Marketplace for Friday, December 24, 2010

Segments From This Episode

• Greece may restructure some of its debt

  Developments in Greece have caused some alarm: The cost of insuring against a default by the Greek government soared. This followed reports that Greece is planning to "restructure" some of its loans. Stephen Beard reports.

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• Holiday spending for people who don’t celebrate Christmas

  by Mitchell Hartman

  The National Retail Federation predicts sales this holiday shopping season will come in 3.3% higher than last year. But not everyone is celebrating this time of year. What's the season like for people who don't celebrate Christmas? Mitchell Hartman reports.

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• Weekly Wrap: Obama and the economy

  by Marketplace Staff

  Heidi Moore from The Dealbook at The New York Times and Felix Salmon from Reuters talk with Kai Ryssdal about where things stand economically, whether they believe President Obama's statement that the economy will be his singular focus, and the latest scandal with Merrill Lynch.

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• Shopping for Christmas $50,000 in debt

  by Marketplace Staff

  A survey out not too long ago showed almost half of Americans are still paying off the credit-card bills we racked up last December. So what happens when you are facing severe debt right before the shopping frenzy begins? We've got the story of one woman who faced Christmas being $50,000 in debt.

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• Cash and gift cards: Soulless presents?

  by Sarah Gardner

  Deciding what to get someone at Christmas and how many people to give gifts to can be torture for some. Gift cards and cash just lessen the pain. But is a giving someone a gift certificate or money soulless? Sarah Gardner goes shopping for some answers.

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• The story behind ‘Christmas Wrapping’

  by Marketplace Staff

  Is one of your favorite holiday songs "Christmas Wrapping?" Nate DiMeo has the story behind the music of this semi-holiday classic and two decades of Christmas bonuses.

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