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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.

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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.
Joellen Easton Brendan Newnam
  • Are the new mammogram guidelines good or bad for you or your business?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on November 17, 2009 3:20 PM

    This week, an independent panel commissioned by the federal Department of Health and Human Services released new guidelines for breast cancer screening.

    The new guidelines recommend women over 50 who are not at high risk for cancer get a screening every two years. The old guidelines recommended women over 40 get an annual mammogram. The report also discourages doctors from teaching women to conduct regular breast self-examinations. (Go here for the full recommendation.)

    These new guidelines break with past recommendations, and could have real impact on women’s health and health costs. But the hospitals, doctors, insurers, technicians and manufacturers that provide mammography services could also face changes.

    Do you see any changes ahead for yourself or your business in response to the new guidelines? Will the new recommendations help or hurt your workplace, your health, health costs, or other parts of your life? Click here to share your experience with Marketplace.

  • Have you had to ask for help in 2009?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on November 3, 2009 12:28 PM

    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.

  • Will you be affected by the CIT bankruptcy?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on November 2, 2009 9:37 AM

    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.

  • Is your credit card company changing the terms of your relationship?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on October 27, 2009 4:44 PM

    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.

    What have you seen with your credit cards? Click here to help Marketplace Money follow the changes. (And if you have a digital copy of the letter you got from your credit card company, please upload it!)

    What you tell us about your experience will help us report on the changes credit card companies are making.

  • Finish this sentence: If I ever got a real job, I'd...

    Query

    1 in 6 of us are either unemployed or underemployed - stuck working as a temp- or part-time. What would full employment mean?

    If you’re unemployed, or underemployed, how would having a full time job change your life?

    Tell us about it here.

  • How do you teach your kids about money?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on September 24, 2009 3:48 PM

    MBallowancegame.jpg(photophonic, via Flickr)

    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.

  • Are you uninsured?

    Query

    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.

    Are you one of them? Were you? How do you get by?

    Tell us about it here.

  • Has the recession forced you to start over?

    Query

    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?

    Tell us about it here.

  • On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your financial future?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on August 18, 2009 11:46 AM

    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.

    What about you? Have your attitudes and beliefs about the system changed? Click here to share your experience.

    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.

  • What's your job hunt story?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on August 17, 2009 12:07 PM

    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?

  • Do you help your undergrad kid with their finances?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on August 11, 2009 4:17 PM

    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.

    Share your experience with Marketplace Money.

    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.

  • What's in the new GI Bill for you?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on August 5, 2009 10:54 AM

    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.

  • Experiencing "My First Recession" in art and song

    Quoted
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on July 31, 2009 10:54 AM

    MFR screen grab 2.jpgOur 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.

    MFR screen grab.jpg

  • Has the health care system failed you?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on July 30, 2009 1:25 PM

    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.

    How (if at all) has the health care system failed you? Click here to share your experience with Marketplace.

    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.

  • Can online dating help you find a financially compatible mate?

    Query
    • Posted by Jo Easton
    • on July 9, 2009 1:01 PM

    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.)

    Continue reading Can online dating help you find a financially compatible mate?.

Inform the news

Overheard on the Trading Floor

Stories informed by the Network

Public Insight participants are quoted in the following stories or provided direction in our reporting.

  • Falling into triple mortgage trouble

    Acquiring a mortgage loan

    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.

  • Your financial resolutions for 2009

    Thumb2

    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.


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