Week of January 29th, 2018

A new report outlines the challenges the health care system in rural communities faces.

The Federal Reserve's first female chair brought an era of steadiness to the central bank.

A Ben & Jerry's Flavor Guru talks about how she got her job and what it's like to make ice cream.

It's not exactly a silver bullet.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is getting six times as many applications as it did in 1980. And then there's the backlog.

… but maybe they're kissing cousins?

Teams are owned almost exclusively by white men. Here's a look at why.

You hear us say it all the time: The stock market is not the economy. That’s especially true today, as the Dow took a steep dive just after a really great jobs report. We’ll talk about it on the Weekly Wrap. Then: We’re gonna dig into wages, because the 2.9 percent growth we saw last month was a big deal after years of stagnation. Plus: When you watch the Super Bowl this weekend, take a look at the owners boxes: full of white guys, like nearly every team in the NFL. But why?

This week, we take on three of the most important I’s in life: immigration, ideas and, of course, ice cream. Plus, a farewell to Janet Yellen, with a look at her legacy and the path she paved for female economists.

In which we all learn what "boar taint" means.

Are wages really growing under President Donald Trump?

(Markets Edition) The Labor Department released its jobs report for the month of January, revealing that the economy added 200,000 new jobs and that wages are up about a third of a percent. Chris Low, chief economist with FTN Financial, joined us to discuss whether this wage growth is significant and why it’s happening. Afterwards, we’ll look at how the Super Bowl rivalry between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles is extending to food establishments. Some places in Philadelphia and Boston are taking each other’s foods of their menus.

The rise in wages suggests employers are competing more fiercely for workers.

(U.S. Edition) With the Labor Department set to release the January jobs report soon, we’ll look at the pace of economic recovery. It’s been improving for years, but how long can that pace keep up? Afterwards, we’ll talk about the uncertainties facing the oil market, and then discuss how insurers are handling the opioid epidemic.

Philadelphia and Boston ban each other’s foods leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service… Japanese regulators raided Coincheck’s offices this morning, a week after hackers stole nearly $500 million from the cryptocurrency exchange. Does this spell the beginning of a larger global regulatory crackdown on crypto? Then, Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, concluded her diplomatic trip to China this week by bringing home more than $12 billion in deals with the promise of creating more than 2,000 jobs. But will that help bolster U.K. citizens’ diminishing confidence in her post-Brexit abilities? Afterwards, to Senegal where the French president is trying to raise $3 billion to get a quarter million children to school worldwide. 

This week, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan decided they want to get into the health care business, forming a nonprofit that could provide insurance for their employees. This made us wonder: why does Amazon, which began as a retailer, think it can solve the problems of health care? And what is not in the scope of its ambition?  In our regular segment, Quality Assurance, where we take a second look at a news story of the week, Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about it with Alexander Nazaryan, Senior Writer for Newsweek.

British authorities tried a more inclusive campaign but critics say it was misguided.

With all the drama in Washington these days, you may have missed another deadline looming soon: the federal debt limit. While the government shutdown a couple of weeks ago was about Congress failing to approve new money to pay for government services, the debt ceiling limits how much the Treasury can borrow to pay what we already owe. Thanks to the new tax law, we might hit that ceiling a little sooner than expected. Plus, we’ll bring you the latest from Facebook and an excerpt from our podcast The Uncertain Hour. 

After Texas made sanctuary cities illegal, some major metropolitan areas vowed to not comply with the new law. But in rural areas, undocumented immigrants face constant fear of deportation.

(Markets Edition) The Fed didn’t raise interest rates at its meeting this week, but they’re priming folks to expect one in March. Dine Swonk, chief economist at the accounting firm Grant Thornton, joined us to discuss why they’re likely to do a hike, along with what we should expect from the January jobs report. Afterwards, we’ll look at a possible join venture between Google-Alphabet and the state oil company Aramco. Plus: Plus: How undocumented immigrant in the Texas countryside are dealing with a new Texas law that says if local law enforcement officers don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents, they’re breaking the law.

The Fed hiked interest rates three times in 2017.

