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Business January 29, 2017

Top Tech Company Leaders Say They Would Not Exist Without Immigrants

Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter are among companies in the tech and travel sectors which had a strong and swift reaction to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on refugees and immigration.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

President Trump’s executive order is also making waves in the business world. Industries that include tech and travel are reacting strongly, and to learn more about this, we called NPR business reporter Jim Zarroli. Jim, thanks so much for joining us.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: You’re welcome.

MARTIN: So we’ve had some sharp statements this weekend from the heads of Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter. What are they saying and where does this opposition come from?

ZARROLI: Well, you know, the tech sector relies on a lot of immigrants. The chief executive officer of Microsoft was born in India, so it was Google’s CEO. And there’s just, I think, culturally a very strong belief that immigration is one of the things that makes the tech sector prosper. The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, said in a statement this weekend – he said Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do.

And remember, Michel, Steve Jobs’ biological father was a Syrian immigrant. The president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, said we believe in the importance of protecting legitimate and law-abiding refugees whose lives may be at stake in immigration proceedings. And then just, you know, in practical terms, there are a lot of people who work in the tech sector, you know, who have dual nationals or, you know, they have some kind of work visa. And this really throws their status into some confusion, and it’s a problem for their employers.

MARTIN: But what about companies in other industries? Have we heard leaders in other sectors – spoken out? Have they spoken about the ban either for or against?

ZARROLI: Well, they’re starting to. I mean, one of the interesting things is the Koch brothers’ network which is, of course, not a business, but a very powerful right-wing political fundraising network. It doesn’t – it’s not a business, but it consists of a lot of business people and represents business interests to some degree. They issued a statement saying the travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive. It said our country has benefited tremendously from a history of welcoming people of all cultures and backgrounds.

Then, you know, the travel industry isn’t happy about the ban, largely because it’s, you know – it’s never good for them to have this televised chaos that we’ve seen at the airports. The head of BMW’s North American operations spoke out this weekend. The chief executive of General Electric, Jeff Immelt – very important person in the business world – said GE has many employees from the named countries, and they are critical to our success. And they are our friends and partners. He said that in a – in his staff email. And that…

MARTIN: (Unintelligible).

ZARROLI: …That’s really the thing. I mean, this ban is going be a disruption to a lot of companies, and I think they’re still trying to figure out where it’s going.

MARTIN: Before we let you go, Jim, we have about a minute left. Why do you think more companies have not spoken out one way or the other about this?

ZARROLI: Well, I think one thing was the timing. I mean, this happened late on a Friday, so they maybe haven’t had time to respond. But also, you know, President Trump is still very new in office, and I think people are still trying to decide what to make of him. He’s, you know, of course, very unpredictable which is scary to a lot of business people, but he’s also saying things the business world wants to hear. He wants to do infrastructure spending, cut corporate taxes, get rid of regulations.

I mean, if you’re in the oil business, he’s promising to do all kinds of things that you want. And also, you know, honestly, Trump has shown he can strike back pretty hard against companies when they do or say something he doesn’t like. I mean, look at what happened with Carrier. So I think a lot of companies are just not sure what to say, and they’re reluctant to come out and oppose him too much.

MARTIN: That’s NPR’s Jim Zarroli. Jim, thank you.

ZARROLI: You’re welcome.

Copyright © 2017 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 January 28, 2017

Countries Listed On Trump's Refugee Ban Don't Include Those He Has Business With

President Donald Trump’s refugee ban in the Middle East could be one of the first conflicts of interest for the president, as his bans avoided nations that he has business ties in.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We are continuing our coverage of the Trump administration’s executive orders implementing a permanent ban on those coming from Syria and a temporary ban of citizens coming from six additional Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan.

Now, one aspect of the new policy that has drawn notice are countries that are not on the list, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. And those are the countries of origin of a number of people who carried out terrorist attacks in the U.S. starting with September 11, 2001. Those countries also happen to be places where President Trump and his family have business interests.

