Week of May 21st, 2018

A new breed of shoppers are snapping up vintage clothing on the social media platform.

More people of color need to take DNA tests to improve the results, but people of color won't buy kits if they don't provide worthwhile information.

The five things you didn't know about ancient economics.

Feral hogs cause millions of dollars in damage to crops across the U.S.

Students form "companies" and test drive careers as part of the Virtual Enterprise program.

(Markets Edition) Investment money has been flowing out of several developing countries, including Turkey and Argentina. On today’s show, we’ll chat with Chris Low — chief economist with FTN Financial — about why selling’s been heavy and how these countries are trying to handle the issue. Next, we’ll look at whether the National Flood Insurance Program is doing after last year’s hurricane season, and whether it has the funds to tackle another Harvey. Plus: We explore how hotels are dealing with security in the digital age, as data breaches become more of a threat.  

What Mississippi's historically black colleges and universities teach us about centuries-old inequities

(U.S. Edition) You may have noticed lots of emails from websites or apps saying they’ve changed their terms of service or privacy policies. They’re all trying to comply with a new European law known as the General Data Protection Regulation, which takes effect today. We’ll look at how the law benefits consumers and what it means for companies’ business models. Afterwards, we’ll discuss Arizona’s efforts to attract more tourists from Central Mexico. (05/25/2018)  

(Global Editon) From the BBC World Service … Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has stepped down as a director of Russia’s biggest aluminium producer in a bid to lift crippling U.S. sanctions. We discuss the man, his motives and what’s next for Russia’s billionaires. Then, new European regulation will transform the way businesses deal with their customers. We look at the challenges and benefits as Europe gets tough on privacy. Next, India’s sporting prowess hit the headlines after athletes won a record 66 medals at the Commonwealth Games. Many of them were won by women. But as the BBC’s Rahul Tandon explains, a level playing field remains in the distance. Finally, what’s the link between 400 handbags and Malaysia’s former prime minister? (05/25/2018)

Celebrity founders can be a burden sometimes.

Tech founders and CEOs often become household names. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs are just a few examples. So is Elon Musk, who cut off an analyst for asking boring supply chain questions in a recent earnings call. This week, Musk attacked the media overall after news reports about problems with Tesla production, factory injuries and crashes related to its Autopilot technology. Some analysts said investors should be worried about Musk’s behavior and its impact on the company. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke with Paul Kedrosky of SK Ventures about how the founder’s role has changed since the first dot-com boom. (5/25/2018)    

Yeah, we'll tell you what the acronym stands for.

“We’ve updated our terms of service.”

What makes an imported car an imported car? It's complicated.

A safe and durable pigment in the right shade could be worth nearly a billion dollars a year.

While studies suggest recession graduates tend to fall behind their nonrecession peers in terms of salary and don’t catch up for 10 to 20 years, there are ways to catch up more quickly and make up the gap.

A couple hundred business owners push for the federal legalization of marijuana so their companies can grow.

(Markets Edition) The Trump team is looking into penalties on imported cars and trucks, which may be an attempt to target Mexico since they’re one of our largest exporters. We’ll explore why this might hurt hurt the auto industry, particularly in areas like the Midwest, and how the U.S. is pushing Mexico to create alliances with the European Union. Afterwards, we’ll discuss how Michigan State University is handling its $500 million settlement with victims of convicted sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar, Plus: We look at a proposal being considered at McDonald’s that would eliminate their plastic straws. (05/24/2018)

(U.S. Edition) The Trump administration is looking into applying import tariffs on foreign cars and trucks, which may go as high as 25 percent for vehicles from Toyota or Honda. But could this actually help the American auto industry? We’ll look at the unintended consequences of a decision like this. Afterwards, we’ll talk to the CEO of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. John Noseworthy, about his goal of reducing the amount of wasteful visits you have to take to the doctor’s. (05/24/2018)

A $500 million settlement with victims of convicted doctor Larry Nassar is just the start.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Shares in European and Asian car companies have stalled after the U.S. raised the prospect of applying import tariffs on national security grounds. We ask economist David Bailey what’s next. Then, Deutsche Bank is cutting 7,000 jobs as the bank’s new chief executive vows to go back to basics. And, after half a century of civil war, Colombians are still struggling with the country’s slow economic recovery. We explore the region’s issues ahead of this weekend’s election. Finally, what has a Japanese household goods company done to upset the Chinese government? (05/24/2018).

