Brief Summaries of Public Radio #1: Marketplace (6/6/2008)

Show: Marketplace

Episode Date: June 6, 2008

Length: 30 Minutes

Producer: American Public Media

What I already knew:

• Oil topped $139 a barrel and is projected to hit $150 by July 4. Plan on taking out a mortgage to own a car.

• Barrack Obama is demanding the Democratic National Committee not take a dime from lobbyists. Does this mean the shift toward lots of small campaign contributions could be permanent?

What I didn’t:

• Nearly 50,000 jobs were lost in May, making it the largest job in unemployment since 1986.

• Thanks to a meager job market and lean economic times overall, Los Angeles has a growing population of working people living out of their vehicles.

• The horseracing industry is in big trouble. Why? Gambling revenues are way down and the rise of OTB means fewer folks at the track.

Notes: I’ve subscribed and unsubcribed to the Marketplace podcast more times than I can count. Since the show airs in the afternoon, I always get it a day late and, since my life doesn’t revolve around financial news, a 4 day-old episode loses its appeal a lot quicker than that. But I love the show and, this time, may have found a solution: I always listen to around 4 o’clock, right around when it normally airs, even if I’ve only got a podcast. Since I’m usually taking a break then anyway, I use the time to answer email, do dishes or putter around.

So far, so good.

• Category: bspr