That’s one reason ethics experts continue to raise questions about how President Trump is addressing potential conflicts or even the appearance of them. NPR senior business editor Marilyn Geewax is heading up our coverage of this issue, so she is with us now to talk us through it.

MARILYN GEEWAX, BYLINE: Hi, Michel.

MARTIN: So can you give us an example of what business deals Mr. Trump has in the Middle East?

GEEWAX: He has a lot of properties, mostly golf courses in the United Arab Emirates. He has luxury towers in Turkey. In recent years, he’s also formed companies in Egypt. And in 2015, his daughter, Ivanka, who’s had a very prominent role in the Trump Organization said that she was looking at what she called opportunities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Trump Organization has all kinds of operations in other Muslim-majority countries outside of the Middle East like Indonesia, Azerbaijan. But those places were not added to his list of places that need extra restrictions.

MARTIN: So are the countries Mr. Trump has singled out places in which he has done or has pursued business deals?

GEEWAX: Well, according to his campaign financial filings, he does not have business interests in those countries where he’s imposing these new restrictions. Now, it’s fair to point out that these countries do have very serious problems. They’ve had civil wars. They have extremist groups there, and that raises concerns. And those are reflected in U.S. Immigration vetting systems that we have in place already.

So that list has raised the hackles of ethics experts. They fear that this list was shaped at least in part by Trump’s desire to remain on good terms with the governments where he is doing business.

MARTIN: Tell us a bit more about what these ethics experts are saying.

GEEWAX: One of them, for example, spoke with NPR. That’s Norm Eisen. He’s a former ethics adviser to President Obama, and he’s a fellow now at Brookings Institution. He says that it looks to him like Trump was singling out countries that did not pay him tribute. That was his words.

You know, it’s very hard to get into the head of the president to know what he’s thinking, but that’s exactly the point about having conflicts of interests. It makes people question your motives. In fact, Eisen says this is the kind of thing that could even lead to a constitutional crisis.

MARTIN: Well, those are very strong words. What does this have to do with the Constitution?

GEEWAX: There’s this thing called the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution. That’s a kind of strange word, but it means gifts or bribes from foreign governments. The Founding Fathers were very clear that they did not want a president enriching himself from foreign governments, so there are a lot of people who are questioning whether or not allowing some Middle Eastern countries to have people enter the United States while putting other people on a banned list reflects more the president’s interests rather than the best interests of the country.

MARTIN: That’s NPR’s senior business editor Marilyn Geewax joining us once again from our studios in Washington, D.C. Marilyn, thank you.

GEEWAX: You’re welcome.

Copyright © 2017 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 January 27, 2017

Episode 750: Retraining Day

Workers assemble a General Electric Co. GE Transportation locomotive at the Erie, Pennsylvania, plant in 2009. Doug Benz/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Doug Benz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trade has winners and losers. The winners are American consumers. We all get cheaper goods from abroad. American companies benefit too; they sell more products overseas, even hire extra workers. But there are also people who lose, and those people tend to lose big and lose in big groups. In parts of the country, factories have been closing and jobs have been moving overseas for decades.

So to make trade really benefit everyone, there’s this idea that makes a lot of sense. Take some of the money, some of the gains, from the people who are better off because of trade and give it to the losers. This isn’t just a theoretical idea. It’s an entire government program.

Since 1974, the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program has been helping workers who have lost their jobs due to trade policy. TAA is sometimes called the Cadillac of retraining programs. In one sense, workers who lose their jobs to trade are in a far better position than workers who lose their jobs to pretty much anything else: recession, bad management, whatever. Because if they lose their jobs to trade they can qualify for TAA and that means the government will help them find a job in an industry that isn’t dying. TAA will pay for school, relocation and job-seeking expenses, pretty much whatever it takes to help a former factory worker find a new job that won’t be outsourced.

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So why don’t we hear more about this program? Why does it seem like there’s nothing left behind for workers after a factory closes up because of trade?

