PODCAST: Apple’s payment plan

The way some people put ketchup on their fries, Apple’s expected to to pour words like “amazing” and “awesome” all over its script at its product launch in California today. After all, the articles about what an Apple wristwatch might look like, it’s now time to actually see what the company has to offer. What might get overshowed is expected news today that could make the economy an even more liquid place. It’s about a new mobile payment system in which you wave an device like a magic wand at the point of sale. Plus, what is called the JOLTS Survey is expected out later this morning. It covers how many job openings and what’s about workplace turnover. This monthly report’s star has risen each time Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellin mentions it when discussing the health of the labor economy. So just what is JOLTS trying to measure? And what does being economically secure–or its antithesis–economic insecurity mean in 2014 America? Wealthier people in America have been raising their standards for what they consider economic security, even as people struggling with less are lowering their standards about what they see as acceptable. That’s among the findings of a new book called “Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure Times.” It’s author, Stanford sociologist Marianne Cooper, joins us to discuss.