Make Me Smart March 3, 2023 Transcript

Note: Marketplace podcasts are meant to be heard, with emphasis, tone and audio elements a transcript can’t capture. Transcripts are generated using a combination of automated software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it.

Kimberly Adams 

Hey, there he is!

Kai Ryssdal

Here I am. Now let’s go before I break something else.

Kimberly Adams 

I know seriously.

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh my Lord.

Kimberly Adams 

It is all Kai’s fault.

Kai Ryssdal 

It is all my fault. Hey everybody I’m Kai Ryssdal. Welcome back to make me smart. Yes, we are two minutes late for those of you on the YouTube in the livestream. I apologize. That’s my fault. We’re trying to do radio on spit and baling wire here. Also, I’ve had like four hours of sleep and I get up stupidly early to fly back from the East Coast. So anyway, make me smart. That’s where we are.

Kimberly Adams 

That’s a bless your little heart. That’s a bless your little heart right there. Yes. And I am Kimberly Adams with my Midwestern/sometimes southern idioms. And thank you everyone for joining us on the live stream for economics on tap. So much fun. This is our weekly happy hour where we do the news, we have our drinks, we have some games, we have a Jasper hanging out, as usual in the background and Kai, what are you drinking on your very little sleep?

Kai Ryssdal 

I am having a large mug of coffee. Thank you very much. Literally got home 15 minutes ago, went straight to the coffee machine and poured myself a cuppa… Cup of joe

Kimberly Adams 

Man that’s a that’s a lot of movement in a very short amount of time.

Kai Ryssdal 

What about you? What do you have?

Kimberly Adams 

So I think I mentioned to you that I’m going to try to do mocktails, and I’m landing on that for the time being, every first Friday. So this one I got from a little book that came with one of my de-alcoholized spirits. And so this is a spiritless Jalisco 55 Ginger Margarita, which has basically spiritless tequila, lime juice, horses kick ginger syrup, agave syrup, and ice. So that’s what I’m drinking.

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh, how is it?

Kimberly Adams 

It’s very good. I like it. It’s actually quite tasty. Yeah! It’s a win. I would drink it again. Yeah, and people commenting on my round ice cube. Yes, it’s round.

Kai Ryssdal 

Do you have a round ice cube too?

Kimberly Adams 

I do! Do have ice cube also? No, you have mug.

Kai Ryssdal 

No, I’ve got a mug of coffee.

Kimberly Adams 

It’s roundish though.

Kai Ryssdal 

It is round. Got this in Detroit actually at a at a at a. I want to call it like a ceramics foundry, but it’s a ceramics place called Pewabic. If you ever go to Detroit, go to Pewabic Ceramics. It’s super cool stuff. Super cool stuff. Totally. I did not get compensated for that plug. They just do good stuff. Alright. So here’s my news. Two things. Completely unrelated. But there’s a degree of head shaking about them both. So President Biden today at the White House decorated retired Colonel United States Army Paris Davis with the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam nearly 60 years ago. So that in itself is awesome and cool. But here’s why I bring it up. Colonel Davis’s paperwork… So remember, this was 60 years ago, right? 60 years ago. Colonel Davis’s paperwork was “lost” twice. That happens a lot with Black soldiers. And it just has to be pointed out. It just has to be pointed out. Now why did it get lost? Well, I think we can all understand why it got lost and I just… It’s just it’s despicable. If you read this man’s citation. It’s just it’s… So I read all these Medal of Honor citations when they come because they’re always just awe inspiring, and and terrifying all at once. And the idea that this man had to wait 60 something years for the honor that he is so richly deserving of, which by the way, all of them Medal of Honor winners say “it wasn’t for me it was for the men I served with.” It’s just despicable that it got “lost”. So that’s item number one. Item number one.

Kimberly Adams 

Can I just read a little bit of this like..

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah go ahead.

Kimberly Adams 

“Even after a grenade blasted off part of his trigger finger and several other soldiers, soldiers were shot down, he kept fighting. When reinforcements arrived, and he was ordered to evacuate, he refused to leave before saving his medic, all four of the Special Forces soldiers made it out alive.”

