Marketplace for March 18, 2011

Segments From This Episode

• Manufacturers scramble to cover parts shortages

  by Alisa Roth

  Japan's crisis prompts General Motors to close U.S. plant and divert auto parts to others. Companies improvise to cope with disrupted supplies.

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• A long road ahead for Japanese taxi company

  by Rob Schmitz

  The cabbies and owner of Smile Smile Taxi in Sendai try to fight through tears as they rebuild the business.

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• Cities take aim at couch surfers

  by Mose Buchele

  Short-term housing rentals are the latest cottage industry coming on to tax collectors' radar screens.

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• World’s big economies act to tame Japan’s yen

  by Stacey Vanek Smith

  

  In its first joint action on a currency in over a decade, the Group of Seven nations sold yen to halt its rise and help spur Japanese exports.

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• Microsoft nails big spammer

  by Steve Henn

  Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit helps take down one of the biggest email spammers in cyberspace — at least for now.

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• Weekly Wrap: The aftermath of the Japan quake

  by Marketplace Staff

  Discussing the week in Wall Street with Lizzie O'Leary from Bloomberg News and John Carney from CNBC.

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• The economics of Bahrain’s Sunni-Shiite divide

  by Marketplace Staff

  University of Vermont professor Gregory Gause discusses how the Sunni-Shiite split is feeding into economic and political unrest in Bahrain.

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