House brands

Summary

Marketplace Podcast Summary Episode: House Brands
Release Date: January 24, 2025
Host: Kai Ryssdal

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Economic Policies and Trade Tariffs

Tariffs Implementation and Delays

In this episode, host Kai Ryssdal engages with Ana Swanson from The New York Times and David Gura from Bloomberg to discuss the immediate economic policies following the recent presidential inauguration. A significant focus is on the anticipated tariffs that were promised on day one of the presidency but have not yet been implemented.

• Ana Swanson highlights the delay in imposing tariffs:
  “The president had said on Truth Social that he would do tariffs on Canada and Mexico and China on day one... But we didn't see tariffs on day one” (01:33).

• David Gura elaborates on the president’s commitment to tariffs despite the initial delay:
  “Trump still really believes in tariffs. I do expect to see them” (02:37).

Strategic Tariff Plans

Ana Swanson explains that although tariffs were not immediately enforced, the president has signed an executive order requesting comprehensive trade reports, which could lay the groundwork for more strategic and legally fortified tariff implementations in the future.

• Ana Swanson:
  “The reports are going to give him a lot of ammo to pursue different trade actions... tariffs that are more comprehensive and strategic” (02:37).

Impact on Global Trade Relations

The conversation shifts to the implications of these tariffs on international relations, especially with Europe.

• Ana Swanson notes a shift in U.S. relations with Europe:
  “It's a big shift from the Biden administration where the United States, Europe, were working more closely as allies to take on issues with China” (04:00).

• Kai Ryssdal adds context on European responses:
  “Ursula von der Leyen... said... Europe, we're on our own... the global trade order... is no more” (04:23).

Federal Reserve and Interest Rates

Presidential Influence on the Federal Reserve

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around President Trump's public critiques of the Federal Reserve Chair, Jay Powell, and his demands for lower interest rates.

• David Gura comments on the potential tension:
  “This president talking an awful lot about how he knows interest rates better than the current Fed chairman” (05:23).

• Kai Ryssdal and David Gura engage in a light-hearted segment questioning what Jay Powell might be thinking under this pressure, emphasizing the Fed’s stance on avoiding political influence (06:10).

Fed's Response to Tariffs and Inflation

Ana Swanson discusses how the Fed might respond to the new tariffs and their potential inflationary effects.

• Ana Swanson:
  “There is a debate about whether the Fed should consider tariffs as one-time price quotes or treat them as inflationary and act against them” (07:03).

Rise of Private Labels in Retail

Growth in Store Brand Sales

Kristen Schwab from Marketplace reports on the surge in private label sales, with brands like Target’s Everspring and Costco’s Kirkland reaching all-time highs in 2024.

• Kristen Schwab:
  “Brand sales hit an all-time high in 2024” (08:29).

Consumer Trust and Product Categories

The discussion delves into why consumers are increasingly opting for store brands, particularly in categories traditionally dominated by national brands.

• Matt Hammery, a grocery consultant at Alex Partners, observes a shift towards prepared and chilled foods:
  “There’s a big uptick in customers being willing and interested to buy prepared foods, chilled foods... fresher, just warm it up, ready to eat” (09:42).

• Jan Benedikt Steenkamp, Professor of Marketing at UNC Chapel Hill, points out challenges in personal care products:
  “Personal care is an area generics have yet to conquer” (10:58).

Emotional vs. Rational Purchases

Kai Ryssdal notes the difference in consumer behavior between logical purchases and those driven by emotion, such as personal care products.

• Kai Ryssdal:
  “Private labels are still sold mostly based on logic... in personal care, people are actually purchasing a dream” (10:58).

Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement

Feature on Aries Archive

Kristen Schwab introduces Kennedy Tweeten, the owner of Aries Archive in Mankato, Minnesota, who creates game day apparel from thrifted and reworked materials.

• Kennedy Tweeten shares her journey:
  “I started the Aries Archive right after I had my son... I’m excited about shifting more into hockey” (09:29, 12:31).

