Week of September 25th, 2017

These mortgages let seniors take out loans, using their homes as security.

A look at what the proposal will mean for the economy.

Tech companies are in the hot seat over ads linked to foreign accounts.

Hurricane Maria devastated farmland on the island.

Putnam Investments' CEO has some ideas for making defined contribution plans more relevant.

After she was confirmed, the transportation secretary resigned from the board of Vulcan Materials but held on to deferred stock awards worth $300,000, an amount that could grow if Chao helps push an infrastructure bill through Congress.

In Puerto Rico, farmers are starting over from seeds, growing back $780 million in crops lost to Hurricane Maria. We speak to a reporter on the ground on the island and to a restaurant owner whose business is literally underwater. Plus, we talk reverse mortgages, tax reform, infrastructure and retirement planning. Later, The Killers take the Marketplace Quiz. 

Notes of ashtray or campfire in your pinot? Vineyards say smoky weather from this year’s wildfires could leave lasting mark on wines.

Nellie Bowles of the NYT says that fringe ideas about gender roles have become "emboldened" and grown.

Rock band The Killers take the Marketplace Quiz.

Lobbying is the word of the day as we look toward the rest of Congress’ year. Tax policy might be the only issue that affects more Americans than health care, and if you thought the fight over Obamacare was intense, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Then, we’ll look at Facebook and Twitter, who are both in hot water with lawmakers over Russian interference in the 2016 election. Later, we’ll examine the rebuilding effort in Puerto Rico and what debt’s got to do with it. Plus, we’ll talk about President Donald Trump’s tax cut in the Weekly Wrap.

How American protectionism affects cruise ships.

(Markets Edition) Let’s dive back into tax reform. With the plan being released earlier this week, what does it mean for the deficit? Can we even start calculating how this’ll affect our personal taxes? Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, breaks down what this all means. Afterwards, we’ll look at California’s efforts to help students in need of food assistance. 

Answering the unanswered questions from our Explainathon.

With a GDP of 266 billion euros, economists say Catalonia could be economically viable without Spain if it secedes in its Oct. independence referendum.

A survey of 34 universities and community colleges found that about 48 percent of students reported food insecurity in the previous 30 days, 22 percent with such low levels of food security that they qualified as hungry.

(U.S. Edition) Equifax is trying to make amends for its massive data breach: consumers will get free credit freezes. But we’ll take a look at whether this method is all that effective, and what a freeze can mean for your financial decisions. Afterwards, we’ll talk about Twitter’s role in proliferating Russian-backed ads during the 2016 presidential election, and then we’ll round off the show by discussing Catalonia’s referendum to secede from Spain.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … First an emissions-cheating scandal, then a profit warning, now an arrest. We’ll take you through the latest twists and turns for Volkswagen. Afterwards, the number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh passed the half-million mark today … a situation that has become the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, and a humanitarian nightmare. Then, we’ll take you to the Norway-Sweden border, where the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones investigates whether the frictionless border-crossing strategy could be a blueprint for the U.K. in its Brexit negotiations.

Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple are four of tech’s most powerful brands. But have they become too powerful? And is regulation the only way to stop them? Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, about how these companies grew to global dominance and our love-hate relationship with them.

Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU Stern, says the tide is turning against Big Tech.

Pam Palme, a nurse anesthetist in Colorado, shares her story of going back to school to pursue nursing.

Eastside Café, a treasured El Sereno center, stopped its building's sale with a bid of its own.

As tax week marches on, ranking Republicans in Congress and the White House are busy talking up their reform proposal. We’ll do some fact-checking around who wins and who loses, then tackle all the potential changes to the corporate tax code. After that, we’ll look at how one Los Angeles neighborhood group is fighting off gentrification by buying its own building. Plus: The second half our conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said putting PCs on every desk was just the beginning.

(Markets Edition) The last sweeping tax reform came to Washington in 1986, bringing swarms of lobbyists to the Capitol. Now that the GOP has finally released a tax plan, we’ll look at the big payday that could be in the making for them. Afterwards, Diane Swonk of DS Economics joins us to explain why Hurricane Maria might not have as big of an impact on GDP as either Irma or Harvey. Then, we’ll focus on Miami to find out how Irma has made an already bad situation worse for vulnerable communities in the region.

(U.S. Edition) We’ve got some competing narratives on the Republican tax plan, with leaders of the loyal opposition saying it’ll just end up helping corporations and the wealthy. We’ll discuss what tax analysis groups have to say about its potential impact on poor and middle-class Americans. Afterwards, we’ll look at how some in Congress are pushing to have the Trump administration lift a 1920s law that says only ships made in the U.S., with U.S. crews, can ferry goods between U.S. ports. And finally, we’ll look at how German car-making is in trouble as the world questions diesel fuel.

Miami-Dade’s poorest are hard hit by Hurricane Irma and its aftermath.

