Marketplace All-in-One

One of the takeaways from the Enron scandal 20 years ago is showing how investing all of your money in your own company’s stock might not be the wisest move. Marketplace’s David Brancaccio spoke about this with Jason Zweig, who writes “The Intelligent Investor” column for the Wall Street Journal. Diane Swonk is our guest for today’s talk about the markets, particularly growing uncertainty in the economic outlook as unemployment claims rise for the third consecutive week.

One part of the Enron story we’re still seeing echoes of today is the company’s involvement in the 2000-2001 California electricity crisis, where energy companies manipulated markets and prompted large-scale blackouts after lobbying the state to deregulate energy markets. Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist, spoke with us about it. Fed chief Jerome Powell said The Fed is facing tension trying to balance dealing with high inflation and encouraging job growth. The FAA is hoping new software will reduce the time planes hang out on the runway, which would then help cut down greenhouse gas emissions. 

From the BBC World Service: While CureVac’s first generation COVID-19 vaccine fell short in efficacy, its boss says they’re not giving up and that a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline will help. We sat down with CEO Franz Haas at the firm’s headquarters in Tübingen, Germany. Plus, Britain’s furlough scheme ends today. It subsidized pay for more than 11 million people in sectors largely shut down by lockdowns. But is the U.K. economy strong enough to stand on its own two feet?

Tesla will soon allow more drivers to have access to “full self-driving” mode, according to tweets by CEO Elon Musk. Drivers will pay $10,000 upfront or between $100 and $200 a month to use the software. Up until now, a beta version has been available to a select group of people. And the name “full self-driving” kind of implies that the car will drive itself. But, as Tesla notes on its website, that is not the case right now — these cars will not be autonomous. Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra speaks with Alistair Weaver, editor-in-chief at the car-shopping site Edmunds.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, there could be “catastrophic economic consequences.” But what does that mean for the average American? We’ll get to the bottom of this listener question. Plus, we’ll do the numbers on the high cost of child care and the defense budget. Then, bird watching anyone? We break down what “hawks” and “doves” have to do with monetary policy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

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Some families that include undocumented immigrants are reporting that, despite being eligible, they’ve yet to receive the child tax credit. Chabeli Carrazana, an economy reporter at The 19th, tells us about how those who need it most face barriers to accessing the federal aid. Plus: How a fleet of British satellites could help combat climate change, what New York City’s congestion pricing may mean for residents and supply chain issues come to a paint store near you.

The ability to offer customers the chance to buy now, pay later has been the domain of smaller businesses that were separate from credit card companies. Now, in an effort to attract younger people who might be wary of debt, credit card companies like Mastercard want in. Susan Schmidt joins us to discuss the possible effect the news coming out of Washington could have on the markets. We then talk about how businesses have “pivoted” to the world of online during the pandemic, and how some entrepreneurs have used that as a chance to innovate.

At a congressional hearing Tuesday, Janet Yellen said they must avoid the U.S. defaulting on its bills for the first time in history. Defaulting, she said, would be catastrophic for the U.S. economy. China correspondent Jennifer Pak joins us to discuss the power cuts there, which have hit millions of homes and factories and can affect what we can eventually buy over here. Also, a new study shows how the pandemic has hindered global efforts to provide and grow access to electricity. 

From the BBC World Service: Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has selected former foreign minister Fumio Kishida as its new leader. He’s now almost certain to become Japan’s next prime minister within days, so what is the likely economic impact? A new study suggests that billions of dollars of China’s lending around the world is concealed from the country’s balance sheet. And there are indications that climate change is likely to have a more severe impact on low-income countries than high-income ones.

Amazon hosted its annual hardware event Tuesday, where it announced updates to some products, like its Ring home security system, and debuted some new ones, like a home security drone. Microsoft and Apple hosted similar events recently. You know the kind of event we’re talking about, right? The kind pioneered by Steve Jobs. Big screens, fancy visuals, open bar, fancy food — maybe they’ve got an omelet station going. That’s how they used to be in person. Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra speaks with Ian Sherr, an editor at large at CNET, who has been to a lot of these.