Southern European economies, including Greece, are growing faster than some of Europe’s longtime powerhouses, like Germany. We’ll get into how Greece pulled off an economic turnaround after the devastating 2012 financial crisis. And, Halle Berry’s shouts from the steps of the Capitol are calling attention to the need for more menopause research. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full / Half Empty!
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “Europe’s Economic Laggards Have Become Its Leaders” from The New York Times
- “Halle Berry shouts from the Capitol, ‘I’m in menopause’ as she seeks to end a stigma and win funding” from AP News
- “Dave & Buster’s to let adult customers bet on arcade games” from Marketplace
- “As work communication migrates to mobile devices, desk phones hang up for good” from Marketplace
- “Pop-up coworking events are uniting lonely workers” from Marketplace
- “The conspiracy theory behind Florida’s lab-grown meat ban” from The Verge
- “Unfrosted Review: Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tarts Comedy Is Painfully Stale” from IndieWire
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Make Me Smart May 3, 2024 Transcript
Note: Marketplace podcasts are meant to be heard, with emphasis, tone and audio elements a transcript can’t capture. Transcripts are generated using a combination of automated software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting it.
Kimberly Adams
We can start. It’s the time.
Kai Ryssdal
I’m ready.
Kimberly Adams
We can go. Wait, I was probably supposed to go first, aren’t I? I was too busy getting my hat together. But hello everyone, and welcome to Make Me Smart, where we make today make sense. It’s Friday, May 3. I’m trying to get my hat right because obviously, gotta get ready for the derby, but the headphones.
Kai Ryssdal
That’s great. Yeah, headphones are tricky. You should get little earbuds. Excuse me, hang on. I’m going to cough. Hold on. I swallowed my coffee wrong. Anyway. I’m Kai Ryssdal. Thanks for joining us on the podcast, YouTube live stream if you are there. We will do we usually do on a Friday. Little happy hour. Little Economics on Tap. And that’s the way we roll on a Friday.
Kimberly Adams
Yeah, I think you’re right. This is going to stretch my hat out too much, and I have to wear it tomorrow. So, no. Anyway, we are going to do as usual. Some news some. We’ll take a break, and then we will play a game. But before we get to talk our drinks, and of course because it’s Derby Day tomorrow, I have a mint julep, which I made with mint from my garden. Yes. What are you drinking?
Kai Ryssdal
Did you? Oh, good for you. I’m having a cup of coffee in my Pewwabic mug because I got some things to do this afternoon for which I need to be not beer’ed up, which is kind of sad. But, you know.
Kimberly Adams
Fair enough.
Kai Ryssdal
You know.Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
All right. Let’s see what other folks are drinking.
Kai Ryssdal
Marcia has a salty crew of boat beer. Marvin Ramirez has a Chopin vodka martini with blue cheese olives.
Kimberly Adams
Tamara, I always forget. Is it Tamara or Tamra and forgive me if I get it wrong, has a sweet red glamour from Menage A Trois. It’s not Tamara Keith. I always think about Tamara Keith.
Kai Ryssdal
It is Tamara Keith. No, no, I mean, it’s not that Tamara Keith in our chat, but it’s Tamara Keith.
Kimberly Adams
Yes, I know. But it’s Tamara Keith. But then I don’t know if she says her name Tamara or Tamara, so my bad. But anyway, drinking a sweet red blend from Menage A Trois. And Tim has a Dank Little Thing IPA. Hazy IPA. And it’s the same as Tamara Keith so it is Tamra. Great. There we go.
Kai Ryssdal
Evil genius 007 says, “what’s the silly alternative name for those fancy hats the technically aren’t hats?” Fascinators is what they’re called, which I don’t understand.
Kimberly Adams
Look at you, Kai, cause they’re fascinating look at.
Kai Ryssdal
I don’t think that’s it. That’s too easy.
Kimberly Adams
It is too easy. Oh, gotta let a puppy in?
Kai Ryssdal
I had to let Willy in. Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
Yeah, and Jasper’s coming over to have a look at you. I moved my mic to the other side just so he could have a better view. Anyway, let’s do some news. Yes. What’s your news?
