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Business June 4, 2019

Lawmakers Turn To Look At The Economics, Equity And Fairness Of Silicon Valley

Lawmakers and regulators are both looking into antitrust violations, getting tougher on a quest to strengthen oversight of Big Tech. But antitrust laws were written with other industries in mind.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The House plans to hold a series of hearings on Big Tech and the threat of monopoly power. Meanwhile, regulators plan to probe four tech giants in particular. The drumbeat to crack down on Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple is growing louder here in the U.S.

NPR’s Aarti Shahani has been following the latest developments. And Aarti, to begin, it’s been a long time – right? – where the American political establishment has been criticized for basically giving tech giants a pass. That doesn’t seem to be the case now. What’s going on?

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE: Yeah, that’s right. The House Judiciary Committee announced yesterday they’re going to hold multiple hearings on antitrust issues. So much like we saw lots of investigation and testimony on Russian interference in U.S. elections and the role of Facebook in that, lawmakers are turning to look at the economics of Silicon Valley and equity fairness.

I’d say this shift got a real jump-start with the presidential candidates earlier this year, especially Elizabeth Warren, calling for the breakup of the largest companies. What’s interesting with the House move is that it is bipartisan. In a statement, Congressman Doug Collins, a Republican from Georgia – he said lawmakers have got to take a look at whether the market remains competitive. I don’t think that means he’s going to echo Warren’s call any time soon, though.

And it’s not just Congress. According to multiple news reports, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are going to probe specific companies, and they struck a deal to divide up the work. Justice may take Apple and Alphabet – that’s the parent company of Google – and the FTC, Facebook and Amazon.

CORNISH: What’s the thinking behind that division of labor?

SHAHANI: So antitrust is a quick label for a long list of concerns. One concern is mergers that make a company way too big. The FTC formed a task force a few months back to look at that. Think Facebook acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram, Amazon buying Whole Foods and Audible. So that could be why the FTC is focusing on those two companies.

Meanwhile, critics have raised questions about what’s happening inside the big app stores. Are developers of apps getting a fair deal? Are consumers? So it could be that’s why Justice would take Google and Apple.

CORNISH: Aarti, how does this compare to the developments in the European Union? They’ve been at the forefront of the so-called techlash.

SHAHANI: Yeah. It is absolutely the case that Europe has acted quicker. They’ve drafted and passed laws on hate speech. They’ve leveled multibillion-dollar fines against Google and Apple. But whether or not they’re a model of action – well, you know, that depends on who you ask.

I spoke with two lawyers, both antitrust experts – one from Paris, the other Chicago. The Paris lawyer says, listen; you Americans fell asleep at the wheel back in the 1980s. You let your antitrust approach focus way too narrowly on one issue. If consumers are getting a bum deal, because Facebook is free, according to the American approach, it can’t be bad. But he said European regulators understand the real problem is competition. When companies get way too big, there’s no space for startups.

Now, Randy Picker – he’s at the University of Chicago Law School. He thinks the U.S. needs to take a hard look at Big Tech. But he does not want Americans following the European approach, even if they’ve been far more aggressive.

RANDY PICKER: I do not think they’ve accomplished very much. I do not. They’ve extracted a bunch of money, but have they actually changed competition on the ground in these areas? I don’t think so.

SHAHANI: He says what might really matter is looking at specific, well-defined ways companies have gotten too much power – say, over data, over industries – and then make them share.

CORNISH: So what can we expect to see in the coming months?

SHAHANI: Well, I’d say years, not months. Tech CEOs are going to be sitting in hearings, answering hours of questions, much like we saw Mark Zuckerberg do last year. Investors are going to keep an eye on this. So stocks will go up and down a lot. And this question of whether tech companies are too big – the outsized role they play in everything we do, the fact that one platform can reach, you know, more than two billion people – that’s becoming a mainstream political issue.

CORNISH: That’s NPR’s Aarti Shahani. Aarti, thanks.

SHAHANI: Thank you.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Health June 4, 2019

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie On Allowing More Veterans To Seek Private Health Care

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks to Robert Wilkie, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, about a new program that launches June 6 that would allow more veterans to seek private health care.



ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

We’re going to spend the next few minutes talking about something that we don’t often see in Washington these days, a bill that passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. It’s called the MISSION Act. And starting this week, it will bring big changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs, particularly when it comes to health care. The law expands the number of veterans who qualify for private care that is reimbursed by the VA.

Today I spoke with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie, and he told me the number of veterans seeking health care outside the VA has actually gone down recently. So I asked the secretary – if that’s the case, how many people does he expect to take advantage of this expansion?

