Marketplace All-in-One

From the BBC World Service: The Bank of England started short-term rescue efforts two weeks ago to stabilize a dramatic selloff in the U.K. bond or gilt market, that put U.K. pension funds at risk of collapse. Plus, oil workers at refineries and fuel depots in France voted to continue their strike, despite the government saying it will use mandatory powers to force them to go back to work. And, a BBC investigation revealed TikTok is keeping up to 70% of donations given through their app to hundreds of displaced families in Syria.

They say all politics is local, and targeted advertising makes it hyper-local. Campaigns have increasingly used troves of personal online data about voters to narrowly tailor political messages — sometimes in malicious ways. For example, providing false information about how to vote based on neighborhood, race or ethnicity. But this kind of microtargeting is getting trickier. Twitter and TikTok have banned political ads completely. And Facebook has added new limits on how and when political ads appear. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Samantha Lai, a research analyst at the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. Lai says the way social media platforms allow campaigns to microtarget users has evolved.

A union representing freight railroad workers rejected the most recent tentative contract with major railroads, meaning that a strike — and threat to the supply chain — is once again possible. Today, we’ll take a look at the concerns over working conditions and the costs of a strike. Plus, a sign of small business optimism, a drop in computer demand and discussion of financial reparations following a wrongful conviction.

Credit scores matter — a lot. They matter if you want to buy a car, a house and sometimes even if you want a job. In a recent deep dive, we covered the history of credit scores, how they work and whether it’s time to rethink how we measure creditworthiness. But Kimberly still had questions. So she and the “Marketplace Tech” team took an even closer look. Today, we’re bringing you an excerpt from their series “The Score.” Get ready to get smart (and take notes) on what the algorithms behind your credit scores get wrong, the difference between your FICO and your VantageScore and what happened when a financial planner tried to trick the system to boost her score. If you have a question about credit scores or anything else, leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.

First, small business owners are feeling better about the economy, but inflation is still top of mind. Jeffrey Cleveland helps us read what the markets are doing. A carbon dioxide shortage is weighing down the U.K. food and drink industries.

It’s the second part of our series on dark money in Arizona: We learn about Proposition 211, which would require disclosing names of original campaign donors. The Supreme Court deals with a case about pork that could have repercussions for other state laws.

Not to say, “We told you so,” but we did see this coming. Earlier Friday, Elon Musk announced he was backing out of the deal to purchase Twitter. Twitter’s board of directors has told Musk they’ll see him in court. We’ll discuss the possibility of the deal falling through. Then, some thoughts on a new AP report about election workers who are weighing the decision to return to their jobs at the polls this fall. And what’s a Friday show without a round of Half Full/Half Empty? Our hosts weigh in on state tax rebates, eerie green skies, grocery coupons and a possible Pokémon bubble. Here’s everything we talked about on the show: “Elon Musk tries to walk away from Twitter deal” from Axios “Elon Musk says he won’t buy Twitter” from NPR “Facing threats, some election workers weigh whether to stay” from the Associated Press “Around a dozen states are handing out tax rebates. Could that fuel more inflation?” from Marketplace This tweet from South Dakota where the sky is … green? “Do grocery coupons have a place in the digital economy?” from Marketplace “The great Pokémon card shortage has a solution: 9 billion new cards” from Polygon Have any thoughts or questions about the show? We want to hear from you. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voice message at (508) 827-6278 or (508) U-B-SMART.

Though fears of a recession persist, there’s plenty to be happy about in today’s hiring report: Manufacturing employment has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and the number of people forced to work part-time because they can’t find full-time gigs is way down. But high child care costs are still keeping women on the sidelines of the economy. Later, a special designation for an English county’s wine leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of some.

The Labor Department’s report this morning shows the U.S. added 370,000 jobs in June, which leads us into our discussion with Julia Coronado of MacroPolicy Perspectives. The Great Resignation is showing slight hints of slowing down. Even in the face of inflation, gig work still appears to be a solid option for a lot of people.

We preview this morning’s upcoming jobs report for June, where the data could be an indicator of how the Fed could handle another interest rate hike. Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, has died after being shot during a campaign event. Author Kathryn Judge discusses the place of middlemen within the current economic climate.

From the BBC World Service: In a rare incident of gun violence in Japan, Shinzo Abe has been shot dead while giving an election speech. The G-20 gathering of foreign ministers in Bali is bringing together Moscow and its staunchest critics for the first time since the war in Ukraine began. This weekend, Muslims around the world will be celebrating Eid al-Adha. But the rising cost of living in England is forcing many families here to cut back on festivities.

All this week, we’ve been looking at the data and algorithms behind credit scores. While many lenders will use FICO scores, the company does have one major competitor, VantageScore. It was founded by the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) in 2006. The company, which is independently managed, says its scoring model is more inclusive and predictive of credit risk than traditional models. “Marketplace Tech” host Kimberly Adams recently spoke with Silvio Tavares, president and CEO of VantageScore, about what he and his team consider when they’re designing their algorithms. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

“Fake it till you make it” has long been a mantra in Silicon Valley. It’s a culture that often brings financial consequences but very rarely criminal ones. We’ll talk about the significance of the criminal case against the former chief operating officer of the Theranos medical tech company, Sunny Balwani. He and his former romantic partner, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, faced charges of defrauding investors and patients. Speaking of consequences, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin gets sentenced again, this time for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces his intention to resign. We have the “purr-fect” tweet on the BoJo saga. Here’s everything we talked about on the show today: “Chauvin gets 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights” from The Los Angeles Times Comey and McCabe Audits: How Likely That They Were a Coincidence? from The New York Times “No. 2 Theranos Executive Found Guilty of 12 Counts of Fraud” from The New York Times “Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani found guilty of all charges” from Engadget “We’ve Never Seen Mars Quite Like This” from the Atlantic “Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor Provides a Preview” from NASA This purr-fect tweet about the Boris Johnson situation Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap. We’ll be on the YouTube livestream starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. We’ll have more news, drinks and a game!

Tomorrow’s jobs report will provide a snapshot of employment in this country. The Federal Reserve will be keen to dig into it as it eyes additional interest rate hikes, and at least one Fed official sees a labor market strong enough to handle them. Job openings have been plentiful, but staffing agencies say demand for workers is already cooling in some industries. Plus, hints of a stabilizing rental market and the changing definition of a recession.

Carrie Mansmith and her wife, Natalia, both know they want to be moms. They fantasize about raising a baby together, fawn over onesies, and they even have a name picked out. But lately, they’ve been wrestling with a question that they each have very different answers to: How much money is enough money to bring a kid into the world?