New Congress, same debt drama

Summary

Marketplace Podcast Summary: "New Congress, Same Debt Drama"
Hosted by Marketplace | Release Date: January 2, 2025

---

Introduction

In the January 2, 2025 episode of Marketplace, host Kristen Schwab delves into the persistent economic themes as the new year unfolds. Despite the fresh calendar, foundational economic issues like construction spending, debt ceiling negotiations, and labor dynamics remain at the forefront. This episode provides a comprehensive overview of these topics, blending expert insights and on-the-ground reporting to offer listeners a nuanced understanding of the current economic landscape.

Construction Spending and Economic Implications

Timestamp: 00:02 – 03:00

The episode opens with a discussion on November's construction spending data. Kristen Schwab outlines that overall spending remained flat from October but saw a 3% increase year-over-year, falling short of economists' expectations. Mitchell Hartman highlights that nearly half of the construction sector is residential. While single-family home building has strengthened, increasing by approximately 8% year-to-date, multifamily construction has declined by nearly 6%.

Quote:
Gary Schlossberg from the Wells Fargo Investment Institute notes, "Demand for rental units is strong, but builders are deterred by high interest rates" (01:09).

Ken Simonson from Associated General Contractors of America adds, "Homeowners have a lot of discretionary income, and they are putting some of that into fixing up their existing homes" (01:37).

In the non-residential sector, manufacturing construction is surging, driven by federal investments from the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS Acts. However, incoming legislative changes pose potential risks.

Quote:
Gary Schlossberg warns, "We saw a drop back in manufacturing construction spending" (02:25).

Port Labor Negotiations and Automation

Timestamp: 03:06 – 06:31

As Wall Street faces its first trading day of the year with a notable slump, Marketplace shifts focus to labor negotiations at U.S. ports. Dock workers from the East and Gulf coasts are set to resume talks with employers, grappling with the integration of automation in port operations.

Quote:
Phil Evers from the University of Maryland explains, "It can make ports safer for the humans who are still around" (04:55).

Daniel Fleming, president of the Economic Roundtable, emphasizes the irreplaceable value of human oversight in ports, particularly in handling anomalies and damaged containers, countering the push for automation.

Quote:
Fleming states, "Human workers should stick around ports because despite those standard containers, glitches and anomalies are inevitable" (05:37).

Hurricane Helene: Impact on Rail and Tourism

Timestamp: 06:31 – 10:36

Hurricane Helene's aftermath continues to affect communities, particularly in the Nolichucky River region. The storm altered the river's flow and damaged crucial rail infrastructure, leading to conflicts between the railway company CSX and local tourism businesses that rely on the river's pristine conditions.

Quote:
Dennis Ashford, a rafter, shares, "When you divide the river up... it becomes more shallow, possibly inoperable for rafting companies" (08:17).

The tension underscores the delicate balance between industrial repair needs and environmental conservation, highlighting the broader economic and ecological challenges post-disaster.

Market Highlights

Timestamp: 11:13 – 13:31

A brief financial roundup covers significant market movements:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: Dropped 151 points (−4.10%) to 42,392.
• NASDAQ: Fell 30 points (−2.10%) to 19,280.
• S&P 500: Declined 13 points (−2.10%) to 58,68.

Notable corporate updates include:

• Tesla: Vehicle deliveries slightly decreased by over 1% to just under 1.8 million in 2024.
• Constellation Energy: Shares surged by 4.10% following a billion-dollar contract to supply nuclear power to federal agencies.
• Bonds: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.56%.

Debt Ceiling and New Congress

Timestamp: 13:31 – 16:43

With the inauguration of a new Congress, the perennial issue of the U.S. debt ceiling resurfaces. Kristen Schwab outlines the looming threat of the Treasury hitting its borrowing limit, which could precipitate a catastrophic default if unresolved.

Quote:
Political scientist Philip Rocco explains, "Debt ceiling has really become a political... way for congressional majorities to secure their policy priorities" (14:40).

The episode discusses the historical usage of the debt ceiling and its evolution into a political battleground, with opinions divided on its efficacy and future. Incoming President Trump has suggested abolishing the debt ceiling, though fiscal conservatives remain opposed.

Quote:
Kent Smetters from the University of Pennsylvania asserts, "The debt is on a runaway trajectory. A crisis like Covid or the Great Depression, when the crisis is caused by debt itself, you can't issue more debt" (15:49).