ROBERT WILKIE: I don’t see that large a rise. The way the system is set up is that the veteran will come to us, we will tell him that we cannot provide a service. And because he lives outside a certain number of minutes from a VA facility and we’re telling him that the wait time is greater than 20 days, then he has the option of going into the private sector.

SHAPIRO: As you know, critics are afraid that this is a move towards privatizing…

WILKIE: Right.

SHAPIRO: …VA health care. Explain why you disagree with that view.

WILKIE: Well, I just presented a $220 billion budget, a budget that also calls for an employee base of 390,000. Ten years ago, the budget was 98 billion, and we had 280,000 employees. So if we’re going about privatizing this, we’re going about it in a very strange way.

SHAPIRO: But on its surface, doesn’t expanding eligibility for private care constitute a shift away from government-provided health care, whether or not this is part of, as critics would accuse, some kind of Trojan horse larger project of privatization?

WILKIE: Well, no, not if you read the MISSION Act. My goal is to provide the best possible health care because it’s not only the right thing to do, but the Congress said it right there in the legislation. And because of the nature of our patient base – people like my father, who suffered terrible combat wounds in Cambodia – there’s nothing in the private sector that is going to understand or take care of someone who has suffered that kind of trauma in battle. There’s just no other place like it.

SHAPIRO: I’d like to talk about another important topic, which is expanding efforts to prevent veteran suicide.

WILKIE: Yes.

SHAPIRO: The VA has said this is the highest clinical priority.

WILKIE: Right.

SHAPIRO: Something like 20 veterans die each day by suicide. And this number has, for the most part, been pretty consistent.

WILKIE: Yes.

SHAPIRO: Why, after years of making this a priority, hasn’t the VA been able to make a real improvement in this area?

WILKIE: Well, I don’t think the country has made it a priority. I’ve said that we need a national conversation on mental health, homelessness and addiction.

SHAPIRO: But you’re in charge of the VA…

WILKIE: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: …So let’s talk about what the VA is doing.

WILKIE: Yeah. Well, the VA has got very specific programs. Every veteran who comes to us gets a mental health screening. Every veteran who comes to us has same-day mental health services.

SHAPIRO: So why haven’t the numbers improved?

WILKIE: Here’s just the problem. All of these cases are not related. Give you an example – 14 of the 20 who take their lives are veterans that we have no contact with; a couple are on active duty; several are on guard and reserve duty and never deployed. And the bulk are from the Vietnam era. Lyndon Johnson left Washington, D.C., 50 years ago in January, and many of these problems have been brewing ever since that time.

So we’re not going to be able to get these numbers erased. But we have to change the culture that we start training troops, from the time they get into boot camp to the time they leave, not only on their own mental health but to see signs in their buddies. And I will also say, you know, our Veterans Crisis Line gets 1,700 calls a day. Of those 1,700, we act on 200 to 300 calls, where we send people out and we get those veterans help.

SHAPIRO: Does the VA have enough mental health providers right now?

WILKIE: Well, we are in the same position the United States is in. We were able to hire 3,900 mental health professionals last year. I think NPR has covered the fact that most of our medical schools are sending their students into the most expensive specialties out there, and VA suffers just as the rest of America suffers.

SHAPIRO: Secretary Wilkie, the last thing I would like to ask you about is a surprising moment that happened on the campaign trail recently…

WILKIE: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: …Where Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts…

WILKIE: Yes.

SHAPIRO: …He’s a veteran running for the Democratic…

WILKIE: Right.

SHAPIRO: …Nomination. He did four combat tours in Iraq.

WILKIE: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: And at a campaign event last week, he spoke very frankly and openly about his experience with…

WILKIE: Yes.

SHAPIRO: …PTSD. This is what he told NPR about that moment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SETH MOULTON: Now I’m applying to lead the country, and I think it would be disingenuous not to lead by example and share my own story about my own struggles with these issues.

SHAPIRO: What’s your reaction to seeing this kind of an honest conversation happening in a forum as prominent as a presidential campaign?

WILKIE: Well, it is about time. It is about time. We are seeing a generational shift in the armed forces of the United States, where we finally talk about these things; we don’t hide them. The military is a conservative institutions for many reasons, and one of them is it takes it a long time to change. But the more we hear voices like this – the more we talk about it, I think, we’ll be in a much better place.

SHAPIRO: Robert Wilkie is secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Thank you for joining us today.

WILKIE: Ari, thank you for having me.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports June 3, 2019

Boxing’s ‘Little Fat Boy’ Continues To Wow The World

Andy Ruiz Jr. (right) and Anthony Joshua exchange punches during the heavyweight championship match Saturday. Ruiz won in the seventh round.