On today’s show, we visit one of the cities where trade has had a big impact: Erie, Pennsylvania. When General Electric downsized a locomotive factory in Erie, 1,500 people lost their jobs. Many of them were eligible for TAA benefits. Things aren’t going so smoothly, though. We try to find out why.

Music: “The Long Haul” and “Happy Faces.” Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

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Business January 26, 2017

Trump's Labor Pick Faces Slew Of Legal Complaints From Fast-Food Workers

Fast-food workers in Los Angeles on Thursday protest against restaurant-chain mogul Andrew Puzder, who has been tapped as President Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump’s nominee to be the next Labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, runs a fast-food empire. Now, as he awaits his confirmation hearings, current and former workers of CKE Restaurants — which operates chains like Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s — are filing complaints alleging employment-law violations at his company.

Ceatana Cardona says she was sexually harassed by her shift manager when she worked nights as a cashier at a Hardee’s in Tampa, Fla.

“When I was one-and-a-half months pregnant with my youngest child, he asked me for a kiss. I refused and began to walk away, but he grabbed me by the collar and, inches from my face, said, ‘If you don’t give me what I want, I’m going to start taking it from you,” Cardona says.

Cardona says after she complained to another supervisor, she was given fewer, less desirable hours. She eventually left.

Now, Cardona is filing a sexual harassment claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C. She’s one of 33 workers filing complaints so far this year that detail allegations of wage theft, harassment and discrimination at CKE Restaurants and its franchises. Cardona ultimately blames Puzder.

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“I’m holding him accountable for the harassment I experienced,” she says.

But the industry stands behind its man.

Puzder joined CKE Restaurants in the 1990s and is credited with helping to guide the company through financially troubled times. He assumed the CEO job in 2000. In a statement, the National Restaurant Association defended Puzder’s business record, saying the unions publicizing the workers’ complaints are misrepresenting his record. The trade association cited a recent survey showing 92 percent of employees at CKE called it a “good place to work.”

But the nominee finds himself defending his outspoken objection to minimum wage increases, his calls for automation in the workplace, and his company’s record with regulators. Washington Democrat Patty Murray, the ranking member of the Senate committee holding Puzder’s hearing, criticized him for not submitting required paperwork.

Cathy Ruckelshaus, litigation director for the National Employment Law Project, says that over the past decade, more than half of the investigations into CKE’s labor and workplace safety practices have found violations.

“The U.S. Senate has all the reason it needs to reject this nomination and demand a labor secretary who will look out for working Americans, instead of one who looks for ways to keep them down,” Ruckelshaus says.

CKE Restaurants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Business January 25, 2017

Facebook Tweaks Its 'Trending Topics' Algorithm To Better Reflect Real News

The Facebook logo is displayed at a startup gathering in Paris on Jan. 17. Thibault Camus/AP hide caption

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Thibault Camus/AP

An article in an online publication accusing Facebook of suppressing the Women’s March in its trending topics caused a little tempest on social media over the weekend. Facebook says it did not intentionally block any story and is revealing a new way its trending-topics algorithm will now operate.

Paul Bradley Carr, writing for online outlet Pando, on Saturday posted what he said were screen shots of his Facebook pages at the height of the worldwide marches, which brought more than a million people into the streets around the globe to protest the agenda of the Trump administration.

Despite images and stories from the marches filling many people’s personal Facebook feeds and the day’s media coverage, Carr’s screenshots showed no signs of the march in Trending Topics — a feature supposed to reflect popular discussed topics.

And Carr says he discovered he was not the only one who didn’t see the Women’s March reflected on Trending Topics, accusing Facebook of trying to cozy up to the Trump administration. A very unscientific poll by this reporter found that among people in my Facebook and Twitter network most did see the Women’s March or something related trending on their page. However, a few did not.

According to Facebook, the Trending Topics — seen to the right of the main news feed on desktop and in search on mobile — are “based on a number of factors including engagement, timeliness, Pages you’ve liked and your location.” (Facebook pays NPR and other leading news organizations to produce live video streams.)

