Marketplace All-in-One

Store brands tend to thrive during times of economic stress, and they’re having a moment now. Today, we trace generic brands back to the inflation of the 1970s and hear how “private label” products have come to rival premium brands and attract devotees. Also on the program: the relevance of Federal Reserve meeting minutes, the analysts behind Wall Street expectations and the deeper digital lives of teens.

First, retail data for July has emerged from the Commerce Department. The downturn in new home construction offers a peek into the state of the housing market. The BBC reports on food prices and the pressure they bring to Peru and Nigeria.

Later this year, it’ll be possible to acquire hearing aids without a prescription. We attempt to read the tea leaves on retail data and consumer behavior. The BBC reports on how Cuba will allow foreign investment in local wholesale and retail trade for the first time since 1959.

From the BBC World Service: Residential areas in China’s southwestern Sichuan province have been told to limit the amount of electricity they’re using. Plus, Cuba will allow foreign investment in local wholesale and retail trade for the first time since the 1959 Communist revolution. And, what price pressures mean for families and businesses in Peru and Nigeria.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. Among other things, it allocates about $370 billion for climate-friendly technology and programs. This includes tax rebates and credits to incentivize Americans to replace their old air conditioners or furnaces with heat pumps, which can be used for both cooling and heating homes and are more energy-efficient than traditional systems. But making the switch can be costly for households. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Alexander Gard-Murray, a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program set up by the Obama administration. Under the program, hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants have received protection from deportation and the opportunity to officially participate in the American economy.

It’s estimated that DACA recipients contribute more than $9 billion in federal, state and local taxes annually.

But DACA was supposed to be a temporary fix in lieu of comprehensive immigration reform. So a decade later, why is it still on shaky legal ground, and where’s the real reform?

“The dollars and cents, the costs and benefits of DACA are very clear in terms of positive impacts to individuals, families and to the broader American economy. But when we think about DACA, it is very much steeped in the broader debate over comprehensive immigration reform. And when we talk about that debate over comprehensive immigration reform, we are talking about a highly political, highly partisan and highly contentious debate over who we are as a country,” said Tom Wong, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the UCSD.

On the show today, we discuss how DACA has changed the economic lives of recipients, where it stands today and how it’s influencing the broader immigration debate.

In the News Fix, we’ll also discuss the promise of commercial supersonic airplanes and the economics of hearing aids.

Plus, we’ll hear from listeners about DACA, a lesson about inflation for kids and what an EV driver learned about her car.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Have a question for the hosts? Send it our way. We’re at [email protected], or leave a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART. 

Walmart and Home Depot both reported sales were up 6.5% in the second quarter. While Walmart’s report indicates tough times for lower-income consumers, Home Depot’s shows middle to upper-income ones are feeling pretty good — even if they’re holding off on a new house. Plus: a new leader for Texas’ troubled power grid, dangerous heat for delivery drivers, and a new Florida law could make it harder for professors to retain tenure.

First, we take the economy’s pulse with the help of MetLife’s Drew Matus. States that rely on the Colorado River are struggling with the logistics of conservation as a government deadline has come and gone. China correspondent Jennifer Pak discusses the job environment for the nation’s young people.

The soon-to-be signed Inflation Reduction Act includes a variety of health care provisions, including allowing Medicare to negotiate over prescription drug prices. There appear to be questions on a vaccine plan against COVID variants. We check in with the BBC’s Victoria Craig regarding her chat with the former governor of the Afghan Central Bank.

From the BBC World Service: William Ruto wants to unite his country after a narrow election victory. More than half the election commission’s members have rejected the outcome and the result could be subject to a legal challenge. Plus, a year on from the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, we hear from the former central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady about the status of $7 billion in central bank assets, which are frozen in the U.S.