Jul 20, 2017

07/20/2017: On to the next

Storm clouds fill the sky over the U.S. Capitol Building. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

While the Senate keeps on trying to figure out what it's gonna do about health care, there are plenty of other economic policy problems to deal with. The next big project on the table is tax reform. We take a look at how that debate is shaping up. Also on today's show: What do gold, glitz and lawsuits have in common? The Trump International Hotel. Plus, we talk to Clint Rainey from Bloomberg Businessweek about America’s cheese surplus and the "mad cheese scientists" who are trying to solve it. That's right, cheese scientists.

Segments From this episode

When a big carbon emitter is the main economic driver in town

by Gigi Douban

Jul 20, 2017

For local residents, the Miller power plant is the economic center of the city.

The James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant is a massive coal-fired plant that also is the nation’s top emitter of greenhouse gases.

Gigi Douban/for Marketplace

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The Trump hotel: gold, glitz and lawsuits

by Nancy Marshall-Genzer

Jul 20, 2017

Maryland and DC have filed a suit that says the president's hotel has an unfair advantage.

A construction worker carries away trash as security staff patrol outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the hotel's opening in 2016.

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

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Will the GOP learn from the health care battle as it gears up for a tax fight?

by Adam Allington

Jul 20, 2017

In a bid to avoid the legislative fiasco that was the attempt at Obamacare repeal, the GOP has tried to take a more deliberate approach to its next big priority — tax reform. The White House said it has held “hundreds of listening sessions” on the topic, and Politico reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and […]

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Workers are seeing wage gains, even in some of the lowest-paid jobs

by Mitchell Hartman

Jul 20, 2017

We haven’t seen much in wage gains out of recent jobs reports from the Labor Department. The most recent one, for June, showed average hourly wages, as reported by employers, up just 2.5 percent over the past year, not much better than inflation. But another measure of income from the Labor Department, based on a […]

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The "Illuminati of cheese" is filling fast food chains with cheesy dishes

by Kai Ryssdal and Emily Henderson

Jul 20, 2017

“Got Milk?” is arguably the dairy industry’s best ad slogan ever. But how about “Got Cheese?” That do anything for you? Americans are eating record amounts of cheese — 35 pounds of it per person each year on average. But diary farmers still have plenty left over, and there’s a huge surplus of the base product, milk, […]

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While the Senate keeps on trying to figure out what it’s gonna do about health care, there are plenty of other economic policy problems to deal with. The next big project on the table is tax reform. We take a look at how that debate is shaping up. Also on today’s show: What do gold, glitz and lawsuits have in common? The Trump International Hotel. Plus, we talk to Clint Rainey from Bloomberg Businessweek about America’s cheese surplus and the “mad cheese scientists” who are trying to solve it. That’s right, cheese scientists.