Marketplace

You've probably seen a bit of that televised negotiating session congressional leaders had with President Donald Trump yesterday. Immigration was the headline news out of it, but the president floated something else that hasn't gotten as much attention: bringing back earmarks. They let members of Congress direct money specifically toward their pet projects, and the GOP basically banned the practice in 2010. We'll catch you up on why they left, and why they might be coming back. Plus, the latest on offshore drilling exceptions in Florida and elsewhere, why Warren Buffett is doing succession right and the long, slow death of the power suit.

We talk about the yield of the 10-year T-note a lot on our show. Maybe you're not quite sure what that means. Maybe your eyes glaze over a little bit. Well, it's time to pay attention. We'll tell you everything you need to know to read the tea leaves with us. Then: Residents of New York City pay some of the highest taxes in the country, and in turn they have some of the most expensive public services in in the country. The top 1 percent of the city's economic pyramid pays nearly half of New York's income taxes. So what happens to them under the new federal tax law? We'll talk about it. Plus, a conversation with "The Good Place" creator Mike Schur.

Trillions of dollars in payments each year occur via mobile apps like Alipay in China, where the cashless society of the future is here. You can even pay for your fried chicken with facial recognition technology. We’re eschewing conventional finance rules in the U.S., too, or at least Chelsea Fagan is. She talks to Adrienne Hill about her new book, “The Financial Diet,” which offers personal finance advice a little differently than we’re used to. Plus, a look back at the year’s energy news, how one lab researching serious infectious diseases is expanding to keep up with the increasing rate of outbreaks, and a first-hand account of the invention of the digital camera.

But not the easiest time to be a taxpayer. Should you prepay for 2018 to avoid an impending deduction cap? Is it time to incorporate? How can you get the maximum benefit? We ask experts to help navigate these questions. And during his campaign, President Donald Trump made reviving the coal industry a signature goal. We go to coal country and talk to miners taking this promise to heart. Plus, man versus machine: Every medical office has one, but should fax machines be outlawed? And why is the McDonald’s McFlurry machine such a disappointment?

This holiday season, many retailers saw 5 percent increases in sales from last year, and higher-end products did well. We speak with Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation, who chalks it up to economic security, or maybe you're just really nice. In today's energy news, what the world's fastest battery means for energy-storage technology and fossil-fueled power plants, and how uranium companies in the U.S. are getting ready for India and China's hundreds of new nuclear reactors. Plus, we reflect on the busy holiday season with Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Bakehouse, whose new cookbook features recipes for chestnut flour baguettes and Detroit style pizza.

Your regularly scheduled episode of Marketplace is coming later today, but for now we have a special investigation from the team at The Uncertain Hour. When OxyContin went to market in 1996, sales reps from Purdue Pharma hit one point particularly hard: Compared to other prescription opioids, this new painkiller was believed to be less likely to be addictive or abused. But recently unsealed documents in this investigative episode shed light on how the maker of OxyContin seems to have relied more on focus groups than on scientific studies to create an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that helped fuel the national opioid crisis.

They're considered inefficient, under-utilized and useless, respectively, and all face uncertain futures. Incandescent light bulbs will no longer be available to purchase in California beginning in 2018; instead, Californians will buy compact florescent lights and LED bulbs, which have triple the energy efficiency. Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could lose 1.5 million acres to energy developers, due to a mandate in the new tax bill. And even though you can't buy anything for a penny anymore, the coin may stay in circulation despite calls to get rid of it once and for all. Plus, on this Christmas Day, we revisit the story of Santa's little surveillance helper, the elf on the shelf.

Before Hurricane Maria hit, there was already an exodus underway from Puerto Rico to Florida, but the storm put it on fast forward. Since Maria's devastation, nearly 200,000 people have fled the island for the state. We talk to Puerto Ricans in Florida about the difficulties they face staying in touch with home. Plus, if you’re still Christmas shopping, you’re pretty much limited to brick-and-mortar stores at this point. And this year, it may be tough to get the kind of in-store last-minute deals you used to. Anyone out there still looking for a Christmas tree? We catch up with a sidewalk Christmas tree seller in New York as his annual busy season winds down.

The tax debate in Congress may be over for now, but the ad war to win over the public is just beginning. Learning from Democrats’ struggle to shape the narrative for Obamacare, tax ads from both sides of the aisle are being rolled out in anticipation of next year’s midterm elections. Plus, President Donald Trump outlined a national security plan earlier this week labeling China and Russia “rival powers” to the U.S. One area where that rivalry is prominent is in the race for the world’s fastest computer. And what’s it like to be a part of CamperForce, a seasonal swarm of mostly retired folks who live on campsites paid for by Amazon and pack and ship holiday orders at its fulfillment center in Kentucky.

Congress just passed the first major tax  bill since 1986 and did it in record time. It's about to land on President Donald Trump's desk, and it will take effect in a couple weeks. So now what? In this special episode, we talk to business owners, economists and families about how they see their futures under the new tax system, while Marketplace contributors answer listener questions along the way.

In an effort to report on the sexual harassment blue-collar workers, specifically women of color, face in the workplace, Susan Chira of the New York Times wrote about what went on at Ford plants in Chicago, even after the company said it had dealt with the problem. And today a major legal action gets underway against oil giants Shell and Itay’s Eni. The two are accused of involvement in a corruption scandal in Nigeria. Plus, you probably share your Netflix passwords with a few people, right? Well, the practice may be on the way out as companies aim to crack down on password sharing.

But instead of physics, we’re talking about tax policy. With the tax bill nearer to reality, states are starting to grapple with the fact that under the new policy, taxpayers won’t be able to deduct as much from their state and local taxes. That means lawmakers are looking to create loopholes by converting non-deductible taxes into deductible taxes. And those are just short-term fixes — we also discuss what the long-term debate might look like. Plus, the rise of “reverse commuting” in American cities, and reports from Puerto Rico, where companies like Bacardi are still recovering from Hurricane Maria, and Athens, where we look at the lingering effects of the European debt crisis.

While Republicans in Congress celebrate the final version of the tax bill, we’re asking: How are they going to pay for this thing? The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell and Rachel Abrams from The New York Times weigh in on that and the week’s economic news. Yesterday’s big regulation rollback was net neutrality; today, Homeland Security said it will end an Obama-era regulation that allowed the spouses of H-1B visa holders to legally work in the U.S. Plus, '90s kids came of age on AIM, AOL’s instant messaging service, and today it’s shutting down forever. Marketplace’s Reema Khrais tells AIM’s origin story and logs off one last time.   

The Federal Communications Commission rolled back Obama-era regulations today, ruling that internet providers are no longer required to treat all internet content equally. But what will that look like? And the holiday season is officially upon us, so we check in with the people keeping the $400 billion online shopping industry afloat: an item “picker” at a fulfillment warehouse and package deliverers struggling to meet deadlines with volume up 17 percent this year. Plus, we discuss what companies will do with the trillions of dollars in cash that will come rushing back when the corporate tax is cut to 21 percent, and director Errol Morris tells us about his new genre-defying film.

“Delayed absorption as provided by OxyContin tablets, is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.” That’s a sentence from OxyContin’s original label, and after months of investigation, Marketplace podcast The Uncertain Hour has found it an important factor in setting off the opioid crisis. And today we break down Janet Yellen’s last news conference and review the deal the House and Senate struck to move the tax bill along. Plus, deep dives into how 100-year-old magazine publisher Condé Nast is keeping up with millennials and how a Texas community is struggling to find temporary housing after the most expensive Atlantic hurricane season in U.S. history.