CEO and president Dr. John Noseworthy says a lot of waste comes from not getting the answer right the first time.

"They know both the question and the answer," one CEO says.

This week, Amazon is facing backlash for selling facial recognition tools to police. The American Civil Liberties Union says the company was powering a government surveillance infrastructure. Amazon says its services can be used for anything from finding lost children to spotting celebrities at the royal wedding to tracking down criminals. Facial recognition is an increasingly powerful tool that’s raising a lot of privacy concerns. And not every company thinks these tools should be sold to every buyer. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke to Brian Brackeen, CEO of the facial recognition software company Kairos, about why his company’s code of ethics prohibits selling services to governments. (05/24/2018)

"We actually feel like we have a seat at the table on both sides of the trade dispute," Steven Mollenkopf says.

This year's college graduates enter one of the best job markets since the Great Recession.

How the company used to planning 10 years into the future is handling the hour by hour changes in tech manufacturing and trade policy.

A new book called "Bullshit Jobs: A Theory," looks at how a lot of the work that people do is meaningless.

(Markets Edition) One Wall Street heavyweight is predicting that crude oil could top $100 a barrel, which could spark a recession here in the U.S. On today’s show, we’ll get some perspective about the trajectory of oil prices from Susan Schmidt, senior portfolio manager at Westwood Holdings Group. Afterwards, we’ll discuss how drivers will pay the most expensive Memorial Day gas prices since 2014, and then we’ll look at the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to pursue new regulations on a class of chemicals used to make things like Teflon and Scotchgard. (05/23/2018)

(U.S. Edition) President Trump is expected to sign a bill that would ease some of the rules imposed on banks after the last financial crisis. But will this be that radical of a decision? Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan, explains why he thinks most of us aren’t going to notice the changes. Afterwards, we’ll look at how the job market is for recent college graduates as part of our “Divided Decade” series, which examines how America has changed since the financial crisis. (05/23/2018)

A look at the state of wages for young college graduates and how wages break down by education level.

It's a good job market for the class of 2018, but not everyone with a B.A. is likely to fare well economically.

Can a robot make a dinner reservation? Google is working on it, but should they?

This week Microsoft bought a company called Semantic Machines which works on something called “conversational AI” – that means computers that sound and respond like humans. Mostly it’s for digital assistants like Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa or Bixby on Samsung. Last month Google showed off its own smart assistant called Duplex, which can call a hair salon to make an appointment on your behalf, or a restaurant to make a reservation. But it’s clear from what Google showed off that the people on the other end of these calls don’t know they’re talking to a computer — leading some to ask what the rights of the human on the other end of line are. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke with Jacob Metcalf of the Data & Society Research Institute about the business case for making computers sound so real. (05/23/2018)

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … At least 11 people have been killed after police fired at protesters calling for the closure of a copper smelter in southern India. The deaths raise questions over the future of the plant in Tamil Nadu, which is owned by mining giant Vedanta. The BBC’s Sameer Hashmi explains the environmental and business implications. Then, Angela Merkel visits China this week against a backdrop of trade tensions and uncertainty over the future of a nuclear deal with Iran. We ask Jan Weidenfeld at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin about what to expect. And, being paid to do nothing at work might sound like a dream, but as one expert explains, it can also bring shame and depression. (05/23/2018).  

Public funding for higher ed may be getting scarcer, but a college degree is only getting more valuable.

We started following a spam email, and it took us somewhere weirder and scarier than we ever expected.

Financial damage can be lasting, several studies suggest.