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Every now and then, boxing fights its way back into the crowded sports headlines and Saturday was one of those moments.

Little-known Andy Ruiz Jr. gave sports fans a new Rocky moment. The 29-year-old fighter beat the favored and previously undefeated Anthony Joshua at Madison Square Garden in New York, and became the heavyweight champion of the world.

Or, to be specific, Ruiz became the champion of the confusing, alphabet soup world of boxing – he’s now the top heavyweight in the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO fight-sanctioning bodies.

Ruiz also is the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent.

And when we say heavyweight – we mean it.

Ruiz stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs a shade under 270 pounds. His flab is evident – he can’t hide the fact, wearing boxing trunks, nor does he try. Pre-fight, he had a warning for Joshua – “don’t underestimate this little fat boy.”

Whether or not Joshua did, it became evident in the fight’s third round that he indeed had a fight on his hands. He knocked down Ruiz, and looked well on his way to another win. But stunningly, Ruiz came back in that same round and knocked down Joshua. Not once but twice. As Joshua got up after the second knockdown, the bell rang. Many believe that saved Joshua from an earlier defeat.

As it was, Ruiz scored two more knockdowns in the seventh, and the referee called the fight. Ruiz was the champion by technical knockout.

“It doesn’t matter what you look like or what kind of physique you have,” veteran boxing writer Nigel Collins told NPR. “The most important thing is knowing how to fight.”

Collins, a staff writer for ESPN, said Ruiz cut off the ring perfectly against Joshua — meaning Ruiz didn’t chase after Joshua, but instead moved to where Joshua wanted to go.

“That’s a skill,” Collins said, “that involves a lot of lateral movement. You don’t want to follow the guy because he’ll always be one step ahead of you. You move laterally so you’re still right in front of him without following him.

“Some fighters do a lot of stuff that uses up energy that’s not really accomplishing anything. [Ruiz], no. Every move he made, he knew what he was doing.”

Regarding Ruiz’s sizeable girth, Collins said he saw a video of Ruiz doing agility drills.

“And he was doing it great, like a ballet dancer,” Collins said.

A 2015 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Collins has witnessed other boxers who, shall we say, were less than sculpted.

“We want to talk about fat fighters,” Collins said, “how about George Foreman when he came back? You know, he was making cheeseburger jokes at press conferences and he had this big gut on him and he ended up winning the heavyweight championship 10 years after he retired.”

Foreman had cheeseburgers; Ruiz has Snickers bars. They have been his candy of choice since he was a kid. His dad, who introduced him to boxing, also introduced him to Snickers.

“My dad would always give me a Snickers before a fight,” Ruiz said. “It gives me energy. It give me everything I need to get the win.”

With Saturday’s win, Ruiz turned the boxing world upside down. Reactions on Twitter included disparaging words for Joshua, a champion from England. He’s been criticized for not fighting other top heavyweights, such as Deontay Wilder.

Wilder tweeted: “He wasn’t a true champion.”

He wasn’t a true champion. His whole career was consisted of lies, contradictions and gifts.
Facts and now we know who was running from who!!!!#TilThisDay

— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) June 2, 2019

And this from Shannon Sharpe, former NFL star turned co-host of Fox’s sports talk show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed: “Joshua got knocked out by a dude shaped like Butterbean.”

Now we know Anthony Joshua kept dodging D. Wilder. Joshua got knocked out by a dude shaped like Butterbean.?????

— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) June 2, 2019

But mostly there was praise for Ruiz, who only qualified for the fight after Joshua’s original opponent failed several drug tests.

Pura pinchi RAZZZZAAA!!!! Congratulations @Andy_destroyer1

— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) June 2, 2019

…But i do want to say congrats to Andy Ruiz for becoming the first EVER Mexican Heavyweight champ! #Respect To AJ… Pick urself up and learn from this. Don’t worry, you will bounce back! #JoshuaRuiz@FightScorecard

— Lennox Lewis (@LennoxLewis) June 2, 2019

WOW! Andy Ruiz just shocked the world! That was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) June 2, 2019

Boxing is incredibly popular in Hispanic culture. Boxing experts say the growth of that demographic in the United States has saved the sport here. And Ruiz’s triumph only adds to that.

“There are a lot of good Mexican boxers,” said 15-year-old Mexican-American Trinidad Vargas. “I’m proud of that, to be able to relate to them. [Ruiz] is pretty inspiring.”

Vargas was speaking to NPR from the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, where he’s taking part in a boxing training camp. He’s one of this country’s up-and-coming fighters. He watched Ruiz win on Saturday and says beyond their similar heritage, they have similarities in size. Not weight, certainly. Vargas weighs only about 110 pounds. But at 5 feet, 5 inches, he’s small, just as Ruiz is relatively short for the heavyweight division. Vargas said he appreciates how Ruiz worked against the taller Joshua, and actually mimicked the tactics in his own fighting.