Experts agree that regardless of the debt ceiling's fate, the underlying budget deficits present an unsustainable trajectory for the U.S. economy.

Jobless Claims and Social Media Job Searches

Timestamp: 16:43 – 22:13

The episode shifts to the labor market, noting a drop in new unemployment claims to an eight-month low. However, this positive news contrasts with the anxiety of the 211,000 individuals now entering the job search race.

Danielle Abril from the Washington Post discusses a rising trend among job seekers leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok to make their job searches more visible and creative.

Quote:
Gary Schlossberg observes, "People have been really open and honest about their experiences... seeing that sort of vulnerability and creativity" (17:41).

While this approach can increase visibility and potentially attract attention from recruiters, reactions are mixed. Some hiring managers appreciate the initiative, whereas others find it excessive.

Quote:
A recruiter mentioned, "Anything you can do to get out of that stack is great," while another criticized, "That's not what's going to make me change my mind or make me more likely to hire you" (20:08).

Successful cases exist where creative social media job searches have led to dream job offers, though such outcomes remain uncertain.

Naming in Branding

Timestamp: 22:40 – 25:42

In a segment on branding, Liba Golden Kulandros, a professional namer from Lowell, Massachusetts, shares insights into the meticulous process behind creating impactful brand names. From pharmaceutical nomenclature to consumer brands like LensCrafters, Kulandros emphasizes the blend of creativity and strategic thinking required.

Quote:
Kulandros compares naming to a puzzle: "I think of it as a bit of a Tetris exercise or a Rubik's Cube" (23:02).

Her approach involves linguistic creativity, regulatory compliance, and alignment with brand identity, showcasing the critical role names play in business success.

US-China Trade Tensions

Timestamp: 25:42 – End

Concluding the episode, Kristen Schwab highlights recent developments in U.S.-China trade relations. China has imposed trade controls on several U.S. defense contractors, including Boeing and Raytheon, citing national security concerns. Analysts interpret these measures as largely symbolic, signaling possible future confrontations as the incoming U.S. administration considers new import taxes.

Quote:
The overarching sentiment suggests China is "showing signs it's ready for battle" as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office (25:42).

---

Conclusion

The January 2, 2025 episode of Marketplace offers a thorough examination of enduring economic issues amidst a changing political landscape. From construction trends and labor negotiations to the complexities of the debt ceiling and innovative job search strategies, the podcast provides listeners with valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of the U.S. economy. As the new Congress takes office, the episode underscores the continuity of longstanding economic challenges and the evolving strategies individuals and businesses employ to navigate them.

Transcript

[Kristen Schwab]

On today's show. It's a shiny, sparkly, brand new year, but the themes of the economy, they're everlasting. From American public media, this is Marketplace in New York. I'm Kristen Schwab in for Kyra's doll. It's Thursday, January 2nd. Thanks for tuning in. We have finally moved into the new year, but when it comes to the economy, we're still gathering intel on 2024. Today's data dump is construction spending. From November. The figures from the Commerce Department, Census Bureau taken everything from home building to putting up new power plants, hospitals and schools. Also the repairs and rebuilding of public infrastructure like highways, ports and water treatment plants. In November, spending was flat from October and up 3% from the year before, numbers that are lower than what economists expected. But as Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman reports, there are pockets of strong construction growth.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Nearly half of all construction in this country is residential. Single family home building has held up well, with spending up about 8% year to date through November. Multifamily construction, though, is down nearly 6%. Demand for rental units is strong, but builders are deterred by high interest rates, says Gary Schlossberg at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

[Ken Simonson]

And we do expect to see rental inflation picking up this year.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Meanwhile, home renovation is booming, says Ken Simonson at Associated General Contractors of America.

[Ken Simonson]

Homeowners have a lot of discretionary income, and they are putting some of that into fixing up their existing homes.

[Mitchell Hartman]

In non residential construction, the big story is a surge in manufacturing, up by double digits year over year.

[Ken Simonson]

1 out of 5 total non residential dollars is going into giant manufacturing plants producing semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries.

[Mitchell Hartman]

A lot of that is driven by billions of dollars in federal spending from the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS Acts. But with the incoming Trump administration promising to sharply cut government spending, Paul Ashworth at Capital Economic the risk would be.

[Gary Schlossberg]

We got some of the IRA and.

[Kristen Schwab]

CHIPS act provisions undone, reversed, and then.

[Gary Schlossberg]

We saw a drop back in manufacturing construction spending.