Kai Ryssdal 

Yep, yep, also one of the first black officers, if not the first Black officer to command a Special Operations Unit, which is also a big deal if you know sort of military hierarchy of badassery, if you will. So that’s that and that happened today at the White House and good for Colonel Davis. Here’s the other story that has been burbling around now for a couple of weeks. And I haven’t brought it up because I was got distracted or whatever. There was something else to talk about. But this spate of of child labor stories. Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me? There were 13 year olds cleaning meatpacking plants overnight. Are you kidding me that this is happening today? Unbelievable. Unbelievable! Look, we’ll put the New York Times story on the show page, lawmakers are getting involved. But all you have to do is is Google child labor, and you will find all of these stories. It’s incredible. And it is absolutely mind boggling to me that that is happening in the United States of America in 2023. It’s… I can’t believe it.

Kimberly Adams 

I keep thinking about all those kids that were separated from their parents at the border.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Kimberly Adams 

In the under the Trump administration. I believe some of that also happened under the Obama administration as well, if I’m not mistaken. And I just wonder some of those kids are still lost in the system. And you have to imagine that some of these kids get trafficked, some of them just are lost to wherever, and who knows where they end up. It’s pretty horrible. It’s horrible. So yeah, okay. I mean, I guess we’re gonna be pretty down on this one.

Kai Ryssdal 

You know, it is what it is.

Kimberly Adams 

It is what it is. Mine is I mean, I imagine there’s a big chunk of the country that’s actually really happy about this one. Walgreens has said it will not distribute abortion pills in several states, where abortion is legal. Where it is legal. “Denying the access” I’m reading from the Washington Post here, “denying access to federally approved medications, amid political and legal threats from anti-abortion movement and state Republican leaders.” This is in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana. And I just think we should take a moment to just call this what it is, which is that legal products, and legal medical services are being banned for political reasons, and blocked by a corporation. And we talked about this the other week. We were saying “where’s corporate America on some of these issues now,” and they’ve really stepped back and said, “we are not getting into these political debates anymore.” And I think this is one of these latest moments. I mean, it’s not really not getting into the debate, because they are taking a position, but they just don’t want the flack for it. And, you know, they’re basically choosing to keep operating keep operating.

Kai Ryssdal 

Right. And I think also they’re afraid because even though it’s legal in in these 20 states, where Walgreens is not going to offer this product, I’m sure they’re fearful of action and, and attacks from the states where it’s not. And, like, not just the political attacks, but also illegal attacks, right? Because, you know, you can see the Texas Attorney General who is well known for for these kinds of tactics, saying, “Well, look, you’ve got an outlet in San Antonio, that makes you a Texas company, and we’re gonna go after you for that reason.” You know? Yeah.

Kimberly Adams 

It will be very interesting to see what some of the other pharmacy chains do. And also what a company like Amazon will do, because Amazon has its own online pharmacy now. Are, are you going to stop all the Amazon boxes coming in to your state? And I mean, we’ve talked about sort of interrupting the Postal Service and things being shipped before and what kind of problems that might have. Anyway, um… Lots of calls in the YouTube chat for people to boycott Walgreens a la Hobby Lobby the way that some people choose not to shop there for political purposes and other companies. I mean, yeah, people vote with their dollars. But I just do think it’s worth like taking the moment to say like, this is what is happening this political pressure is it goes both ways. We saw political pressure forcing companies to take action on, you know, diversity after the murder of George Floyd. And it can go the other way too. You know. So going in a completely different direction. Super, super fascinating, long, long read in Politico. It’s a good one to sit down with for the weekend about fisheries in Alaska. We talked on this show, I guess it was last year about the complete collapse of like the Alaskan crab fishing season and how like they couldn’t get it anymore. Well, this article looks into sort of not just the collapse of the crab fisheries, but also other things like halibut. So I’m just gonna read a little bit of this Politico piece. “Halibut wasn’t the only so called directed fishery to experience such a catastrophic drop. The crab fleet had mostly was mostly stuck in port for two years. This year, both fisheries were closed. And at the same time, substance and sport salmon fishing on the state’s two largest rivers has been shut down because of dwindling salmon runs. There is one fishing industry that has not suffered, the fleet of nearly 250 trawl boats that catch groundfish species such as pollock and yellowfin sole, that congregate on or near the ocean floor, have recorded banner seasons permitted to bring in between three and 4 billion pounds of fish annually for worldwide distribution. What makes this inequity especially jarring is that the trawlers, some as long as football fields, which drag vast nets along the sea bottom, also scoop up millions of pounds of species they don’t actually want and they throw most of it overboard, no matter how valuable it might otherwise be.”

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh, wow.

Kimberly Adams 

So you have all of these fishing industries getting destroyed for the benefit, of it seems, the one. And, you know, this is why we don’t have the Deadliest Catch anymore, but…

Kai Ryssdal 

Right, right.

