Week of July 13th, 2020

On today’s happy hour episode, we’re talking about a headline that sounds like it’s coming from a different place and a different time.

In normal times, the border at Laredo, Texas, is very fluid. Now commerce is down and anxieties are up.

Some cities and states are rushing too stave off a crisis that could affect all parts of the economy.

Plus: The upcoming “tsunami of evictions,” the viral hot spots along the border and another fierce competition in this pandemic: food delivery.

Marketplace’s Jennifer Pak in Shanghai and Scott Tong in the Washington, D.C., area sample each country’s e-grocery and restaurant delivery apps.

Pricing on the open market is opaque, one expert says. Ultimately, the cost is anyone’s guess.

The rate on a 30-year-fixed mortgage is the lowest it’s been in decades. Why? British Airways is retiring its entire Boeing 747 jumbo jet fleet. Also, a town in Colorado illustrates the clash between summer tourism and a pandemic.

Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac says rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell below 3% for the first time in 50 years.

The expanded $600 per week unemployment assistance has been crucial, but experts say there are more effective ways to support people who’ve lost work.

Lake City, Colorado, depends on tourist dollars in the summer. Now it’s asking those visitors to take precautions.

Mortgage rates are at a 50-year low. Netflix is flourishing during the pandemic, with millions of new subscribers and billions in revenue. We also discuss how diversity recruiting is rising, but holding on to diverse talent has proven elusive.

For companies, hiring people of color is just the first step.

For months, the 27 European Union countries have struggled to agree on whether pandemic relief to countries should be through grants or loans that have to be repaid. India resumes some flights to the US and France. 

The court ruling is a win for European advocates of greater data privacy.

The potential new name is making us smile on this Hollowed-Out Shell Thursday.

Tax accountant Michael Durant is seeing his small business clients through a storm, but facing another at home.

Normally, jobless workers receiving unemployment cut their spending by 7%. But a JPMorgan Chase study found it’s rising — by 10%.

They can juice local economies. They can also juice campaign coffers.

Plus: The latest on yesterday’s big Twitter hack, this year’s political conventions and how parenting in the pandemic will hurt women’s careers.

Zeynep Tufekci, a technology and society expert at the University of North Carolina, hopes the hacks on Obama, Gates and others act as a wake-up call ahead of the election.

It could leave them vulnerable to layoffs, stalled careers and lower pay for years to come, new studies find.

During the pandemic, a bad Yelp review hurts more than ever.

A helpful glossary for terms and acronyms as the July 31 deadline approaches for Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to end.

Marketplace wants to hear from you.

Hover over the interactive map to see how much the extra $600 a week increases your benefits and what it takes to make rent.

Meet the professional auditor who can’t stand to look at his own bank account. Our team goes on an adventure to help a man who’s anxious about his spending get more comfortable checking his finances.

The central bank offers loans to help state and local governments through the pandemic. But is it the best way to borrow?

Disney World and Disneyland Paris are reopening, but Hong Kong Disneyland just announced plans to close.

Retail sales are up, but the numbers reflect a time before all of the new COVID-19 cases. U.S. manufacturing also surged in June, automakers were the biggest winners. And, sports betting has carried on creatively even with many leagues paused.

The number of laid-off workers seeking jobless aid is stuck at a historically high level.

That makes it the first major economy to rebound since COVID-19 hit.

Auto production made the biggest manufacturing gains in June, but an increase in COVID-19 cases now threatens that progress.

China reports that its economy grew 3.2% in the second quarter from the same time last year. For June, economists expect retail sales numbers will be up again. We’ll find out this morning. And, Americans fight food insecurity during COVID-19.

The European Court of Justice struck down an existing EU-U.S. data transfer mechanism over privacy concerns. China’s economy has avoided a recession. How can the venture capital world tackle its diversity problem?

While U.S. pro sports leagues suspend play, table tennis, darts and other more obscure competitions find new fans.

Like Little Free Libraries that offer free books for people in a neighborhood, the pantries offer a way for community members to donate food.

But new reporting shows Microsoft, Amazon and Google are doing a lot more defense and law enforcement work than perhaps was realized.

Does it ever stop?

Erin Gomes, a new business owner in the Bay Area, faces unexpected challenges due to COVID-19.

Investors believe EVs are closing in on the internal combustion engine in terms of driving range and cost of ownership.

Wayne Ting, the CEO of Lime, tells us how the micro-mobility company is adapting to meet riders in their new normal.

Just the process of making the resolution can have an impact, one expert says. But it doesn’t trigger government funds like other crises..

Plus: More streaming services, more money in electric cars and more states and cities name racism a public health crisis.

But low-cost summer vacations don’t generate much profit for the company.

At the end of the first quarter of this year, U.S. consumers were a record $14.3 trillion in debt.

It has several paid tiers and an option to watch for free … with ads.

Widespread unemployment is putting more people at risk of not being financially secure in retirement.