[Mitchell Hartman]

One specific type of commercial construction, meanwhile, is really hot, says Ken Simonson.

[Ken Simonson]

Data centers jumped 43% year over year, and the appetite for them seems to be unabated.

[Mitchell Hartman]

That's partly the demand for more energy and processing capacity driven by AI. The only thing getting in the way, aside from a shortage of skilled construction workers, says Simonson.

[Ken Simonson]

More and more people are saying we really don't want those giant, ugly white.

[Mitchell Hartman]

Boxes going up across the street from where they live. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

Wall street today started its first trading day of the year with a slump. We'll have the details when we do. The next week, talks are set to resume between dock workers from the east and Gulf coasts and their employers if they don't reach a contract agreement. These workers already went on strike for a brief period this past October. The main sticking point between the two sides is automation. It's a growing part of port operations around the globe. But the International Longshoremen's Union doesn't want ports to adopt technology that could eliminate jobs. Marketplace's Henry Epp reports ports were built.

[Ken Simonson]

For loading and unloading things from ships in many kinds of containers. As Johns Hopkins professor Ting Long Dai points out, it was up to humans to understand the nuances. We knew the differences between different ships, different sizes of those boxes. But for several decades now, shipping containers have come in standard sizes meant to easily move between boats and trains and trucks, says Phil Evers, an associate professor at the University of Maryland. So the handling is pretty straightforward. The ships are pretty straightforward in terms of how they hold the containers. Very easy to automate that process. That's happening at some ports in the US but especially in Europe, Asia and the Middle east, says Margaret Kidd, who studies supply chain technology at the University of Houston. Go to the most automated ports in Europe, she says.

[Gary Schlossberg]

You don't see people.

[Danielle Abril]

People are in the background, they're in offices.

[Gary Schlossberg]

They're in safer locations to execute their work.

[Ken Simonson]

And robots are operating cranes to move containers around. That can make ports safer for the humans who are still around, Kidd says, since they don't to be near heavy equipment. But it's not entirely clear that automation actually makes ports more productive or efficient. Phil Evers at the University of Maryland says that's in part because the work that needs to get done doesn't change. You know, a crane can only operate so fast, safely, whether there's a human running it or whether it's automated. What automation can lower, he says, are labor costs, as in not having to employ as many workers, which is what the longshoremen's union is worried about. Daniel Fleming, president of the Economic Roundtable, argues human workers should stick around ports because despite those standard containers, glitches and anomalies are inevitable. Ships that are coming in through rough seas may have containers that aren't as well aligned as they should be. There may be damaged containers, and people, he says, are better than robots at catching and fixing those kinds of problems. I'm Henry Epp for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

It's been more than three months since Hurricane Helene hit the US and communities are still dealing with the aftermath. That includes tourism businesses that Depend on the white water rapids of the Nollichucky river, which flows freely through a deep gorge from North Carolina into Tennessee. When hurricane Helene hit in September, flooding changed the river's flow. It also wiped out a portion of an important rail corridor that runs from Kentucky to the South Carolina border. The company that runs the rail line needs to make repairs, but river guides want to keep the river pristine. So now the two industries, trains and transportation versus tourism, are butting heads over the approach from Blue ridge Public radio and grist. Katie Myers has more.

[Katie Myers]

Jubal Rowe is bushwhacking along the riverbank of the Nollichucky gorge in eastern Tennessee. He's here with a couple of other river guides to see how hurricane Helene changed the river.

[Ken Simonson]

The river actually flowed closer to where that road is, down through here.

[Kristen Schwab]

So it completely changed. This ledge is bedrock sticking out.

[Katie Myers]

Dennis Ashford, also a rafter, points to a shallow spot along the bank, which used to be filled with river rock. Now it's just mud.

[Ken Simonson]

This was kind of where we first discovered what was happening.

[Katie Myers]

What they realize is that the railroad company, csx, removed rock from the river to repair its nearby train tracks. The railway transports courts and other commodities that are vital for domestic semiconductor chip production. So it's important that trains get running again. But repairs seem to be changing the rapids and channels of the river, which is a huge concern for Ashford and Roe.

[Ken Simonson]

When you divide the river up to.

[Gary Schlossberg]

So many different channels, it becomes more shallow, right.

[Ken Simonson]

And possibly in navigable for rafting companies.

[Kristen Schwab]

And stuff that rely on this river for economic tourism.