• Challenges Faced:
  “The biggest challenge is being able to make enough material and have enough content to post off season” (09:53).

Market Updates and Financial Insights

Stock Market Performance

Kai Ryssdal provides a brief overview of the week's stock market performance, highlighting movements in major indices and specific companies.

• Industrials, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 saw varied performances, with significant mentions of:
  • Boeing's decline due to lower-than-expected fourth-quarter losses.
  • United Airlines gaining after raised price targets.
  • Texas Instruments experiencing a 7.5% drop following profit forecasts.

Community Spotlight: Cumberland County, Tennessee

Trail Building and Active Retirement

Kai Ryssdal interviews John Conrad, a retired engineer in Cumberland County, TN, who spearheads trail-building initiatives to enhance community engagement among retirees.

• John Conrad:
  “I have a knack for finding talented people and exploiting them for my benefit” (20:10).

• Community Impact:
  “I'm very pleased and proud of the fact that the trails help to unite” (25:53).

Balancing Retiree and Long-term Residents

The episode explores the dynamics between long-term residents of Crossville and newer retirees in Fairfield Glade, emphasizing how community projects like trail building foster unity.

• John Conrad:
  “The trails help to unite. There's no metrics for measuring it, but I just feel that it's doing good” (25:53).

Closing Remarks and Future Segments

Kai hints at upcoming series and episodes, including "The Age of Work," which will explore the evolving American workforce amid demographic shifts.

• Kai Ryssdal:
  “The Age of Work Episode one [is] coming on Monday” (25:53).

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Notable Quotes:

• "Trump still really believes in tariffs. I do expect to see them." — Ana Swanson (02:37)

• "Private labels are still sold mostly based on logic... in personal care, people are actually purchasing a dream." — Kai Ryssdal (10:58)

• "I'm very pleased and proud of the fact that the trails help to unite." — John Conrad (25:53)

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This episode of Marketplace delves into the intricate interplay between new economic policies, consumer behavior trends, and community-driven entrepreneurship, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the current economic landscape and its broader societal impacts.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Kai Rysdal]

This week, shall we? From American Public Media, this is Marketplace in Los Angeles. I'm Kyle Rysdal. It is Friday today. This one is the 24th of January. Good as always to have you along, everybody. One week does not, of course, an entire presidency define, but we learned some things past five days about where this economy is going. I think David Gura is at Bloomberg. Ana Swanson is at the New York Times. Hey, you two.

[John Conrad]

Hey, Kai.

[Kai Rysdal]

Ana Swanson, we go to you first and I will say only this. We were promised tariffs and yet here we are end of week one. I'm kidding. No tariffs. I mean, they are clearly coming, right? Canada and Mexico on the 1st of February and China maybe, I don't know. But it does seem that there has been a delay, shall we say?

[Ana Swanson]

Yeah, it was somewhat surprising because the president had said on Truth Social that he would do tariffs on Canada and Mexico and China on day one. Now that's February 1st. We'll see if that actually really happens because those are sort of a negotiating tactic against those countries. But I think that at his core, even though we didn't see tariffs on day one, Trump still really likes believes in tariffs. And personally, I think it could mean just a bigger windup for some of the same tariff actions. This went a little more under the radar. But on day one, he signed an executive order on trade that requested reports on about two dozen different trade issues by April. And so those reports, I think are going to give him a lot of ammo to pursue different trade actions in the future if he wants to. And they could also help shore up the legal justification, justification for tariffs so they wouldn't be challenged and struck down in court. So we could ultimately see, you know, tariffs that are more kind of comprehensive and strategic just in a few months instead of day one.

[Kai Rysdal]

Let me read between the lines here. You think, you think they're coming for real?

[Ana Swanson]

I think something is coming for real. I mean, you know, he's proposed so many different plans. We don't know exactly what they are. Are they, you know, universal tariffs for revenue? Are they against Canada, Mexico, China, Europe? But, you know, I know from a lot of years of reporting that he really does believe in tariffs, and so I do expect to see them.