Inside the push-pull contrast between vaccine hopes and states shutting down parts of their economies again. Will demand for oil recover? What does OPEC think? And, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock, is launching widely today.

The EU had accused Apple of getting special treatment in Ireland and avoiding paying its fair share of taxes.

They’ve been processing PPP loans, and also simply helping clients navigate a tough financial climate.

It would have capitalized on the 2020 Summer Olympics, but now will rely on a packed catalog of classics.

Before men’s pro basketball restarts on July 30, everyone is quarantining in a “bubble” at Disney World. What is that costing the NBA? Plus, an EU court rules on Apple’s taxes. And, the July 15 tax deadline is here.

The European Commission had demanded Apple pay nearly $15 billion in back taxes. It could still appeal this verdict. Could Seoul take over as Asia’s financial hub? India’s trash collectors are at risk from COVID-19 waste.

What the Disney World bubble is costing the NBA in its effort to keep players safe — and why it’s probably money well spent.

Some gig workers have said that the algorithm cuts their pay by up to 30%.

After last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling over Native land rights, that is.

Plus: the latest economic picture, new demand for Black therapists and the Huawei saga continues.

How Schuyler Andrulat of South Carolina turned a lifelong hobby of hunting shark teeth into a job.

The economy was showing signs of life as businesses reopened. Then coronavirus cases started to rise.

The Trump administration has been pushing for the move for two years.

From the suffragette movement to the Black Panther Party and “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts worn by protesters today, social movements and clothing go hand in hand.

Eighty percent of restaurants in New York City didn’t pay full rent in June. The businesses historically have little if any reserves, one expert says.

The announcement brings relief to thousands of foreign students who had been at risk of being deported from the country.

Many Black clients are seeking therapists they trust to deal with mental health trauma since the police killing of George Floyd.

Amid the global pandemic, even supply chains get sick. The director of a polyester yarn factory in Honduras describes how COVID-19 is affecting business.

A spike in consumer inflation for June is driven by increasing gas and grocery prices. The optimism of those who run small businesses jumped in June, but will that endure? And, domestic workers are fighting for more protections in California.

For things like groceries and gasoline, prices are actually up.

More than 5 million people who lost their jobs lost their health insurance and didn’t find an alternative.

The LA Unified School District, the second-largest in the country, will go online-only in the fall.

A measure before the Assembly would eliminate the exclusion of domestic workers from workplace safety law that covers other employees.

Families USA says there are about 5.4 million people who have fallen between the cracks in the system. School districts weigh the safety and monetary costs and benefits of reopening. For people leaving prisons right now, reentry is especially hard.

The British government is set to announce that Huawei technology is to be excluded from the country’s 5G networks. South Korea pledges $90 billion for its “Green New Deal.” Job applications go visual with video resumes.

Finding a job, often a challenge for people who have been incarcerated, is even more difficult because of the pandemic.

Critics say the apps treat trading like a game, encouraging frequent, and potentially risky, trades.

We help dollars make more sense. First episode comes out July 21!

That’s how today’s guest host, Kimberly Adams, describes her news fix, a big story from her hometown paper.

New York, California and Oregon have put out public service ads to get people to wear masks.

Plus: earnings season, marketing masks and the market for fracking sand.

Gig workers’ livelihoods are increasingly ruled by mysterious — and unpredictable — software.

Brownsville, where 80% of residents are Black, had an infection rate in May that was more than twice the New York City average.

Sand is an important material used in fracking for oil and gas. When prices dive and oil companies cut costs, sand mines shut down.

About 75% of small businesses sought Paycheck Protection Program loans and about 72% of them got PPP loans, according to the Census Bureau.

“A lot of workers are saying no, I refuse to go back and put my health at risk and my family’s health at risk for $2, $3 or $4 an hour.”

China is responding to U.S. sanctions last week on Chinese officials over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in northwestern China.

People are looking beyond profits and losses in companies. That’s clear from a name change for the NFL’s team in Washington, D.C., as well as recent pressure on PepsiCo.

There was a financial imperative for the name change, as sponsors and retailers threatened to pull their money and stop selling team merchandise.

The company has committed to helping the Black Lives Matter movement, but has faced pressure to go beyond writing a check.

Banks touch many sectors of the economy, that may be struggling — or thriving — during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A fiction writer’s surreal take on the COVID-19 economy imagines a world where delivery vans arrive and confiscate your things. Plus, banks start releasing second quarter results this week. And, China’s new sanctions on members of Congress.

A fiction writer’s surreal take on the COVID-19 economy imagines a world where delivery vans arrive and confiscate your things.

South Africa’s government has banned alcohol sales again as COVID-19 cases rise. The world’s biggest companies are set to borrow $1 trillion this year to bolster balance sheets. China will sanction U.S. lawmakers over Xinjiang measures.

It’s predicted that ghost kitchens will be a $1 trillion business globally by 2030.