[Katie Myers]

After environmental groups sued, regulatory agencies forced CSX to stop. Now CSX says it's working with those agencies to complete repairs in a safe and responsible way. Meanwhile, a lot of workers who make a living in the outdoor industry are kind of up the creek, including outfitter and guide Trey Moore.

[Kristen Schwab]

Hurricane has already had a significant impact on my business.

[Katie Myers]

That's on top of the trauma and stress that a lot of guides experience in the aftermath. Since most guides have swiftwater search and rescue skills, they help to look for survivors. Tourism wasn't happening anyways.

[Ken Simonson]

I have been out of work for.

[Kristen Schwab]

Almost eight weeks now, so I have.

[Ken Simonson]

No paycheck for the foreseeable future.

[Katie Myers]

Rafting and other outdoor Recreation is a $17 million annual industry to unicoi county. It used to be that the railway was the economic engine for the county, but now CSX no longer employs many locals, Especially since it closed the town's biggest employer, the railyard, in 2015.

[Ken Simonson]

Up until that point, we were always at Railroad TAM.

[Katie Myers]

That's Michael Baker, one of Irwin's city leaders. He says his community already struggled with high poverty and unemployment. And then flooding from the hurricane dismantled a couple of major employers, including two factories and the county hospital. The river and forest are what's left.

[Ken Simonson]

There's not as much available land for new industry, for new housing, but we do have 54% national forest land, which is the people's land that we can use and market.

[Katie Myers]

In early December, regulators ordered CSX to stop mining river rock, which river advocates say is a win. CSX says it will comply. Rafters like Dennis Ashford say they're not against the railroad. They just want the work to be done in a way that doesn't change this wild river.

[Ken Simonson]

Rivers like this are. They're unicorns.

[Katie Myers]

The wildness of the river, Ashford says, is what makes it special and what has united the area's tight knit raft guides. It draws young people to this rural community.

[Ken Simonson]

It's a free flowing river. It's in one of the deepest gorges in the East Coast. It's incredibly remote and rugged, so when you're in there, you get that sense of true adventure.

[Katie Myers]

But if the river isn't runnable or fun for tourists, they might take their money somewhere else. In Irwin, Tennessee, I'm Katie Meyers for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

Coming up.

[Liba Golden Kulandros]

So I think of it as a bit of a Tetris exercise or a Rubik's Cube.

[Kristen Schwab]

Tricky problems demand thoughtful solutions. But first, let's do the numbers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151 points, almost 4.10percent, to finish at 42,392. The NASDAQ subtracted 30 points, almost 2.10percent, to close at 19,280. And the S&P 500 lost 13 points, 2.10percent to end at 58 68. The number of vehicles Tesla delivered on an annual basis declined for the first time in more than a decade. In 2024, analysts estimate the EV maker delivered just shy of 1.8 million vehicles, down a little over 1% from 2023. That's despite incentives aimed at perking up sales. Shares hit the brakes to the tune of 6 and 1. 10%. Electricity utility Constellation Energy heated up 8 and 4. 10% after announcing more than a billion dollars in contracts to supply nuclear power to federal agencies. Bonds rose. The Yield on the 10 year T note fell to 4.56%. You're listening to Marketplace.

[Kyle Ryssdal]

This economy can be complicated. 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 Kyle Ryssdal, 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. 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.

[Kristen Schwab]

This is Marketplace. I'm Kristen Schwab. With the new year comes a new Congress. As of tomorrow, a new Congress that will face a familiar old problem, the debt ceiling, the limit on how much money the United States can borrow, which the treasury is close to hitting. Last time this happened in 2023, Congress decided to handle the problem by temporarily suspending the debt ceiling. The plan was to reinstate it at the beginning of this year. It means if nothing changes, the treasury will hit the ceiling and won't be able to borrow any more money and the country will default on its existing debt, which would be catastrophic but akin to the boy who cried wolf. We've been here before. Marketplace's Kaylee Wells has more on how the U.S. might avert the crisis this time.

[Danielle Abril]

The U.S. started this exercise back in 1917, when the treasury wanted to issue a bunch of bonds to pay for World War I.

[Ken Simonson]

Before then, if the treasury was going to issue a loan, it needed authorization from Congress to do that.

[Danielle Abril]

Political scientist Philip Rocco of Marquette University says the debt ceiling got rid of that tedium by allowing the treasury to borrow up to the limit Congress set. But that created a new problem.