[Kai Rysdal]

Interesting to me, David Gura, that he wants to renegotiate early the trade deal that he signed with Mexico and Canada, the usmca. He's kind of going all in here early.

[David Gura]

He's going all in. And, you know, it wasn't too long ago that he was really proud of that agreement that he negotiated with Canada and Mexico. But, of course, he's been making these threats since before he was inaugurated and left everyone hanging. I mean, inauguration was odd chiefly because we were left wondering all day, how many executive orders are there going to be? What are they going to be on? And the week proceeded from there. And then there was this big meeting in Switzerland, this meeting in Davos. And this is a big deal in my world at Bloomberg. And so there's a week of interviews with CEOs, and I'd characterize the kind of zeitgeist or vibe there as a lot of kind of optimism and excitement about what he's doing. But then in every interview, a question of what are these tariffs going to be? How big are they going to be? But it did feel like a markedly different set of executives than the last time he was there in 2020 and in 2018 before that.

[Kai Rysdal]

Yeah, I thought it was interesting, Anna, that Ursula von der Leyen, on whatever it was the first day, Monday or Tuesday, gave a speech in which she basically said, number one, Europe, we're on our own. And number two, the sort of global trade for the common good order that we've had for the last 25, 30 years is no more.

[Ana Swanson]

Right? Well, yeah, a few days after that, Trump, you know, was also pretty critical of Europe in his speech to Davos. Right. Talking about tariffs on Europe. So apparently the feeling is mutual. But, yeah, it's been interesting to see. You know, Europe also in recent weeks has kind of extended its efforts at signing new trade agreements with other countries. And it really is just a big shift from the Biden administration where the United States, Europe, we're working more closely as allies to take on issues with China, with the Trump administration. You know, it's kind of America against the world again, and that includes a more confrontational approach to Europe.

[Kai Rysdal]

Speaking of confrontational approaches, David, he also said in that speech he's going to demand lower interest Rates, which, number one, that's not the way it works. And number two, also his policies in and of themselves could prove to be quite inflationary.

[David Gura]

Yeah. He also demanded lower oil prices and kind of looked at them in compliment. But yeah, as you know, this is going to be a big test of Jay Powell, the Fed chair, who has thus far shown a lot of resolve and been really adamant that the Fed is insulated from political influence. But I think what we got this week was a taste of what's to come, and that is this president talking an awful lot about how he knows interest rates better than the current Fed chairman. He's going to opine on this a lot. There's been some speculation that he might work some way of kind of being somebody who has to be consulted on interest rates. We'll see what happens there. But I think what we're seeing shape up here is just a test that's going to play out over the course of this term. How can Jay Powell, whose term isn't up until 2026, deal under the pressure of a president who, unlike his predecessors, really wants to have his opinion on this known?

[Kai Rysdal]

So, David, on the theory that the sound you hear is Jay Powell's head hitting his desk, we're going to play my favorite game. What is Jay Powell thinking in five words or less? You get to go first. Anna gets to think about it for a minute. Jay Powell, Fed meets next week. What is Jay Powell thinking five words or less? David Gura, go.

[David Gura]

What will the tariffs be? And I think that's just the big question that they're going to have to wrestle with as they come up with each and every interest rate decision. What's he actually going to do and what's the effect going to be? Just to go back to what you said a minute ago, Kai, so many of the things he's proposed are, as any academician will tell you, inherently inflationary. I think it has to be something that's going to be discussed a lot when the Fed meets next week.

[Kai Rysdal]

Ana, before we get to your answer to the question, it's worth pointing out here that Powell will almost certainly say we gotta wait to see what the tariffs do. Right. Just in terms of what David was saying, Ana, that we just don't know. And he's not gonna speculate, right? He's not gonna answer the hypothetical.

[Ana Swanson]

Yeah, yeah. Actually, he was asked about it in December and he talked about how they were dusting off their data from tariffs in 2018 and seeing what they should do. But there is a debate about whether the Fed should consider them more of a one time price quote, unquote, look through them or treat them as inflationary and then act against them.

