Marketplace All-in-One

It’s been a hot summer in much of the country so far, and the number of extremely hot days is expected to rise because of climate change. We look into how heat affects worker productivity, especially for people who work outside. The Big Ten collegiate sports conference closed in on what’s being reported as the most lucrative sports media contract in college sports yesterday. We cover the details. And, hear from two enterprising youngsters in Wisconsin who got a chicken coop and started their own business selling eggs.

From the BBC World Service: After two years of regulatory crackdown, why has there been such a stark and sudden change in tone toward the Chinese tech sector? Plus, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has rebuffed an aid plan from South Korea calling it “the height of absurdity.” And, how extra summer sun is great for Sweden’s light-time economy.

End-to-end encryption is a way to keep messages private. It’s sometimes used by apps, which basically turn those messages into unintelligible chunks of data as soon as a user hits “Send.” The idea is that no one, except sender and recipient, can access that message. Not hackers, not third parties, not even the app platform itself. And you need special “keys” stored on an individual device to decrypt it. But many messaging platforms don’t have this kind of encryption, and some provide it only as an option. Kimberly Adams of “Marketplace Tech” spoke with Matthew Green, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, about why more apps don’t have end-to-end encryption by default.

We’ve got a lot to talk about today! First, we’re still considering the ways in which the Inflation Reduction Act is going to change our economy. Speaking of change, in July, Americans for the first time spent more time streaming than watching cable. Pause for quick detour into what we’re streaming now. Then, a Make Me Smile for those looking for a solution for hair loss: There might be a pill for that.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! We’ll be livestreaming on YouTube starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, 3:30 p.m. Pacific time.

Inflation is taking big bites out of Americans’ pay, and employers are struggling to keep costs down while trying to retain workers. Some are offering bonuses, and others are getting creative with perks. We’ll talk about it. Plus: The history of school lunch programs, stores’ ongoing inventory headaches and taxes frustrate the Texas tourism industry.

First, we check in with KPMG’s Diane Swonk about some signs that hiring is strong. A federal judge in Ohio has ordered CVS, Walgreens and Walmart to pay $650 million dollars in damages to two counties that sued over the dispensing of opioid painkillers in their communities. The BBC reports from Tanzania about farmers struggling with a lack of fertilizer due to chaos surrounding food prices and supplies, as well as the war in Ukraine.

But first, it appears meme stocks are back. We look into whether or not that actually helps companies. Then, we talk about fun and risk with a lawyer who has built a class around the chronicled perils of a defunct and notorious amusement park.

From the BBC World Service: Leaders from the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine are meeting in Lviv to work out how to deal with a backlog of grain exports from Ukraine. Plus, Washington has announced its will begin talks with Taiwan on a new trade and investment deal, turning up the heat on simmering tensions with China. And, a global shortage of fertilizer and the high price of importing it is putting pressure on African farmers in Tanzania.

A report out this week warns extreme heat waves, like the ones many parts of the world have experienced this summer, are likely to worsen over the next three decades. Climate research nonprofit First Street Foundation says by 2023, more than 8 million Americans could experience heat above 125 degrees Fahrenheit. In 30 years, more than 107 million people across the country will deal with those sweltering temperatures. And most of them will probably want air conditioning. But traditional AC units create more carbon emissions, which create more global warming. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Ankit Kalanki, a manager at Third Derivative, a climate tech accelerator. He says there are companies working on updating the technology that keeps us cool.

We’re still getting your questions about the newly passed Inflation Reduction Act, and we’ll try to answer them! Like, why is it called the Inflation Reduction Act and what is it actually going to do about inflation? Kimberly and Kai share some insight on that and field a few more questions, like where are we going to get all the water needed to make more semiconductors in the United States? And how do you measure productivity in an economy that doesn’t make as many widgets as it used to?

Here’s everything we talked about today:

If you have more questions about the Inflation Reduction Act or anything else, send them our way. We’re at [email protected] or leave a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART.