Marketplace

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the budget deficit. At last count, it's up 17 percent over last year — the government spent $779 billion more than it collected in taxes. Seems we're paying the price for one of the biggest tax cuts in history. But wasn't that cut supposed to pay for itself? Then: African-Americans are more scared of a recession than white Americans, according to the latest Marketplace-Edison Research Poll. We'll look at how communities of color are still recovering from the last recession. Plus, the big business of disaster cleanup.

A majority of Americans believe the United States is in a trade war with other countries, according to the latest edition of the Marketplace-Edison Research Poll, which is out today. As trade tensions with China increase, so too has the concern that the country could weaponize its large holdings of U.S. debt, selling its reserves suddenly in an attempt to destabilize the U.S. economy. We'll talk about what that could mean for the trade war. Then, we talk with five participants from our poll about what financial security means to them. Plus, the big business of secondhand luxury with the CEO of The RealReal.

Corporate tax cuts from earlier this year have helped drive up the deficit, and lawmakers are debating ways to pay it down. We'll look at how the deficit works and how politicians like to use it. Then, the U.S. posted more than 7 million jobs in August. Why are so many of them in transportation? Plus, 10 years after the financial crisis, Americans are still less likely to own a home than before the crash. We'll look at what's keeping them out of the market.

Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Spain, is a British territory. It’s also one of Europe’s most prosperous economies. But could Brexit change all that? We'll take a closer look at the territory caught in the middle. Then, an unintended consequence of the trade war: As the Trump administration doles out $12 billion in aid for farmers hurt by tariffs, a lot of produce has found its way to food banks. Plus, what the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi could mean for the American and Saudi economies.

With an avalanche of tariffs to navigate, companies are facing a lot of uncertainty over how to plan ahead. Meanwhile, business is booming for trade consultants. We'll talk about it, but first: mortgage rates have hit a seven-year high, and Obamacare prices are dropping for the first time. What's going on? Plus, how nonprofits fund raise after scandal.

Roughly one in three people in the United States have less than $5,000 in retirement savings, but for those lucky enough to have some money stashed away, the cost of investing has been getting lower and lower. Management fees for mutual funds have dropped to fractions of a percent over the last decade, and some funds have no fees. So what's driving the fee wars? What do institutions get out of it? We'll talk about it. Then, a conversation with Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove of the legendary Roots crew, about deciding to accept his biggest job offer. Plus, what you need to know about this week's market turbulence.  

We're a couple weeks away from the midterm elections, and it's crunch time for voter registration. Political organizations and campaigns have spent millions on voter registration efforts targeting young and diverse voters, but will it work? Also on today's show: Amid trade tensions, the value of the Chinese yuan has been falling against the dollar, which has both the United States and China worried. Plus: How YouTube is changing parenting and the entertainment industry for children.

We hardly used ye. Google is phasing out its social platform Google Plus after a massive data breach. We look at how this could affect Google’s business model. Also on today's show, the International Monetary Fund predicted in its global economic forecast that trade disputes and turbulent emerging markets will slow global economic growth. And, are electric scooters all that bad, or are they a sign of where our transportation system is headed? A report on the electric scooter craze from Los Angeles. Plus, another installment of #HowWeChanged, the series exploring how the financial crisis changed people’s lives. This time we hear the story of a banker who left the chaos behind to live in a monastery.

Yale economist William Nordhaus, along with New York University’s Paul Romer, received the Nobel Prize in economics Monday. We look at the consequences of putting Nordhaus’ research on the economic impact of climate change to policy. Then, Romer's work connecting technological innovation to economic growth has been influential across the globe, but perhaps not as influential as he would like. Also on today's show, we speak with Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood about Facebook’s newest gadget release amid users’ security concerns. And the U.S. Census Bureau needs to hire hundreds of thousands of workers to complete the 2020 census. But with a tight labor market, that may be a lot harder than it was back in 2010.

Unemployment is at a 40-year low and wages are starting to tick up, but the number of people working multiple jobs hasn’t changed in more than a decade. Why? Then: Mattress Firm has filed for bankruptcy, citing poor sales. The sleep business has changed a lot in recent years, in part because starting your own online bed-in-a-box company is really, really easy. Plus, as always, we'll review the economic news of the seven days gone by on the Weekly Wrap.