Relying on old technology like diesel could prove fatal, an expert says.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service…Rough skies on the horizon for discount Irish airliner Ryanair as it tangles with regulators after leaving hundreds of thousands of customers flightless. Afterwards, we’ll discuss how ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, has snapped up new oil and production rights in Brazil. Then, what if it didn’t take higher taxes or more austerity for governments to build bridges and repair crumbling infrastructure? Former Swedish government official Dag Detter says cities are sitting on a gold mine.

By now we are all very aware of the Amazon effect: how Amazon is changing the retail industry. But it’s reaching businesses you may not expect. One is high-end hair salons, which used to make big profits from selling products like luxury shampoo and styling sprays. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood looks into how online sellers have cut into the business of hair.

Hair products once sold only in salons are now offered online. Salons are relying on customer relationships to sell the merchandise.

Republicans, Democrats and lobbyists are choosing words carefully to sell their positions.

Why only a third of Americans are saving for retirement.

The ingredients used 30 years ago to rewrite the code don't exist today, including shared principles.

Congressional Republicans and the White House took the wraps off their plans for the tax code today. It’s still pretty broad, but we’ll start the show by working though some of the details we got today: doubling the standard deduction, how companies will use tax savings on profits they bring home and maybe most importantly, how party leaders are gonna sell this thing. Then, we’ll take a look back to 1986, the last time the government got tax reform through. Plus: A conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about his new book, immigration and — what else? — tax reform. 

After a one-time tax holiday in 2004 companies used repatriated funds to buy back their own stock or pay dividends to their shareholders.

Trump's administration said it won't lift the Jones Act restrictions as there are enough U.S. ships to help Puerto Rico. While previous presidents have lifted the restrictions following natural disasters, “the situation in Puerto Rico is much different,” said Gregory Moore, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The "consummate insider" talks about the course change he's planned for the legacy tech company.

"Tax morale" is high as President Trump prepares to unveil reform framework.

We’ll have three brackets instead of seven, with the option of a fourth for the wealthiest Americans.

(Markets Edition) Republicans are scheduled to release an outline for tax reform, which would include a reduction in the corporate tax rate. Susan Schmidt from Westwood Holdings Group joined us to discuss what that could mean for U.S. companies who keep a lot of their money overseas. Afterwards, we’ll take a look at how the major market indices are doing this morning, and then discuss how the devastation left by Hurricane Maria could lead to a brain drain from Puerto Rico. And finally, we’ll talk to Kenneth Shropshire, CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, about the FBI’s arrest of 10 people on suspicion of bribery in college basketball.  

Hurricane Maria has devastated Puerto Rico’s already fragile economy.

Harvey and Irma likely caused $170 billion in damage. But they'll probably boost GDP in the long run through rebuilding.

(U.S. Edition) In the GOP’s latest hope for a big legislative win before the 2018 election cycle, Republicans are now turning to tax reform. We’ll take a look at what Trump’s planning for both personal and corporate tax rates. Afterwards, we’ll discuss the FBI’s arrest of 10 people — including an Adidas marketing executive — in a college-basketball bribery investigation. And finally, we’ll talk about the economic impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. 

The tech industry has a diversity problem. Silicon Valley has had a wave of sexual harassment scandals in recent months. And only 18 percent of computer graduates nationwide are women. But at Harvey Mudd College, women make up half of all computer grads. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks to Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe about how we got here and what we need to do to close the diversity gap.

An in-depth conversation on diversity with the president of Harvey Mudd College.

Harvey Mudd President and computer scientist Maria Klawe believes we need to be inclusive — and vocal.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … hypocrisy is the word on the lips of many in the U.K. and Canada after the U.S. rules in Boeing’s favor as it hits Canadian plane maker Bombardier with a 220 percent tariff. Afterwards, we’ll take you to South Africa where the largest trade union is staging a strike that threatens to shut down the country. Then, to Pakistan, where we’ll investigate why the multi-million dollar DVD piracy business is on the verge of extinction.  

The state capital is the home of the largest Yazidi community in the country.

But now he's leaving the magazine. "After 9,200 days of deadlines, it would be nice just to kick around a bit."

You have a LOT of questions. Luckily, we have a few answers.

Farmers want to see reform to the H-2A visas program, that allows foreign agricultural laborers to work legally in the U.S.

Hurricane Maria left 3.5 million Americans scrounging to find food, water and electrical power. President Donald Trump announced today he’ll be heading to Puerto Rico to assess the damage and check on aid efforts. “It’s the most difficult job,” he said. “It’s out in the ocean. You can’t just drive your trucks there from other states.” That’s true! We’ll talk about it. Then: Facebook touches 2 billion people around the world, and some in Congress are calling for regulations that would treat it more like a media company. But what would that even look like? Plus: A conversation with outgoing Vanity Fair Editor (and long-time Trump enemy) Graydon Carter.

Federal prosecutors have announced charges of fraud and corruption in college basketball, including against four coaches.

