Marketplace for Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Segments From This Episode

• Ford Motor working on recyclable car interiors

  by Sarah Gardner

  U.S. sales rose more than 9 percent in January as consumers bought more trucks and SUVs. They may not know it, but some of those Ford interiors are made of stuff other than oil.

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• States declaring bankruptcy?

  by Marketplace Staff

  Individuals can do it. So can municipalities. But why can't states file for bankruptcy? Want the answer? Just ask the Founding Fathers.

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• Egypt downgraded by debt-rating agencies

  by Heidi Moore

  S&P joins Moody's in downgrading Egypt, after similar moves for Tunisia. How costly a factor are ratings agencies in political change?

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• The long-term economic challenges Egypt must overcome

  by Marketplace Staff

  Marcus Noland of the Peterson Institute for International Economics talks with Kai Ryssdal about how Egypt's economy was doing before the recent protests, the long-term issues it must deal with, and how much of a role the Middle East plays in influencing its economy.

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• The future strain on mobile networks

  by David Gura

  A new forecast says that by 2015, the level of wireless data traffic will be 26 times greater than it is now.

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• BP healthy, wealthy, and wise — maybe

  by Eve Troeh

  BP posted a fourth quarter profit and is paying a dividend again. It's a far cry from the days of the spill when analysts wondered if the company wouldn't go on the auction block.

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• The State of the Black Union

  by Marketplace Staff

  Kai Ryssdal talks to Dr. Julianne Malveaux, economist and president of Bennett College for Women, about her thoughts on the state of African Americans coming out of the recession.

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