“I kind of did that today,” Vargas said, “because I had to spar a tall fighter and it worked pretty well with the double jabs, coming in [with] over the top [punches].”

Vargas said one of his best skills is copying styles of great fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Canelo Alvarez and Gervonta Davis.

He said he’ll keep copying Andy Ruiz, although only with boxing technique.

“I plan to stay light and cut,” Vargas laughed.

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Business June 3, 2019

Mexican Government Privately Warns Trump Administration Of Countertariffs

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard attends a news conference with the Mexican delegation negotiating tariffs with U.S. officials on Monday in Washington, D.C.

Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images


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The Mexican government has employed a tone of friendship that’s averse to conflict, but Mexican officials behind the scenes are warning the Trump administration that they’re prepared to announce targeted countertariffs if the United States carries out threats of new tariffs on Mexican imports.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard met with State Department officials in Washington over the past 48 hours in an effort to find a solution to a tariff fight, which he later described as “counterproductive” and that would not decrease immigration.

Publicly, officials are saying they do not want to disrupt crucial supply chains, but those familiar with the talks say they are privately looking at imports that have political significance and are sent directly to Mexico for consumption.

The behind-the-scenes talks are part of a more public push led by Ebrard and other top Mexican officials who are warning their counterparts of disastrous consequences if President Trump carries out threats to impose 5% tariffs on June 10 as punishment for not curbing migration flows, according to two sources familiar with the talks.

“They’re going to have to delicately balance inflaming tensions even further, as this could be horrific for both countries, but particularly the Mexican economy,” said a former White House official familiar with the conversations. “But you can’t just roll over and play dead if you’re verbally attacked like this by a foreign government’s president. That doesn’t play well, domestically.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent Ebrard as well as Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Márquez and Agriculture Minister Victor Villalobos to Washington in search of a solution to avert the tariff battle.

On Monday, Mexican officials said Márquez was expected to meet with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Villalobos met with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. There were also meetings planned with acting head of the Department of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Ebrard is expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.

Some Republicans in key states that rely on a trade relationship with Mexico are warning Trump that he risks hurting U.S. interests.

“It’s important to remember that any actions that we take to secure our Southern border must also keep in mind the important role that Mexico plays in the economy of the United States,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “My state enjoys a strong relationship economically with Mexico because of that 1,200-mile common border.”

The Mexican team argues the best way to combat immigration is to invest in Central America, but the Trump administration wants Mexico to take stronger steps along its southern border, dismantle human smuggling chains and improve coordination on asylum.

The relationship between the United States and Mexico goes well beyond immigration.

Mexico is the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner. The two countries collaborate on everything from drug trafficking to human trafficking. The United States has invested more than $2 billion through the Mérida security initiative, and the Mexican government, after decades of hostility, is now allowing U.S. investment in its oil industry.

During a news conference Monday, Márquez expressed confidence in finding a diplomatic solution but said officials are evaluating the proper response if Trump carries out the tariffs.

“I cannot say that we’re are going to do the same [tariffs], because we have to make a strategic plan to take into account aspects of the commercial relationship,” Márquez said in Spanish. “We do not want to use tariffs to damage supply chains, job creation or investment.”

But Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, said what Mexico can do that China did not is implement more strategic countermeasures as opposed to blanket tariffs.

As an example, he said Mexico could consider targeting Kentucky bourbon because of its political importance and ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. It is also shipped to Mexico for consumption but is not part of a supply chain like production of various auto parts that make several trips back and forth over the border as a car is built.

“Very simply,” Guajardo said, “Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] said he supported President Trump’s tariffs. You can be first certain that Mexico is thinking [about what] South Carolina [is] exporting to Mexico. And that will be targeted as long as it’s not in a supply chain.”

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Business June 2, 2019

FAA Warns Some Boeing 737s May Have Faulty Wing Parts

A Boeing 737 Max operated by Air Canada comes in for a landing on March 27, 2019 at Boeing Field in Seattle. In addition to problems detected with the 737 Max, the FAA says there is a new issue with some 737s: they may have faulty parts on their wings.

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The Federal Aviation Administration says there’s a new problem with some of Boeing’s 737 commercial jets. More than 300 of the planes, including some of the grounded Max versions of the jets, may have faulty parts on their wings.

Though the problem is not considered something that could lead to a crash, Boeing is contacting airlines that own the 737’s in question, and the FAA has issued an air worthiness order directing airlines to immediately inspect the aircraft.