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Facebook representatives told NPR that the reason why some people did not see the march as trending had to do with the algorithm behind the feature. Although it took into account major news events and what’s popular on the site, it also accounted for the preferences of each person. It’s possible that Carr’s algorithmic profile indicated he wouldn’t be interested in the Women’s March.

In addition, some people may have seen trending topics they didn’t realize were about the Women’s March. For example, Ashley Judd and Madonna were trending — both women gave speeches at the main march in Washington, D.C.

And, Facebook says, none of this will happen in the future.

As of Wednesday, the company has once again changed its trending algorithms. Personal preferences are now out of the equation. “Facebook will no longer be personalized based on someone’s interests,” Facebook says in a press release. “Everyone in the same region will see the same topics.” For now, a region is considered a country, so everyone in the U.S. should see the same topics.

The latest algorithm changes are part of Facebook’s ongoing effort to curtail the spread of fake news. Some fabricated stories show up in Trending Topics, despite often originating on sites with no history of visitors and getting no coverage from legitimate news media. It’s a lucrative business, explored by NPR in November, when we tracked down one notorious fake-news creator.

The new algorithm would make hoax articles less likely to trend because it will look at “the number of publishers that are posting articles on Facebook about the same topic,” accounting for coverage by multiple news outlets, Facebook says.

According to Facebook the new algorithms will also make it easier for those who did not realize that the trends for “Ashley Judd” or “Madonna” were related to the marches to understand the context around those posts. Trending topics will now feature a headline below each topic name.

One of the updates to Trending Topics will be a display of a headline from a publisher. Facebook hide caption

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Facebook

The company says the changes are not a response to complaints about trending during the Women’s March. Facebook says they have been in the works because its users — like Carr — actually expect and want to see trending topics related to the most talked-about real-world events.

Of course, algorithms are programs. While Facebook may hope that its new approach will appease critics such as Carr, the proof will be what happens in the real world of people’s Facebook pages.

“I do give them credit for acknowledging, at least, users’ concerns over this,” says Carr, who called Facebook’s change “a positive step.” But, he added, “we’ll see how it works in practice.”

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Business January 24, 2017

Some Firms Are Harnessing Trump's Tweets As A Marketing Strategy

Using his personal Twitter account, Trump has publicly thanked Walmart, among other companies, for their plans to increase investment and job creation. It’s not yet clear how his tweets may affect company decision making. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Rarely has a U.S. president been so willing to use his platform as both bullhorn and cudgel to exert public pressure on individual companies.

But one of the hallmarks of President Trump’s approach to economic policy since his election has been his willingness to publicly endorse — and shame — companies in order to advance his message.

The new president’s frequent use of social media has created an entirely new kind of public-relations channel, one that companies are trying to exploit, in particular by touting their hiring announcements.

Last week, Trump publicly thanked Walmart for its “big jobs push” after the retailer last week released details of a hiring and capital spending plan that it had originally announced in October before the election.

Thank you to General Motors and Walmart for starting the big jobs push back into the U.S.!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2017

Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son parlayed his Dec. 6 meeting with the then-president elect into several supportive tweets from Trump. Ford, General Motors, Hyundai Motors and its affiliate Kia, have all made investment announcements referencing Trump’s tax or economic policies.

Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016

Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2016

“They’re using Trump as a marketing channel,” says Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

He says it’s a new paradigm, both for the president and for major company brands.

“Companies didn’t used to feel like they could curry favor with a president through making some moves like this, but today’s day and age it seems like a possibility so companies are exploring it,” Berger says.

Trump’s prime focus has been the auto industry, where he has named individual companies and brands as possible targets for higher tariffs on cars made in Mexico.

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On Monday, during his first meeting with business leaders, Trump called out Ford CEO Mark Fields and the company’s decision to scrap plans for a $1.6 billion in Mexico in favor of expanding in Michigan.

Thank you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico and creating 700 new jobs in the U.S. This is just the beginning – much more to follow

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017

“Mark was so nice with the plant, I wanted to sit next to him,” Trump told the business executives.

