Marketplace All-in-One

The dream of solar cars has been around for decades. In recent years, as solar technology has improved exponentially, what was once a novelty is now becoming a reality. Several automakers have plans to develop and refine solar-powered vehicles. But how does solar deliver on the promise of a completely free and clean source of transportation power? We spoke with Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst with Guidehouse Insights.

When you head to an outdoorsy town or resort community to get away from it all, it can be easy to forget the people who live and work there full time, ensuring that the place runs smoothly. The tourism that many of those towns rely on can also produce housing pressures. Marketplace’s Amanda Peacher takes us to Joshua Tree, California, where short-term vacation rentals make up more than one-quarter of the housing stock. As she points out, the affordable-housing shortage is becoming more common around the Western U.S. Also: What the holiday spending habits of four families tell us about the economy, what hurdles await President Joe Biden’s plan for distributing at-home COVID tests and what 20% inflation looks like in Turkey.

Hey smarties! We’re on a break for the holidays and revisiting some favorite episodes from 2021. We want to say a big thank-you for being part of the “Make Me Smart” family this year — every voicemail, question and donation made a huge difference. None of us is as smart as all of us, and we couldn’t do this show without you. There’s still time to help Marketplace reach its end-of-year fundraising goal. If you can, please donate here. Thanks, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year.

If you’ve been tuned in to the culture war at all in the last six to 12 months, you’ve probably heard a lot about “critical race theory.” You’ve probably heard less about what it actually is. We asked a critical race theorist.

“We had social inequality of serious dimensions … even after the victories of the civil rights movement in the embrace of a so-called colorblind society,” said law professor Cheryl Harris of the University of California, Los Angeles. “And we wanted to ask, what is the role of law in that? Is this an enforcement problem?”

CRT, as it’s sometimes called, posits that racism is not just perpetuated by individuals, it’s embedded into our institutions. But Harris said  recent Republican efforts to ban CRT from schools aren’t really about those decades-old discussions, but an effort to create a political “boogeyman.” Some conservative thinkers have said as much.

On today’s show, we’ll go deep with Harris on the nuances of what CRT is and isn’t, and what the recent controversy around systemic racism in schools has to do with the voting restrictions we talked about last week.

Later in the show, we’ll talk about California’s new rental-assistance program, Juneteenth commercialization and the economic conditions that would cause the rich not to get richer. (Spoiler alert: There really aren’t any.) Plus we’ll hear from a listener who is celebrating becoming debt-free.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Jury deliberations are underway for the former CEO of Theranos, and there’s still some doubt has to what they will decide. We turn to Adam Lashinsky of Business Insider about Holmes’ possible fate. A survey’s data shows that most people aren’t expecting a better personal financial situation for themselves in 2022. Lindsey Piegza of Stifel Financial talks to us about the markets as Wall Street shook off three straight days of losses.

The SEC’s Gary Gensler unveiled a set of proposals that range from beefing up the power of stockholders to putting the squeeze on insider trading. We have another conversation with Erik Gordon from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business to parse out how these ideas could shake out. President Biden is scheduled to announce a series of omicron-fighting actions, such as free at-home COVID tests. The BBC looks in on the rebounding global stock markets.

From the BBC World Service: China Mobile, the world’s biggest cellphone network operator, is looking to raise $8.8 billion dollars in a secondary listing in Shanghai. It was forced to de-list shares from the New York Stock Exchange after being added to a U.S. blacklist. Plus, what has Turkey’s government done to cause the lira currency to rebound so quickly?

Let’s take a trip down the technology memory lane to 1972, when Magnavox released what’s considered the first gaming console, the Odyssey. And in 2022, it will be 50 years since we started turning our TVs into gaming stations. More of us than ever started gaming in the pandemic, and we wanted to take this moment to check on how the business of the Nintendos and PlayStations, the Segas and Xboxes, has changed over the years. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Jana Arbanas, Deloitte’s telecom, media and entertainment sector leader. She said consoles have evolved considerably.

How much pull on the economy can one man have? Quite a bit, it turns out. On Sunday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, announced that he would not be supporting the Build Back Better Act, citing inflation concerns. The bill, a foundational part of President Joe Biden’s agenda, has billions slated for social spending programs and addressing the climate crisis. Today, we’ll see where that leaves climate scientists and take a closer look at the impact government spending has on inflation. Plus, we’ll hear about a new lender for native farmers and ranchers, see what loan payment pauses have meant for students and look at the art and imperfect science of economic forecasting.

Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, unveiled a few ideas that could stir up concern for companies. One involves a  boost to the power that shareholders have, another deals with the concept of buying back stocks. Helping us talk through these proposals is the University of Michigan’s Erik Gordon. We also discuss the membership of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, which votes on interest rates and central bank stimulus.

From the BBC World Service: Protests broke out in more than 100 towns and cities across Poland over the weekend. A controversial bill which the U.S. and European Union say will restrict media freedom was unexpectedly passed by parliament Friday. Plus, mounting uncertainty sends global stock markets on the decline. And, voters in Chile hope their youngest-ever president-elect will help unify the country.