Marketplace All-in-One

The last of the pandemic eviction moratoriums are winding down. New York’s ended on Jan. 15, and New Mexico’s is the only state-wide moratorium still in place. Various forms of rental assistance and other tenant protections are still available. Nevertheless, housing advocates say landlords have filed for hundreds of thousands of evictions since March of 2020. And many of those tenants can’t afford a lawyer to advise or defend them. As Stephanie Siek reports, some new tech solutions are available to help tenants fight eviction.

Welcome back from the weekend, folks! It’s What’d We Miss Monday, where we discuss some of the stories we missed over the last few days. Today, we discussed Encanto taking over the charts (and our hearts!), Olympians going to great lengths to avoid COVID and an update on the Webb Space Telescope! Plus, updates from abroad and a sweet Make Me Smile!

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

What’s making you smile this week? Let us know. Send a voice memo or give us a call at 508-82-SMART (508-827-6278).

Close to one-third of people who contract COVID-19 suffer long-term symptoms. Amid a massive labor shortage, we take a closer look at how long-haulers are impacting labor force participation and may do so for a long time to come. Also on today’s episode: Omicron sidelines manufacturing workers, an internet access subsidy program has a marketing problem and a chat with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen about his memoir.

A parade of risks is clouding the economic outlook at the start of the week. They range from speculation about what the Fed could do after its policy meeting Wednesday to the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Julia Coronado joins us to talk through it all. The White House is holding its second meeting of the Competition Council. A flight school named after one of the legendary Tuskegee airmen aims to give more people of color a chance to earn their wings.

One of the major obstacles to home construction has been the availability and cost of raw materials. This is especially true for lumber, which has risen greatly in price. The source for that spike can be traced to a variety of problems in Canada. The U.S. and China have engaged in a duel of flight cancellations. Today’s markets are mostly continuing a selloff as there’s plenty of uncertainty to go around.

From the BBC World Service: Italy begins today to decide who its new president will be, but there are fears that what is usually a largely ceremonial process could cause economic turbulence. Also, a warning of a global shortage of people entering nursing, and English workers head back to the office.

The latest effort to reign in Big Tech cleared a procedural step in the Senate last week, moving one step closer to a floor vote. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prevent big tech firms from giving preference to their own products and services. According to some lawmakers, that unfairly stifles competition. Though the bill has bipartisan support, bipartisan concern over the details means it’s getting hit with requests for changes on questions like privacy and who exactly it applies to. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Will Rinehart, a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity, about the bill’s significance.

If you haven’t heard about Caleb from West Elm, get ready for a mini-deep dive. His story is all over TikTok and Twitter, and it’s raising serious questions about internet culture and a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. We’ll break it down. Plus, who knew what, when? That’s what House Democrats are asking of fossil fuel companies regarding climate change. Then, a round of our favorite game, Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Have thoughts about the West Elm Caleb saga or any other story we mentioned today? Hit us up at [email protected] or leave us a voice message at 508-827-6278 (or 508-U-B-SMART).

But are they riskier than a ground war in Europe? And what do they mean for the international economy? As President Joe Biden weighs imposing additional sanctions on Russia to deter an invasion of Ukraine, we look into what those measures would cost the U.S., our allies and Russia. Also on today’s episode: Hello from the other side of concert cancellations, the factors behind the price of natural gas and the Weekly Wrap.

Netflix stock is down almost 20 percent in futures trading, and according to the streaming giant’s latest quarterly report, we know that subscriber growth slowed dramatically last year from the blockbuster numbers in 2020, when so many of us where staying home and leaned on Netflix for entertainment. Christopher Low discusses mortgage rates and the bond buying program in our markets talk. The Sundance Film Festival is going virtual again – how does that work when it comes to networking?