Marketplace All-in-One

We’ve got Cecilia Rouse, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, on the show today to hash out President Joe Biden’s remarks on the economy this week, the past year or so in government relief and who’s ultimately responsible for driving inflation. Before that, we’ll do some postgame analysis of our exclusive interview with Fed Chair Jerome Powell. We’ll also catch you up on the crypto crash and the baby formula shortage.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his purchase of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” as he works to acquire more information on spam and fake accounts on the platform. The claim has been met with some skepticism. We have the second part of our chat with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal about his discussion with Fed chair Jerome Powell. The U.S. and its allies are talking about ways to stabilize oil prices. One idea comes from Italy’s prime minister, who suggested banding together against oil producers. The gambling industry has recovered to the point where its putting up pre-pandemic numbers.

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A bank run. Panic selling. These are some of the not-so-enviable descriptions of what’s going on right now in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin looks set for a record seventh week of losses, and so-called stablecoins have shown weakness. What’s going on? Also, we hear the first part of our discussion with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal about his sit-down interview with Fed chair Jerome Powell.

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From the BBC World Service: Ukraine’s former economy minister gives us a sense of the job losses the war has caused, and on the rebuilding plans already in progress. Also, the dollar shortage causing a crunch for Kenyan businesses.

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Google hosted its annual developers conference this week, which it calls Google I/O. And for the first time since the start of the pandemic, attendees had the option to show up in person. The company announced software updates, new devices and, of course, details of improvements to the Android operating system, which runs on most of the world’s mobile phones. The event sets the tone for the other big tech conferences throughout the year. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Ian Sherr, an editor at large for CNET. He attended the conference virtually and said one of Google’s biggest reveals was a new wearable device.

Today, instead of guessing what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is thinking, we asked. Our hosts talk about the newsiest and funniest parts of Kai’s interview with the Fed chairman. Plus, a scientific revelation about sudden infant death syndrome may provide some peace for parents. And, speaking of incredible science, we marvel at mind-blowing new pictures of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

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

The Senate confirmed Jerome Powell for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve today. Last week, the Fed announced the biggest interest rate hike in 22 years and its plans for reducing the central bank’s nearly $9 trillion balance sheet, all in an effort to get torrid inflation under control. We sat down with Powell for a long interview about what the Fed can do to engineer a “soft landing” for this economy — and what it can’t.

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When Stephanie Stone’s older brother Michael died, their family didn’t have the money to pay for his burial. His body went unclaimed, and the county where he was living made arrangements. Years later, Stone doesn’t know where he was laid to rest. In this episode, we follow Stephanie’s quest to find her late brother and dig into what it reveals about the economic and emotional toll of losing a loved one. Next week, we’ll join in the search.

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The Senate confirmed Philip Jefferson this week as just the fourth Black man to serve as a Federal Reserve governor in Washington. He joins Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. However, a new report shows that the pace of diversity has been slower at the 12 regional Fed banks. We speak with the BBC’s Victoria Craig about London vying for position at the top of the cryptocurrency world.

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Staffers in the House of Representatives are going be allowed to unionize for the first time, following a vote narrowly passed by Democrats. Long hours and low pay are at the crux of the unionization efforts, and there are hopes that unionization could slow down constant turnover. The House has also passed a bill that sets up new benefits for federal firefighters. We look into how the closing of a Piggly Wiggly store in Nashville illustrates the impact of local store closures in a community.

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