Marketplace for Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Segments From This Episode

• Warehouse stores limiting rice sales

  by Sarah Gardner

  Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's warehouse retailer, has joined Costco in limiting sales of some rice to four bags per customer. Sarah Gardner reports on rising food prices and consumer habits.

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• Delta-Northwest merger up in the air

  by John Dimsdale

  Delta and Northwest airlines lost $10.5 billion in the first quarter, with jet fuel costs a big chunk of that. The two companies are hoping to merge, but first they have to persuade antitrust officials. John Dimsdale reports.

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• Genetic testing’s future rests on bill

  by Stacey Vanek Smith

  

  The U.S. Senate is expected to take up a bill that would outlaw "genetic discrimination" — cutting someone's insurance or job based on test results that show a predisposition for a disease. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports.

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• Rice crisis is ‘as bad as it has ever been’

  by Marketplace Staff

  The price of rice is up 146% over a year ago. It's become expensive for Americans and dangerously scarce for the world's poorest consumers. Public policy professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen talks with Kai Ryssdal about the scarcity of the world's main grain.

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• Those Mac users think they’re so cool

  by Andrea Gardner

  A new marketing study has found Mac owners tend to think they're more extraordinary than the average Joe. They're also more likely than PC users to whiten their teeth, drive hybrids, drink Starbucks coffee and eat organic food. Andrea Gardner reports.

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• It’s good Social Security didn’t change

  by Marketplace Staff

  When the economy and the stock market were humming right along, a lot of people thought it might be a good idea to invest Social Security funds in the market. But commentator Robert Reich says we're lucky we didn't.

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• Saudis slow to accept working women

  by Kelly McEvers

  To reduce its dependence on foreign workers, Saudi Arabia's government is hiring more women and encouraging the private sector to do the same. But change isn't coming easily. Kelly McEvers reports from Riyadh.

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• If demand is down, why aren’t prices?

  by Ashley Milne-Tyte

  The nationwide average price for a gallon of gas is now $3.53, and there's not much doubt it's going to hit $4 soon enough. But the Energy Department says gasoline demand is actually lower than a year ago. So what's going on? Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.

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