Week of August 14th, 2017

Politicians are the real winners, one expert says.

The former chief strategist joins the list of the administration’s developing tradition of Friday departures.

Photographer Jason Reblando tells the story of America's historic greenbelt towns.

Alison Green of Ask A Manager answers listener questions.

Hiring a diverse workforce can be linked to better business practices and outcomes, including helping a company’s bottom line.

"When somebody has something good to say about you, you’d say, 'You know what? That’s great.'”

Steve Bannon has joined the list of recent White House departures, and with that, the prospect of a trade war with China got a little less likely. And that’s good, because in spite of all the real economic competition between the world’s two largest economies, they need each other. To that end: Beijing put out some new rules on overseas investments today, specifically limits on certain kinds of foreign acquisitions by Chinese companies. We’ll talk about what that means. Then: During the Great Depression, the government started an experiment. It designed and built entire towns that were federally planned and subsidized. They were called Greenbelt Towns, and three of them got made before politics and economics got in the way. We’ll talk with photographer Jason Reblando, who explores the Greenbelt in his new book “New Deal Utopias.” Plus, as always, we’ll cover a busy week in business and economic news during the Weekly Wrap.

In the wake of white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, a discussion of free speech and hate speech as they relate to the workplace.

In the wake of the white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, we dig into the nuances of how businesses handle the First Amendment and their own ethics policies. Plus, a discussion of the case for diversity in business, the question of whether you can bring your kids into the office and the ongoing debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement.     

We spoke to two businesses that depend on trade across the border — with Mexico and with Canada — about what NAFTA negotiations mean to them.

The types of jobs that are open to residents of Erie City, Pennsylvania, can depend on their access to transportation.

Trade barriers may rise and fall, but it's not a case of extremes, one expert says.

Markets are down in Europe today, after they dropped by more than 1 percent in the U.S. We’ll discuss what’s contributing to the ongoing downturn. Afterwards, we’ll take a look at globalization through the lens of the “elephant chart,” a creation from former World Bank economist Branko Milanovic that explains who the winners and losers of this phenomenon are. 

A wave of tech companies have condemned white supremacist organizations and websites, like the Daily Stormer. But will their online presence eventually fade away, or just find another outlet? It turns out that the Daily Stormer has moved its operations to what’s called the Dark Web. Nicolas Christin, an associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University, joined us to discuss whether sites like these will be able to thrive on the Dark Web. Plus: We play this week’s Silicon Tally with Doree Shafrir, a senior tech writer at Buzzfeed and author of the book “Startup: A Novel.” 

Dorothy A. Brown, a scholar specializing in tax policy, race and class, shares her perspective on President Trump's assertion that good jobs will "have a huge, positive impact on race relations."

Julie Creswell at the New York Times and Jena McGregor at the Washington Post have both written about the lack of women at the top of corporate America.

If you’ve been paying attention to some of President Trump’s recent public remarks, you might’ve noticed something (besides all that). He often leads with the economy, the stock market or his economic agenda and how great it’s gonna be. In his extraordinary press conference on Tuesday, he even pointed to jobs as a way to fix race relations. That argument seemed a bit tidy, so we called up an expert to check the facts. That presser was supposed to be about infrastructure, by the way. The president has hyped a big spending package on roads, bridges, transit and the like for a while now. Today, we traveled back to Erie, Pennsylvania, for our series “The Big Promise” to see how infrastructure, public transit in particular, affects real people. Plus, we’ll start off the show by asking: Are we at economic war with China?

Workers who frequently interact with customers were more likely to experience abuse or harassment.

Amazon is now the 400-pound gorilla, says one financial adviser.

Two of the world’s biggest tech companies, Alibaba and Tencent, are from China. With both having either recently released their quarterly earnings or preparing to, we’ll take a look at how they’re trying to expand their growth. Afterwards, we’ll chat with Rashad Robinson, executive director at Color of Change, about the action that tech groups should take when their users include white supremacist groups.

Racial justice leaders say PayPal has been helping fund racist groups for years.

Discover Financial Services is ending merchant agreements with what it deems as hate groups, while Visa and Mastercard are taking a similar stand. On today’s show, we’ll take a look at how big of a step this is toward limiting funding for hate groups. Afterwards, we’ll discuss Steve Bannon’s interview with Prospect Magazine, in which he said the U.S. is fighting an “economic war” with China. Then we’ll talk about the ongoing rivalry between Walmart and Amazon, which represents two sides of the U.S. economy: brick-and-mortar versus online sales.

New York Times culture critic Wesley Morris discusses the way race and culture intersect in the aftermath of Charlottesville.

And then he broke up with them.

The president to whom you’re an unofficial adviser does something … or doesn't. What do you do? Not everyone's answer is the same.

A number of high-profile women running companies have lost their jobs recently. Here's what it tells us about corporate America's attempts for more gender parity in C-suite positions.

Plus: Globalization, book club and a bit more about bitcoin.

CEOs of some of the biggest companies in America have been saying for the past two days they simply had to stay on two White House councils. But after Trump’s comments yesterday, more and more of them changed their minds and said a seat at the table wasn’t worth it. Finally, President Trump announced via Twitter that he’d be disbanding the councils anyway, thank you very much. We’ll talk about what changed the dynamic between the executive in D.C. and all the rest of them. Then: We told you yesterday about the time BMW took a chance on building a huge factory stateside. Today we’ll look at what happened and talk to the families enjoying the spoils of globalization in our series Trade Off. Finally: We check in with cultural critic Wesley Morris about what people want to watch in these troubled times.

Spartanburg County made a big bet on globalization when they landed a BMW manufacturing facility 25 years ago. Here's what that looks like today.