(Markets Edition) The CEO of Equifax, Richard Smith, is stepping down following news of the company’s data breach. We’ll look at the state of its stock, and then recap how the major market indexes are doing. Afterwards, David Kelly, chief global strategist at JP Morgan Funds, joins us to discuss how feasible tax reform is. And finally, we’ll talk about how Nike’s Jordan brand has failed to catch up with Adidas in the shoe race.

Republicans have control of the NLRB for the first time in almost a decade.

Adidas has moved past Jordan brand as the second-most popular sneaker in the U.S., according to market research firm NPD Group.

The breach exposed the information of about 143 million Americans.

"Human beings are not born to work for somebody else. Human beings are basically entrepreneurs," economist Muhammad Yunus told us.

(U.S. Edition) As we focus on a host of important issues including health care, tax reform and disaster recovery, there’s another news item you shouldn’t miss: higher crude oil prices. We’ll look at what’s going on behind the scenes of its production, and how these prices are being affected by threats from Turkish authorities to cut off certain pipelines. Afterwards, we’ll look at the Senate’s confirmation of William Emanuel to the National Labor Relations Board, which means Republicans will have the majority of the seats. Plus, we chat with Muhammad Yunus, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, about the flaws he sees in economics.    

Baby formula, braces, air purifiers and more.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service…the international price of crude oil hit a two-year high. We’ll tell you why an independence referendum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region is fuelling the rise and what it means for prices going forward. Afterwards, we’ll discuss why a Brazilian court blocked a government decree to open a vast natural reserve in the Amazon to commercial mining. Then, one of Europe’s parliament members explains why she thinks blockchain – a technology underlying cryptocurrencies – could help governments cut down on corruption and make voting easier.

There is a lot of technology created for use in space that also finds applications here on Earth. One is radar technology that can hear human heartbeats underneath rock and dust. It’s being used to search for survivors after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City last week. Tech like this gets licensed to private companies through a NASA spinoff program. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks to Dan Lockney, who leads the Technology Transfer Program.

Bunker sales are up. But disaster preparedness experts question if they're a good investment.

The island territory manufactures a quarter of all US exported drugs.

The president is scheduled to talk more about it on Wednesday.

Congressional Republicans and the White House have promised they’ll start filling in the blanks on their proposals to overhaul the tax code Wednesday, though you’d be forgiven if it escaped your notice. Anyway, the early glimpses we’ve gotten of the White House’s plans have been a bit confusing, so we’ll start today’s show trying to sort it all out. Then: Critics have accused the government of being slow to respond to the devastation in Puerto Rico, but one industry is watching very closely: Big Pharma. More than a quarter of all the drugs we export are made in the territory. Plus, Nebraska has more refugees than any other state in the country per capita. Today we’ll take a look at Yazidis, a religious minority in Iraq that has found a second home in Lincoln.

The tax break for homeowners has been around as long as the tax code itself.

President Trump called on the NFL to fire players who did not stand during the national anthem.

Mike Solomonov and his restaurant partner Steven Cook opened Federal Donuts with a group of friends. They didn't expect it'd actually be successful.

(Markets Edition) Angela Merkel won Germany’s election on Sunday, but the far-right Alternative Party (AfD) ranked third place and will get seats in parliament. We’ll discuss the struggles Merkel will face, and some of the stances the AfD has on immigration, the EU and the euro. Afterwards, we’ll find out how markets have been reacting to the news, and then talk about the long road ahead for tax reform. Plus: A look at how Seattle plans to increase affordable housing. 

These new rules will go into effect on Oct. 18.

(U.S. Edition) We may be getting the first look at a Republican plan for tax reform this week. The details that are beginning to emerge indicate that there could be a 20 percent corporate tax rate, and fewer tax brackets for individuals. Afterwards, we’ll discuss the latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare: the Graham-Cassidy bill, which the Senate Finance Committee is set to consider this morning. Plus, we’ll visit FEMA’s Atlanta Distribution Center to find out how the agency has changed the way it responds to natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 

The plan, called the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda, relies on an exchange between the city and private developers known as the grand bargain, brokered two years ago.

FEMA's logistical response to disasters have improved since Hurricane Katrina.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … German Chancellor Angela Merkel won a fourth term in her country’s elections over the weekend. But we’ll tell you why she faces a tough road ahead in building a coalition government. Afterwards: more than 700,000 people have signed a petition to keep Uber on the road in London past the end of the month when the company’s license runs out. We talk to London Mayor Sadiq Khan who defends his city’s decision to revoke the ride-sharing company’s license in the city. Then we’ll tell you how climbing oil prices could help small producers on the west African coast.

The latest social pressure on the social network may mean its days of sell first, apologize later could be coming to an end.

Politicians, the public and regulators are all starting to see the power of social media companies. Particularly Facebook. That company said last week it would give Congress thousands of political ads linked to a possible Russian propaganda campaign. Facebook will also update its ad technology to try to keep political advertising in check. But it’s looking more and more like Facebook’s days of sell first, apologize later could be coming to an end. We talk about the social pressure on Facebook to change.