[Kai Rysdal]

For whatever it's worth. I did see go by in one of my news feeds this past week, Maybe it was 10 days or so ago. What if the Fed's first move of this year is not even first move, but what if the Fed at some point raises and doesn't lower and then what happens? Anyway, Ana Swanson, over to you. You've had plenty of time to percolate on this one. What is Jay Powell thinking in five words or less? You're going to send us off into the weekend.

[Ana Swanson]

Well, since, since, since David took the tariff one, I thought I'd, you know, just make a little joke and say don't call me bonehead because he did, he did use that term before. Right. Trump, you know, spent the first presidency publicly attacking the Fed. You know, I know that Powell, you know, says that, you know, he's not focused on that. But I think the question is, you know, Trump is certainly going to try to jawbone him this time, but is he going to do more than that? Right.

[Kai Rysdal]

Yeah. You got to believe Powell reads the papers. All right, Anna Swanson at the New York Times. Jpow David Gura, not Jay Powell. David Gura at Bloomberg. Maybe we'll get Powell on. I don't know, maybe never again after this. David Val, David Gura at Bloomberg. See you guys. Have a nice weekend.

[David Gura]

Thank you.

[Ana Swanson]

Thanks.

[Kai Rysdal]

Wall street to end this week, traders, we're a little cranky. Details, numbers. You all know the Dr. American consumers need them though this economy does can be a fickle bunch. We have talked about that quite a bit. Price is probably first among equals in why consumers shop the way they do. And new data from the Private Label Manufacturers association shows that store brand sales names like Target's Everspring or Costco's Kirkland. The data backs that up. Brand sales hit an all time high in 2024. Marketplace's Kristen Schwab has more.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Shoppers traditionally turn to private labels when they're looking to save money on items that feel sorta ho hum, paper towels, glass cleaner, beans. But Matt Hammery, a grocery consultant at Alex Partners, says he's seen a shift.

[Ryan Reynolds]

There's a big uptick in customers being willing and in fact interested to buy prepared foods, chilled foods of those sorts of, you know, fresher, just warm it up, ready to eat.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Refrigerated foods was the fastest growing private label category last year, according to the Private Label Manufacturers association and Hamry says that shows people trust retailers enough to buy their house brand of perishable food. Part of that trust is because of the sheer growth of national chains like Walmart and Kroger and how well they've gotten to know their shoppers.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The retailer decides what the flavor profile would be, the quality and effectively what they're doing there is they are taking a couple of steps further in building their customer relationship.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

It's part of the reason why stores like Trader Joe's and Aldi have cult followings. But not all generic products are a slam dunk. Natalie Cutler leads retail and consumer products at bdo.

[Kai Rysdal]

Retailers have, in most cases, just one.

[John Conrad]

Chance to get it right.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

One low performing tub of dishwasher pods is enough to deter people from making the leap to laundry detergent or even trickier categories like shampoo. Jan Benedikt Steenkamp, a professor of marketing at UNC Chapel Hill, says personal care is an area generics have yet to conquer.

[Kai Rysdal]

Private labels are still sold mostly based on logic, you know, on rationality. And in personal care, people are actually purchasing a dream. They're purchasing an emotion, something that feels.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Aspirational or like a simple pleasure. For hammering at Alex Partners, that's a crispy can of Diet Coke.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You know, I don't have it all the time, but when I do, I love it and I won't take anything else for it.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

With certain purchases, brand loyalty is hard to break. I'm Kristen Schwab for Marketplace.

[Kai Rysdal]

If you need to know things as soon as you get up, I have a suggestion for you. David Brancaccio and the gang at the Marketplace Morning Report. Get out of bed really early to get you all the business and economic news you need to start your day. Check it out. We are down to four, count them, four teams left standing in the National Football League playoffs. Commanders and Eagles are the early game on Sunday. Chiefs, Bills in the late game. Four teams in, of course, means 28 teams out and 28 teams worth of game day outfits that fans wore all season long. Go back in the closet here with today's installment of our series, My Economy.

