Marketplace All-in-One

The longer Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, the higher the actual cost — in rubles and kopecks — of keeping the assault going. While it’s hard to pin down the cost of the conflict, experts say it has to be much more than what was expected. Susan Schmidt offers up her take on today’s market activity. Water levels are historically low at Lake Powell, the Colorado River reservoir that provides hydropower to seven western states via the Glen Canyon Dam. That could eventually lead to an energy crisis.

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The phenomenon known as the Great Resignation doesn’t appear to be slowing, leaving employers across industries faced with high employee turnover and understaffing. But this change also represents new opportunities, according to Keith Ferrazzi, chairman of the consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight. President Biden is heading to Brussels for a meeting with NATO, and is reportedly preparing a new set of Russia sanctions.

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From the BBC World Service: Britain’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, is under pressure to offer more support for households as he prepares to outline the government’s spring spending plans. Plus, a last-minute change means teenage girls in Afghanistan won’t be allowed return to school for now, which could have longer-term implications for their future job prospects. And, at least 40 surrogate babies are stranded in Ukraine, which is home to one of the largest surrogacy agencies in the world.

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Internet access has been crucial during the pandemic, allowing some of us to work remotely or order all manner of things for delivery. But there’s not much research so far on the connection between internet access and health. A new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association looks at how COVID mortality rates varied based on factors like race, socioeconomic status — and internet access. Researchers found that counties with less access could expect more COVID deaths; for every extra percentage point of homes without internet, another 2 to 6 people per 100,000 would die. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Qinyun Lin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Spatial Data Science, who was the paper’s lead author.

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Potato chips. Razors. Air fresheners. These are just a few of the items some of the world’s biggest brands are still selling in Russia after they said they’d suspend sales of nonessential products. But what’s classified as “essential” seems to be in the eye of the beholder, and some of the companies say they’re sticking around to support their employees.

On an abbreviated show today (scheduling snafus happen to the best of us), we talk over the decision some companies have made to keep doing business in Russia even though pressure to cut ties has been mounting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Plus, are Democrats really considering moving on from Iowa?

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Later, listeners call in with their hot takes on plug-in hybrid minivans and “The NeverEnding Story.” And, we end the show with a musical answer to the Make Me Smart question.

Here’s everything we talked about on the show today:

While President Joe Biden warned the private sector about potential Russian cyberattacks earlier this week, cybersecurity experts have been sounding the alarm for years. Today, we’ll preview what the threat to critical infrastructure looks like. Plus, the war in Ukraine spikes the cost of a metal used in catalytic converters, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission mulls new regulations for cryptocurrency.

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Millions of workers have left their jobs during the pandemic, and many of them are going into new fields. We check in from Boston, where a school workshop has become a hub of people switching from white-collar jobs to learning a trade. The Biden administration says there’s intelligence showing increased preparatory activity for a possible Russian cyberattack on American targets.

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The state of inflation is at the point where the Fed could raise interest rates at a faster-than-expected speed if that’s what’s needed, according to Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve. The cruise industry, initially hit hard at the start of the pandemic, is starting to see the occasional wave of success as bans get lifted. The BBC reports on how electronic waste has become a new resource for the Royal Mint.

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From the BBC World Service: Global sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have already made drastic changes to everyday life in the country. Multiple stores in Moscow have no sugar and are reporting shortages of other basics, like buckwheat. Plus, we examine what sanctions on some of Russia’s richest people mean for Chelsea, one of London’s richest, most-followed soccer clubs. And, the vacation-goers from Ukraine and Russia who are stranded far from home in Thailand.

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The Federal Trade Commission recently reached a settlement with WW International, the company formerly known as Weight Watchers. The FTC and Department of Justice accused WW of illegally collecting data from children as young as 8 without their parents’ permission through a weight loss app called Kurbo. That data included details such as what the kids ate and their exercise habits. In addition to fining WW $1.5 million, the FTC ordered the company to “destroy any algorithms derived from the data.” Kate Kaye is a staff writer covering artificial intelligence and data for the website Protocol. She explained what it actually means to “destroy” an algorithm.

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