Trump criticized Ford’s rival, General Motors, earlier in the month because it manufactures some Chevy Cruzes for U.S. sale in Mexico. But then last week, GM said it would invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S., and Trump thanked the company in a tweet.

General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017

GM spokesman Patrick Morrissey acknowledges that with U.S. job creation in the spotlight, “this was good timing for us to share what we are doing.”

It is not yet clear how Trump’s Twitter account might shape decision making for companies going forward. Many of the investment plans Trump has tweeted were planned — or even originally announced — well before the election.

Take, for example, Fiat Chrysler’s announcement to increase its U.S. investment by $1 billion — which garnered a “thank you” tweet from Trump this month. CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters that investment decision was made more than a year ago, and that the attaboy from Trump wasn’t anticipated.

“None of us have had a tweeting president before,” Marchionne said at a Dec. 9 press conference. “It’s a new way of communication, and I think we’re going to have to learn how to respond.”

It’s finally happening – Fiat Chrysler just announced plans to invest $1BILLION in Michigan and Ohio plants, adding 2000 jobs. This after…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

In most cases, companies are capitalizing on investment and hiring decisions that were set in motion well before Trump’s election. Berger, the Wharton marketing professor, says it’s not clear that companies will change investment decisions based on favorable tweets.

“Whether we’ll see companies actually changing their behavior, you know, actually doing different things or moving jobs in one way or another because of him, that’s a little bit more costly, and I think we will see some of that, but not as much as firms taking advantage of old news and recycling it,” Berger says.

But the new president’s approval ratings are already low, so could companies see a backlash for trying to curry favor?

It’s certainly possible, Berger says, but if Trump is endorsing the companies, and not the other way around, there’s less chance it could backfire.

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Business January 23, 2017

Dippin' Dots Beef Puts White House Press Secretary On The Spot

A staple of ballparks and malls, Dippin’ Dots has billed itself as the ice cream of the future. Travis Nicholson/Flickr hide caption

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Travis Nicholson/Flickr

Dippin’ Dots describes its product as “an unconventional ice cream treat that’s remarkably fresh and flavorful, introducing the world to beaded ice cream” and “the original and unbeatable flash-frozen ice cream sensation.” Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, disagrees. For years, he has mocked the company and its “ice cream of the future” on Twitter.

In tweets from 2010 and 2011, Spicer said Dippin’ Dots was not the ice cream of the future. In 2011, Spicer also tweeted a link to a Wall Street Journal article about the company’s bankruptcy, and in his caption described Dippin’ Dots as “Ice Cream of the Past.” In September 2015, Spicer complained, “If Dippin Dots was truly the ice cream of the future they would not have run out of vanilla,” tagging the Washington Nationals baseball team in an apparent to reference a shortage of vanilla Dippin’ Dots at Nationals Park.

we may not have inauguration attendance data yet, but one set of record turnout numbers are in:

Sean spicer’s angry dippin dots twetes pic.twitter.com/KSXlXLLEeB

— ?_? (@MikeIsaac) January 22, 2017

Since Spicer assumed the role of White House press secretary, these tweets have been making the rounds on the Internet, enough so for Dippin’ Dots to write an open letter to Spicer, asking to “be friends rather than foes” and offering an ice cream social to the White House and White House press corps.

Since that letter’s release, NPR reached out to Dippin’ Dots for further comment on the (one-sided) feud. Here’s what Billie Stuber, media relations manager for Dippin’ Dots, and Shama Hyder, who handles markets for the company, told us (questions and answers have been edited for clarity):

When did Dippin’ Dots realize that Sean Spicer had a beef with them?

Billie Stuber: [Laughter] Well, it was a bit of a surprise. We’re not used to beef. We’re friends with everyone. So we noticed [Sunday] some of his old tweets began to resurface and circulate.

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What was your thinking?

Stuber: I scratched my head a little bit at first, and I thought, “Really?” And I had to look back and I thought, “Yeah, that really is seven years old.” First we kinda watched. … And then as more folks started to talk about it … we began to get our brainpower all together and think about how we wanted to respond.