Kimberly Adams 

And there’s a lot in here about the Indigenous fishermen who have fishing rights in this area and aren’t able to exercise those rights. Because with the ground fish gone and all of this bycatch being thrown away, it’s really just destroying the systems. Anyway, it’s very long, but very interesting. And even though it may seem random to do a long read on Alaskan fisheries, it all matters. So…

Kai Ryssdal 

It all does matter. Everything matters right? You can do an interesting, and creative long read on pretty much anything. There you go. Yeah. All right. That’s it for the news fix. We are going to take a break and when we come back we will play around a half full half empty.

Kimberly Adams 

This is half full half empty, which is our weekly game hosted by the one the only Drew Jostad and we are going to take some news topics, and Drew is going to give them to us and we, along with you for the last questions… I know I can’t even blame the booze this time. We’re going to tell you how we’re feeling about them. Half full being on the positive note, half empty being a little on the negative side. Drew save me from myself please.

Drew Jostad 

Are you half full or half empty on the snow in SoCal?

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh man it’s crazy. I was flying in this morning and there’s so much snow in the mountains. The snow actually in the in the in immediate Los Angeles mountains is starting to melt, which is a little sad because it looked really cool. But coming over the San Bernardino mountains on the way into LAX, crazy, just crazy. I’m half full. I’m all the way full. It’s our water supply. It’s everything. And yes, there are people out there who are stuck, and the California Highway Patrol is going out to dig them out. You know, they’ve been stuck in their houses for days sometimes without food or medicines. But overall half full. Overall.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m gonna go half full, because I mean, we spent most of the last year talking about how y’all need water and snowpack, so that half full.

Drew Jostad 

Okay, half full or half empty on the new screentime monitoring and parental controls that TikTok is adding to minors’ accounts.

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh, this is the hour thing, right?

Drew Jostad 

Yeah, for ages, I think 13 to 17 it’s a 60 minute daily limit that they can then they can then bypass it just by entering a passcode.

Kai Ryssdal 

Then what? I don’t know, it’s alll.

Kimberly Adams 

I think they already have this in China don’t they?

Kai Ryssdal 

Do they? I don’t know.

Kimberly Adams 

I think so.

Kai Ryssdal 

I would say I’m half full. But why an hour? An hour is a lot of time. We can make it like 20 minutes.

Kimberly Adams 

I mean, an hour over the course of the day, maybe, you know, not so bad. I’m half. I’m just half because like the idea is fine but these kids are way more tech savvy than their parents that I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference. So sure? You know, they’re going through the process. You know? Half, half. Yes.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s bandaid right? It’s not an actual solution. It’s a bandaid.

Drew Jostad 

Okay, half full or half empty: The FTC is moving to ban online therapy company BetterHelp, from sharing its users mental health information.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m half full, but just like so traumatized that they were doing it in the first place. You know, that’s one of these companies that’s constantly advertising online and on podcast and all these things. And you know, it’s grim out there. Half full that they are, ideally, not doing it anymore.

Kai Ryssdal 

It’s kind of remarkable they were doing it to begin with, but half full obviously, I mean, holy cow, right. Are you kidding me?

Kimberly Adams 

I mean, I’m guessing they probably didn’t admit wrongdoing in this right?

Kai Ryssdal 

Of course not.

Kimberly Adams 

In the settlement, they usually don’t. It’ll be in the show notes.

Drew Jostad 

Are you half full or half empty on shrinkflation?

Kai Ryssdal 

So shrinkflation, obviously, is when they sell an eight ounce yogurt container for $1 and then, six months later, they’re selling a six ounce yogurt container for $1. I did a really interesting interview actually about a month or two ago with a guy who kind of really keeps track of shrinkflation. Totally interesting. I’m opposed to shrinkflation. I think I think it’s stealthy and I think if you’re gonna raise prices just raise freakin prices don’t you know, try to scam us?

Kimberly Adams 

Same.

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s me. Yeah.

Kimberly Adams 

All right. So this is the last one, right? Okay. Correct. All right. So those of you in the YouTube Live Chat, get ready to weigh in with your votes on half full half empty. And Drew, take it away.

Drew Jostad 

Are you half full or half empty on going to a restaurant with a friend or partner and you both order the same thing?

Kimberly Adams 

I was amazed how much traction this story got.

Kai Ryssdal 

So why don’t you give people the background as as they vote give people the background.