Boeing and the FAA say some slats on the leading edge of the wing on some 737’s may have been manufactured improperly by a Boeing supplier and could develop premature cracks.

The FAA says none of the parts have failed yet, and even a complete failure would not result in the loss of an aircraft — but it could damage a plane in flight and the agency is therefore issuing the air worthiness directive.

In a statement, Boeing says it has identified 21 Next Generation 737’s and 20 737 Max jets that appear to have the faulty part, but the company wants another 271 planes checked out.

The manufacturing defect is unrelated to a flight control system on the 737 Max that has been linked to two recent crashes that killed 346 people and led to all Max planes being grounded worldwide.

Such advisories about potentially faulty parts are not uncommon but this one comes at a time Boeing and the FAA are under increased scrutiny because of the Max problems.

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Sports June 1, 2019

‘Qualified’ Documents Indy 500 Trailblazer Janet Guthrie’s Roadblocks In Male-Dominated Sport

Retired race car driver Janet Guthrie was the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. NPR’s Don Gonyea speaks with Guthrie and filmmaker Jenna Ricker about the new documentary, Qualified.



DON GONYEA, HOST:

It is among the most macho of American sports – and that’s saying something – but racecar driving is dominated by the legends of men like Mario Andretti and Dale Earnhardt. But one woman, Janet Guthrie, broke down barriers in racing. She was the first woman to qualify for racing’s most famed event – the Indy 500. Her story is the subject of a new documentary on ESPN called “Qualified.” It’s part of the network’s 30 For 30 series.

I spoke with Guthrie and the film’s director, Jenna Ricker, about the difficulties women faced in racing during the 1960s and ’70s. Guthrie began by telling me about Tony Hulman, the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He’s the guy who came up with that famous line – gentlemen, start your engines.

JANET GUTHRIE: Tony Hulman, who had rescued Indianapolis Motor Speedway from oblivion after the Second World War, said that he was going to go ahead and say, gentlemen, start your engines – because the mechanics started the engines. Well, Kay Bignotti, who was married to master mechanic George Bignotti, came to me and said, we can’t let Tony get away with this. She said, I have a USEC mechanic’s license. I’ll start your engine. So that made Tony change his tune. And what he said in the end was, in company with the first lady ever to qualify at Indianapolis, gentlemen, start your engines.

GONYEA: Jenna, that moment in the film?

JENNA RICKER: Yeah. No, that was a really nice thing. You know, it’s funny. In the journey of working on this project, I remember being annoyed the first time I heard him saying company with the first lady ever. You know, I thought, oh, come on. Why don’t you just say it? And then as the project grew and as the film was reaching completion, when it got to that part, I would always well up a little bit because I thought, yeah, damn straight in company with the first woman, you know. And so it was an interesting progression for me around that whole statement.

And you kind of laugh today thinking, God, what was the problem? But it was, it was a big deal to have to change the call of the race, to have to admit a woman on the field. I mean, only a few years prior to Janet coming to Indianapolis, I mean, women weren’t allowed in the pit area. And it was a sports writer along with a couple of other writers who sued the track to get access to do their job. So she definitely broke ground.

GONYEA: You did an interview that we see in the film with Howard Cosell. He was one of the biggest names in sports journalism at the time, maybe the biggest name. He asked a tough question of you about sponsorship. You gave him a direct answer. Let’s listen to that clip on our show.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, “QUALIFIED”)

HOWARD COSELL: Why don’t you tell us, Janet, why you’re not at Indy right now?

GUTHRIE: Well, a matter of funding, Howard. Funding has always been a problem for me and for other women.

COSELL: And you’re saying that it’s a sexist sport.

GUTHRIE: I think that would not be an unfair statement. I can win races. I proved it at the lower level of the sport in cars I built and funded myself. I can also do it at the top if I get the chance.

COSELL: You want to continue driving.

GUTHRIE: Darn right I do.

GONYEA: You can hear the edge in your voice in that interview.

GUTHRIE: Yes. I was just thinking that it had become pretty clear that I wasn’t going to get the funding to continue, and I was darned unhappy about it.

GONYEA: Jenna, tell us about that moment. We’re actually near the end of the film there, and we’ve, to this point, seeing the story of this pioneering woman racecar driver and all she’s accomplished. But we’re also getting this very real sense of resignation that the barriers aren’t really coming down.

RICKER: Yeah. It was a very powerful interview. And at that point, she, you know, without giving much away, she finishes the Indianapolis 500 – her second Indianapolis 500 – in the Top 10 with a car she’d only had a month to work with and a team that she pulled together in a month’s time. It’s insane. It’s the kind of stuff that, you know, proves her capability. And yet she’s coming up to this moment. And I just think that in that interview, there’s such an honesty in Janet and the frustration in her that, you know, is pointing out the fact that it is coming down to my gender, and if that means I’m in trouble for saying it, then so be it. But let’s not beat around the bush anymore.

