Make Me Smart Marketplace

With the presidential election less than six months away, election workers are raising concerns about their safety. We’ll get into the rising threats to election offices and how that might affect staffing ahead of November. Also, how Tesla’s disbanding of its Supercharger team could impact the Biden’s administration push to expand electric vehicle use. Plus, how a pest control professional saved a baseball game from a swarm of bees.

Here’s everything we talked about today:


“Nearly Two-Thirds Of Election Officials Worry Politicians Will Interfere With Their Work: Poll” from HuffPost
“Local Election Officials Survey” from the Brennan Center for Justice
“They staffed the Jan. 6 committee. Threats still follow them” from Roll Call
“Musk Undercuts Tesla Chargers That Biden Lauded as ‘a Big Deal’” from Bloomberg
“Pest control ace clears Dodgers-Diamondbacks bee swarm, throws first pitch” from United Press International

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Today we’re talking about the trade deficit at the request of some of our curious listeners. Since the mid-’70s, the U.S. has persistently been importing more goods than it exports. Is that such a bad thing? We’ll hear from Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, about why the U.S. has a trade deficit, whether it’s a good or bad thing, and why a country’s overall trade deficit matters more than deficits with specific countries.



Then, we’ll get into how online political donations are fueling election campaigns this year. Plus, the malleable idea of “old age” and the wonders of happy sheep in a solar field.



Here’s everything we talked about today:







“Trade deficits aren’t good or bad, just weird” from Marketplace








“The U.S. Trade Deficit: How Much Does It Matter?” from the Council on Foreign Relations








Historical U.S. Trade Deficits from the St. Louis Fed








“Chinese Exports Are Threatening Biden’s Industrial Agenda” from The New York Times








“Trump promised to rebalance trade in North America. The US trade deficit keeps climbing.” from Politico








“How online donations are fueling the election” from Politico








Polling in 2024 from Reuters








Opinion | “What Departing Lawmakers Think About Congress” from The New York Times








“Young US adults reach key milestones later in life than in the past like marriage, full-time job, financial independence” from Pew Research Center







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Nope. It’s not just your imagination. The Biden administration has been on a roll to finalize several regulations — from changes at nursing homes and updates to Title IX to health care protections for transgender people. Kimberly explains what’s really behind the mad dash. Also, Kai is back with a reminder: Don’t sleep on the foreign exchange market, folks! And we’ll smile about the tales of two cats.

Here’s everything we talked about today:


“Biden administration strengthens health care protections for LGBTQ+ Americans” from The 19th News
“Congressional Review Act Threat Looms Over Biden Administration Rulemakings” from Inside Privacy
“A Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs on the World”from The New York Times
“Japan Intervenes After Yen Slides Against the Dollar” from The Wall Street Journal
“Nebraska’s “Capitol Cat” brings paw-sitivity to politics” from USA Today
“Stowaway Cat Gets From Utah to California in Amazon Returns Package” from The New York Times

We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza have erupted at universities across the United States. We’ll discuss what the sweeping protests and other high-profile political battles at colleges could mean for the economics of higher education. And, what the Federal Reserve might look like under a second Donald Trump presidency. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full / Half Empty!



Here’s everything we talked about today:







“Protests Threaten College Graduations, Denying Seniors Second Chance at Normalcy” from The New York Times








“What students say about the protests rocking their campuses” from The Washington Post








“Americans are falling out of love with the idea of college” from Noahpinion








“Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds” from The Wall Street Journal








“Trump Allies Draw Up Plans to Blunt Fed’s Independence” from The Wall Street Journal








“Job trend ‘resenteeism’ has employees coasting through workdays and hanging on, rather than quitting” from Fox Business








“How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace








“Celebs head to DC for correspondents’ dinner: Here’s who’s coming” from The Hill








“California lawmakers are tired of Clear’s airport line-cutters — but airlines are not” from Fast Company








“Christopher Bess, 5-year-old basketball coach, goes viral” from Marketplace







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“Boeing failures are a case study of America’s manufacturing “dark age” from Marketplace
“How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace



Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks and play a round of Half Full/Half Empty.

It was a big week for tech earnings calls. Guest host Nova Safo unpacks how they went down for Tesla and Meta, and why the stock market reacted so differently to what their CEOs had to say. Plus, what Boeing’s troubles say about the state of U.S. manufacturing. And, would you try an AI-generated gin cocktail?

Here’s everything we talked about today:







Tesla, Inc. Q1 2024 Financial Results and Q&A Webcast








“Elon Musk Would Like to Talk About AI” from Heatmap News








Meta Q1’24 Earnings Presentation








“Boeing failures are a case study of America’s manufacturing “dark age” from Marketplace
“How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace



Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks and play a round of Half Full/Half Empty.

Today, we’re talking about two different kinds of bans. As expected, President Joe Biden signed the TikTok sell-or-ban bill. But first, guest host Meghan McCarty Carino breaks down the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to ban noncompete agreements and their impact on workers and innovation. Plus, we’ll smile about Emily Dickinson and her newfound love of exclamation points!!! And how “old” is “old”?

Here’s everything we talked about today:


“Business Groups Race to Block FTC’s Ban on Noncompete Agreements” from The Wall Street Journal
“FTC Bans Noncompete Agreements That Restrict Job Switching” from The Wall Street Journal
“Did California’s Noncompete Ban Fuel Silicon Valley Innovation?” from Bloomberg Law
“Banning Noncompetes Is Good for Innovation” from Harvard Business Review
“TikTok may be banned in the US. Here’s what happened when India did it” from The Associated Press
“U.S. Approves Sale of Dating App Whose Owners Were Probed by National Security Officials” from The Wall Street Journal
“Grindr sold by Chinese owner after US raised national security concerns” from TechCrunch
“People think ‘old age’ starts later than it used to, study finds” from the American Psychological Association
“Eternity Only Will Answer” from Poetry Foundation

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