Week of November 20th, 2017

On and off the page, the whole industry has had some battles of its own.

We’ve got a whole bunch of stories about America’s biggest shopping holiday: From communities recovering after a long storm season, to shoppers in Korea trying to get in on the action. Then we talk with PayPal President Dan Schulman to get his perspective on this year’s shopping season and the continuing rise of mobile payments. Plus: While we’re all rushing around to stores, Congress is enjoying one more day of rest before a frenzy of their own: Passing the tax bill before the end of the year.

At one time, there wasn't even a separate word to describe "orange." But the arrival of a citrusy fruit to Europe created a branding opportunity for one ruling family.

80 percent of Americans are expected to use their phones to shop this holiday season.

U.S. steel manufacturers worried about competition as well as those that depend on cheaper foreign steel imports to keep their businesses running, eagerly await a decision.

(Markets Edition) Teens these days are taking longer to get driver’s licenses, jobs and go on dates, according to a recent study. We’ll look at some of the reasons for rising youth unemployment and the potential consequences. Afterwards, we’ll look at why German and Italian workers at Amazon are going on strike against the company, and then discuss the political corruption happening in Guatemala, which may affect the country’s ability to obtain loans.

British shoppers enjoy Black Friday deals … without Thanksgiving.

Corruption and political instability in Guatemala threaten to impact its ability to receive international monetary aid.

Should parents treat AI devices politely around their kids?

(U.S. Edition) Black Friday sales are now here, but Sears decided to get a headstart by offering discounts on Nov. 1. We’ll discuss why the company has been so aggressive with sales and how it might fare in the future. Afterwards, we’ll take a look at one popular toy item that families may be clamoring to find this holiday season: the new Women of NASA Lego set. Shoppers won’t just be competing with other parents, but collectors and resellers. Plus: We explore Los Angeles’ push to create a city bank, and what it would take to get one set up.  

The LA City Council president thinks a city-run bank would be run differently than a commercial one.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … In Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa has been sworn in as the new president. It’s hoped he’ll usher in economic changes after 37 years of mismanagement of Robert Mugabe, but what role will China – the country’s biggest financial backer – play? Afterwards, in Germany and Italy, workers at big Amazon warehouses are striking on Black Friday to protest pay and conditions.  Then, three weeks after Saudi elites were put in detention in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh, we have an exclusive look inside the “gilded prison.”

Digital home assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google are becoming more common. eMarketer estimates the number of people using virtual assistants will grow nearly 25 percent this year. With all these new talking machines around, does it matter how we speak to it?  Do we need to be polite? Does it matter if we’re mean? We pose those questions to Michael Littman, a professor of computer science at Brown University, who has thought a lot about how we treat artificial intelligence.

It is now officially holiday shopping season. According to a recent survey, 91 percent of people who said they’d be shopping this holiday weekend are going to do at least some of it online. However, shopping online doesn’t mean you can skip all the crowds, online traffic is proving to be an issue for popular retail websites. If you are one of those people that will still go to the mall this holiday season, chances are you will see a line of people waiting to take their picture with Santa Claus. Santa visits are a big draw and can translate into big sales for retailers. But if you’re trying to see him at the Macy’s in New York’s Herald Square, you’ll have to make an appointment first. Also on today’s show: How the “Peanut Butter Grandma” changed food regulations, including what’s on your Thanksgiving table. 

Author Cullen Murphy talks about his new book and what it was like having a dad who was a cartoonist.

A small Florida city founded by rocket scientists eye building codes and zoning as a way to plan for future vulnerability.

With Black Friday sales starting at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, some retail workers lose out on time with their families.

(Markets Edition) With all this talk about overhauling America’s tax system, there’s something that may have fallen by the wayside. Namely, the country’s budget. Lawmakers have until Dec. 9 to finalize government spending for next year. Stan Collender, executive vice president of Qorvis MSL Group, joined us to explain why it’s been put on the back burner and the likelihood that we’re headed toward a government shutdown. Next, we’ll look at how a shipping law known as the Jones Act is making offshore wind power more expensive, and then we’ll discuss the dark side of Italy’s agricultural industry, which is seeing a decline in workers’ wages.

Italy made $44 billion off of agricultural exports in 2016. Yet academics studying labor exploitation said worker wages are decreasing.

(U.S. Edition) Millions of Americans over the age of 60 are skipping meals, shrinking their food portions, or just going without. And many others begin to face the same issue as they reach this age group. On today’s show, we’ll look at some of the possible reasons for this problem (which include high rent costs) and some of the possible solutions. Plus: With Thanksgiving underway, we’ll look at one of Americans’ favorite foods: cranberries. We’ll consume about 80 million pounds of the stuff this holiday. But there was one year when federal regulations almost kept them off our tables. Krissy Clark, who’s been exploring regulations as part of Marketplace’s documentary series “The Uncertain Hour,” joins us to explain why.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Foxconn, a main supplier for Apple’s iPhone, says it’s stopped student interns doing illegal overtime at one of its Chinese factories. Afterwards, why cooking with fat on Thanksgiving could help cool the environment, according to new research from the University of Reading. Then, we hear the arguments for and against using AI to police internet content.