Kai Ryssdal
So, mine, I saw this online in the New York Times maybe 18 hours, 24 hours ago. That’s the thing about getting your news on the Internet versus in print is that it comes at different times and you kind of get messed up. Anyway. So super interesting piece, somewhat dorky about how Southern Europe now. Spain, Portugal and Greece specifically, are the economic engines driving European growth and that Germany is the laggard. And in fact, the Times says the Germans got complacent with their economic growth, which led them to be dependent on Russian gas and all kinds of things. And it’s super interesting because less than 10 years ago, right? 2015. It was all about how Greece was going to be ring fenced and they were going to isolate it and maybe throw it at Euro, the single currency in Spain and Portugal and Europe. And they had to get bailed out and all this jazz. And now, less than 10 years later, they’ve been through their austerity budgets. They fixed the corruption problem. They fixed most of their pension problems. Tourism is booming. And those economies are leading Europe economically, and that to me is just totally, totally fascinating. It’s just wild.
Kimberly Adams
Did they say why?
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah, because they did all the really hard stuff. They did the austerity. They fixed corruption. They did the pensions, and tourism is, you know, after the pandemic, and all that jazz. Everybody wants to get the hell out. They’re all going, and many times it’s Spain, Portugal, and Greece. Right?
Kimberly Adams
Right. Yeah. And I mean, and that’s a good point because Germany and France and the others, they didn’t have to do those pension reforms. And I think the pension reforms are huge. And that’s normally really coming to get them now. And this is actually a looming crisis here in the United States as well. But that’s a topic for a whole other show. Yeah, actually, we should do something on pensions at some point. Let’s add that to the deep dive list.
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah, we should do like public sector pensions, right?
Kimberly Adams
Yes, public sectors. That’s right. Yeah. Okay, so my news is about menopause, which apparently, we need to be saying more out loud because, as Holly Berry said, along with a bunch of other senators. We need to destigmatize menopause. And so, there was a big press conference this week on the hill about new legislation that wants to put $275 million towards research and education around menopause. And I’m reading here from the Associated Press. “The legislation calls for the federal government to spend more on clinical trials on menopause as well as hormone therapy that is used to treat hot flashes and other symptoms.” And we have a clip of Halle Berry being very passionate about this at the press conference.
Halle Berry
“I’m in menopause, OK? And that’s why I’m having this issue.”
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
You know, and she was saying that, when she started having issues related to menopause, it felt like the doctor was even afraid to say the word. And she said, “We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can’t even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey.” And so, yes. Menopause. Menopause. Menopause.
Kai Ryssdal
Hard endorse on this one. It is a thing in my house, and it’s not me. But the stuff that happens when women go through menopause that, and I’m reasonably aware kind of guy, right? There’s sleeplessness. There’s forgetfulness. I mean, there’s all kinds of things that happen. It’s not just hot flashes. And the degree to which this is actually taught in medical school is approximately zero. Let alone research after the fact. It’s actually enormous. And it’s well past time that we started looking at this.
Kimberly Adams
It’s sort of on the list of all of these issues that happen to women’s bodies that are so under researched and so underutilized, under treated like, you know, I work on this mental health show Call To Mind, and we’ve done a bunch of episodes from May mental health month. One of them is on postpartum depression, right? 70% of people who give birth experience some form of postpartum depression or anxiety. They came up with a drug for it, like within the last decade, and a pill for it. And that drug, you have to sit under an eye with an IV for 60 hours, and only like in the last year, has there have been a pill medication. And this is something that is so extraordinarily common. It’s wild. Wild.
Kai Ryssdal
You know, what’s the saying, right? If men could get pregnant, or if men could go through menopause, it would have been fixed 50 years ago. You know?
Kimberly Adams
That part. And also, I’ve been seeing a lot of coverage about how, you know, more and more women are speaking out about how extraordinarily painful having an IUD put in is and how rarely you get anesthesia for it. And you know that and yes, having had that procedure done myself, it’s extraordinarily painful. And they’re just like, “Oh, you don’t have that many nerve endings there. You won’t be able to feel about it.”
Kai Ryssdal
Oh no. Are you kidding me? Seriously?
Kimberly Adams
Yes. Yes, that’s literally it. And so, more research for all of these things. More taking women’s pain seriously.