Kimberly Adams 

So apparently, the President and the First Lady went out to dinner somewhere and ordered the exact same dish. And one would imagine that a any other couple might order two different things and maybe you might sample each other’s food as opposed to ordering two full dishes of the same thing. And lots of people have thoughts.

Kai Ryssdal 

Oh my God, so many thoughts. So many thoughts. Holy cow. Holy cow.

Kimberly Adams 

Of all of the things. Oh, this is interesting. Debbie Donovan says in the chat “Is it a safety thing?” Maybe you know, in terms of the food that they could control getting to them. The one dish. I doubt it.

Kai Ryssdal 

That can’t be. Secret Service has been testing presidential food for a really long time. Josh Barro wrote a really interesting newsletter about this topic. I will dig it out of my email somewhere and I’ll send it to Marissa and the gang and they can figure out a way to put it in the show notes because he, Josh had some real thoughts and a whole analysis of ordering in a restaurant, which is maybe more than you want to hear, but I thought it was interesting anyway. Sorry, I gotta let the dog out.

Drew Jostad 

There’s there’s a Twitter take about this that might be worth sharing. @AnjaliVBhatt on Twitter says “people are going on about them ordering the same thing. But if you’ve had the Ragu from this restaurant you would understand.”

Kai Ryssdal 

Well, yeah. That was one of the things right? Is that at this restaurant it is the primo. It’s like the best in Washington of the rigatoni with whatever the heck it was sauce. So all right, Kimberly.

Kimberly Adams 

I’m gonna go half full. I actually think it’s kind of cute.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, I’m all the way full because order what you want and if your dining partner wants the same thing, so be it. Now I should tell you, disclosure. I’m really bad at sharing food. Until I met and married my wife, I was not a food share. Now I am by coercion, and I think it was in our wedding vows too. But my wife’s a big one. “Ooh, can I have a bite? Would you like a bite of mine?” And I’m like, “No, I ordered this because I want to eat it. But sure sweetie have a bite of mine.” Anyway

Kimberly Adams 

What makes marriage work: compromise.

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s right. Compromise. Compromise. That’s right. But look, if you want the same thing, then buy the same thing, get the same thing. Get the same thing

Kimberly Adams 

All right, the poll results are in half full 64%, half empty at 35% and the half fulls have it. We are a sharing bunch of people here at make me smart.

Kai Ryssdal 

You bet you bet. Lots of love from my theory, by the way on sharing food. Lots of love for me. That’s all I’m saying.

Kimberly Adams 

More love for Jasper.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah. Oh, Eaglegenius007 did say “Kai not good at sharing? Shocked, am I!” Anyway. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Alright. So we we are done I believe. Are we done? We are done. Yes.

Kimberly Adams 

No, we’re not because I want to put out a plug for my little thing. On March the eighth, which is International Women’s Day, I am going to be hosting a virtual event with a couple of the other reporters and some of our producers at marketplace who are women. And we are going to be talking about how marketplace includes a lot of voices of women. And we try to amplify the voices of women in business and economics. I mean, most of your weekly wraps are pretty much all women on your Fridays. And we definitely work really hard to make sure that we include perspectives that aren’t often included in business and economics coverage. So we’re going to be talking about that. It’s going to be a live stream. We’re going to have Reema Khrais and also Meredith Garretson who is the Senior Producer of Marketplace Morning Report. And we’ll hear from some of the women that we’ve turned to over the years to be experts on Marketplace and how that has impacted their lives and careers. So I hope that you all can join me for coffee, breakfast, lunch, or whatever works in your timezone. It’s going to be on March 8 at noon Eastern time. 9am Pacific. Maybe we’ll get another Jasper appearance in there. You can register at marketplace.org/Women’s Day or we will have the link in the show notes.

Kai Ryssdal 

What’s the jingling? Is that your? Oh, that’s Jasper. Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Today’s episode was engineered by Jayk Cherry. Drew Jostad wrote the theme music to Half-Full/Half-Empty. Antonio Barreras is our intern.

Kimberly Adams 

The team behind our Friday game is Mel Rosenberg, Emily Macune and Antoinette Brock. Marissa Cabrera is our acting senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcasts. And Francesca Levy is the executive director of Digital.  Maxwell says you are fantastic for the near all nighter.

Kai Ryssdal 

I’m too old for this. That’s what I am.

Kimberly Adams 

You did it!!

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah, there we go. There we go.