Marketplace All-in-One

From the BBC World Service: Only two European Union countries tie mandatory pay raises for the public and private sector to consumer price inflation: Belgium and Luxembourg. But workers in Belgium say those increases aren’t enough, so they’re walking out and demanding more. Plus, Twitter has laid off most workers at its Africa office in Ghana. And, India says it will continue to buy Russian crude oil.

What do a burning shed, a beautiful above-ground bunker and an island of misfits all have in common? They are all places we visit on our hunt for solutions. This episode, we find out what it will take to stay in the places we love. We play around at a research lab where scientists are figuring out how to make our homes and buildings more resilient to the elements. Then, we leave the lab to see what it looks like to implement safer building methods and materials in real life; first, at a plastic surgeon’s impressive home — 18 feet above sea level. Then, we head south to explore an island where living with the water is a way of life.

Good luck trying to escape political news this week. Election coverage is everywhere — on the airwaves and online. And every election cycle seems to reveal more and more about the growing, pivotal and sometimes controversial role of social media. Like in the run-up to elections and, like now, during the aftermath. Campaigns can use social media to boost voter turnout and build community, but others use it to try to mislead voters. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with Pinar Yildirim, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies media, technology and information economics. She explained why the technology underlying these platforms can amplify misinformation and conspiracy theories.

School board races have become some of the most contentious elections of the 2022 midterms. These used to be mostly local affairs, with candidates typically raising less than $1,000 from friends and family. But now it’s not uncommon for big national political action committees to sink tens of thousands into a single race. It’s a trend that goes back more than a decade and has been supercharged by culture war issues and the pandemic. Today, we talk with Rebecca Jacobsen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, about the implications of outside money in school board elections for education policy and local democracy. In the News Fix, we’ll discuss what’s being done to address voter intimidation at the polls. Plus, two cryptocurrency giants are joining forces. Then, we’ll hear from a listener who wonders if the universe is sending us an Election Day message, and a mathematician who has thought a lot about “How Not to Be Wrong” answers the “Make Me Smart” question. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Conservative groups are spending big on school board races” from Marketplace National Super PACS are spending on local school board races from USA Today CZ’s Binance to Buy Rival FTX After Sam Bankman-Fried Faces Liquidity Crunch from Bloomberg “Justice Dept. dispatching Election Day monitors to 64 jurisdictions” from The Washington Post This hotline is ready to troubleshoot your voting related issues Next Up in the Night Sky: A Total Lunar Eclipse from The New York Times Meet the mathematician who answered this week’s “Make Me Smart” question We want to hear your answer to the “Make Me Smart” question. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART. You can also email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

It can be overwhelming to take stock of everything — and everyone — lost during the pandemic. But how do you quantify the time lost? For millennials, the sequestered years are ones traditionally marked by major life events, like marriage or having children. Today, we’ll tally the costs. Plus, small-business owners feel cautious about the economy, AMC Theatres strikes a deal with Zoom and trade schools see enrollment spikes.  

First, it’s Election Day, and we discuss the possible impact of a recession with Jeffery Cleveland of Payden & Rygel. More people are taking on second jobs for a variety of reasons, according to government data. The European Union is turning up the economic heat on Hungary.

At the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt, the White House has an idea to help developing countries with financing. There’s also debate about the role of natural gas. Elsewhere, the Indian Child Welfare Act faces a massive legal test before the Supreme Court.

From the BBC World Service: Poorer nations need more than $2 trillion dollars each year for the next eight years to tackle the impact of a changing climate, according to a U.N.-backed report. Plus, Britain is in the midst of its worst ever outbreak of bird flu, creating a nightmare before Christmas for poultry farmers and their customers.

People see and absorb a lot of election information — and misinformation — on the web. But we are not all getting the same information about politics and policymakers, and certainly not from the same sources. So understanding where people gather and communicate online can be crucial to understanding the political polarization in the United States, especially when some people are migrating to newer platforms that cater to specific political beliefs or content moderation rules. Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams spoke with Kate Klonick, a law professor at St. John’s University, who studies online communities and speech. Klonick says people decide where they “live” online these days based on the rules of the platform.

Twitter is supposed to be the digital version of the public square. But what happens when the richest person in the world buys it and tells you how to vote? We’ll talk about why that’s troubling and whether Twitter is turning into the next Truth Social. Plus, young Latinas in Texas are using their quinceañeras to get their communities to the polls. And, after years of complaints, Airbnb is finally doing something about those pesky hidden fees. Here’s everything we talked about today: Tweet from @elonmusk about which party he thinks you should vote for “Senator Elizabeth Warren Raises Pressure on Fed Over Ethics Lapses” from Bloomberg Airbnb makes cleaning fees more transparent with total price searches from The Washington Post “Young Latinas are using their quinceañeras to get Texas voters to the polls this election” from Prism “Pasadena school becomes nation’s first named after Octavia Butler” from The 19th “National Park Service Asks Visitors to Please Stop Licking Toads” from The New York Times If you’ve got a question for the hosts or your own answer to the “Make Me Smart” question, call 508-U-B-SMART and leave us a voicemail. You can email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Tech giants Twitter, Stripe and Lyft slashed jobs last week, and Meta will reportedly follow suit. It’s a reversal of the sector’s pandemic hiring spree and could be an indicator of wider cuts across the economy. Plus, conservative groups spend big on school board elections, Florida’s cultural institutions try to recover after Hurricane Ian, and a Supreme Court case threatens the Indian Child Welfare Act.

With midterm elections approaching, Julia Coronado discusses how economic viewpoints could have an effect. Elsewhere, credit card debt appears to have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Then we talk about what could be in store for the people left behind after mass layoffs.

Another union has voted to ratify a new labor agreement with rail companies, but there are still sticking points for others. The BBC reports on the agenda for the COP27 climate change summit, which has started in Egypt. We discuss the economics behind grassroots ballot initiatives.

From the BBC World Service: As the COP27 world summit on climate change opens in Egypt, potential compensation for countries with developing economies from their developed neighbors is on the agenda. Plus, Apple says China’s zero COVID strategy will significantly impact iPhone production and shipping this holiday season. And, bus passengers in the U.K. face longer wait times due to a national worker shortage.

There are an estimated 38 million disabled eligible voters in the U.S., but many of them face unique obstacles when trying to cast their ballots. Federal and state laws require polling stations provide in-person accommodations, like machines with larger screen displays or text-to-speech interfaces inside voter booths. But individual polling places don’t always make it easy, says Mark Lindeman, Policy and Strategy Director with the nonpartisan organization Verified Voting.