GONYEA: And, Janet, your career came to an end shortly after that – officially – with your retirement.

GUTHRIE: Well, by 1983, I decided that if I continued spending every living moment looking for a sponsorship to continue at the top levels, I was going to be jumping out of a high window. So I turned my attention to writing my book, and I moved to the mountains of Colorado to do that. And the book was published in 2005 to – if I do say so myself – considerable acclaim. Sports Illustrated called it an uplifting work that is one of the best books ever written about racing.

GONYEA: If you look back, what do you see as your best moment?

GUTHRIE: Well, that’s a tough one. Putting a car in the Indianapolis 500 for the very first time, especially back in the ’70s when there’d be 80, 90 cars entered and only the fastest 33 in qualifying would start the race. When you finally do that, it’s a moment you’ll never in your life forget. But the following year, when I formed a team myself at the very last moment and ended up with a Top 10 finish, that was a very good moment also.

GONYEA: Jenna, I want to ask you the same question about Janet. What do you think her best moment has been in this life?

RICKER: From a storytelling perspective, as a storyteller, when she has to pull together her own team in 1978 at the last minute and with a month to go, all of these people get behind finding a way to help her succeed, from George Bignotti helping with the car, her crew members Jim Lindholm (ph) and Kenny Izawa (ph) and the other guys that came up from NASCAR.

When you see that there is these people that believe in what she believes and get behind it, it’s really stunning. And it’s a beautiful moment in her life that, to witness it in archive and to see her come across that finish line with a broken wrist, with everything she’s put into it, she says in the film, you know, I felt on top of the world. And I feel like that’s one of those moments where every time I feel on top of the world watching her do that.

GONYEA: Janet Guthrie is the first woman ever to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and for the NASCAR Daytona 500. We also spoke with director of the new documentary about her, Jenna Ricker. Thanks so much to you both.

RICKER: Thank you.

GUTHRIE: Thank you.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business June 1, 2019

Laredo, Texas, Now No. 1 U.S. Trade Hub, Braces For Trump’s Mexico Tariffs

Traffic backs up along the route to the border crossing from Mexico to the U.S. in Laredo, Texas in 2015. Mexico recently surpassed China and Canada as America’s top trading partner, which helped catapult Laredo past Los Angeles to become the number one port in the country.

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Residents, business owners and political leaders in Laredo, Texas are bracing for President Trump’s implementation of a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico that would begin June 10th.

The president said the tariff will gradually increase to 25% if Mexico doesn’t do more to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S.

Ernesto Gaytan Jr. is the general manager of Super Transport International in Laredo, a company founded by his father almost 30 years ago in Mexico.

“Laredo exists because of its location and the closeness we have with Mexico,” he said.

Gaytan, wearing a black fitted suit in 90 degree Texas heat, toured his company’s operations field.

“This is where a lot of the transloads happen,” said Gaytan. “We move materials from a trailer coming in from the United States into Mexico. We transfer freight from a U.S. carrier to a Mexico carrier, or from a Mexican carrier to a U.S carrier.”

Mexico recently surpassed China and Canada as America’s top trading partner, which helped catapult Laredo past Los Angeles to become the number one port in the country. About $20 billion worth of goods flowed through during the month of March — mostly automotive parts.

Gaytan said the tariff could impact his trucking company and jobs across the country.

“There are some companies that 5% is what their margin is going to be, so you’re talking about companies that are not going to be able to ship anymore,” said Gaytan. “It’s going to shrink the capacity, it’s going to shrink the market.”

Gaytan and other business owners are concerned there will be even longer lines at the ports of entry because many companies might try to double their average of shipments before the June 10 deadline.

Laredo has already been experiencing record wait times that can be hours long. This was recently exacerbated when the Trump administration reassigned 300 Customs and Border Protection officers from the ports of entry to help process asylum claims. Adding to the fear of the business community has been President Trump’s threats to close the border entirely.

“For us, I did the numbers and we would lose about $270,000 a day if the border shuts down,” said Gaytan.

At a town hall Friday, Gaytan and other local businesses brought their concerns to CBP. Eduardo Lozano, CEO of EELCO Supply Chain Solutions and a local broker, was in attendance.

Lozano said he’s begun receiving phone calls from importers who said they plan on sending double their shipments before the June 10 deadline.

“Is CBP prepared to receive all the additional influx of shipments?” Lozano asked. “Are we prepared?”

Brenda Smith, the executive assistant commissioner with the Office of Trade at CBP took Lozano’s question.