[Kristen Schwab]

My name is Kennedy Tweeten. I live in Mankato, Minnesota, and I am the owner of the Aries Archive. I use thrifted and reworked materials to create game day pieces. I started the Aries Archive right after I had my son. I had really bad postpartum depression and my now husband said, you used to love sewing. You should get back into that. And you know you'll be able to be around our son and work at the same time. So I picked that up. My sister in law is a influencer for the Vikings and she said I need custom pieces because I need content. If you could send me a box of stuff and I'll promote it and you know, it just took off from there. My favorite materials to use are actually like blankets and towels and flags actually is one of my favorite things. All of the business is through social media. Most of it is through Instagram. And the biggest challenge is being able to make enough material and have enough content to post off season. I typically slow down. I still try to make things, you know, like a couple things a week. And now specifically like I'll be shifting more into hockey, which is new. So I'm really excited about that. I have learned so much about patience. Nothing good comes from being rushed. That is within, you know, the website development. That's within the pieces that I sew. I feel like I've learned so much about just grinding it out. Even if it doesn't work right away, it will eventually.

[Kai Rysdal]

Kennedy Tweeden in Mankato, Minnesota. Aries Archive is her business. Tell us about your economy, would you? No matter who you're rooting for. Go cheeks. Marketplace.org.

[John Conrad]

Coming up, there's an insatiable appetite for people to look and feed yaks.

[Kai Rysdal]

Yeah, we give you a little bit of everything on this program. But first, let's do the numbers now. Industrials off 140 points today. A third of 1% finished at 44,424. The NASDAQ subtracted 99 points, about a half percent. 19,954. The S&P 500 down 17 points. 3, 10%. 6,101. For the week, the Dow picked up just shy of 2.2%. The NASDAQ added 1 and 2/3%. The S&P 500 gained about 1 and 3/4 of 1%. Boeing descended 1.4% today after warning that its loss for the fourth quarter is likely to be nearly three times as big as analysts had been expecting. The planemaker said the red ink is down to fewer jetliner deliveries and also that strike last year. United Airlines climbed 1.9% after a couple of brokerage firms raised their price targets for its shares. How about railroads, you say? CSX slowed down 2.9% after the railroad reported its profits in the fourth quarter were down almost 7% year on year. The auto industry, we got it all, man. Planes, trains, automobiles. Auto industry has plenty of Texas instruments, chips, stock backed up. Thank you very much. I'll say that again. Texas Instruments chips stocked up. Thank you. Anyway. Chipmaker forecasts profits for the current quarter won't match. Analyst estimates TI subtracted 7.5%. Sometimes things are hard to say. You're listening to Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

Foreign.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail].

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 required intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] this economy can be complicated.

[Kai Rysdal]

That's why the Marketplace newsletter makes understanding it all simple. Get smart takes on the week's biggest stories delivered to your inbox every Friday. No jargon, no hype, just economics you can use. Sign up [e-mail] subscribe hi, I'm Kai Rysdal, the host of How We Survive. This season is all about the institution that shaped me, the US Military, and how it could shape the future of climate tech. You've probably heard that 2024 was the hottest year on record, that wildfires devastated Los Angeles and that the US Withdrew from the Paris Agreement again. And while all that might feel pretty terrible, the climate crisis is not an inevitable reality. From simulated climate emergencies to micro grids and sustainable aviation fuel, we look at how the military is investing part of its $850 billion budget in a greener, more resilient future. Listen to How We Survive wherever you get your podcasts. This is Marketplace. I'm Kai Rysdal. On a sunny Tuesday morning this past November, I stepped onto a trailhead in Cumberland County, Tennessee. I'm gonna be too warm man, I have to take this sweater off. It's mostly rural out here, kind of halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. Not quite 65,000 people. Morning John. How are you?