(Markets Edition) The House is set to vote on a bill that would free dozens of small and mid-sized banks from regulations placed after the financial crisis. We’ll dive into some of the rules that could go away. Afterwards, we’ll discuss the Supreme Court’s latest workplace ruling: employees who agreed to settle disputes with their boss through individual arbitration can’t later join big class-action lawsuits. Plus: A look at what the Pope has to say about financial markets and its participants. (05/22/2018)    

Services promise men can get women even if they're not tall, handsome or rich.

(U.S. Edition) European politicians will get to grill Facebook CEO later today about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, over a month after U.S. Congress members questioned him. We’ll discuss what to expect from his upcoming testimony. Afterwards, we’ll talk about why a rising share of American households seem to be having trouble paying off their credit card debt. Plus: As part of our “Divided Decade” series, which looks at the financial crisis 10 years later, we asked 2008 college grads to share lessons about the job market with class of 2018. (05/22/2018)

We spoke with one of the co-founders of SCOTUSblog about the implications of the ruling.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Oil prices are heading back toward $80 a barrel thanks to a range of geopolitical and supply factors. In India, fuel costs are a sensitive issue. We’ll explain how the country’s oil minister is working on a way to pressure prices there. Then, Sony announced a big shift in strategy, but will it pay off? It’s set to become the world’s no. 1 music publisher now that it’s purchased EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion. Afterward, while the economic decline in Zimbabwe has been well documented, the impact on the country’s industry hasn’t. We’ll take you to the African nation, and hear from workers who have been impacted. (05/22/2018)

Phone carriers can sell location data to third parties, and you can't opt out.

Graduates from the Great Recession at the University of Arkansas returned to give advice to this year's graduates.

Phone carriers collect a minute-by-minute record of everywhere you go. If you use GPS on your phone, that may be obvious. But carriers are also selling that information to companies that don’t do much to keep it secure. One of those companies, Securus Technologies, was hacked this month. Securus gets its information from a company called LocationSmart. On Friday, security researcher Brian Krebs reported a bug on LocationSmart’s website that would make it possible to track any phone on the four major carriers using only a phone number. Krebs spoke with Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood about the dangers this kind of data can pose in the wrong hands. (05/22/2018)

One broker says he'll have to do "a lot of juggling" if China won' import U.S. scrap.

The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act is likely headed for a vote in the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou discovered that all wasn’t as it appeared at Theranos, the biotech company founded by Elizabeth Holmes.

If you've used a service like 23andMe, Ancestry or National Geographic's ancestry test, we want to hear from you.

Here's what notable speakers had to say to the classes of 2009 and 2010, when job opportunities were scarce.

(U.S. Edition) So are the U.S. tariffs on China on or off? That’ll depend on which Trump administration official you listen to. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says a trade war between the U.S. and China is now “on hold,” but the country’s top trade official, Robert Lighthizer, says Chinese tariffs remain an important tool. On today’s show, we’ll look at what came out of the latest round of trade talks between the two countries. Afterwards, we’ll discuss how changes in Britain’s universal health care policies will affect undocumented, pregnant women. The British National Health Service now has to ask for identity papers when someone comes in for care. (05/21/2018)

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service …Venezuela’s socialist economy is under massive strain with inflation running at 13,000 percent. So how will the country’s leader deal with these challenges, along with increasing pressure from other nations to fix its problems? Then, religion is a big business in Zimbabwe – we’ll take you there to meet a prophet who knows just how lucrative preaching can be. (05/21/2018)

It recently bought Jump, giving users an alternative to cars.

Uber is looking beyond cars in its bid to control the future of mobility. The company recently acquired electric bike share startup Jump. That means in select cities, Uber users can opt for a bike instead of a driver to help them get around. But the uptick in two-wheeled transportation sharing has some worried about pedestrian safety on sidewalks, not to mention the implications surrounding data privacy. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood met up with Jump CEO Ryan Rzepecki on a busy street in San Francisco to get a handle on the ride share ecosystem. (05/21/2018)