[Kristen Schwab]

Debt ceiling has really become a political.

[Gary Schlossberg]

Potato or a way for congressional majorities.

[Ken Simonson]

To secure their sort of policy priorities.

[Danielle Abril]

Every time the debt approaches the ceiling, Congress must decide whether to default, cut spending or, and this is what frequently happens, happens raise the ceiling. In 2023, Congress decided to instead suspend it. That move has become much more popular in the past 15 years, says Laura Blessing of Georgetown's Government Affairs Institute.

[Kristen Schwab]

To me, there are a number of different things that have mapped onto this as a trend that include higher congressional dysfunction and higher deficits.

[Danielle Abril]

Blessing says Congress has tweaked the debt ceiling more than 100 times. Most likely that'll happen again. This time. Incoming President Trump has suggested abolishing the ceiling altogether. Blessing says it's not a bad idea because it isn't a useful tool for oversight.

[Kristen Schwab]

It's a landmine that you've planted in.

[Gary Schlossberg]

The calendar again and again and again.

[Danielle Abril]

But she also says abolishing it is unlikely because that's not popular with fiscal conservatives. Kent Smetters directs the Penn Wharton Budget model at the University of Pennsylvania. He thinks the ceiling is useful because.

[Ken Simonson]

It has led to various things like budget control acts and pay as you go rules like that which have curtailed some spending or tax cuts.

[Danielle Abril]

Smetter says the debt is on a runaway trajectory. A crisis like Covid or the Great.

[Ken Simonson]

Depression, when the crisis is caused by debt itself, you can't issue more debt.

[Danielle Abril]

Smetters and Georgetown's Laura Blessing agree that whatever happens to the debt ceiling, the country's budget deficit is not sustainable. I'm Kaylee Wells for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

We got new jobless claim numbers from the Labor Department this morning. The report says the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to an eight month low last week. Great news for the economy and the Fed, but not so great news if you're one of the 211,000 people who will now have to start job hunting, filling out applications, writing cover letters, networking and interviewing, trying to find some way to stand out in a sea of competitors. Well, there's a new social media trend among job seekers that calls for a little bit of creativity and a little vulnerability. Danielle Abril wrote about it for the Washington Post. She joins me now. Danielle, welcome to the program.

[Gary Schlossberg]

Oh, thanks for having me. This was a fun one to report. So excited to talk about it.

[Kristen Schwab]

Yeah, it's a super interesting one. In your story, you talk about how making your job search public has traditionally been a little taboo, but there's been a bit of a shift. Can you tell me about that and what that shift looks like, especially online?

[Gary Schlossberg]

Absolutely. So, you know, previously looking for a job was a little bit more taboo. Maybe there was a little bit of self consciousness tied to that, where people might just go to their Internet works, kind of whisper to the people they're closest to that they're looking for a job. But social media has really changed the game, specifically with LinkedIn and the way the market's gone with mass layoffs and people actually recording their layoffs and being very open and honest about what's happening in the workplace. So that has really been a culture shift which has also allowed people to leverage their networks more because people now are using LinkedIn more and more to try to, you know, reach the people they need to, even if they don't know them. Maybe they. They have connections at a company they want to work at. And so taking that chance and being really open and less mortified, less humiliated about the circumstance you're in has been a total change in the past several years.

[Kristen Schwab]

And what do those posts look like? What are people saying? Are they just saying, hey, I'm open to work? Or is it. Does it get a little deeper than that?

[Gary Schlossberg]

Yeah, so the reason we wrote this story is really because we started seeing it go to a new level, and that's people getting really personal, either sharing their personal stories, being really creative in their messaging, or their attempts to get hired. So, you know, in one case, we saw somebody who, you know, really called out the company they were trying to get hired for and said, you know, here's all of the reasons why I'm a great candidate, and I'm gonna tag a lot of the people that I've worked for before. And they chimed in, in the comments to kind of sing the praises of this person and really sort of create almost like a marketing campaign. And then going into the more sincere sort of touching side, where people have been really open and honest about their experiences, about the fact that they might lose their home soon. And just, like, if anybody has any leads, anything to get me somewhere, you know, I'd be very grateful. So seeing that sort of vulnerability and creativity is sort of a new sort of light we're seeing here.

[Kristen Schwab]

Yeah. Well, I could see how this could grab the attention when your resume is in a sea of resumes, but it also seems a little risky. What do hiring managers and recruiters think about this?

