Marketplace All-in-One

The war in Ukraine has threatened the global supply of all sorts of commodities. Today, we’re zooming in on three key parts of the global energy industry: Russia’s role in nuclear power, how Europe’s shift from Russian to American natural gas could play out and why OPEC+ likely won’t boost oil supplies. Plus: The changing conversation around standardized tests and potential planting on protected lands.

Susan Schmidt of Aviva Investors dives into the latest data from private payroll processing firm ADP with us. A report from the NAACP and the Kapor Center reveals a lack of diversity in several facets of the tech industry. Where can homeless people go after they have to stay at a hospital? Medical respite centers that are starting to emerge all over the country could provide the answer.

This week, the G7 nations rejected a demand from Russian President Vladimir Putin that they pay for Russian natural gas in the country’s own currency, which is the ruble. We look into what Putin’s reasoning could be, and what complications it could bring. The war in Ukraine is raising food prices, and the United Nations is warning that unless something changes, the world could be headed for the worst food crisis since World War II. The California committee on reparations for Black Americans is wading through the debate of who can actually get them.

From the BBC World Service: Germany is activating an emergency plan for a potential natural gas supply disruption from Russia. The BBC has learned Syrian mercenaries are being offered $7,000 per month by Russia to fight in Ukraine. British farmers are worried about surging inflation and warn the rising cost of food will be passed on to consumers.

Steve Wilhite, inventor of the graphics interchange format, also known as GIF, died this month at the age of 74. Animated or not, GIFs may now be a common, free feature of the internet, but the tech that powered Wilhite’s format was patented by the technology company Unisys. For a few contentious years during the internet’s youthful era, Unisys wanted to charge fees for all the sparkly GIFs we were sharing. This fight — over who controls how information moves around the web and who gets paid in the process — continues to this day. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with Jason Eppink, an artist and a former curator at the Museum of the Moving Image, who gave her a GIF history lesson.

At the start of the pandemic, there was an overwhelming sense that once there were vaccines, you’d be less likely to die from COVID-19 and the risk would all but go away. Then came long COVID.

According to one estimate, between 7 million and 23 million people in the United States have developed long COVID. That means that weeks or even months after an initial infection, they’re still suffering from a wide range of debilitating symptoms including shortness of breath, brain fog and heart palpitations.

And, in some cases, symptoms are so severe, people have left their jobs. So is our economy prepared?

“If you think about the way that our country manages disability, probably no,” said Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist and senior adviser at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Institute. “We can barely get our disability to work for people who are pregnant and having children. So I can’t imagine that it’s going to be very accommodating to those who are experiencing long COVID.”

On the show today, we’ll talk with Malaty Rivera about the health and socioeconomic effects of long COVID.

In the Newsfix, we’ve got a quick and dirty explainer on the bond yield curve and why it’s all over the news today. Plus, we’ll hear from listeners about the Farmers’ Almanac’s weather predictions and the Oscars, and a veterinarian shares a surprising answer to the Make Me Smart question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

We have two stories today of what it’s like getting by when a global crisis is playing out around you: First, our China reporter tells us about life in locked-down Shanghai. Then, a 75-year-old Ukrainian refugee finds shelter in Poland. Stateside, we’ll take a closer look at the Federal Reserve’s toolkit, examine new data on the gender wage gap and explain what an inverted yield curve is.

More than 450 companies, from Exxon to Starbucks to H&M, have partially or fully withdrawn from Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine began, but many Western companies have yet to abandon their Russian operations, according to a now-viral corporate watchlist compiled by Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. We talked to Sonnenfeld to help us look further. Christopher Low explains a big move in the bond market. The House Oversight Committee wants to look into how Credit Suisse of Switzerland is handling sanctions against the Russian elite.

Hundreds of Western companies have cut ties with Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, marking a critical moment for business leaders who must decide whether to abandon their Russian operations or remain – and contend with the blowback of that decision. We spoke to Harvard business professor and author Ranjay Gulati about how companies’ refusal to exit the moral gray area could lead to serious repercussions. President Biden has proposed a “billionaire minimum income tax” — at least a 20% tax on the very richest households in the country.

From the BBC World Service: Turkey hosts the latest round of talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war as local businesses in besieged cities like Odessa try to carry on. Africa’s second largest country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, joins the East Africa Community (EAC) trading bloc. India’s national trade unions go on strike but fall short of achieving their aims.