Whose idea was the open letter?

Stuber: The open letter was actually Shama’s idea.

Shama Hyder: As Billy mentioned, Dippin’ Dots tries to stay very out of the political scene, because the consumers are across the board. … Ice cream is probably the least political of things you can find. It’s about making friends and not foes. … The open letter isn’t just to Sean Spicer; it’s really to the customers as well. This is what Dippin’ Dots stands for. We’re really about building a brand that’s inviting, that’s encompassing. And when the customers say, “Hey, we want to hear from you,” they want to hear from us.

Was there any fear of being caught up in politics? Over the past few years we have seen brands like Skittles or M&M’s be caught up in some debates about politics and race that have gotten really testy. Were you guys scared?

Hyder: From a social media perspective, these things can go either way. It takes one person misreading something. So yeah, that was a concern, but [our CEO’s and] the Dippin’ Dots team’s greater concern was making sure that they responded to their customers. … People expected a response. … The idea of not being responsive to customers was just so much worse.

Part of your letter talks about making jobs for Americans, ideals people of both parties can get behind. How do you think the White House will respond to that message?

Stuber: I hope they do respond. We’re totally as about as American as you can get. Our headquarters are in Kentucky. The company’s 29 years old. We hope that he does respond, and maybe he can truly experience Dippin’ Dots in a different way.

Were you serious about having an ice cream party at the White House briefing Room?

Both: Absolutely!

Stuber: We are prepared. We were just counting how many pallets we would need to deliver to feed the White House. So I really hope he calls us on that one.

Spicer has yet to respond to NPR’s request to comment on #DotGate.

Meanwhile, he has been getting attention for another spat — this one with Target. A 2014 tweet seemed to pick a fight with the department store chain over milk, with Spicer writing, “come on @target — just realized the two gallons of milk you sold me expire tomorrow.” Target’s official Twitter account responded soon after that initial tweet, with their apologies.

come on @target — just realized the two gallons of milk you sold me expire tomorrow

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 17, 2014

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Business January 21, 2017

Corporate Leader Brenda Barnes Dies At 63

Brenda Barnes, the former CEO of Sara Lee, has died. She became known for quitting her job as the CEO of Pepsi-Cola to spend time with her family. Scott Simon speaks with her daughter Erin Barnes.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Brenda Barnes died on Tuesday at the age of 63. She was one of the highest-ranking women in corporate America when she chose to step down as president of PepsiCo North America in 1997 to be with her three children. She told NPR…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

BRENDA BARNES: The whole issue boils down to time. You know, I was faced with many times when I might not be at a school event or I wouldn’t be there at a special moment, you know, for one of my children to tell me about or, you know, when you have very limited time windows, you are trying to force an interaction. That child might not be ready to talk about it. So just having that casual time to interact with your family is what I was finding that I was missing too much.

SIMON: Brenda Barnes would spend seven years with her children, and served on a few corporate boards, before she returned to full-time work as the CEO of Sara Lee. Erin Barnes is the daughter of Brenda Barnes. She is now 28 and joins us from Chicago. Thanks very much for being with us.

ERIN BARNES: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: Your mother always said she didn’t make the decision she did for you, her children, so much as herself. Help us understand that.

E. BARNES: Yeah, she – we were very fortunate growing up to have a wonderful nanny who lived with us for about 11 years and really became part of our family. She moved with us eight or nine times. And my mom, you know, told us after the fact, when she made the decision to stay home, that she said, I knew my children were loved. They were fed. They were educated. They had happy lives. So it wasn’t that we weren’t being well taken care of, she just didn’t want to miss another birthday. And her job had her travel so frequently that it did pull her away from home more than she wanted to be.

SIMON: Yeah, what difference do you think it made in your lives?

