Tracey Samuelson

SHORT BIO

Tracey Samuelson is a former senior reporter for Marketplace.

What was your first job?

Working in a bread store at the peak of the anti-carb movement.

What do you think is the hardest part of your job that no one knows?

Cramming all the interesting information I find reporting into a few minutes.

In your next life, what would your career be?

ER doctor.

Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you ______.

Lots of stuff from Amazon.

What’s your most memorable Marketplace moment?

That time I went to Hawaii ... on assignment.

Latest Stories (475)

Cryptocurrencies' collapse follows 2017 run, regulation threats

Nov 20, 2018
Down from its 1,400 percent rise in 2017, bitcoin is now trading at less than $5,000 — a sharp decline for what some once hoped was a new and promising asset that could excite institutional investors. Instead, many traders were just trying to make a quick buck. Click the audio player above to hear the […]
In this photo illustration a visual representation of the digital currency Bitcoin sinks into water. 
Photo Illustration by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

U.S. colleges and universities are increasingly competing for international students

Nov 13, 2018
As colleges and universities around the globe put out the welcome mat for college and grad students from abroad, attracting those students is increasingly a marketing headache for schools in the U.S. Questions about racism, visas and the vibe on campus are suppressing international student enrollment here. The loss of revenue is hurting schools and […]
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

FDA may seek to regulate menthol and e-cigarettes

Nov 12, 2018
Regulatory changes would face a process that could take years and face litigation.
 Menthol cigarettes are seen for sale on a shelf at a Quick Stop store on March 30, 2010 in Miami, Florida. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

To exempt or not: How the Commerce Department decides who pays steel tariffs

Nov 9, 2018
Data suggests industry objections weigh heavily in decisions.
A worker prepares to lift a roll of steel with a crane at a shipyard in Nantong in China's eastern Jiangsu province in May.
AFP/Getty Images

FOIA documents unmask the tariff exemption process

We obtained Department of Commerce documents to see how applications were approved and denied.
The majority of requests for tariff exemptions have been denied. Above, a steel distribution factory in Monterrey, Mexico.
Photo by Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

TPP trade pact will take effect in December. What is the U.S. missing?

Oct 31, 2018
Remember the Trans-Pacific Partnership? The big trade pact with 11 other countries that President Donald Trump pulled out of just about as soon as he got into office? Well, TPP lives. Six out of those 11 countries have now ratified the agreement, and it’ll take effect Dec. 30 — without the United States. Which means what, […]

TPP trade pact will take effect in December. What is the U.S. missing?

Oct 31, 2018
Remember the Trans-Pacific Partnership? The big trade pact with 11 other countries that President Donald Trump pulled out of just about as soon as he got into office? Well, TPP lives. Six out of those 11 countries have now ratified the agreement, and it’ll take effect Dec. 30 — without the United States. Which means what, […]

Would China weaponize its U.S. debt as a trade war tactic?

Oct 17, 2018
China owns more U.S. debt than any other country. Selling its current supply of U.S. treasury bonds to mess with the American economy would be an aggressive move that China would not undertake unless provoked further, according to one expert.
A vendor picks up a 100 yuan note above a newspaper featuring a photo of Donald Trump, at a news stand in Beijing on Nov. 10, 2016. 
GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images

How does America feel about the economy in 2018? Look to the Anxiety Index

Oct 17, 2018
People are feeling pretty good, though a majority of respondents fear that a recession is looming.
Photo by Sherman/Three Lions/Getty Images

How much U.S. debt is too much?

Oct 16, 2018
Balancing the federal budget is a bigger deal for politicians than economists.
The United States could simply make more money to pay its bills, said Stephanie Kelton, an economics professor at Stony Brook University. But taken to an extreme, that could lead to higher inflation.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images