Marketplace All-in-One

From the BBC World Service: The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has tweeted suggesting he’s now officially Twitter’s owner. Plus, why interest rates aren’t rising in Japan, unlike in many other countries. And, how a political stalemate in Northern Ireland is putting pressure on businesses and households.

We’ve seen layoffs, hiring freezes and now some cold, hard numbers that show the tide is turning in the tech industry. After booming during the pandemic, big companies like Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta may now be feeling the pinch of a tighter economy. At least that’s the signal from a series of disappointing earnings reports this week. Apple was the exception, boasting record revenues, but sales of its new iPhone 14 were slower than expected. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Daniel Newman, principal analyst at Futurum Research. And he says companies that rely on advertising are taking the biggest hit.

The International Energy Agency says we’re experiencing the first global energy crisis. But the United Nations says we’re also falling way short of meeting our climate goals and need to do more to reduce our demand for fossil fuels. We’ll talk about a pair of reports and what they mean for the clean energy economy. Plus, will Twitter become a free-for-all hellscape? And guest host Andy Uhler and Kai make a bet.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific/6:30 Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks, a game and more.

Last quarter’s gross domestic product showed better-than-expected growth. Problem is, GDP is backward-facing, and a strong dollar, rising mortgage rates and slowing consumer spending all hint at trouble ahead. Later in the program: how schools are prepping to train chip production workers, why investment is pouring into quantum computer development and how a dark chapter of history spawned a booming tourism industry in Salem, Massachusetts.

When Joe Hanson got the call to start a varsity esports team at the local community college, he didn’t know what to think. He already had a full time job. He had a family to think about. And this coaching gig, it was basically a glorified volunteer position. Plus, he didn’t even know what “esports” really meant. But this opportunity stirred something within Joe that he couldn’t ignore… In this episode, we follow Coach Joe and his ragtag team of gamers as they go up against the best and try to prove the haters wrong.

This episode was reported Reema Khrais, produced by Serena Chow, edited by Karen Duffin and engineered by Drew Jostad.

Numbers from the Commerce Department show growth and a healthy economy, but KPMG’s Diane Swonk helps us read a little more into the data. Since we’re in Texas this week, we check in with venerable Dallas business reporter/stockbroker David Johnson. Then, we have some takeaways from the Boeing earnings report.

The Biden administration is targeting what it calls “junk fees” that add to the cost of living. Then, we dive into company culture with Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri.

From the BBC World Service: The International Energy Agency says Russia’s war in Ukraine is continuing to cause unprecedented shock to the world’s energy markets. Plus, a shakeup at Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, will see another founding family member as the next chairman. And, poverty in Brazil has become a major election issue for voters.

It’s a world of big promises, big personalities and, lately, big failures that can seem inscrutable and often ridiculous. But cryptocurrency has moved into finance, tech, even sports arenas. And according to Bloomberg Businessweek, it demands to be understood. This week the magazine has dedicated an entire issue to what it calls “The Crypto Story: Where it came from, what it all means, and why it still matters.” Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Bloomberg opinion columnist Matt Levine, who wrote the article. He says crypto and the blockchain technology behind it started as a reaction to traditional banking, which, of course, relies on trust in institutions.

After last week’s discussion about political advertising, a listener wrote in to ask how candidates get away with putting misleading info or even complete lies on the air. The answer is at the top of the Bill of Rights. We’ll get into it and answer more of your questions about the Kroger-Albertsons merger, “normal” recessions and dollar-slice pizza joints.

Here are links to everything we talked about today:

If you’ve got a question about the economy, business or technology, let us know. We’re at [email protected] or leave us a message at 508-U-B-SMART.