Tech is helping the industry produce better fruit.

Americans eat and drink about 400 million pounds of cranberries each year. Twenty percent of that is during Thanksgiving. The technology that goes into growing, harvesting, and selecting cranberries has changed significantly in the last handful of years. Marketplace’s Adriene Hill talks with Hilary Sandler, director of the Cranberry Station, a research center at UMass Amherst, about how cranberry farming has changed.

Ashley Esqueda of CNET runs Marketplace Weekend through the basics.

Get ready for this holiday weekend with five things you need to know about net neutrality, a look at changing trends in holiday sales shopping and a book about comic books. Plus, Zooey Deschanel takes the Marketplace Quiz and we look ahead to our upcoming coverage from Puerto Rico. 

You might have to eat a few veggies before feasting on carbs and butter and sweets, but we’re going to try and serve up a good show for you. We promise. In this case, the vegetables are federal regulations, which might seem super boring but actually affect your life every single day. Case in point: Net neutrality. Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai is on his way to rolling back virtually all the net neutrality rules his agency put in place just a couple years ago. But before rules become official, there’s supposed to be a comment period. This one was historic, but sometimes they’re more for show than anything else. Then, we’ll update you on the latest trade rules to cross President Donald Trump’s desk and the big data breach du jour (this time at Uber). Plus: As we wait for the next name to drop in the growing list of accused high-profile sexual offenders in the workplace, let’s talk about the real and justified reluctance among some of the victims to say anything about it to human resources.

Plus, tax reform and why he made Allstate's minimum wage $15 an hour.

Bureaucrats are always looking for your comments on new rules. Here's how it works.

In his new book, writer Jake Bernstein describes the web of accounts and how “it touches everything.”

Have proof that you let your company know about an issue, even if there's no formal department to address it.

According to Allstate's Tom Wilson, the weather is getting worse — and it can be see in the damage costs.

Driven by nostalgia and novelty value, those little plastic shells with tape are finding an audience again.

(Markets Edition) Uber has disclosed 57 million riders and drivers were affected by a security breach in October 2016. But what information did the hackers actually get? Bloomberg reporter Eric Newcomer breaks it down for us. Afterwards, we’ll talk to Philadelphia Inquirer writer Jane M. Von Bergen about how employees should handle workplace issues when there’s no HR department.

One of the most surreal, misunderstood and yet pivotal battle over regulations ends here.

Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, has criticized the way the company dealt with the security breach.

(U.S. Edition) Hackers got access to the personal data of 57 million Uber customers and drivers last year, but the ridesharing giant publicly disclosed the security breach on Tuesday. We’ll look at how Uber handled the hack in 2016, and then talk about what this could mean for new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Afterwards, we’ll look at the unstable future of America’s diversity lottery program, which grants visas to people from countries with low rates of immigration. And then to cap off today’s show, we’ll discuss the potential effects that repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate could have on the Affordable Care Act overall.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service…Chinese officials have pressured Apple and Android into removing the chat platform Skype from their app stores  in the country.  Afterwards, as Britain’s finance minister  unveils his budget today, we find out about the factors playing into his plans for the UK economy. Then, an internet moderator tells us about what it’s like to do one of the most important jobs in technology while still being regarded as bottom of the food chain.

The individual mandate has been central to the Affordable Care Act.

For a lot of folks, Thanksgiving means family time. And for some folks, family time means board games. AdWeek reports sales of board games are up 28 percent in the last year. We might think of that industry as being very separate from technology. But it turns out, more digital elements are being incorporated into board games. Marketplace’s Adriene Hill talks with professor Mike Sellers, who directs the Game Design Program at Indiana University, about how board games might look in the future.

And what tax payer dollars have to do with it.

Real estate brokers say the proposed tax changes would hit expensive cities the hardest.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said today he’s going to ask the commission, which is split along party lines in favor the GOP, to get rid of Obama-era rules around net neutrality and adopt a more free-market approach. The move comes at a confusing time for telecommunications policy in this country, and we’ll talk about it. Then: About 60,000 Haitians living in the United States are trying to figure out what’s next. The Trump administration said it’s not going to renew protections that let people driven out of their homes from disaster or war live and work legally here. Citizens of 10 countries currently have that status, and Haitians are the second group this month to get a heads up that their time is running out. Finally, we’ll bring you the latest on NAFTA negotiations and a new book about Indian food.

