Apple announces its first quarter earnings for 2013. We consider whether Congress really needs to pass a budget at all. The number of unionized workers decreased again last year. McDonald’s reported a $1.4 billion profit today, for which it can thank its dollar menu. The global economy’s biggest names are converging in Davos, Switzerland, for a week to talk big ideas, but some argue the conference is meaningless. Freakonomics Radio’s Steven Levitt has a novel idea for helping people make tough decisions. And in the last of our author series on ‘hope,’ Margaret Atwood says hope is what keeps us going.

It’s the first day of President Obama’s second term, so how will he secure the progress he made, while funding the second-term agenda he laid out in yesterday’s inauguration speech? The high school graduation rate in the U.S. is the highest it’s been in nearly 40 years. The daily deal site Groupon has halted all gun related promotions. Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus talks about how a cat bite turned into a $55,000 medical bill. Fashion journalist Kate Betts discusses how the First Family’s fashion choices could impact those designers and the fashion industry. And Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenedies describes the meaning of hope.

The inauguration managed to get its own mobile app this year; Politico’s Steve Freiss talks about why technology often falls behind of the times. Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s Obama for America campaign group — database, volunteers and all — is now turning into a nonprofit. Young entrepreneurs in Hong Kong are updating the tailoring business there. The building material that made for colorful countertops decades ago — Formica — could be making a green comeback. And Jim Burress reports on how a bakery, a college and a streetcar line that could change the economic fortunes of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s old Atlanta neighborhood.

Marketplace broadcasts live from the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago, following the theme “How to make it in America.”

President Obama’s first inauguration was an economic boon for D.C., but economic expectations are low this time around. Kai Ryssdal talks to a gun store owner about doing business after Obama’s executive actions toward gun control. Quartz reporter Tim Fernholz talks about comparing the debt ceiling debate to Choose Your Own Adventure books. Chinese telecom company Huawei says that U.S. government is wrong for labeling it a security threat. And four years after Barack Obama’s campaign message of ‘hope,’ journalist Hector Tobar talks about what the word means to him.

President Obama announced plans to limit the sale of guns today, but there’s still not a lot good data available about gun violence. Kai Ryssdal talks Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) about his bill to repeal the debt ceiling. The FAA has grounded U.S.-registered Dreamliner 787s. Goldman Sachs reported a spike in revenues today, and JPMorgan announced today that 2012 was a record year — will this be good for the economy? And commentator and poet Tracy K. Smith says for people inspired by the word ‘hope’ in 2008, the word has a whole new meaning.

Coca-Cola has been accused for years of contributing to the obesity epidemic, but its new ads suggest it wants to join the fight against fat. School bus drivers in New York are going on strike tomorrow in hopes of getting more job security. Dan Bobkoff reports that in the eyeglasses industry, more competition could drive down prices in the foreseeable future. The world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, has partnered with Khan Academy to bring free education to Spanish speakers. One entrepreneur is starting a private navy in hopes of warding off pirates in the Indian Ocean. And commentator Nicholas Carr talks about the transformation of the search engine.

President Barack Obama gave Republicans an ultimatum: pay America’s bills and raise the debt ceiling or risk putting the U.S. through another crisis. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is gearing up to make a big adjustment to its business model — it’s getting ready to open the smallest Walmart store in the country. Matt Parker and Trey Stone, the creators of “South Park,” say they’re taking some of the profits from their Broadway success, “The Book of Mormon” and opening up their own production studio. Plus, stories about flu shot shortages, how cars destroyed by Sandy are getting a second (suspicious) life, and a chat about Chicken McNuggets.

The 787 Dreamliner was supposed to be the airplane of the future, but it looks like the Federal Aviation Administration will soon be bringing those dreams back down to earth. As part of new marketing strategy, the men’s fragrance line Axe is launching 22 consumers into space. Having doctors move paper records onto computers was supposed to save patients money — but that hasn’t been the case. Queena Kim reports from the Consumer Electronics Show about whether the death of CES has been greatly exaggerated. And Amy Scott continues her series on the Oyler School in Cincinnati, and how it is teaching its students about professional manners.