer in the Dow Jones […]

“Got Milk?” is arguably the dairy industry’s best ad slogan ever. But how about “Got Cheese?” That do anything for you? Americans are eating record amounts of cheese — 35 pounds of it per person each year on average. But diary farmers still have plenty left over, and there’s a huge surplus of the base product, milk, […]

We haven’t seen much in wage gains out of recent jobs reports from the Labor Department. The most recent one, for June, showed average hourly wages, as reported by employers, up just 2.5 percent over the past year, not much better than inflation. But another measure of income from the Labor Department, based on a […]

In a bid to avoid the legislative fiasco that was the attempt at Obamacare repeal, the GOP has tried to take a more deliberate approach to its next big priority — tax reform. The White House said it has held “hundreds of listening sessions” on the topic, and Politico reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and […]

In Paris, 25 senior economists and public officials from about two dozen countries recently met behind closed doors to talk about how the world economy is doing. One of them: Diane Swonk from DS Economics. She shared some good news (the rest of the world seems to be doing better) and bad news (these gains have caused negative undercurrents in political elections). Afterwards, we'll look at how companies are trying to allow free speech, while blocking propaganda from terrorist organizations like ISIS at the same time.

Visa is set to report third-quarter earnings today after market close and all signs are pointing to good news.

Disability Rights Advocates filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber.

Over on the Billboard Country Charts, a song called “In Case You Didn’t Know” by Brett Young is sitting at the No. 2 spot. Young is relatively new to the country music scene, and just last year, he went out on a radio tour across the U.S., as many new country artists do. The radio […]

Tax reform is like health care reform in at least one important way: If Republicans want to pass it without Democrats, they can’t raise the deficit too much over the long term. But tax experts who have analyzed the GOP’s main proposals say they would add trillions of dollars to the deficit.  Click the audio […]

The U.S and China began talks in Washington today about trade and other issues. The talks — billed as an “economic dialogue” — have a couple of clouds hanging over them. Like North Korea and steel, which, the U.S. complains, China produces and sells too cheaply. But there are other issues. Chinese companies want access to […]

The Republican effort to get rid of Obamacare and maybe, sometime, replace it is alive again. Or is it? The Congressional Budget Office released a new score this afternoon on GOP efforts to repeal and delay replacement. The bottom line: 32 million more people without insurance by 2026, and a cut in federal deficits by $473 billion in that same period. We’ll get you up to speed. Then: local governments all around the country have sent the White House hundreds of projects for consideration under a big infrastructure package. But Trump’s push for private investment could mean his base gets left out of the spending spree. Plus: Can baseball movies make a comeback?

For a good long while, Sherry Lansing was the highest-ranking woman in the entertainment industry. Under her tenure, Paramount saw huge success with "Forrest Gump," "Braveheart," "Titanic," "Saving Private Ryan" and the launch of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

The measure would be the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market.

Markets have more to think about than health care (thankfully). Susan Schmidt from Westwood Holdings Group joined us to talk about other factors investors are looking to, like earnings season and housing starts. Afterwards, we'll talk about the state of the manufacturing industry, and then discuss how Comic-Con makes money for itself.

The annual Comic-Con International kicks off this week in San Diego. Comic-Con makes money selling tickets, renting floor space to vendors and exhibitors, and getting sponsors. GuideStar, which tracks nonprofits, says the convention has seen steady year-over-year revenue growth for the last 17 years, as comic culture has become central to pop culture. The most […]

After months and years of trying, there’s going to be no replacing — or repealing — of Obamacare. At least for now. You might expect that health insurance companies have been holding their breath, waiting to see what’s next. But it turns out many of the larger insurers don’t make much of their money selling insurance in […]

Stalled health care reform efforts put strain on the dollar today, as investors in Asia and elsewhere started dumping the greenback. President Trump’s difficulty in getting his domestic policy agenda passed is one factor in the dollar’s doldrums, but there are others. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has scrapped plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act after two more senators said they couldn't support the measure. But McConnell says he's already got another plan in place, which would involve a straight up repeal of Obamacare. On today's show, we'll look at how feasible this plan actually is. Afterwards, we'll talk about a ripple effect from the failure of health care reform in currency markets, and then discuss how Coursera, which provides massive open online courses, is partnering up with the insurance company AXA to provide free courses to AXA's employees.

We’re in the middle of another theme week at the White House. This time it’s “Made in America Week.” President Trump is expected to issue a declaration tomorrow highlighting the importance of American manufacturing. He’s promised to help U.S. companies by lowering corporate taxes from their current 35 percent to 15 percent. But will reduced […]

Remember MOOCs, the massive open online courses that promised to transform college as we know it? That hasn’t happened, exactly. But MOOCs are alive and growing. And today, one big provider, Coursera, has announced a new partnership with the insurance company AXA to offer free courses to their nearly 150 thousand employees around the world.  […]

Despite all the president’s complaints on the campaign trail about China and the unbalanced trading relationship the U.S. has with them, the Trump administration and China are scheduled to announce the details on bilateral trade talks this week.  The Chinese economy continues to grow; it’s up a fresh 6.9 percent during the second quarter. But […]

The Trump Administration released its objectives for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, our trade deal with Mexico and Canada. President Trump has called NAFTA the worst trade deal ever, citing factory jobs that moved to Mexico. The Trump Administration wants to “maintain existing reciprocal duty-free market access for agricultural goods” and […]

The Senate was supposed to vote on the latest attempt at health care reform, but that's been delayed. Julia Coronado, founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives, stopped by to explain what this means for the legislative calendar and other parts of the GOP's agenda. Afterwards, we'll look at the pros and cons of Netflix's investment in original content, and then discuss the possibility that Sweden may become the first nation to go cashless.

Netflix has been ahead of its competitors in creating original content.

The U.S. has pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, but it’s already put $1 billion into the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund. That’s meant to help poor and developing countries manage climate change. And while President Trump said he won’t commit any more money to the fund, the White House still wants American delegates […]