Marketplace

More than half of American workers don’t use all their paid vacation days, and when they do, it’s with a fair amount of guilt. Plus: Alexander Acosta’s legacy at the labor department and a woman who found a career in counting cards.

You hear it all the time: White House officials, pundits and lawmakers will claim a piece of legislation will “pay for itself.” President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said just this week that big 2017 cuts were two-thirds of the way there. But what’s that really mean, anyway? We’ll take some time today to define some terms. Plus: How Europe’s heat wave is affecting its economy and why Amazon is investing.

How about “Rate cut coming in July”? The Federal Reserve is sending strong, consistent signals that it’s gonna happen. Today, we’ll break down everything you need to know. Then: A new report shows most immigrants who entered the country legally are highly skilled and educated, ahead of President Donald Trump’s policy changes set to emphasize those attributes. Plus: A new combatant has entered the streaming war, and it brought “Friends.”

A proposal from House Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage received a mixed report from the Congressional Budget Office. Today, we look at how data and politics are shaping the debate. Plus: Ross Perot’s legacy and the big business of posting song lyrics online.

It’s been widely agreed that politicians ought not dabble in monetary policy. But that’s a norm that’s becoming less normal. Arthur Laffer and other critics of the Federal Reserve are saying it should be controlled by the president and Congress. Today, we look at central banking’s independence in the United States and abroad. Plus: The race to make french fries stand up to delivery and making money off of carbon.

The World Cup brings together the best of the best in the realm of women’s soccer and for fans of the game, the U.S. national side has done nothing but impress and people are taking notice. Jerseys are flying off the shelves and the Women’s Professional Soccer League has signed a deal with ESPN. But what does all this mean for the team after the final whistle? Plus a look at the latest jobs report and why Cadillac car sales are up in China.

If discussing money is still a strange thing for you, maybe we can help. According to data from our eighth Marketplace Edison Research poll, younger people are talking about salary at work. We dive into local minimum wage increases and hear a teacher discuss her balance of work, pay and play. Plus, we examine whiskey and tariffs, couples and finances, and how a Portuguese island is creatively using electric cars.

You’ve waited months for a glimpse of the latest movie blockbuster. The trailer comes out, you watch it … and it contains most of the major plot twists. Studios spend hundreds of thousands of dollars making the trailers in an attempt to get more people to the theater. But do they work? Plus: Ed Sheeran’s latest tour could be the highest-grossing concert series of all time. We find out why.

It’s a short week on Wall Street: Markets close early Wednesday and stay closed over the July 4 holiday. That includes after-hours trading. Today we dig into what goes on after the closing bell anyway. Plus, Christine Lagarde’s appointment as head of the European Central Bank and the local economics behind Nike’s flag shoe recall.

It’s a no-win scenario: You rush to the emergency room, pay a co-pay, then get hit with a surprise bill — hospital was in network, but the doctor wasn’t. One study found that mismatch happens in as many as one in five ER visits, and it’s a source of bubbling rage over health care costs. Today, we look into how it happens. Plus: what you need to know about the trade truce with China and Taylor Swift’s fight over the rights to her music.