And it's at a five-year low.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday followed through on his pledge to repeal 2015 regulations designed to ensure that internet service providers treat all online content and apps equally, setting up a showdown with consumer groups and internet companies who fear the move will stifle competition and innovation. The current […]

How to survive the holidays when no one shares your worldview.

(Markets Edition) Just shortly into the trading day, stocks were up. What’s guiding this positive market sentiment? The GOP’s proposed tax overhaul. David Kelley from JP Morgan Funds stopped by to discuss whether reform will actually happen. Afterwards, we’ll look at how holiday jobs are changing to keep up with online demand, and then we’ll talk about the Justice Department’s decision to sue AT&T over its planned merger with Time Warner.

“Santa’s a popular guy."

Sri Rao is one of the few Americans who's worked in the Indian movie industry. His new book is part film guide, part cookbook.

Local politicians worry that eliminating state and local tax deductions could send the rich packing.

As brick-and-mortar retail shrinks, some of the employment slack is taken up by online commerce.

(U.S. Edition) The Trump administration is now set to roll back network neutrality, which says all internet traffic has to be treated equally. We’ll explain how all of this would work. Think of the web as a highway, and content providers like Netflix as the cars who now may have to pay extra for high-speed lanes. Next, we’ll discuss the European Union’s decision to choose new cities to host two European agencies that had been based in London. And finally, we’ll chat with Alexandra Dean, director and producer of the new documentary “Bombshell.” The film looks at Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr, an avid inventor whose advances in technology helped lead to Wi-Fi and cellphones.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Tencent — a huge Chinese tech firm that’s barely known globally — has jumped in value to over half a trillion dollars to become one of the biggest companies in the world. Afterwards, global food prices could start to rise in 2018 because of uncertainty over climate and trade deals, according to a report out today by Rabobank. Then, in a global first, a London company called Bio-Bean is using coffee-waste powered London buses.

A new documentary about the Golden Age of Hollywood actress turns the spotlight on her brilliant mind.

Retailers are using technology to attract more customers into their stores.

The German parliament still has not formed a coalition government.

You might have seen it coming. President Donald Trump decided not to reappoint Janet Yellen to a second term chairing the Federal Reserve, and today Yellen announced she’s leaving the Fed completely once her successor is confirmed. The way terms of the board of governors are set up, she could have stayed for another seven years. We’ll talk about what’s next for her and the central bank. Then, we’ll bring you the latest on the $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner, which the Justice Department is trying to block. Plus: Congress is about to go on Thanksgiving recess, but tax reform waits for no one.

Functioning like unregulated banks, there is little cushion against failure.

Texas, Florida, and especially Puerto Rico say they need tens of billions of more in funding to help recovery efforts. But how do economic cost estimates from a disaster get turned into legislation?

Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier thinks so.

The revised House tax plan eliminates deductions for tuition and interest paid on student loans and other higher education credits to help pay for tax cuts.

It may not be much of a surprise, but Yellen's departure does leave some questions about the future of the Fed.

Depends on who you ask.

(Markets Edition) On today’s show, we’ll take a peek at what leading indicators have to say about our economy. Turns out it’s looking much better because our major trading partners are on a roll. Afterwards, we’ll look at news that a former Obama official — Maria Contreras-Sweet — is making a $275 million bid for The Weinstein Co., with plans to reform it by installing a female-majority board. And finally, we’ll discuss what the GOP’s planned tax overhaul would mean for independent contractors. 

Here's a look at what actually constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace.

Maria Contreras-Sweet once headed the Small Business Administration.

The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index fell in September, partly from the effects of hurricanes in Texas and Florida.

(U.S. Edition) In Germany, talks aimed at forming a ruling coalition fell apart last night. Chancellor Angela Merkel won the most votes in a general election in September, but not enough to rule outright. On today’s show, we’ll take a look at the current state of Germany’s economy and what political instability could mean for it. Afterwards, we’ll look at Toshiba’s financial woes: it faces $6 billion in liabilities because its U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse is in bankruptcy. Then, we’ll talk to Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney with the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, about what companies need to do to stop sexual harassment.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … German Chancellor Angela Merkel is back to square one after a potential partner walked out of negotiations to try and form a coalition government. We find out what the political uncertainty means for Europe’s largest economy.  Afterwards, the Japanese corporate giant Toshiba’s shares fell nearly 5 percent on news it’s trying to raise more than $5 billion through a massive new stock listing. Then, we hear how Cuba’s recent boom in tourism could be reversing as diplomatic relations with the United States become icy again. 

Some of the tech that will be used in Los Angeles may not have even been invented yet.

Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028. That gives the city more than a decade to plan the international event. But how do you do that if no one knows what technology will look like in 2028, and how it will affect the way athletes compete, judges judge and viewers at home watch? Marketplace’s Adriene Hill talks with Proday’s Sarah Kunst about everything from body-enhancing technology to LA’s notorious traffic.