Marketplace All-in-One

When Ibby Hanlon started experiencing mysterious and debilitating pain, she put her faith in the medical system to find a solution. After a series of unexpected events forever changed her body — and her finances — her trust in the system shattered. This week, we dissect trust between doctors and patients.

“This Is Uncomfortable” is Reema Khrais, Donna Tam, Megan Detrie, Peter Balonon-Rosen, Camila Kerwin, Phoebe Unterman, Marque Greene and Serena Chow.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits remained below the 300,000 mark last week, as the Labor Department says claims totaled 290,000, which is a pandemic low. This week is when the government conducts the survey that will lead to hiring numbers for October. Diane Swonk joins us to discuss how the cresting COVID numbers might show up in labor market data. We also discuss how the upcoming holiday shopping season has both retailers and consumers worried about different things. An apprenticeship program helps train nurses into better paying positions as nurses in California’s prison system.

It’s truffle season, and prices for the highly sought-after white truffles soared this year to around $4,000 per pound. The market is the subject of the documentary “The Truffle Hunters,” as well as Rowan Jacobsen’s book, “Truffle Hound.” We spoke to Jacobsen about the evolving, but still foggy, truffle market. In keeping with books, we also discuss the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which serves as an economic snapshot through the lens of regional banks.

From the BBC World Service: Shares in the Chinese property firm Evergrande returned to trading after a 17-day hiatus, but immediately plunged as the company’s woes continue.

Marketplace has a new podcast called “How We Survive” about solutions to the climate crisis. The latest episode is called “Electrify Everything.” It’s about using electricity generated from renewable sources to power our homes and wean us off our fossil fuel dependence. So, how do we get everyone to adopt this century-old technology of electricity in new ways? Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams speaks with Molly Wood, the regular “Marketplace Tech” host and host of “How We Survive.”

When President Joe Biden announced last week that the Port of Los Angeles would begin operating 24 hours a day, it left one of our listeners asking why the port wasn’t doing that already. We answer that, and ponder future supply chain relief. Plus, we answer some additional questions about the Great Resignation, Zoom’s carbon footprint and banana pants!

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

Read the transcript here.

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When it comes to checkout time at your local grocery store, the total at the bottom of your receipt might just raise your eyebrows. That’s because prices for essentials have increased by 4.5% year over year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly half of all price increases have come from just three meats: beef, pork and poultry — meaning you may think twice before adding that steak or pork loin to your shopping cart. Later on in the program, we’ll hear about some of the career shifts occurring in the Great Resignation, what California’s drought could mean for the rest of the country and why Citigroup is nixing work lunches.

Federal regulators are poised to take over enforcement of COVID workplace safety rules in Arizona, South Carolina and Utah. The government says those states aren’t following the rules at their health care facilities, while the states disagree. Susan Schmidt discusses what outlooks from the regional banks could tell us about the economy. We check in with the BBC’s Victoria Craig about airports raising passenger charges in an effort to bolster recovery from the pandemic.

For Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the political risk consultancy the Eurasia Group, the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol showed how the growing power and influence of tech companies are starting to overshadow the influence of traditional government institutions. We spoke to Bremmer about tech’s power in the geopolitical space. Also, a new survey notes that overdraft fees at banks have hit an all-time high.