Parallel services are welcoming white supremacist groups that have been shunned by the mainstream media.

President Trump has been very critical of NAFTA, but Canada and Mexico are very important trading partners.

The Department of Justice has asked DreamHost for 1.3 million IP addresses connected to a site that organized protests around President Trump’s inauguration. On today’s show, we’ll look at whether there’s a historical precedent for such a request, and what this would mean for hosting companies if DreamHost were to give up this information. Afterwards, we’ll chat with Alex Klein, CEO of the startup Kano, about the importance of coding.

President Trump has dubbed the North American Free Trade Agreement “one of the worst deals ever.” Well, now he has a chance to change it as talks to overhaul the pact begin today. One of the original negotiators of the deal, Mickey Kantor, joined us to talk about some of the revisions we might see and why America’s trade relationship with Mexico and Canada is so important. Afterwards, we’ll look at how Target is faring as the threat of Amazon looms in the background.

Why would CEOs stick with Trump?

Javier Martinez, CEO of Martinez Brands, said NAFTA negotiators need to be "firm" in discussions.

In "BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts," Stella Parks tells how corporations popularized many treats (and yes, there are recipes, too).

It's clear today that not all boats rose in the tide of globalization…but in some places, it sure does feel like it.

Bringing a child to the office can bring up all sorts of questions.

An infrastructure announcement turned into an off-the-rails press conference this afternoon as President Trump blasted the four (now five) CEOs who have left his manufacturing council. We’ll correct the record on some of his criticisms and then zoom out to the bigger question: If you’re a CEO tapped for one of these White House advisory roles, why do you stay? Then: Trump has nominated people to fill just 106 of 577 key Senate-confirmed jobs in his administration. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are both lacking permanent leadership. We’ll try to figure out what’s at stake for the scientific community without — or with — someone in charge. Plus: Your pumpkin pie is a lie, and we’ll tell you why.

Part of our ongoing series "Trade Off."

Bank of America plans to launch a new premium rewards credit card next month. The bank is entering a crowded field of similar products from American Express and Chase, whose Sapphire Reserve card made headlines for its initial 100,000-point sign-up bonus and $450 annual fee. As a result, banks are changing the way they try […]

Clothing mysteries: What you've always wondered about belts, pockets and dry cleaning.

They're not as interested in those formal candlelight suppers.

Immigrant parents often depend on their children to translate for them.

It signals a change in how businesses decide who should editorialize the internet.

Daily Stormer, which describes itself as “The World’s Most Genocidal Republican Website,” has been let go from the domain GoDaddy after posting personal attacks about Heather Heyer, one of the Charlottesville victims. On today’s show, we’ll look at the role that services like GoDaddy play in controlling internet content. Afterwards, we’ll look at a growing debate over the manufacturing standards for environmentally friendly electronics. Manufacturers seem to be getting better marks for  these products, but some in the gadget repair community say the lenses for judging those manufacturers are getting a little rose-tinted. 

Two more high-profile CEOs — including Intel’s Brian Krzanich and Under Armour’s Kevin Plank — have resigned from President Trump’s manufacturing advisory council. On today’s show, we’ll look at how businesses are responding to this weekend’s violence in Virginia. Afterwards, we’ll talk about the possibility that the U.S. will place tariffs on foreign-made solar panels, and then discuss the controversy over allowing children to translate for their parents in emergency situations.

"We've got to take advantage of the moment," Dan Fogelman says about the Emmy-nominated show.

One small fishing town in Maine is trying something new to help the next generation gain valuable work skills: a new charter school focused on the idea of work-based learning — designed to put students into the community and expose them to different kinds of jobs in their state.

Seeing how we’ve started this program more than once with a tweet from the chief executive, we’ll start today with a tweet from a chief executive. Pharmaceutical CEO Kenneth Frazier was a member of President Trump’s Manufacturing Council until this morning. He announced his resignation on Twitter, citing Trump’s belated response to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend. Trump responded with two searing tweets Monday about drug prices. Frazier and the dozens of other CEO advisers to the president are once again facing scrutiny over their response to a national issue with Trump at the center. Then: One small fishing town in Maine is trying something new to help the next generation gain valuable work skills: a new charter school focused on the idea of work-based learning, designed to put students into the community and expose them to different kinds of jobs in their state. Plus: James Patterson has a new book out, and the villain is very familiar…

In "The Store," a couple takes on an online all-in-one-retailer that has taken over many aspects of life.

And no, scientists won't be able to use them to peruse Facebook.

The council has shrunk since it was formed earlier this year.

The Obama administration program designed to target homegrown extremism, Countering Violent Extremism, has seen grants diverted from community partnership programs to law enforcement.

As companies like Monsanto and DuPont gain patent rights to seeds, one group of plant breeders is trying to create an alternate open access seed market.

More than half of those surveyed use personal time to meet employers' demands.

The Uruguayan general assembly is currently reviewing a proposal aimed at assisting the transgender community.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has developed a Spaceborne computer that’ll be tested at the International Space Station to see if it can withstand trips to Mars. Mark Fernandez, lead developer for the NASA project, joined us to talk about the technology and why a private company like HP is getting involved. Afterwards, we’ll look at news that State Department workers in Cuba may have suffered from an “acoustic attack.” 

A rally planned by white nationalist groups ultimately led to violent clashes and the death of an anti-racist protestor, Heather Heyer, this weekend. One federal effort to target domestic terrorism, the Countering Violent Extremism program, had been set up by the Obama administration. But recent changes under the Trump administration have raised questions about the program’s future. On today’s show, we’ll take a look at what the program does and what might change. Afterwards, we’ll look at a RAND study that shows Americans are doing work during their personal time, and then discuss the question of who owns seeds bought by farmers and gardeners.