(U.S. Edition) The Fed has unanimously approved Jerome Powell to be the new chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing Janet Yellen. Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, joined us to discuss the type of Fed that Powell will be inheriting. Afterwards, we’ll look at India’s decision to unveil a new annual budget — which promises $225 billion in rural investment — and then discuss how 15 of the world’s leading transportation and tech companies are signing an agreement to keep cities livable.

If DACA were to end, an average of 30,383 recipients would see their work authorization expire every month.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Rural areas and agriculture are a big focus of India’s 2018 budget. We’ll explain the details of the prime minister’s election-year plan. Then, nearly a dozen nations have agreed to advance annual contributions to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees after the U.S. partially cut off its funding. But will it be enough to continue efforts to run schools and clinics in the region? Afterwards, we’ll take you to Ethiopia where global warming and El Niño are blamed for a sugar shortage. 

We’re looking at the media streaming landscape for live events. Why is it possible to watch television on some devices but not all? Why can some of us watch NFL games while out in the world, but not all of us? Because, hey, you might happen to be in the yarn aisle at a Michael’s and want to stream an NFL game. That happened to Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood. She talks with Joan Solsman, a senior reporter at CNET, about why she couldn’t. 

For starters, the government only started counting in the '90s.

“You are dealing with people whose lives have been destroyed and money is a pretty poor substitute for loss.”

(Markets Edition) We’re continuing our debrief of Trump’s State of the Union speech by chatting with Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group. He’s here to explain why President Trump’s trade rhetoric wasn’t as heated as it usually is. Afterwards, we’ll look at how the budding health care alliance between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase could control costs for companies. 

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald had been in the job since July.

Trump's tone on trade during his State of the Union speech was a bit more muted than usual.

(U.S. Edition) President Trump spent part of his State of the Union speech last night talking about the need for infrastructure funding, saying he needs at least $1.5 trillion. On today’s show, we’ll look at where this money might come from and when his official plan will be released. Afterwards, we’ll look at how researchers see promise in some anti-diabetes drugs that could reduce memory loss and improve cognitive ability for those suffering from Alzheimer’s. 

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service… President Trump’s first State of the Union might have been light on details around his calls for fair and reciprocal trade deals. But the lack of specificity or talk of a trade war with China was relief for the business community in Asia. Then, although the Federal Reserve isn’t expected to raise rates at the end of its two-day policy meeting today, Wall Street is closely watching for signs more than three rate increases will come by the end of the year. We’ll explain how rising costs around the world could finally bring a much-needed check for unpaid internships. Afterwards, we take you to Kenya where we ask: how many shopping malls is too many? Multi-national companies eager to invest in Kenya were encouraged by reports of a growing middle class with money to spend. But not all that glitters is gold.

Janet Yellen presided over the Federal Open Market Committee meeting for the last time as chair today. As expected, the committee left interest rates alone for now, but signaled that hikes could come later this year if inflation picks up. That depends on wages, which we learned today are up 2.8 percent year over year. That’s not great, but it’s the best number we’ve seen since early 2015. We’ll talk about that, plus the latest homeownership figures. Then: After tragedies like the shooting at a Kentucky high school last week, people and companies open their wallets to provide aid. After the mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas last October, people donated more than $22 million. There are government programs, too, but deciding how to divvy up the money is becoming an unfortunately common challenge for communities. Plus, we’ll recap last night’s State of the Union address.

Companies are preparing for the next generation of wireless tech. But getting the infrastructure in place has its own challenges.

The next generation of wireless infrastructure is known as 5G. And it could have implications for not just how fast our phones get data, but also for driverless car infrastructure, and our ability to communicate in virtual reality. How close are we to having the 5G infrastructure in place, and what are the hold ups? Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Sundeep Rangan, director of the research center NYU WIRELESS, and a professor of electrical engineering.

New York Times reporter Nick Confessore tells how many celebrities have bought their followers from a company called Devumi.

Getting people to their front door can sometimes make for a tricky problem for public transit. It turns out that’s a big challenge for package delivery too.

… and walk out running a health care company. Together they employ about a million people, and it appears health care was driving them nuts. They’re starting their own company that will give coverage “free from profit-making incentives and constraints.” We’ll start today by trying to make sense of it all. Then: Janet Yellen is presiding over her last Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week, so we’ll take a look at her economic legacy. Plus: inside the black market for Twitter followers.

At 6.8 percent, it's still nearly twice the jobless rate for white workers.

