Marketplace: News Archives

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 Listen to the entire show in RealAudio

Newscast Today: Dow slips 38.30 (-0.41%); NASDAQ dips 0.40 (-0.02%); S&P 500 trips 6.32 (-0.64%) Arnold Schwarzenegger casts superstar Warren Buffett for the role of "senior financial advisor” What does this mean? It will help him build credibility with voters in something other than blowing people up on the movie screen. Web resource: www.sacbee.com/insider “The Sacramento Bee’s” California Insider Weblog The UN adopts a corporate conduct standard, applying human rights standards to corporations -- not governments EU/U.S. agree on farm trade reform -- but how will this affect farmers in America's heartland? Listen to all newscast items

Features Music Bridge: Shot Shot - Gomez Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Your purchase helps support Marketplace. Verizon’s union uses an e-boycott There’s a new wrinkle in the contract dispute between Verizon and its labor union. The telecom workers have started recruiting Verizon customers who would be willing to boycott the company. The concept is an old one, but the approach is a little different: Instead of going door to door, they're spreading the message by "word of Web." On the union’s Web site, they’re collecting the names of people willing to abandon Verizon for AT&T. The union threatens that if contracts talks stall, it will send the list to Verizon’s arch-competitor. Some say this e-boycott could help organized labor find new support. Reporter: Scott Tong

Americans not crazy about extra cellphone gadgets Sure, your typical mobile phones now come with a myriad of special features: anything from cameras to recording devices. Fun, sure, but why aren’t Americans crazy about the gadgets, like mobile phone users are in Japan and Europe? Well, a recent study by Jupiter Research found Americans are more interested in small phones than in added functionality. Some say this could be because it took a very long time for cellphone companies to convince Americans they needed another level of phone communication in the first place. Reporter: Ashley Milne-Tyte

Commentary - We need 4-week vacations Bush is in the middle of a month-long vacation at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, now. Are you wondering if you’ll ever save up enough time to take a real vacation? Commentator Robert Reich has an intriguing proposal that could fix your problem: What if companies were legally obligated to give everyone 4 weeks of time off per year? Well, it’s the law in Europe. Reich says he can already hear conservatives and economists yelling, saying that would boost costs or hurt American competitiveness. Still, Reich believes it could work. “Make it part of your platform,” says Reich. “You'll be elected in a flash.” Commentator: Robert Reich Music Bridge: Working for Vacation - Cibo Matto Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Your purchase helps support Marketplace.

Using art as an investment Wouldn't it be nice to find something that transcends the fickleness of fund managers and the jitters of market analysts? Something with lasting value? Well, art consultants for private banks help art collectors protect their investments by knowing exactly what to buy and -- more importantly -- when to sell. Paintings can be interesting investments, but the problem is that things don’t necessarily go up per annum like bonds and stocks. While some private equity funds buy up museum-quality art and store it for resale, some say it’s not recommend to use fine art as a way to diversify portfolios. Why? It’s a marketplace largely driven on emotion, passion and fashion -- viewed through an economic index. Reporter: Nate Dimeo

Commentary - Art and money are no longer mutually exclusive There were some eyebrows raised when “Poetry Magazine” recently received a $100 million bequest from Ruth Lilly, the heir of a pharmaceutical fortune. Though some worry money can sully high art, commentator and arts critic Ann Daly argues au contraire. Daly says the typical stereotype of an artist as a poor, starving bohemian is a myth. “Our entire culture's relationship to money has transformed,” says Daly. “Money is no longer the root of all evil; it can be the creative means to increased personal autonomy.” Commentator: Anne Daly Music Bridge: Art and Strategy - Front 242 Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Your purchase helps support Marketplace.

Tomorrow On Marketplace... The soaring costs of a product-liability lawsuit: Lawyers and experts on both sides of the courtroom are increasingly involved in a sort of high-tech arms race in presenting problematic products to the jury.