Marketplace®
Every story is an economic story
  • Economics editor Chris Farrell
    American Public Media

    President Obama's budget proposal has some interesting ideas involving student loans, Pell Grants, retirement and taxes. Tess Vigeland talks to our Economics Editor Chris Farrell, who breaks down portions of Obama's proposed 134-page budget.

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  • Nic Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
    hbs.edu

    President Barack Obama's $275 billion plan to help the housing market is projected to help almost 9 million homeowners. But what exactly is in the plan? Host Tess Vigeland discusses it with Nicolas Retsinas of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

  • Army Sgt. Angel Herrera with her husband, David. Sgt. Herrera was seriously wounded in Afghanistan in September 2008.
    Tess Vigeland / Marketplace

    Army Sgt. Angel Herrera drove trucks for an engineering unit in Afghanistan until serious wounds from a rocket-propelled grenade ended her tour of duty. But she's not ready to give up her stripes.

  • Patrick Sowers writes a $700 check at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, to help an Army private recently returned from Iraq get back to his family in Arizona.
    Tess Vigeland / Marketplace

    Patrick Sowers found a good job with higher pay and less work than he'd known as an Army sergeant. That bothered him. He's been paying back ever since, to the benefit of thousands of people in uniform.

  • Yvonne Oppenheimer's brother couldn't say no to charities claiming to raise money for veterans. Now, even though he's deceased, the solicitations keep coming. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.

  • "Jarhead" author Anthony Swofford recalls how, despite needing to save money for college, he just couldn't schlep deep dish in the desert while still a member of the world's most elite fighting force.

  • When duty called, chiropractor Daniel Bordelon didn't turn his back. The Army National Guard colonel, who nearly drowned in Hurricane Katrina, gave up his practice at a huge loss to serve in rebuilding New Orleans.

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  • When members of the Armed Forces are seriously wounded, their families and friends face putting aside their own careers and goals to lend support. Jeff Tyler reports on the impact of a soldier's injury on his mother and sister's bottom line.

  • About half of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II parlayed their active duty into a middle-class civilian life. Can today's military personnel anticipate a similar future? Tess Vigeland asked military sociology professor David Segal.

  • Members of the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard take classes to become command finance specialists. The Navy requires a finance specialist for every 75 sailors.
    Tess Vigeland / Marketplace

    The branches of the military consider financial fitness as important as physical training. About three years ago the Navy ramped up its financial counseling service. Tess Vigeland visited the San Diego Naval Base to see how it works.