Marketplace All-in-One

The Commerce Department today reported a strong comeback in retail sales in January. This comes after declining a month earlier as omicron spread. January sales were up nearly 4% compared to December. Helping us read into what this means is Susan Schmidt. We speak with the BBC’s Victoria Craig about the European Union potentially wielding the power of the purse against member countries it sees as going against democratic values.

From the BBC World Service: As NATO defense ministers gather in Brussels to talk about escalating geopolitical tensions, we take you to Singapore where Russia and Ukraine are also top of mind. Plus, what a landmark ruling from Europe’s top court means for critical funding.

According to a study published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, the Southwest is experiencing the worst drought the region has experienced in at least 1,200 years, and it’s been especially hard on farmers and ranchers. Families of some of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims have reached a $73 million settlement in a lawsuit against bankrupt gunmaker Remington. The BBC reports on a basic income scheme for young people leaving care in Wales.

Massachusetts is the only state with an active right-to-repair law, ensuring third-party vendors and independent car repair shops can access materials and data they need to fix some modern tech. Today we’re joined by Aaron Perzanowski, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, to hear about existing and proposed legislation aimed at giving car owners greater control of their own data.

Marketplace is for public good, not for profit. We count on you, our listeners, to help cover the cost of the tech and business reporting you rely on. We’re going to remain free and accessible to everyone. That’s part of our mission. But if you’re in a position to donate, we’re counting on you. You can use this link to donate now.

It’s easy to remember the “before times,” but it’s a lot more challenging to envision the “after times.” Even if COVID-19 sticks with us forever, that doesn’t mean we’ll always be living in a pandemic. Today, we’ll dig into how exactly we can tell when the pandemic is behind us and what our norms, our economy and our lives might look like. Plus: Inflation hits oil and lumber, and the Great Resignation hits inflation.

As the threat of climate change grows, expect to hear more about solar geoengineering.

It came up during our recent episode with sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, and it involves spraying tiny particles into the stratosphere to deflect the sun’s rays away from the Earth and cool the planet.

“It’s a pretty old idea and it has run into such opposition, in terms of research, that we have yet to have any rigorous tests of whether it is even, you know, remotely possible,” said Elizabeth Kolbert, a climate journalist and author of “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.”

Critics still believe the risks outweigh potential benefits, but that hasn’t stopped others from supporting the idea as a potential solution to our climate woes.

On the show today, the promise and peril of solar geoengineering.

In the News Fix, we’ll discuss a historic settlement between Sandy Hook families and gun manufacturer Remington Arms. Also, we’ll explain why billionaire philanthropists are a social policy issue.

Then we’ll hear from listeners about last week’s episode on the NFL racial discrimination lawsuit, and we’ll have an answer to the Make Me Smart question that will teach you something about weather forecasting!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

The Pentagon is worried about the number of companies it has to choose from to buy everything from missiles to batteries. It’s out with a new report, prompted by President Biden’s executive order last year, directing federal agencies to figure out how to increase competition. Stifel’s Lindsey Piegza joins us to discuss prices at the wholesale level during our talk about the markets. We explore how price gouging inquiries during the pandemic have led to friction in the traveling nurse space.

From paper to bus fuel to driveway-clearing salt, costs for items essential to the functions of school districts have gone up. In some cases, the pressure is mounting for wages to rise as well. Vacation rentals remain popular with remote workers who like to come for the work and stay for everything else. The Senate Banking Committee prepares to vote on President Biden’s nominees for the Fed.

From the BBC World Service: The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell says Nord Stream 2 could be included in sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine. Plus, China introduces new rules for larger technology companies seeking to list their stock overseas. And, the number of robots being used in workplaces has jumped since the start of the pandemic, including in small and medium-sized companies.

Futurist Amy Webb is known for her predictions about the next big thing in technology and for early warnings about some of the economic and ethical considerations that go along with those advancements. Webb recently co-authored a book with geneticist Andrew Hessel called “The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology.” In it, she explores the role “synthetic biology” will play in shaping our world. It already has, in some ways, like in bringing us the mRNA vaccines we’re using to fight COVID. But in the not-so-distant future, Webb said, it will play an even bigger role in our health, what we eat and even how we have kids.

Marketplace is for public good, not for profit. We count on you, our listeners, to help cover the cost of the tech and business reporting you rely on. We’re going to remain free and accessible to everyone. That’s part of our mission. But if you’re in a position to donate, we’re counting on you. Click this link to donate now. Thank you.