“I would tell you not today, but tomorrow,” said Smith. “You have got to have your eyes open and your powder dry at all times because the situation changes so quickly.”

And that’s a problem, said Gerry Schwebel, executive vice president of IBC Bank headquartered in Laredo.

Schwebel worked on NAFTA and the US-Mexico-Canada agreement. He said the tariff further strains the U.S. relationship with Mexico, especially when trying to pass the USMCA, also known as NAFTA 2.0.

“This is not in the spirit of open relationships with our largest trading partner, which is Mexico,” said Schwebel. “They will always be our neighbor, we can’t be in any way threatening or try to coerce our partners to do certain things.”

Schwebel said border communities like Laredo will be hard-hit if the tariff takes effect, but the consumer will ultimately pay the price.

David MacPherson, the chair of Trinity University’s Department of Economics, agrees.

“It’s a textbook example of how to do self-harm. When we put a tariff on Mexican goods or Chinese goods or anybody else, we pay the tariff. The consumer pays it. Not the other country,” said MacPherson. “Everything that we consume that’s manufactured in Mexico is going to get more expensive and jobs are going to be lost.”

Laredo mayor Pete Saenz said he is proud that his city of about 260,000 people is now the nation’s busiest trade hub and wants to keep it that way, but for that to continue, he wants to see the president separate the issues of trade and immigration.

“It creates uncertainty,” said Saenz. “People wanting to invest, hold back. It jolts the system in a negative way.”

Texas Public Radio fellow Sierra Juarez contributed to this story.

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Business May 31, 2019

What Trump’s Latest Aid Package Means For U.S. Farmers

President Trump announced an aid package for farmers last week worth $16 billion. It’s meant to offset losses from the trade war. The Indicator podcast talked to one U.S. farmer about how helpful it will be.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Last week, President Donald Trump announced a huge aid package for farmers affected by the trade war with China. Sixteen billion dollars will go toward farmers who have lost money as a result of fewer Chinese imports. Stacey Vanek Smith, co-host of The Indicator From Planet Money, spoke to one Ohio farmer about the impact of the trade war on his farm and how he feels about the president’s latest aid package.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE: Brian Watkins is a sixth-generation farmer in northwest Ohio. He raises corn, soybeans, wheat and pigs. So Brian, when the trade war with China went into effect, what did that mean for you?

BRIAN WATKINS: We saw, you know, immediate market reaction and lowered prices. On the hog side, I would say you’re looking at probably a 5 to 10% obvious market reaction. On the soybean side, it was more like 20%.

SMITH: Whoa.

WATKINS: The price of soybeans just tanked.

SMITH: What did that mean for your business? I know that farming typically doesn’t have giant profit margins.

WATKINS: No, we don’t have a 20% profit margin. I mean, if the price goes down 20%, that’s the difference between profit and loss. The administration brought out their first aid package last fall. Most of that money went to soybean farmers.

SMITH: Did you see any of it?

WATKINS: We did see a payment on our farm; my farm got a payment. They paid $1.65 per bushel, for every bushel of soybeans you grew in 2018.

SMITH: Said you think you lost money because of the tariffs and the effect that they had.

WATKINS: Right.

SMITH: I mean, did this make up for it, entirely? Or…

WATKINS: For soybeans, for most of it, it did. Yes, quite frankly, it did. So this is where we get into the interesting thing. So now – what? – two weeks ago, they broke off the talks with China.

SMITH: Yeah.

WATKINS: And it looks like both sides are entrenching.

SMITH: I know.

WATKINS: And they’re both talking about changing supply chains and all this stuff. So now we’re in a mode of China, as a market, is gone. Well, from a farmer standpoint, that’s – you know, that’s really not good because they’ve been such a big market for us. And so I think because of that, the administration has – they’re scrambling, right? And there’s farmers who are a very important constituency to them. So this latest package has been put together very quickly.

But here’s the rub, Stacey. I’ve got to decide, OK, am I going to plant corn? Am I going to plant soybeans? Well, this subsidy package, if they say, well, we’re going to pay whatever – let’s say they’re going to pay another $1.65 for soybeans, that suddenly becomes this big incentive for me to try to plant soybeans to get more of the payment.

SMITH: So I mean, how do you feel about all this? Are you – how do you feel about the farm aid?

WATKINS: (Laughter) Well, I’m not really sure what I think. I think many farmers understand that there are legitimate issues in the – this trade battle between the U.S. and China. But in the long run, I don’t want subsidies to be a part of my income. I want to have a market, and I want to be able to react to it. I would like for them to work it out (laughter), you know, to the point where we can still sell things to China – so yeah.

