Posted by Chau Tu

For Marketplace, Thursday, December 9, 2010

Continuing on our philanthropy series, we had stories about the true nature of philanthropic pledges from companies and wealthy investors — is it just good PR, and are their pledges really worth anything? Jonah Lehrer also commented on how the brain affects how we give. John Dimsdale explained how some parts of President Obama’s compromise may in fact help to create jobs. Two new Chinese tech IPOs may turn out to be risky investments. On the health care front, NYC is looking to charge private hospitals for using their ambulances in response to 911 calls, and large health insurance companies are banding together to help influence how the health care reform is implemented. And finally, our climate story today talked about the decline of corn crops in one part of Mexico. Here are the songs we played:

• Idiotental – GuzBuy

• 3 Plus 4 – El Ten ElevenBuy

• The Shy Retirer – Arab StrapBuy

• I.C.D.K – Cold CaveBuy

• Ecstasy – Rusted RootBuy

• Giving Up the Ghost – DJ ShadowBuy