Welcome to the Trading Floor, the place to exchange your knowledge and ideas with Marketplace. You can advise us about stories we’re working on, discuss the news of the day, and find out what we’re learning from members of our Public Insight Network.
Analysts Joellen Easton and Brendan Newnam are your contacts for Marketplace's Public Insight Network. Working with our reporters, they look for people with knowledge and expertise on stories we're covering.
This holiday season Marketplace will explore the impact the recession has had on our individual needs, on philanthropy, and on how we see ourselves. Have you had to ask for help for the first time this year? Have you given assistance to others?
(When we say “help,” we mean financial, psychological, spiritual, housing, or any other kind of assistance that you might need to help you live the life you want to live.)
If you’ve asked for help, or if you’ve given for the first time this year, Marketplace wants to hear your story. Click here to share it.
Unless you work in a small or medium-sized business, CIT might not be a familiar brand. But as a major lender to manufacturing and retail businesses, CIT’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend could hit close to home. This morning on MMR Mitchell Hartmann reported on the impact of the filing — the 5th largest in U.S. history.
What we want to know now is how CIT’s troubles could affect you. Do you own or run a small or medium-sized business? Do you work in retail or manufacturing? Have you done business with CIT in the past? Click here to tell us how you anticipate CIT’s bankruptcy might affect you, your business, or your community.
Credit card companies are making changes in advance of new consumer protection rules coming this winter, courtesy of the Credit Card Reform Act. And that has meant changes to credit card rates and provisions for consumers and businesses.
Marketplace Money is exploring the many approaches parents take to educating their kids about the value — and the risks — of money. To help us with this reporting project, tell us how YOU do it.
What works and what doesn’t? What questions do you have? What could you teach other parents about what kids need to know — and what can we help you learn? Share your experience here.
So far, Public Insight Network sources have told us about their use of various strategies…including adjusting allowances for inflation, using three piggy banks to get kids used to saving, spending and sharing their money, and even taxing allowances! (I’m sure glad my parents weren’t on board with that last one when I was growing up, let me tell you.)
Click here to share your experiences teaching kids about money with Marketplace Money.
One of the issues at the center of the current debate about health care reform is what to do with the nearly forty six million people who are uninsured.
The recession might be ending, but for many people this is just the beginning. Thanks to the poor economy, millions of people have been forced to start over after having their lives disrupted by layoffs, foreclosures and dwindling market returns.
Have you been forced to start over? Maybe you’re starting a new career, because your old one died? Or you’ve moved to a faraway place to change your life? Or you’ve done a 180 in the way you approach money?
The U.S. financial system is built on our belief that it will work. A year ago next month, that system came crashing down around our ears. Many of us have found our lives changed in some way by the recession. And one of the biggest things that’s changed is our attitudes about money, the economy, and our own prospects for future success.
Next month on Marketplace, we’ll be examining what, if at all, has changed about the financial system… and the role that our collective belief plays in it. You can help us with this coverage by sharing your experience: If you could rank your current personal financial outlook, where would you fit in on a 1-to-10 scale? Click here to fill us in.
Marketplace is planning a series of commentaries from people on the hunt for a job in the midst of the recession. This afternoon on the show you’ll hear from a young woman struggling to find a job… but perhaps you’ve been looking longer and want to share your experience….or maybe you’ve just landed your dream job, and want to crow about your success!
Whether you’ve succeeded, are still looking, or have given up entirely, we want to hear your tale.
Click here to tell your story. What you share with us will help us find the most compelling commentaries to share with you. Gotta give a little to get a little, right?
Is your child going back to college this year, or heading to college for the first time? Marketplace Money is looking for insight into how you as a parent are helping your college student plan their finances.
Do you lay down the law for the school year budget with your college student, or do you work out a budget together? Who pays for what? If your student is returning to college this year, has your experience from last year led you to do anything differently this year? And if your kid doesn’t stick to the plan…how do you enforce the budget?
Your stories wanted. Share your thoughts on college student budgeting, and Tess might just drag you onto the show to ask you about your game plan.
The post-9/11 GI Bill, which grants higher education benefits to veterans who served on active duty after September 10, 2001, went into effect this week.
Will you or a member of your family apply for education benefits through the bill? Click here to share your plans and expectations with Marketplace.
Your insights will help our reporters understand the needs of service members and their families.
Our Public Insight Network colleagues at Minnesota Public Radio have just put together a special new online project called “My First Recession.” It’s the stories of young people experiencing their first recession, and their reflections on how the experience may change them… in their own words, art and music.
My don’t-miss moments? “Say a Prayer,” by Aunrika and QocTavia Shabazz and “Monsters of Economy,” a hip hop piece by Antonio Gonzales and Jalil Shabazz.
If, after seeing how these students express their frustrations and hopes creatively, you feel inspired, share your own memories of your first recession — this one, or any other one.
That question might count as leading the witness, but it’s a compelling one. We’re assuming there’s something wrong. With more than 45 million Americans lacking health insurance and millions more struggling to pay for decent care, it doesn’t seem too controversial.
Congress is racing to make progress on health care legislation before leaving for summer recess. The debate about what to do, and the proposals Congress is working on, are hard to follow for even the savviest news consumer. (I’ve been reading letters from doctors in the Public Insight Network saying they don’t even understand their own health plan!)
So we’ve teamed up with ProPublica (an independent, nonprofit investigative reporting newsroom) to engage you in explaining what’s happening by connecting your day-to-day health care concerns with the policy proposals being discussed in Washington.
We want to learn whether the proposals on the table will solve the real problems you deal with in health care. Click here to share your story, your concerns, and your questions.
Marketplace Money is taking a look at whether questionnaires used by online dating services can help you find a financially compatible mate. If you’ve used dating services, did you get matched up with someone whose personal finances were in great shape….shockingly awful….or just plain incompatible?
Has insight into a potential match’s finances (or credit score) been the way to your heart?
We want to hear your story about how personal finance factors into online dating. (Go here to answer our questions outside of public view.)
After 9/11, we were told spending money was patriotic. A “Buy American” provision was added to the fiscal stimulus bill earlier this year. During this recession, Americans are starting to save more — yet some blame consumers’ newfound conservatism for the continued downturn. Information about what’s the “right” thing to do with your money for the country can be pretty inconsistent. So what choices are you making?
This 4th of July Marketplace Money wants to know how you’re spending your money with the good of the nation in mind.
Nearly 10 million U.S. homeowners are having trouble making their mortgage payments. Tanya Ott profiles one Birmingham, Ala., family that has that problem, times three.
A new year means it's time for New Year's resolutions. How have you resolved to keep your finances in order this year? We present the financial goals and plans of some of our listeners.
Overheard on the Trading Floor
Finish this sentence: If I ever got a real job, I'd...
Ryan V. said: I’d go skiing without worrying about getting injured, and the bills that would result.... More
Has the recession forced you to start over?
Denise said: I had had a full-time job for 18 months. It was the first one I’d found since finishing graduate school... More
Finish this sentence: If I ever got a real job, I'd...
Denise said: I’d pay off the medical bills from July’s surgery and I’d buy whatever I want from the grocery store.... More
Will you be affected by the CIT bankruptcy?
Greg Van Hee said: I’m pulled in opposite directions about the entire issue of bankruptcy. On the one hand, I do not like to... More