Kai Ryssdal
Totally. 100%. 100%. Alright, that’s it for the news. We are going to take a break and come back and do a little Half Full/Half Empty after wait for it. Wait for it. This.
Kimberly Adams
All right, we are back. It is time to play Half Full/Half Empty hosted by the wonderful Drew Jostad. Take it away, Drew.
Drew Jostad
All right. Customers at Dave & Buster’s locations will soon be allowed to place cash wagers on arcade machines. Are you half full or half empty?
Kai Ryssdal
Oh my God. Are you kidding me? So, first of all, Dave & Busters is hell. Full stop. Also, why do we? Is that what we need? Do people need that? And finally, either Indiana or Illinois has actually pushed back on that, and they’re going to pass a law that says you can’t do that because that’s dumb.
Kimberly Adams
I mean, how long before parents are placing bets on their kids’ games at Chuck E Cheeses? I mean.
Kai Ryssdal
Right. Forget it. Hard pass. Empty. Empty. Empty
Kimberly Adams
Hard pass. All the way empty. Let’s not. I mean, look, we have enough addictive things in our lives. Like, do we have to bet on everything says the person who’s going to the races tomorrow. Oh boy.
Drew Jostad
Half full or half empty on the decline of desk phones?
Kai Ryssdal
Oh, so this is the story Meghan McCarty Carino did for Marketplace this week. Desk phones, those big consoles that receptionists and executive assistants sometimes have or had because, you know, aren’t too many of them in the office anymore, or even little ones like on my desk are just not getting used because you know, mobile and other ways to communicate. Technology has passed those things by. I’m half empty. Do without.
Kimberly Adams
Oh, so half empty on keeping them, you mean?
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes. Okay, go ahead, landline lady. What do you have to say?
Kimberly Adams
I don’t have strong feelings about this. You know, I occasionally dust off my desk phone when I’m in the office because it forwards automatically to my cell phone. And I’m just and you know, I don’t use it. Sometimes if I happen to be in the office, I will use it to dial out but rarely. So yeah, we don’t need it. I mean, I shudder to think of all the plastic heading to landfills as these things go out of use. But maybe that means we start making more and it’s one less thing to make.
Drew Jostad
Half full or half empty on pop-up co-working events?
Kai Ryssdal
I don’t know what those are.
Kimberly Adams
Speaking of that. Speaking of Chucky E Cheeses, I saw online where someone rented out Chuck E Cheese for a co-working space for the day and 20 people showed up. So, this was a story. Was it on? Yeah, it was it was on Marketplace, but when I was hosting last week, about, you know how people who are working remotely can get a little lonely. And so, folks are renting out bars and other events spaces and just setting it up as a space for people to co-work. To sort of have a little vibe session. And I think it’s a great idea. Sure, why not? Get some business, small businesses, and get people out of the house hopefully make some new friends. Half full.
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah, I totally agree. Half full. Totally. Except Matthew Carroll says, “No, no, no, just no, no pop-up working events. I see enough of my colleagues during the day.” Well, yeah, but you’re not.
Kimberly Adams
But it’s not for you.
Kai Ryssdal
Right, right. Exactly. Exactly.
Drew Jostad
All right. A new bill in the state of Florida will ban the sale of lab grown meat. Are you half full or half empty?
Kai Ryssdal
Yeah, I heard this yesterday.
Kimberly Adams
I’m half empty.
Kai Ryssdal
I’m half empty on the bill, but I’m half full on the lab grown meat. Yeah. Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
I think lab grown meat is fine. Every week I feel like I’m seeing a new story about how much smarter animals are than we realize they are. And if it’s a way for us to, you know, be kinder to nature with hopefully less environmental impact. Sure. And yes, I know that right now lab grown meat is not less environmentally impactful, but hopefully with scale, things will get better. Yes.
Kai Ryssdal
It will be. We have to alter the food chain as part of the fight against global warming. We just have to.
Kimberly Adams
Yes.
Drew Jostad
It also was not being sold anywhere in Florida.
Kai Ryssdal
Right.
Kimberly Adams
That part. That part.
Drew Jostad
Okay, last one.
Kimberly Adams
All right, ready for the poll.
Kai Ryssdal
Here we go, peeps.
