President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates. But lowering interest rates at the wrong time can spark inflation, which is a burden on working-class families. Today, we'll discuss accountability, independence, and the Fed with Karen Petrou, financial analyst and co-founder of Federal Financial Analytics. And later: Tariffs are straining the relationship between the U.S. and Canada, and they're starting to impact border town tourism.

Since the mid-’90s, employers have been using an online system to verify the legal right of employees to work in the U.S. That system often falls short, and now employers have been encouraged to recheck workers' legal status as the Trump administration has canceled work authorizations for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. But first: Universal Music Group is closer to selling shares on a U.S. stock exchange. And, how long will the housing market remain stagnant?

From the BBC World Service: Drugmaker AstraZeneca says it’ll invest $50 billion in the United States by 2030, its biggest-ever manufacturing investment in the country. The AngloSwedish firm plans to build a major new site in Virginia, the latest in a string of big pharma bets on the U.S. as President Donald Trump threatens steep tariffs on drug imports. Plus, a bike shop boss reflects on business during the Tour de France.

You might have heard Meta has been on a bit of a hiring spree recently as it tries to build out its new AI Superintelligence team. The company has reportedly been offering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to attract leading AI researchers from rivals like OpenAI, Google and Apple.

And it's not just Meta doing the poaching. Tech companies big and small are jumping into the AI Wars.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Natasha Mascarenhas, a reporter at The Information, about the AI talent wars happening behind the scenes of Silicon Valley.

“Meta hires two Apple AI researchers for Superintelligence push, Bloomberg News reports” - from Reuters

“Anthropic Revenue Hits $4 Billion Annual Pace as Competition With Cursor Intensifies” - from The Information

Bridget and Ryan get a question from listener Deji - who wants to know, how much debt is too much debt? Before they can answer, the pair run into Ghost Pirate Blackbeard, who has the same question! Together, they learn more about debt, and what everyone, even a ghost pirate, needs to know before borrowing money.

If your family is interested in learning more about the questions we answered in this episode, check out our website. We’ve got discussion questions and tips!

This episode is sponsored by Greenlight. Sign up for Greenlight today at greenlight.com/million.

We like to say it a lot here at Marketplace: the stock market is not the economy. But it can help tell us how the economy is doing — if people and businesses are spending or saving, investing or hunkering down. This week, some major companies will report their second quarter earnings, giving us insight into where this economy is headed. Also in this episode: how summer roadwork is hurting businesses in one Vermont town, and why health insurance premiums are going up next year.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons said his agency’s crackdown on unauthorized immigration will extend to employers as well. Industries that rely heavily on undocumented workers are pushing back. We’ll get into it. And, American consumers are spending in the face of tariff-fueled inflation fears. (For now, at least.) Plus, Korean beauty loyalists and summer camps for sewing make us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "ICE head says agency to crack down on American companies hiring unauthorized workers" from The Hill
• "Transcript: Acting ICE director Todd Lyons on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 20, 2025" from CBS News
• "The U.S. Economy Is Regaining Its Swagger Despite Trump’s Tariffs" from The Wall Street Journal  
• "Teens Learn the Lost Arts of Sewing and Ironing at New Summer Camp Taught By Local Grandmas Staving off Loneliness" from Good News Network
• "A Year’s Worth of Mascara? Fans of Korean Beauty Stock Up as Tariffs Loom." from The New York Times 

• "After Pledging to Keep Prices Low, Amazon Hiked Them on Hundreds of Essentials" from The Wall Street Journal   

  
  

  We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].

While the new spending and tax law boosted the Child Tax Credit by $200, child care costs have risen 30% since before COVID. The U.S. spends less of its GDP on child care and pre-kindergarten than other industrialized nations, and many families face tough choices when confronting the cost of child care. Also on the program: a calm start to the week for financial markets despite political instability in Japan and a trade war.

President Donald Trump wants to bring additional drug manufacturing to the United States and has threatened tariffs on imported medicine. The U.S. relies heavily on imports for low-cost generics, and building up domestic supply chain capacity could be tricky. We'll map out drug manufacturing and explore what it'd take to reshore drug supplies. But first: oil giants are eager to drill off the coast of Guyana, and the boss of an obscure regulatory agency is stepping down.

From the BBC World Service: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's governing coalition lost its majority in the upper house of parliament, but Ishiba said, with the threat of additional U.S. tariffs and rising inflation, he's not going anywhere. Plus, the European Union is ramping up efforts to avoid President Donald Trump's tariffs. An Aug. 1 deadline is looming, and retaliatory tariffs could be in the pipeline. And later, we'll examine the cost of child care in the U.S.