Marketplace

The House Financial Services Committee will meet Thursday about the market volatility caused by the short selling of stocks like GameStop. Today, we’ll catch you up on what you need to know. Plus, more fallout from the freeze in Texas, Puerto Rico’s coffee industry and the latest in our ongoing series “United States of Work.”

Thousands of people in the South are without power as electric grids strain to keep up with heating needs. Today, we’ll look at why power grids weren’t up to the task and how it’s affecting people trying to work from home. Plus: Life in North Dakota’s oil fields, “Young Rock” and this thing we used to call “employment.”

The federally run Obamacare exchange reopened Monday for a three-month special enrollment period. President Joe Biden ordered the move to get more people signed up for health care during the pandemic, especially those who have lost jobs and health insurance. The administration is planning to spend $50 million on a marketing campaign to get more people to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Plus, LGBTQ people are now protected under the Fair Housing Act and how racism led to the closing of public pools across the U.S.

Today is the delayed start of the tax-filing season, and it’s likely to be an especially stressful one for IRS employees and filers alike. Processing two rounds of COVID-19 relief has put a strain on the already short-staffed tax agency. And a lot of filers might not realize they have to pay taxes on unemployment benefits. On today’s show: how to manage the crazy tax season ahead. Plus, Maryland is set to become the first state to tax digital ad revenue, online alcohol sales are way up during the pandemic and we check in with U.S. companies trying to break into the Chinese market.

Another 793,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, and more than 20 million are currently claiming unemployment benefits. A new Pew Research study shows that 66% of unemployed adults in the U.S. have seriously considered changing their occupation or field of work. On today’s show: We hear from people who are trying to make that switch. Plus, how COVID-19 is affecting Mardi Gras in New Orleans, new federal guidance on workers’ right to refuse work that isn’t safe and checking in on America’s data infrastructure.

This week’s big news is happening in the Senate, but the what-happens-next-with-this-economy? news is happening over in the House, where committees are hammering out details of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The goal is to close the gap between the current state of the economy and its condition if there hadn’t been a pandemic. On today’s show: Where the economy might be when the relief money starts getting out. Plus, how mothers are particularly penalized in the workplace, what a jobs recovery might look like as the pandemic fades and what happens when you’re vaccinated, but your partner isn’t?

“The issue is that if you do too little, that means that people are going to go hungry,” Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council, told “Marketplace” today. We got him on the phone after President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with top business executives to get support for Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. Also on today’s show: How the end of slavery led to two different minimum wages, a new study on fossil fuels causing premature deaths and small business optimism is at an eight-month low.

Several schools are currently trying out “pooled testing,” which occurs when multiple swabs are tested collectively. This approach lets schools monitor many students and teachers who may be asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus while preserving scarce testing supplies. The economic argument for pooling is that it can keep schools open and enable more parents to get back to work. But there are drawbacks, too. On today’s show: how one school is implementing pooled testing. Plus, the risk of inflation from COVID-19 financial relief, House Democrats’ plan to ease child care burdens and a conversation with the writer-director of “Miss Juneteenth.”

The story in this episode about testing in schools has been updated. For more information, visit the episode page at marketplace.org.

Today’s show is all about jobs — or lack thereof. There are 10 million fewer jobs in the U.S. economy than there were a year ago, and people in the hardest-hit sectors are especially suffering. With 40% of unemployed Americans out of work for at least six months, long-term unemployment is a growing concern. Plus, what counts as a small business, unspent money from the last COVID-19 relief bill and one job counselor’s story of job hunting.

Like most things these days, consumer sentiment is a partisan issue. The 2020 election, and the election-related disinformation and unrest that followed, have led to a stark reversal in consumer confidence by party affiliation. Democrats’ confidence has soared since the election, while Republicans’ formerly buoyant sentiment has plummeted, according to Morning Consult. On today’s show: Even the economy is becoming politically polarized. Plus, how Democrats plan to take on tech megafirms, Big Oil’s big losses and making investing boring again.