Marketplace All-in-One

Monday’s outage of Facebook and Instagram was annoying, sure. But the outage of communication platform WhatsApp highlighted how vital the app is to chat with friends and family or even do business in some parts of the world. Many emerging markets have access to technologies like smartphones but lack broadband infrastructure, making WhatsApp one of the most popular, inexpensive communication platforms available. Later, we’ll hear why some Hollywood workers are going on strike, whom a four-day workweek would serve and what an unused lot in Austin, Texas, tells us about the difficulties of creating affordable housing.

What do corporate lawyers, political operatives, and right-wing groups have to do with the Indian Child Welfare Act? A whole lot.

ICWA has been around for almost 40 years. It provides protections for Native American kids who are up for foster care or adoption and it says Native kids should be placed with extended family or stay with native communities whenever possible.

It doesn’t seem terribly controversial on the face of it. But the child custody law has drawn the attention of groups who see the chance to undo ICWA as the first step into doing away with a whole chain of legislation around Native sovereignty, with huge implications for land use, water rights and gaming rights. In short, a successful legal challenge to this one law, which has now reached the steps of the Supreme Court, could mean a lot of money for a whole lot of non-Native people.

“I always say that federal Indian law is the canary in the coal mine, like what the courts are willing to do to tribes. I think everyone should be concerned about and this case for this term, I think will be will be an important one to watch,” said Rebecca Nagle, independent journalist and host of the podcast “This Land,” which focuses on ICWA in its latest season.

On today’s show, we’ll dig into the fight over ICWA, the players involved and who stands to benefit if it’s found unconstitutional on the basis of race.

In the news fix, we’ll talk about Facebook whistleblower testimony, COVID’s two-month cycle and the cost of living in flood zones — speaking of the effects of climate change, Molly’s super secret project, the “How We Survive” podcast, launches tomorrow.

Plus, the birds of “Make Me Smart.”

When you’re done listening, tell your Echo device to “make me smart” for our daily explainers. This week we’ll explain the history behind historically Black colleges and universities, how pumpkin-spice beer became a thing and why Sherlock Holmes continues to be one of the most popular fictional detectives of all time. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! You can find the latest issue here.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

The Pandora Papers are the 12 million leaked documents that show how wealthy people of all types move their money. One focus is on South Dakota, which serves as a kind of neutral place to where a lot of those people have parked their money, and there are questions as to where that money actually comes from. Also today, Lindsey Piegza joins us to discuss high oil prices and the big jobs report coming out on Friday. You can also add warehouse space to the list of shortages as the holiday season approaches for retailers who are stocking up.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing today. She’s the source of leaked documents that have brought renewed scrutiny over the social media giant’s public statements and internal actions. We have some more details on what she could say today. Also today: It appears the power grid in Texas isn’t close to ready for the winter season, even after being ravaged by February’s storm. In the fashion world, resale has witnessed quite the uptick.

From the BBC World Service: A slide on Wall Street led by losses for big tech companies spread to Asia, with investors also concerned over climbing oil prices and inflation fears. Plus, Tinder announces plans for an in-app currency. And, we go inside an influencer house looking to harness the collective reach of its social media stars.

You ever log on to a social media platform and you don’t even know why you’re doing it? This stuff is addictive. Zamaan Qureshi is a 19-year-old student at American University and a policy adviser for a group known as the Real Facebook Oversight Board. He said that the physical act of swiping on Instagram can feel like “muscle memory.” Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra talks to Qureshi about the pressure to curate your image — always laughing and having a good time — on the platform. It’s a game a lot of us play.

Facebook went down for six hours today. The outage happened a day after a former employee went on national television saying the company has put profits above, well, everything else. We’ll talk about how this could’ve happened and what it meant for global commerce. Plus, the federal debt limit debate is at DEFCON 2, and New Zealand gives up on its yearlong, zero-COVID strategy. And, it’s Fat Bear Week!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

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Over the weekend, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists broke news about leaked financial documents called the Pandora Papers, which highlighted how the global elite shield their wealth. Dominic Rushe, U.S. business editor at The Guardian, spoke with us about how the documents reveal that some states, principally South Dakota, offer greater protections for offshore money than places like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. Also on today’s program: A look at the Fed’s debt ceiling playbook, Molly Wood on the Facebook and Instagram outage and ride-hailing apps face competition from an old rival: taxis.

Several media organizations have published details from a trove of documents they’re calling the “Pandora Papers,” which shed light on how hundreds of the world’s wealthy elite have shielded trillions of dollars worth of assets using offshore accounts and other tactics. We speak with one of the reporters who worked on the project, Debbie Cenziper of The Washington Post. Plus, we’re awaiting the jobs report for September. And, rents continue to rise around the country.

According to White House officials, the Biden administration will not seek a new “phase two” trade deal with China, but will instead look to address broken promises from “phase one.” Plus, the paper shortage is back, and it’s affecting everything from wedding invitations to cereal boxes (and yes, toilet paper, too). And, the first video footage from inside a major hurricane, collected by a drone. It’s meant to help scientists improve forecasting.