E. BARNES: Oh, it changed our lives entirely. It’s hard to even quantify, you know, what that would be like. But if I look back on those years, both of my parents who left Pepsi around the same time were the parents who drove every kid to the mall, to the movies, to soccer games and practices. And they were just – they were there at our disposal 100 percent of the time, and we have such a strong family unit.

And I think my mom particularly stepping down when she was at such a pinnacle in her career really showed us what value we were to her and how important her family was. And she really – you know, her actions very much matched what she always preaches, which is that family is the most important thing to her.

SIMON: There was some criticism at the time, I gather.

E. BARNES: Yeah, yeah. She laughed. I mean, I – she really is blown away. And I think it was maybe in the interview she had with Katie Couric back in the day that she said, you know, I got famous for quitting my job. I think she just never in a million years would have thought that it would have impacted the business world like it did. And it sparked a debate of women feeling like she had a responsibility to other women, showing that you can have it all. And my mom would always just say there’s 24 hours a day, seven days in a week, and you have to pick and choose what’s important to you. So that’s really all she did.

And people – my mom would always tell people the thing she hated most was this debate that women have, you know, kind of criticizing one or the other, whether it’s working moms kind of pitting themselves against stay-at-home moms or vice versa. My mom just said, it is 100 percent a personal decision for you, for your family. And what she did find that upset her so much, and it was such a kind of lacking space just in our business world, is that these moms who do work and then stay at home to spend some time with their children don’t lose their minds.

They don’t lose any of their hard work, but they have a hard time coming back into the workforce. You know, that broke her heart because she said these women are brilliant, and running a household is no small feat. And they’re running the PTAs and they’re – you know, they’re running communities. Why are we having a hard time getting these women back into the working world? So she did some work at Sara Lee with the Returnships Program. But, you know, she was just very much a supporter of people making individual decisions and encouraging women to support each other and not – you know, there’s no right or wrong way to do anything. You just make your choices and choose what’s important to you.

SIMON: You sort of have changed your career track, I gather, too.

E. BARNES: I did. And my whole family is in business, so I kind of got pulled in that world in college. And then through the experience – so I worked in advertising in Chicago. And then through the experience with my mom, I have decided – and in my last couple months of a career change and finish nursing school this spring. So it was a decision largely shaped by, you know, kind of the identity I found in myself caring for her during the last six and a half years and having so many of those medical professionals help us in such a meaningful time. It was just something that really resonated with me and I found that I was much happier, you know, when I was caring for her. So I made a change and I’m very happy with it.

SIMON: Sounds like you learned from her example.

E. BARNES: Absolutely. Yeah, she – you know, our parents, I think, never cared what we did as long as we were happy doing it and that we worked hard and treated people with respect.

SIMON: Well, it sounds like you and your mother have done that.

E. BARNES: Thank you. Thank you very much.

SIMON: Erin Barnes, her mother, Brenda Barnes, died this week at the age of 63. Thanks for finding time for us this week.

E. BARNES: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Copyright © 2017 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 January 20, 2017

Episode 749: Professor Blackjack

A croupier deals a card on a blackjack table at a Gaming Partners International Corp. (Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ed Thorp was the first ‘quant’, the first person to make mathematical analysis and statistics the center of his investing. But he only got there because of a card game.

As a young man, Ed Thorp was a mathematician doing pretty much what you’d expect a mathematician to do: teaching, studying, trying to solve hard problems. There was one particular problem that nobody else had been able to solve. He wanted to come up with a mathematical system to beat the casino at blackjack.

He had a flash of insight, spent a year working out the details and wound up getting a big-money offer to test his theory in the casinos.

It involved an unexpected conversation with a man in a cadillac and a regular payment of deli meats. It also set him on a course to discover a key insight about setting and beating the odds that had implications far bigger than any casino game winnings could be.

He went on to bring his math skills to the financial markets, where he made hundreds of millions of dollars and changed the way people think about investing.

