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Marketplace

Marketplace Business News Podcast
Kai Ryssdal
Latest Episode

What if we just do MAFTA and CAFTA instead?

Aug 15, 2018

Episodes 2171 - 2180 of 5795

  • The Greek government is declaring the end of its financial crisis and will celebrate Bailout Exit Day on Aug. 20. But how do the Greek people really feel about their economy? We went to Greece to find out. Meanwhile, in America, banks have been warned by the FBI that ATM hacks are on rise. We tell you what you need to know. Also on today’s show: Slavery is an ugly part of America’s business history, one often ignored. A new book, “Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management,” examines this and the connections between slavery and capitalism. Author Caitlin Rosenthal walks us through her findings. (08/14/18)

  • Fax machines, once the height of telecommunications tech, have mostly gone the way of the beeper. Some offices still fax occasionally, via those big industrial copiers, which new research shows are very vulnerable to hacking. We’ll talk through today’s cybersecurity and yesterday’s tech, but first: What you need to know about Zimbabwe’s election and Turkey’s currency crisis. Plus: A new book explores what it’s like growing up in a company town when the company is the U.S. government.

  • It’s rare that foreign exchange markets top the news, but when they do, it’s never good. Turkey’s currency, the lira, fell to record lows against the dollar as President Donald Trump hit the country with additional tariffs on steel and aluminum. We’ll break down what happened and try to figure out if other countries should be worried. Then, we’ll talk to a business near the wildfires that closed down Yosemite National Park during peak season. Plus: The sun sets on the celebrity chef restaurant.

  • There are no trade stories in today’s podcast (you’re welcome). Instead, we’re talking about mergers and acquisitions. This summer has seen several high-profile deals go through and others fall apart. That’s not unusual. In fact, one out of five announced mergers don’t end up happening at all, and only half are successful. Why do they fall apart? Mostly because of people. Then, in light of the insider trading charges against Rep. Chris Collins, we’ll look at congressional investing do’s and don’ts. Plus, the business of the Academy Awards and what “outstanding achievement in popular film” means anyway.

  • Remember when we had to pay for credit scores? It wasn’t all that long ago. Now it seems everybody wants us to check our scores all the time, for free. Why? But first: It’s been 160 days since President Donald Trump announced his steel and aluminum tariffs, kicking off the trade war. As White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow told us last week, the effect on real gross domestic product has been minimal. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean people aren’t feeling the effects — and the longer the trade war goes on, the more pain people are gonna feel. We’ll look at the micro and the macro today. Plus: Elon Musk’s tweet yesterday about taking Tesla private was a big deal, but until he shows us the money, it’s only theoretical. We’ll talk about the implications (and the legality) of the announcement. 

  • Say what you will about Elon Musk — he’s not shy about saying what he thinks. The Tesla CEO tweeted this morning that he was considering taking the electric car company private, “funding secured.” We’ll talk about what that meant for markets, but also what it might mean for the American car consumer, because if there’s gonna be a lot more Model 3s on the road, we’re gonna have to learn how they work. Then: Google likes to do big things, but whether it gets those big things done is a whole other matter. Case in point: What ever happened to Google Fiber? Plus, what you need to know about Disney’s foray into the streaming video business.

  • President Donald Trump’s tweets made a lot of news Sunday, but we want to zoom in on this bit: “Because of Tariffs we will be able to start paying down large amounts of the $21 Trillion in debt,” Trump wrote. “While at the same time reducing taxes for our people.” Leaving aside that tariffs are taxes, could they ever pay off the national debt? Or even just the deficit? We looked into it. Then, a look at JPay, a company that lets prison inmates and their families exchange emails — for a cost. Plus, we’ll talk with Mandy Harris Williams about her Instagram account @idealblackfemale and her experience as a woman of color at the mercy of Facebook’s algorithms.

  • With the caveat that President Donald Trump is often his own economic adviser, we headed to the West Wing today to chat with National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow. He joined the administration just as Trump levied new tariffs on steel and aluminum. We talked with him about those tariffs, today’s jobs numbers and more in a wide-ranging interview. Plus, of course, we run it all back with our panelists on the Weekly Wrap.

  • We do the numbers all the time, but today’s is the biggest yet: Apple is the first company to reach an estimated $1 trillion market capitalization. We’ll talk about what that means on today’s show. But first: The Trump administration announced its plans to freeze automobile fuel economy and emissions standards at 2020 levels. In theory, that’s meant to help the car industry, right? It has to worry not quite as much about environmental regulations. But another way to look at it is that it’s hard to do business when the goalposts keep moving. Plus: We’ll talk with the director of “The Spy Who Dumped Me.”

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About the show

Hosted by Kai Ryssdal, our leading business news radio program and podcast is about providing context on the economic news of the day. Through stories, conversations and newsworthy developments, we help listeners understand the economic world around them. Marketplace makes sense of the economy for everyone, no econ degree or finance background required. Marketplace doesn’t just report on the numbers, we take it deeper, adding context to what’s happening in the stock market and how macroeconomic policy can affect you and your business. Monday through Friday, our team speaks with a wide range of industry professionals — from small business owners to Fortune 500 CEOs, Marketplace breaks down complex topics related to business and the economy without industry jargon and over-complicated explanations.

Kai Ryssdal has led the program since 2005 and has hosted the program from China, the Middle East and dozens of cities across the United States. As a leading public media voice, Kai has been a trusted broadcaster for two decades and received an Emmy for investigative journalism on a PBS FRONTLINE documentary about money in politics called “Big Sky, Big Money.” He has appeared often on CNN, CNBC and CBS news. His written work has been featured in The New York Times and The Atlantic.

Produced and distributed by American Public Media (APM) our popular business news podcasts are available worldwide on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS Feeds and any place else where you get your podcasts.

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