[John Conrad]

Fine, how are you?

[Kai Rysdal]

Good, thanks.

[John Conrad]

Beautiful weather you brought with us.

[Kai Rysdal]

John Conrad is one of them.

[John Conrad]

Been living here in Cumberland county for 13 years. I retired here and just love it.

[Kai Rysdal]

John was born and raised in the north of England, as you might be able to tell, and then with stops in Buffalo, Boston, and Tampa, he landed here.

[John Conrad]

The way we tell it is that Buffalo and Boston's too cold and Tampa's Too hot. Halfway in between. Must be perfect. And it's been a great decision on our part coming here.

[Kai Rysdal]

Very nice. Let's go for a walk.

[John Conrad]

Okay.

[Kai Rysdal]

You're in charge. I am following you.

[John Conrad]

All right.

[Kai Rysdal]

I'm here to meet people like John. He's 73, an engineer in his working life, but retirement has changed how he spends his time and his money.

[John Conrad]

We're going to go for a walk on the Soldiers Beach Trail, which we built 2015, 2017 proved to be very popular.

[Kai Rysdal]

Tell me about this we build trails thing. How did you come to be in the trail building business?

[John Conrad]

For very selfish reasons. During my lifetime, I've been an occasional hiker when on vacation and things like that. But when I moved to Fairfield Glade, which is a beautiful area with hills and valleys and creeks, I was extremely disappointed that there were no trails. There was no access to all this beautiful countryside.

[Kai Rysdal]

Cumberland county has one of the oldest labor forces in the country. According to adp, the county seat is a town called Crossville. But Fairfield Glade, where John lives, is a retirement community with a median age of almost 70.

[John Conrad]

In a rather arrogant way, and much to the horror of my wife, I wrote to the general manager and said, I'd like to volunteer to organize volunteers to build some hiking trails here. Is that okay? Fortunately, they said, go for it. We formed a trails committee, and it turns out I have a knack for finding talented people and exploiting them for my benefit.

[Kai Rysdal]

Well, everybody's benefit, John. Come on. Well, yeah, you're going to be hearing a lot over the next couple of years about the wave of retirements coming to this economy. It's a massive demographic shift that we've seen coming for decades, and it's going to have implications for where people live, where they work, and where they spend their money. In Fairfield Glade, a lot of the retirees are healthy. They're also relatively active, like John, the.

[John Conrad]

Trails committee in Fairfield Glade love doing rock work.

[Kai Rysdal]

Rock work.

[John Conrad]

Rock work. They love picking up huge.

[Kai Rysdal]

Are you kidding me?

[John Conrad]

Stone slabs and either making staircases with them or putting retaining walls and the like. If you walk, God bless them, right? Exactly. I much prefer sitting at a desk sending emails personally, but that's right.

[Kai Rysdal]

Oh, man. Boy, it is lovely out here. This is great. It was crisp the day we were there. Fallen leaves underfoot on the meandering trail, drifting down from the maple and oak trees up above. All right, no pressure here, John, but here's a stump that they missed.

[David Gura]

I'm just saying.

[John Conrad]

I'll tell them all Right. It was noted on national radio that you missed a stump.

[Kai Rysdal]

Are you a trails guy from way back? Like from when you were a kid?

[John Conrad]

No, no. I mean, as I say, I hiked occasionally, maybe three or four times a year. And that was about it. In retirement. It's become something of an obsession now. Retirement's a wonderful invention. I just love it.

[Kai Rysdal]

Fills your time up. I guess it does.

[John Conrad]

I keep busy, have a reason for getting up in the morning.

[Kai Rysdal]

My mother says to me all the time, she says, kai, there's so much time when you're retired.

[John Conrad]

I disagree. You need a project.

[Kai Rysdal]

John's got multiple projects going on. Trail building, of course. He also puts on an annual hiking marathon to promote use of the trails. And he created a tour group that visits local businesses and organizations. It's got about 500 people in it.

