Make Me Smart

We’ll start out this episode talking about the viral video of the, let’s say, different facilities for men and women inside the March Madness bubble, and quickly take the 30,000 foot view. Plus, the pot crackdown in the Biden White House and another round of Half Full/Half Empty.

Here are links to everything we talked about today:

“Biden White House Sandbags Staffers, Sidelines Dozens for Pot Use” from Politico

“NCAA vows to improve conditions at women’s basketball tournament, as outcry continues” from The Washington Post

“NCAA president Mark Emmert says no risk difference between men’s, women’s COVID-19 tests” from USA Today

“House votes to reauthorize Violence Against Women Act” from CBS News

“IRS will delay tax filing due date until May 17” from Associated Press

“Uber to give U.K. drivers minimum wage, retirement plan and more” from “Marketplace Morning Report”

“Amazon says it will offer employers telemedicine services” from “Marketplace Morning Report”

“Toys R Us, under new ownership, plans to open stores” from “Marketplace Morning Report”

“Next on Democrats’ agenda, a “holistic” infrastructure bill” from “Marketplace”

We’re learning all about “pandemic trauma and stress experience” today, and why it’s a good reason to cancel your plans and rest a bit. But first, we’ll talk about the giant corporations trying to hold one another accountable, and Kai gets a lesson in British phraseology.

Here’s a list of what we talked about today:

“NBC breaks silence on Golden Globes controversy, acknowledging its role in ‘necessary changes’” from the LA Times

“NAACP to NFL: Don’t ‘fund Fox News’ hatred, bigotry, lies and racism‘” from USA Today

“Biden plans to send COVID shots to Mexico, Canada” from the Associated Press

“It’s not just you: Why everyone is super exhausted right now” from Salon

Join us on YouTube Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern for our live happy hour episode! Subscribe to our channel and sign up for notifications so you don’t miss it.

Stimulus payments are hitting bank accounts all over the country. Before they go out and spend that stimmy, one listener is wondering where the money for those $1,400 checks came from. We’ll explain, plus talk about the inflationary implications. Plus: a crash course on Big Tech antitrust and leprechaun traps.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

About 10% of the American workforce belonged to a union in 2020. That’s way down from about a third in 1970, but unions are making gains lately — and not where you might expect. Workers in Big Tech, media and other “knowledge workers” are organizing, along with people in jobs that didn’t exist 50 years ago, like Amazon warehouse workers. On today’s show, we’ll talk with Lane Windham, associate director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, about this new wave of labor organizing, what it means for blue-collar work and what comes next with President Joe Biden in the White House.

Here are links to everything we talked about on the show today:

Show of hands: Who’s still cleaning off their groceries? As the COVID-19 pandemic has worn on, experts have developed a better understanding of the disease, the way it spreads and how to treat it. But when the science is fluid and the government response is patchy, a lot can get lost in translation. That’s what we’re talking about today. But first: law enforcement, Big Tech and the Proud Boys.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Finally, we’re raising money for a new season of Marketplace’s kids podcast, “Million Bazillion.” Donate today and your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar!

We’re revisiting a forgotten Ronald Reagan speech on today’s show. As President Biden’s new COVID-19 relief bill rolls out, Reagan’s 1966 “The Myth of the Great Society” speech is making Kai think some big thoughts on government programs and time. Plus, we talk about Netflix password-sharing, virtual conferences and Reese’s all-peanut-butter cups in another round of “Half Full/Half Empty.”

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Thanks to everyone who joined us live on YouTube today! We go live every Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern. Subscribe to our channel and sign up for notifications so you don’t miss it.

How else to think about a massive company that knows its products cause harm but can’t do anything about it without undercutting its business interests (not to mention the addiction factor)? Today, we’ll talk about the parallels between Facebook’s AI and Big Tobacco. Plus: Kai and Molly in spaaaace!

Here are links to everything we talked about today:

Join us live on YouTube Friday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time/6:30 p.m. Eastern for our live happy hour episode! Subscribe to our channel and sign up for notifications so you don’t miss it.

With so many high-profile data breaches in the news — Solar Winds wasn’t that long ago, neither were the settlements for Equifax — it can be hard to know how concerned to get, and easy to sort of numb out until it directly affects you. Today, we’ll sort through all that and answer listener questions about the child tax credit, container ships and more.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

We don’t need to tell you America has a child care problem. Many of you can feel it. We certainly can; one of our producers changed a diaper during today’s taping. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown this problem into sharp relief — women’s workforce participation rate is at a 30-year low — but it’s not new. On today’s show, University of Maryland professor emerita Sonya Michel talks about the history of government-sponsored child care in this country, its economic benefits and whether the new, $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill could actually bring about long-term solutions.

We talked a bit last month about the Pentagon slow-walking some promotions of female generals over fears then-President Donald Trump would quash them. Now, President Joe Biden appears poised to place women on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On this, International Women’s Day, we’ll talk about it. But first: More on vaccine misinformation and the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, plus the best New York-style bagels in America.

Here’s everything we talked about today: