Marketplace All-in-One

A new report from McKinsey & Company and Lean In on the state of women in the workplace says burnout among women in corporate America has gotten even worse since last year, but there’s a silver lining in the data. We speak with China correspondent Jennifer Pak about Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who is returning to China after an extradition battle with the U.S. over Iran sanction violations. The 74th Tony Awards on Sunday night was a signal that Broadway productions are starting to open back up.

From the BBC World Service: Germany’s Dax index was up around 0.9% in early trade, as markets absorbed the outcome of Sunday’s election. And in the wake of widespread flooding across Germany earlier this year, we find out how infrastructure might be improved to minimize the impact of climate change.

In the U.S., about 20% of calls to cellphones and 40% to landlines are robocalls — many of them scams. Tuesday is the deadline for voice service providers, including some phone companies, to show the Federal Communications Commission what steps they’re taking to stop robocalls. Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra speaks with Brad Reaves, a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University. Reaves said the FCC is telling these companies to be on the lookout for clear signs of fraud.

China is making big crypto moves. Today, it made all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies illegal. It also banned crypto mining. At the same time, it’s launching its own digital currency. We’ll dig into what it might mean for crypto’s future. Plus, one thing that hasn’t got better during the pandemic: Mothers are still having a hard time returning to work. And now it’s because of a shortage of child care workers. Also, we nerd out about copyright law and wrap up the week with a round of our favorite game, “Half Full/Half Empty.”

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

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For many towns in the West and Midwest, rodeos are a boon to the local economy. Despite the delta variant’s surge, many rodeos have made a return in 2021. Marketplace’s Mitchell Hartman takes us to Oregon’s Pendleton Round-Up and chats with locals, tourists and health officials about mask enforcement, a boost to business and the return of a rural tradition. Also on today’s program: The Weekly Wrap, the impact ridesharing has on our climate and a shipping-related holiday gift to discount stores.

Lawmakers in Washington face a number of crucial deadlines in the coming days denominated in hundreds of billions and trillions. There’s funding for the Biden infrastructure plan, plus the feds running out of money and the ability to borrow. Nova Safo joins us with more details. Then we head to Germany, where elections for the next chancellor are taking place. The BBC checks in with the local business climate there to see where business owners stand on some of the issues that could affect them.

On the COVID-19 front, monoclonal antibody treatments have increased in both supply and demand, but there are plenty of costs to consider. Getting treatment can not only get pricey, but it can also thin out resources. There’s also the question of availability. In China, property giant Evergrande is about $300 billion in debt, and the deadline to address that debt has come and gone. Is it possible that a bailout could be in the works? There’s been plenty of regulation in store for food delivery apps focused on worker protections, but there are questions about how the app companies might change under this climate. 

Next month, Epic Games will shut down Houseparty — the group video-chatting app that became popular in the pandemic — to focus instead on the metaverse. But, what is that, exactly? That is a topic for “Quality Assurance,” where we take a second look at a big tech story. While there are different visions of the metaverse to come, most digital builders and watchers believe the metaverse is essentially the next evolution of the internet, a virtual world that you’d move through with, some say, just one identity, not a bunch of separate logins or accounts. And you could do things in it like attend a virtual concert, sit in a virtual conference room or go to a virtual shopping mall. Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra speaks with Alexander Lee, a reporter at Digiday covering esports and gaming, about who would want this. Lee said it’s partly a generational thing.

It’s tradition. Every couple of years, Democrats and Republicans fight over raising the federal debt ceiling, or the limit of how much money the government can borrow to pay its bills. Right now is one of those times. Should this tradition be broken? We’ll discuss. Plus, Boris Johnson takes aim at Kermit the frog and Brandi Carlile’s upcoming SNL appearance has us grinning. And we’re taking your make me smile submissions.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Read the transcript here.

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