[Gary Schlossberg]

So you're right. You are taking a risk that somebody will look at it and be like, oh, this person really needs my help, or, this is so creative. I like this person. I like the fact that they took this strategy. We had one recruiter who basically said, like, anything you can do to get out of that stack is great. But we had another recruiter who kind of went the other way and said, you know, this is just a lot of noise. Like, if you tag me in a bunch of stuff, that's not what's going to make me change my mind or make me more likely to hire you. And unfortunately, because of LinkedIn and other applicant tracking systems, we've made it very easy for people to apply, which is great. Right? We want to take out the friction in the application process. But the problem with that is because everything's become so seamless. Basically, employers are getting inundated with candidates. And so sometimes these recruiters are like, you really need to get in early because sometimes they just don't make it down the stack. They kind of look at the top 100 or 50 and there's going to be at least 10 good candidates in there. So getting in early is really important.

[Kristen Schwab]

Yeah. Well, if proof is in the pudding, did this method work for anybody that you talk to of shouting out on social media?

[Gary Schlossberg]

So in the cases of the people we spoke to, I didn't see any actual like, this fixed everything and I landed my dream job. But there was a couple cases where I actually saw that happening on social media where the person actually did land their dream job. In one case, we saw somebody go on TikTok a little sad, you know, like I was laid off and I'm really upset about this, but I want to show you my profile and everything I can do. And she went through her skillset and a hiring manager saw it and was like, wow, I really actually like this person and their skills, reached out to her and offered her a job right there. So it can happen. What is the likelihood? Unclear.

[Kristen Schwab]

Danielle Abril, writing about job seekers using social media in the Washington Post. Danielle, thanks again.

[Gary Schlossberg]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Kristen Schwab]

What's in a name? Well, Shakespeare seemed to have thought names don't hold a lot of value. But try telling that to a business owner, because behind every company or brand or product, there is a person who spent hours thinking about what to call it. In fact, there are people who do this very thing for a living. Which brings us to today's installment of our series, My Economy.

[Liba Golden Kulandros]

My name is Liba Golden Kulandros. I'm a professional namer, and I live in Lowell, Massachusetts. I got into this business by accident. I met up with an old friend who happened to be working at a branding firm where they had just developed the name Viagra. And I always had an inclination that I might be good at naming. I've always been a super word nerd, crossword puzzle solver, love a good pun. And I asked him to give me a try. He did. And I ended up sticking around as a contractor doing naming of pharmaceuticals for the first several years. When you get into the medical field or the pharmaceutical field, there's a lot of regulatory issues that need to be addressed and a lot of legal issues that need to be addressed. So you're often more restricted in what you can say in a name, there may be regulatory requirements that you have to encode the name of the generic into the pharmaceutical name. So I think of it as a bit of a Tetris exercise or a Rubik's Cube. You're trying to shift together all these syllables into something that's pronounceable, ownable, and able to be cleared legally. So one name I came up with for lens crafters when they were looking to update and announce their new state of the art eye exam, we took a real word clarify and we added an E to evoke the word I. And it's, it's subtle, it's trustworthy because it's not totally a weird invented name full of vowels and consonants that we can't make sense of. It actually communicates meaning, but with a little twist. When I'm feeling stuck, I dig into my Latin studies. I go online and look at other brands. I may go to other countries online and look at their brands. I'm just a super word nerd, always capturing a turn of phrase that catches my eye or my ear. And I tune into how things look in branding, because naming is only one piece of a brand, right? It's how it's shown in a logo. It's how the design looks, what the identity of the brand is. So if I stay in touch with all those innovations in branding in general, it helps me stay on top of how naming needs to work.

[Kristen Schwab]

That's Liba Golden Calundros, a professional namer from Lowell, Massachusetts. We can't do this series without you. Tell us what's happening in your [e-mail] myeconomy this final note on the way out today, Read this in the New York Times. Today, China hit dozens of US Companies with trade controls, saying the country is safeguarding national security and interests. The list includes Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, all makers of defense systems. Experts say the move is mostly symbolic. And the symbolism here is that with just weeks to go before President elect Donald Trump takes office and possibly imposes new taxes on imports, China is showing signs it's ready for battle. John Buckley, John Gordon, Noya Carr, Diantha Parker, Amanda Peacher and Stephanie Sikh are the Marketplace editing staff. Amir Babawi is the managing editor. And I'm Kristen Schwab. We'll see you tomorrow. This is apm.