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Music: “Say It Out Loud” and”Burning In Me.” Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

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Business January 19, 2017

Trump Treasury Nominee Defends Role In Foreclosure Crisis

Steven Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, said the bank he ran did what it could to minimize foreclosures during the financial crisis. He also defended his use of offshore accounts for hedge fund clients, while acknowledging the need to close loopholes. Mnuchin also told lawmakers he thinks the Internal Revenue Service needs a bigger staff and better technology.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

On Capitol Hill today – a rough welcome for President-elect Trump’s choice for treasury secretary. Steven Mnuchin, a former Wall Street banker, was grilled by Democrats on an array of issues. But it was Mnuchin’s actions during the financial crisis nearly a decade ago that lawmakers returned to again and again. NPR’s John Ydstie reports.

JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: In the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, Mnuchin and some partners bought a California bank that failed under the weight of bad mortgage loans. It was renamed OneWest Bank, and under Mnuchin’s management, it foreclosed on tens of thousands of homeowners. Housing activists dubbed it a foreclosure machine. In his opening statement at today’s Senate hearing, the ranking Democrat, Ron Wyden of Oregon, signaled OneWest was in the crosshairs.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RON WYDEN: OneWest was truly unique. While Mr. Mnuchin was CEO, the bank proved it could put more vulnerable people on the street faster than just about anybody else around.

YDSTIE: That brought this caustic response from Kansas Republican Pat Roberts.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PAT ROBERTS: Senator Wyden, I’ve got a Valium pill here that you might want to take before the second round.

YDSTIE: And that brought a quick retort from Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHERROD BROWN: I hope that that comment about Valium doesn’t set the tone for 2017 in this committee. I just am (unintelligible).

ROBERTS: I said that to the president of the Unites States at one…

BROWN: Perhaps you did. That’s…

(CROSSTALK)

YDSTIE: Mnuchin sat silently as the senators bickered, but when he got his chance to speak, he said he was proud of the work he’d done at OneWest. He claimed that the bank had offered loan modifications to a hundred thousand borrowers to help them keep their homes, which he said was in the bank’s interest as well.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEVEN MNUCHIN: Banks are highly incented to do loan modifications. Anybody who thinks that we made more money foreclosing on a loan than modifying a loan has no understanding of this.

YDSTIE: But the Democrats, including Sherrod Brown, continued to pursue the issue.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BROWN: Is it true that OneWest’s independent audit firm said that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by initiating foreclosures on 54 active duty military families? That’s what the independent audit firm said – yes or no?

MNUCHIN: Well, you have the document in front of you. I don’t. I do want to just comment for the record. We unfortunately did foreclose on certain people in the military. We responded to those people and made them whole. As I said, every single person had the opportunity to have their mortgager reviewed, and we corrected any errors. Our errors were less…

BROWN: Perhaps.

MNUCHIN: …Than anybody else, so…

BROWN: Yeah, I’m going to cut you off (unintelligible).

MNUCHIN: It’s not that I’m being defensive. I’m proud of our (unintelligible).

BROWN: Well, I wouldn’t be proud of all these findings.

YDSTIE: When questioned by Republicans, Mnuchin did have a chance to talk about his goals and President-elect Trump’s proposed policies. He said he shared Trump’s concern about slow growth.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MNUCHIN: Our No. 1 priority from my standpoint is economic growth. I believe that tax reform will be our first and most important part of that.

YDSTIE: There was one area where Democrats took some encouragement. That was on the subject of the IRS. Mnuchin said he’d noticed its staff had been cut by 30 percent in recent years and that it had old technology. He suggested it needed more resources.

Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland observed that the president-elect has called for a freeze on federal hiring, and he urged Mnuchin to convince his boss that the IRS needs more people.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BEN CARDIN: I assume that you’ll have an opportunity to talk to the president and hopefully get the number of people you need.

MNUCHIN: I can assure you that the president-elect understands the concept of where we add people, we make money.

CARDIN: Good.

MNUCHIN: And he’ll get that completely. That’s a very quick conversation with Donald Trump.

CARDIN: Great.

YDSTIE: Whether that will be enough to produce Democratic votes for Mnuchin remains to be seen. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

Copyright © 2017 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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