Jun 23, 2017

06/23/2017: You-know-what

The Capitol building. Alberto Ceballos / Creative Commons

We thought we could go the whole day without talking about, um, that big bill the Senate unveiled this week. No dice. But we're getting it out of the way right up top, discussing the Senate's hurry-up-and-wait-outside approach to health care reform and what this bill is really designed to fix. Then: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to negotiate a trade deal on her way out of the E.U., and some Brexit supporters are pushing the so-called "nuclear option." Plus: We're used to paying $700ish for an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, but the Wall Street Journal was able to build one for a 10th of the price. What gives?

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Here’s the company that makes those National Park and Smokey Bear signs

by Robert Garrova

Jun 23, 2017

One woman started it out of a garage and now they make 25,000 signs and markers a year

Wood Product Signs and Rocky Mountain Aluminum workers posing with Smokey the Bear signs.

Courtesy Wood Product Signs and Rocky Mountain Aluminum

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A year after Brexit vote, some want 'nuclear option'

by Stephen Beard

Jun 23, 2017

Hardliners say Britain should quit Brexit talks and offer unilateral free trade.

Some “hard Brexiters” say that if the U.K. fails to secure a satisfactory deal during negotiations, it should walk out of the talks and make a unilateral declaration of free trade.

Jack Taylor/Getty Images

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Economists say the bottom line beats presidential callouts for manufacturers

by Mitchell Hartman

Jun 23, 2017

President Trump’s practice of calling out major U.S. corporations to publicly pressure them to keep jobs in the U.S. has been well publicized since the 2016 election campaign. Trump has in the past, for example, criticized the air conditioning company Carrier for plans to move jobs to Mexico. He then took credit when the company […]

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The Wall Street Journal made a phone for just 70 bucks

by Kai Ryssdal and Maria Hollenhorst

Jun 23, 2017

Chinese smartphone makers can pump out phones at a much cheaper price than well-known U.S. competitors.

“As of the first quarter of 2017, Chinese brands have doubled their market share,” says Wall Street Journal reporter Liza Linn. “So you're looking at a market share globally of 40 percent. Basically, they're eating Apple and Samsung for lunch.”

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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Where’d you get that beef? Rancher groups sue USDA over labels

by Annie Baxter

Jun 23, 2017

Two industry groups that represent cattle ranchers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They want the USDA to reinstate country-of-origin labeling for beef, because they say consumers want to purchase meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. For example, pieces of beef from Canada can come across the […]

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Wall Street had a busy day reshuffling popular trading benchmarks

by Aaron Schrank

Jun 23, 2017

It was a busy day on Wall Street today, and there was good reason for that. It was the annual reshuffling of the popular trading benchmarks known as the FTSE Russell Indexes. Those indexes track the largest U.S. companies in the U.S. stock market, and they determine what’s in a bunch of securities mutual funds. […]

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Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap: Is it a health care bill or a redistribution of wealth?

by Kai Ryssdal

Jun 23, 2017

Rachel Abrams from The New York Times and Sheelah Kolhatkar from The New Yorker join us to discuss the week’s business and economic news. Now that Senate Republicans have unveiled their health care plan, a bill drafted in secret, we look at the potential impact it will have on low-income earners and how it could redistribute wealth to […]

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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We thought we could go the whole day without talking about, um, that big bill the Senate unveiled this week. No dice. But we’re getting it out of the way right up top, discussing the Senate’s hurry-up-and-wait-outside approach to health care reform and what this bill is really designed to fix. Then: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to negotiate a trade deal on her way out of the E.U., and some Brexit supporters are pushing the so-called “nuclear option.” Plus: We’re used to paying $700ish for an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, but the Wall Street Journal was able to build one for a 10th of the price. What gives?