[John Conrad]

We do police departments, fire departments, colleges. Anything where someone is prepared to talk to 20, mainly retirees. We have, I think it's 120 destinations we've now visited.

[Kai Rysdal]

Boy, that's impressive.

[John Conrad]

And some of them multiple times. We have a yak ranch in Crossfield.

[Kai Rysdal]

I'm sorry, a yak ranch?

[John Conrad]

A yak ranch. I believe we've been there 43 times now.

[Kai Rysdal]

No.

[John Conrad]

There's an insatiable appetite for people to look and feed yaks cute things. And Ali has a good story to tell.

[Kai Rysdal]

Oh, that's great.

[John Conrad]

I've just realized.

[Kai Rysdal]

What's that? Did we miss the trail?

[John Conrad]

Yeah, I couldn't. My brain was having trouble figuring out what that bridge was. I thought we shouldn't have been going over a bridge.

[Kai Rysdal]

What'd you do in Tennessee, Kai? Well, I got lost with the trail.

[John Conrad]

That's right. Yeah. He built the damn trail and still got lost.

[Kai Rysdal]

We did find our way to the lake view eventually. This is. I wish I just brought a book. I'd send you guys back to the car and just stay here for a couple hours.

[John Conrad]

You know, honestly, it's a nice, peaceful place, isn't it?

[Kai Rysdal]

Beautiful lake. God, it's beautiful. Here's the catch, though, and it's the reason we've come. Not everybody in Cumberland county gets to have a peaceful, active retirement like John Conrad. As we start to head back, tell me about the Fairfield Glade and Crossville Divide, because they're very different places.

[John Conrad]

They are indeed. The John Conrad perspective is that Crossville has been here many years with local Tennesseans and quite content. And somebody came up with a bright idea of building Fairfield Glade, building whatever it is. 15,000 lots and people started moving here and building homes and they had more disposable income, I guess you'd put it, than the majority of people in Crossville. And this has led to a kind of divide between the two communities where the people in Fairfield Glade are mainly retirees with a little more money. The people in Crossville feel that these outsiders coming in with their different opinions and views and attitudes, I personally have not experienced in 13 years anything but a welcoming attitude. But you constantly hear stories about, oh, this happened to so and so or that happened.

[Kai Rysdal]

Well, that's always the way.

[John Conrad]

That's always the way. Yeah. So I. I'm very pleased and proud of the fact that the trails help to unite. There's no metrics for measuring it, but I just feel that it's doing good.

[Kai Rysdal]

We came to Cumberland county for more than just a morning walk in the woods, of course. We're starting a new series next week. It's called the Age of Work. Because as the American workforce gets older, the way it is here in central Tennessee, some of the dynamics happening in Crossville and Fairfield Glade are going to play out all over the country. Well, John, this has been a pleasure.

[John Conrad]

All right. You're very welcome. I hope you know a little more about Cubloon county now.

[Kai Rysdal]

I do indeed. It's inspiring, actually. A little bit.

[John Conrad]

Good. Yes. You don't have to just sit by your fire and do knitting when you retire. There are other possibilities.

[Kai Rysdal]

I'm going to tell my mom.

[John Conrad]

Yes.

[Kai Rysdal]

The Age of Work Episode one coming on Monday. This final note on the way out today, which I believe comes properly filed under the heading Schadenfreude. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the Wall street banks that loaned Elon Musk part of the money that he needed to buy Twitter are getting ready to unload some of that debt at. And here is the relevant bit. 90 to 95 cents on the dollar. That is to say, they want out so badly, they are taken a loss. The Journal also reports on a Musk email to staff that the paper has seen that says, and here I quote, our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we are barely breaking even. Our theme music was composed by BJ Lederman. Marketplace's executive producer is Nancy Fargoli. Donna Tam is the executive editor. Neil Scarborough is vice president and general manager. I'm Kai Rizal. Have yourselves a great weekend, everybody. We will see you back here on Monday. All right. This is 8pm Ryan Reynolds here from.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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