Marketplace All-in-One

… Which is a lot of considering and a lot of signaling. On today’s show, we’ll look into when the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates, what a digital dollar could look like and how the Fed gauges wage inflation. Plus, a chat with the owner of a Hawaiian boat tour company about rebuilding following the Tonga tsunami.

The value for Bitcoin has been dropping and has reached a six-month low. Could the Fed have something to do with it? The pandemic has put nearly immeasurable stress on the mental health system, so more people have turned to alternate means for their help, such as online video and hotlines. The BBC reports on how fake snow for the 2022 Winter Olympics has become a telling sign of climate change’s possible impact on future versions of the event.

The cost of lithium has risen more than 400% in the past year, which adds to the kaleidoscope of other issues that electric carmakers are facing. Lithium is essential to the batteries that power these vehicles. The Commerce Department says some U.S. manufacturers have less than a five-day supply of computer chips. We also examine the possibility of Russia cutting off its gas supply to Europe, and if the U.S. and others can pick up the slack.

From the BBC World Service: Bankrupt Lebanon is trying to solve its power crisis, striking a deal for electricity from Jordan. But can it really fill the gap and who’s going to pay for it? Also, health care workers in the Czech Republic face growing number of physical attacks, and the U.K. foreign minister warns Russia all sanctions options are on the table.

NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are a bit of a tech fad at the moment, with plenty of different opinions about whether they are here to stay. But for now, they are continuing their push into the mainstream. NFTs are digital assets, like JPEGs or tweets, that can be bought and sold on a marketplace. They’re a way to make something that traditionally could just be copied and shared online, rare — and therefore, to some, valuable. And as transaction prices for these items climbs, so does the risk of scams. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Corin Faife, a senior reporter at The Verge, who’s been following this trend.

Location has dictated salaries for a long time, but the remote-work revolution has allowed many workers to make the most of their salaries in more affordable cities. But some large national companies have indicated that employees moving to areas with a lower cost of living might be getting a cut in pay. Also on today’s episode: Russia leverages natural gas in the Ukraine crisis, the College Board announces the end of the analog SAT and the IMF sees slower economic growth for the year ahead.

Last week, we spoke with sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson. He’s the guy who coined the term “metaverse” in 1992 to describe a 3D virtual world where people interact through avatars.

Today, the term is being thrown around a lot by tech and gaming companies that say they’re building the real metaverse. You probably noticed Facebook even changed its name to Meta and has really doubled down on this concept. And cue Microsoft, announcing its deal with Activision last week, saying it will provide the building blocks for the metaverse.

But what is the metaverse, and how real is it?

“The conceptual idea is a shared 3D world that uses [virtual reality] and [augmented reality] and has tens of thousands of people, and it’s all interoperable. But right now, the best definition of the metaverse is that it’s kind of a catch-all marketing term that a lot of different companies are using to convey the value they see in their potential future products,” said Eric Ravenscraft, product writer and reviewer at Wired.

On the show today, we’ll cut through some of the noise about the metaverse and break down what’s real, what’s hypothetical and what might remain science fiction.

In the News Fix: We’re running really, really low on semiconductors. We’ll talk about a new survey that shows U.S. manufacturers are about five days away from running out of chips and what that means for the supply chain. Also, we’ll dig into a report that reveals the effects of not treating mental health the same as physical health.

Later, a listener calls us with her hot take on the West Elm Caleb drama. And, if you think you know what bald eagles sound like, you’ll be surprised after you hear this week’s answer to the Make Me Smart question.

Here is everything we talked about today:

As tensions grow between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine, the U.S. is threatening to use a rule that would ban high-tech exports into Russia. The federal government has launched a new online tool to help parents get the remainder of their expanded child tax credit. David Kelly joins us for our discussion about the markets, which have been volatile lately.

Since 2008, federal law has required employers that offer group health plans with mental health and substance use disorder coverage to ensure those benefits are comparable to benefits for physical health care coverage. However, new data from the U.S. Department of Labor finds that many health insurers fail to comply with the law. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh spoke to us about those findings, and said the department will put renewed focus on enforcing the law and correcting those failures. For more detail about the report, we also chat with Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams.

From the BBC World Service: Why are global markets so volatile? We dig in to some of the issues after a frantic 24 hours of trading. Also today, how Australia’s government stepped in on a copyright row engulfing reusing the Aboriginal flag.