SMITH: If China goes away as a market for at least, let’s say, the foreseeable future, how big of a deal is that?

WATKINS: It’s a big, big deal. It shrinks our business. I mean, it means that prices will be lowered. Something like 40% of our soybeans were going to China. This is not just business as usual. I mean, the loss of China – that’s a big deal; that’s a big, big deal.

SMITH: Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SHLOHMO’S “THE END”)

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Health May 31, 2019

What’s At Stake For Georgia If Hollywood Boycotts Over A New Abortion Law

A boycott of Georgia’s booming film industry could cause major damage to the state’s economy. NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with Bryn Sandberg of The Hollywood Reporter about how this could happen.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The state of Georgia has become one of the movie capitals of the world. These days it produces more feature films per year than Hollywood. But some of the biggest media companies like Netflix, Disney and Warner Media said this week that they might consider leaving Georgia because of its new restrictions on abortion. Bryn Sandberg of The Hollywood Reporter has been covering this situation, and she joins us now. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

BRYN SANDBERG: Thank you for having me.

CORNISH: First of all, to start, how did Georgia become competitive in this industry, right? How did we reach a point where Georgia could be competing with the New York’s and LA’s of the world to lure production companies?

SANDBERG: It’s definitely been a massive industry for Georgia in the last 10 years because about a decade ago is when they instituted these new, very generous, lucrative tax incentives which gives productions up to 30% back depending on how much they spend and whether they’re willing to put a Georgia peach logo in their credits and that sort of thing. But it’s really significant money back for these major studios in Hollywood.

CORNISH: And what has it gotten back?

SANDBERG: There was a record 455 films and television productions that were shot in Georgia in the last fiscal year. And they represented a $2.7, you know, billion in direct spending, which they estimate brings in $9.5 billion in total economic impact. So these numbers are really huge. And they have been a huge destination for feature films, and not just any sort of feature films, expensive blockbusters, the biggest of those being Marvel’s “Avengers” movies, which shot at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, which is a big production facility.

CORNISH: As we mentioned, studios and media companies have sent some warning signals. How likely, though, is an actual boycott?

SANDBERG: These laws have sort of been spreading. And production people here in Hollywood are sort of taking a wait-and-see approach. And this abortion ban isn’t supposed to take effect until January of 2020. So we have this sort of in-between time where a lot of studios and producers and executives are trying to figure out what the best course of action is, and do they keep projects there in the meantime? Should it be overturned before it’s enacted, then Hollywood doesn’t really have to worry about pulling out their productions.

CORNISH: That’s the business side of it, but people make a lot of the politics of Hollywood. Is there a sense that people actually support the idea of a boycott?

SANDBERG: I think that there is a bit of a political divide. Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get different perspectives and different strategies on this issue. You look at what J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele did with their upcoming HBO show “Lovecraft County (ph)” that they’re about to shoot in Georgia. They said they were going to continue on with production in the state and that they were going to donate 100% of their episodic fees to the ACLU of Georgia and Fair Fight Georgia, which are two organizations working to oppose the law and overturn it in court.

So their perspective was that, you know, they talked to a lot of people on the ground in Georgia and felt that it would only be hurting the local crew and the actors and local production companies and all these people who really need these jobs if they were to just relocate at the 11th hour.

So if you look at an Amazon show called “The Power” that Reed Morano is making and ended up deciding to look elsewhere after this legislation was passed. So you’re seeing a lot of different strategies, and there is definitely discussion in town here about whether a boycott is the most effective one.

CORNISH: That’s Bryn Sandberg of The Hollywood Reporter. Thank you for speaking with us.

SANDBERG: Thank you so much for having me.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Entertainment May 31, 2019

Koffee Takes Her ‘Rapture’ To The Streets With New Remix

Koffee’s “Rapture” remix pours the gasoline of adrenaline onto an already fire track.

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Koffee is waking up new generations to the style, complexity and power of reggae. The Jamaican-born rising star and 2019 NPR Slingshot artist has only been at this professionally for a couple years — the 19-year-old recently graduated from high school — but her passion for her culture is palpable and the momentum of her music is only building.

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After dropping the five-song EP Rapture in March — the project was easily one of the best releases in 2019 so far — Koffee is back with a remix to the title track. “Rapture (Remix),” featuring fellow Spanish Town native Govana, adds an extra shot of adrenaline, throwing gasoline onto an already fire track. For the official remix video, the duo took it to the streets of their hometown to show how community, beauty and danger all intermingle on their island.

“Koffee anna coffee, mi say no gimmicks / She a pro widit, treat di ridddim like she grow wid it,” Govana rhymes, propping up young Koffee as she awaits stardom.

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