Marketplace All-in-One

From the BBC World Service: Estimates from the U.N. World Food Program say more than half of the Afghan population will face acute food insecurity unless urgent action is taken. Plus, profits at HSBC, one of Europe’s biggest banks, rocket as worries fade about bad loans driven by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, how celebrity culture in China can present a problem for big brands.

A lot of NASA’s work has to do with what happens here on Earth, especially as we work to track and respond to the climate crisis. And at NASA’s earth sciences division, much of of the data collected by future missions will be stored in the cloud, hosted by Amazon. That’s partly because the agency needs more, well, space. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Kevin Murphy, the chief science data officer for NASA.

We’ve been gripped today by the tragic accident on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” Star Alec Baldwin’s prop gun discharged while shooting Thursday, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director. The investigation is ongoing, but the reporting that’s come out of the New Mexico set so far indicates this is a much more complicated story about labor unions and workplace safety. We’ll talk about it today, plus Facebook’s rebranding and the merits of closed captioning. And, of course, we’ll play our favorite game, Half Full/Half Empty.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

One in three American adults has a criminal record. Amid a labor shortage and a historically high quit rate among the American workforce, there’s growing advocacy to pass “clean slate” laws, which call for modernizing court databases and creating algorithms to automatically clear records for minor criminal offenses. While such legislation expands candidate pools for businesses, it also opens the door to higher-quality jobs for those with a criminal record. Also on the show today: The Weekly Wrap; talking turkey about holiday food prices; and why some are calling plastic the “new coal.”

Christopher Low joins us today to talk about inflation, demand and the simmering spending power of households due to $3 trillion in excess savings. We look into how inflation has been rising all over the world, as the BBC checks in on how inflation could hit 5% in the next few months. U.S. financial regulators this week said climate change is a threat to the nation’s financial stability in a report. The report comes days before the U.N. conference on climate change.

Organizers at four warehouses in New York City are collecting signatures – and expect to have enough as early as Monday – in order to request authorization to hold a vote to unionize. It’s the second attempt at unionization for Amazon warehouse workers this year. We look at the challenges facing people looking to buy a home, as builders struggle with supplies. New research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the ripple effects of SNAP benefits in rural communities.

From the BBC World Service: As inflation fears around the globe persist, the Bank of England’s new chief economist has warned that U.K. inflation is likely to hit or surpass 5% by early next year.

For years, cryptocurrency has been simmering at the edges of the financial system, viewed by many as kind of a fad. Lately, though, it seems like crypto is having a moment. This week, an exchange-traded fund that tracks Bitcoin futures debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Bitcoin, a pretty volatile asset, has now been accepted, to some degree, by one of the oldest and most traditional marketplaces in the world. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Gil Luria, a technology strategist at D.A. Davidson, who says there several reasons 2021 is becoming a turning point for crypto.

We’re talking about twin reports from the federal government today, focused on the risks climate change poses to the American economy and global security. It’s, uh, not good. We’ll talk about what’s in each, why the White House wants that information out now and the Joe Manchin of it all. Plus, Big Tech earnings, Jerome Powell’s next moves and a little WeWork news on this grab bag of a Hollowed-Out Shell Thursday.

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

Read the transcript here.

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In March, the American Rescue Plan set aside $20 billion for tribal governments, an unprecedented federal investment in Indian Country. While close to 600 tribal entities got portions of the relief funds, more than half of the money went to just 30. That’s because the Treasury Department divvied up funds based on population and the number of people each tribe employs — not poverty levels or COVID infection rates. Also on the show today: The Federal Reserve overhauls investing rules for policymakers, why it’s so hard to determine what makes a “high-quality” carbon offset and examining the real-life horrors the film “Candyman” spotlights.