Drew Jostad
Okay. The question is, are you half full or half empty on Unfrosted, which is Jerry Seinfeld’s new Pop Tart themed movie on Netflix? And also, if you want to throw in any thoughts about the product as protagonist film genre in general.
Kimberly Adams
Oh, like Tetris.
Drew Jostad
Tetris, Air, Blackberry.
Kai Ryssdal
Well, now Air, which was the story of how Nike landed Michael Jordan and wound up making those sneakers, but it was actually about the landing of Michael Jordan, not the sneakers. That was a great film. That was a really, really good movie. I thought.
Kimberly Adams
Oh, and also the Barbie movie, which is sort of about the product, but not really. But kind of.
Kai Ryssdal
Oh, and the Barbie movie. Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
I tend to like historical dramas, you know, and movies that take a historical event and kind of like, make it like, sort of make it movie-ish. Like, what was the one about the Iranian hostage crisis?
Kai Ryssdal
Argo.
Kimberly Adams
Argo. Yeah.
Kai Ryssdal
Ben Affleck, yeah.
Kimberly Adams
As long as we recognize that, you know, there’s creative liberties taken. I do like those kinds of movies. And it’s interesting to get a little behind the scenes on things that happened, you know, and often it inspires me to go and read a little bit more deeply. I mean, Oppenheimer was kind of like that, right? There all the sort of knock-on think-pieces about that movie highlighting what the movie left out, what the movie glossed over, you know, all those things. So, I kind of enjoy those sort of historical looks at events and products. Sure, why not? I ate a great many Pop Tarts growing up. Name brand and off brand.
Kai Ryssdal
I didn’t have a Pop Tart till I got to college.
Kimberly Adams
That makes sense. I mean, you’re probably better off.
Drew Jostad
I don’t think you’re going to learn anything from this Pop Tart movie though.
Kai Ryssdal
No, it is not going to be. It is not one of those. Oh, do you not know the premise of it. Yeah, it’s about Pop Tarts, but it’s not really about Pop Tarts. It’s about this semi fictionalized thing. Yeah.
Kimberly Adams
Oh, I thought it was actually going to be about the story behind Pop Tarts.
Kai Ryssdal
Oh, hell no. Hell no. Hello no.
Kimberly Adams
I guess I have to read up more on this. Okay. Well, all right. Let’s look at the poll. I love this.
Kai Ryssdal
We have 155 votes.
Kimberly Adams
Toxic says, “Toaster Strudel is Pop Tarts done correctly.” I agree with that. I definitely prefer the Toaster Strudels over the Pop Tarts. I guess I will be half empty. I don’t know.
Kai Ryssdal
You’re going with the crowd. You’re going with the crowd. So, 159 votes. Half empty 62%. Half full 37%. I’m all the damn way empty on this thing. Jerry Seinfeld has too much money and too much time on his hands. And just can’t. Just why? What are you doing? Also, the Bee movie. Shut up. Come on, man. Alright, that’s it. That’s it for me.
Kimberly Adams
Strong feelings there. Okay.
Kai Ryssdal
The cultural zeitgeist is messed up enough without Seinfeld doing something like this. That’s all I got.
Kimberly Adams
Now I really have to go and see what this movie is.
Kai Ryssdal
Also, hey you kids, get off my lawn. All right.
Kimberly Adams
Yes, we are done.
Kai Ryssdal
There we go.
Kimberly Adams
All right. That is for us today. I will be back on Monday with Amy Scott. If you have a question or a comment for us, you know how to reach us. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.
Kai Ryssdal
Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Today’s episode was engineered by Jayk Cherry. Our intern is Thalia Menchaca.
Kimberly Adams
The team behind our Friday game is Emily Macune, Jamila Huxtable, and Antoinette Brock. Marissa Cabrera is our senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcasts. And Francesca Levy is the executive director of Digital and On-Demand. I forgot to take my allergy medicine today, so now I’m all sniffly.
Kai Ryssdal
The sobering allergy season has come and gone in Los Angeles.
Kimberly Adams
Did you get the pretty trees though?
Kai Ryssdal
No, I haven’t seen jacarandas yet. I haven’t. No, I haven’t seen them yet.
Kimberly Adams
When do they bloom?
Kai Ryssdal
Gotta be soon.
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