Mark Whitaker's new book, "Smoketown," examines the sometimes overlooked role that the city played.

Here's what we'll be listening for tonight.

(Markets Edition) Warren Buffett is teaming up with Amazon and JPMorgan to create a company aimed at tackling the issue of health care costs. We’ll look at what they want to offer to their employees, and how insurance and pharmacy stocks are faring amid the news. Afterwards, we’ll discuss why bond yields have been rising for the past several months, and then talk about the new method some workplaces are using to concentrate (hint: it actually involves noise).

The potential disruption from three renowned innovators in technology and finance sent a shock wave through the health care sector, erasing billions in market capitalization in seconds.

(U.S. Edition) President Trump is slated to give his first State of the Union speech tonight, where he’s expected to bring up his goal of revamping the country’s infrastructure. But how’s he going to pay for it? We’ll look at where the funds could come from. Afterwards, we’ll discuss the wide gulf between the black unemployment rate — even though it’s at its lowest level since the government began tracking it in 1972 — and the white unemployment rate, along with the job barriers that exist for African-Americans. 

About 27 percent of employees have skipped work after the Super Bowl.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Worries over the U.K.’s economic health were stoked Monday night after a leaked Brexit report … but data Tuesday morning showed the Eurozone economy saw its fastest growth rate in a decade last year. We break down trends in two important regions. Then, Hollywood might portray artificial intelligence as taking over the world, but it just might be the solution to freeing up teachers to focus on delivering quality educations. 

White noise helps workers focus in open floor plan offices. It is especially popular with tech workers, designers and entrepreneurs, and demand is growing.

The self-driving car revolution might take longer than expected. Maybe that's fine.

Jury selection starts tomorrow in the Uber and Waymo case. (Reminder: Waymo is the child company of Alphabet; the little sister company of Google.) That’s the lawsuit over whether a former Waymo engineer stole self-driving car technology from Google and then took it to Uber.  Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Stanford law professor Mark Lemley, who says that lawsuits like this cost money, time — and can make companies more cautious. 

President Trump is expected to tout a year of accomplishments in his first State of the Union address.

A lot of retail workers have to use credit cards and borrow money from family members to meet basic expenses.

Fewer immigrants means fewer people in the workforce.

(Markets Edition) The CEO of Wynn Resorts — billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn — has stepped down as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee because of sexual harassment allegations against him. On today’s show, we’ll look at how the board of his company might respond. Afterwards, we’ll talk to economist Julia Coronado from MacroPolicy Perspectives, about the state of the bond market and the future of interest rates. Plus: We explore why African-American men and leaving are leaving Cook County, Illinois — which has the largest black population in the country — for Indiana.

Issues with schools, a stagnant job market and affordability have driven 12,000 blacks from Cook County in the last year.

(U.S. Edition) That’s right — that’s the smell of tax season in the air. The IRS officially begins accepting returns today. But that also means that the scammers will be out in full force, an issue exacerbated by Equifax’s data breach. We’ll look at the ways you can get scammed, and what you can do to protect yourself. Afterwards, we’ll discuss how Strava — an app that tracks athletic activity — has released a map of the world that gives away the location of military bases where U.S. soldiers are using the app. Plus: With underrepresented groups like blacks, Latinos and women getting a leg up in bidding on public contracts, advocates are pushing for LGBT-owned businesses to be included in that group.

If someone claiming to be from the IRS gives you a call, go ahead and hang up.

There’s a growing push to add LGBT-owned businesses to the list of groups that are given special treatment for government work.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … A controversial plan down under: Why Australia has outlined a new effort to ramp up arms production. Then, nearly half of Mozambique’s population is under the age of 15, and finding education and training opportunities is crucial. We’ll take you to the nation’s capital where a classical music project for young people is striking just the right tone. 

A New York hospital is introducing telescreens into the emergency room in an effort to save time — and possibly money.

Wait times in ERs are often extremely high, partly because so many people use the emergency room as their regular doctor’s office. At New York-Presbyterian hospital in Manhattan, at least 30 percent of ER visitors are there for nonurgent medical issues, like a rash or cold. For those less serious cases, the hospital is offering patients a chance to see a doctor via telescreen. It’s an effort to reduce wait times and save money.