Planet Money
1:25 pm
Fri May 18, 2012

California's Facebook Windfall

Originally published on Sun May 20, 2012 11:21 am

Mark Zuckerberg is, among many other things, the highest-profile taxpayer on the planet today.

After today's Facebook IPO, Zuckerberg will owe nearly $200 million in California state taxes alone. That's "among the largest tax liabilities that a single individual has ever paid at a given point in time," says Jason Sisney of the California State Budget Legislative Analyst's Office.

Zuckerberg's profits will be taxed at a 10% rate in California. That's a much higher rate than in many other states.

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It's All Politics
12:57 pm
Fri May 18, 2012

Negative Coattails: Could Obama Cost Arkansas Democrats The Legislature?

Credit Danny Johnston / AP
Arkansas Senate President Paul Bookout, a Democrat, speaks in the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Little Rock on April 5. In November, Arkansans will vote for every seat in the state Legislature.

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 3:53 pm

President Obama's performance in Tuesday's Arkansas primary won't be as embarrassing as what happened in West Virginia two weeks ago, when he gave up 41 percent of the vote to someone who happened to be sitting in a federal prison in Texas for embezzlement.

But it may well do more lasting damage to his party.

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It's All Politics
12:49 pm
Fri May 18, 2012

'President Romney's' First Day In Office: All About Reversing Obama

Credit Romney "Day One" ad

Originally published on Fri May 18, 2012 1:23 pm

The Two-Way
12:36 pm
Fri May 18, 2012

House Approves Continuation Of Indefinite Detention For Terror Suspects

A unlikely coalition failed to derail the government's practice of holding terror suspects for indefinite periods of time.

Some Democrats and Tea Party Republicans put the issue to a vote through an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have ended the practice but it ultimately failed, today, in the GOP-controlled house by a vote of 238 to 182.

The AP reports:

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World
11:57 am
Fri May 18, 2012

Why Does Hunger Still Exist In Africa?

Some of the world's fastest growing economies are in Africa. But hunger is still a widespread reality there, and will be a major topic at this weekend's G8 summit. Host Michel Martin discusses efforts to fight hunger on the continent with USAIDs Tjada McKenna and Mwiza Munthali of the advocacy group TransAfrica.

Law
11:57 am
Fri May 18, 2012

Trayvon Martin Case Evidence Raises More Questions

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, leaders of the G8 - that's the group of eight highly industrialized nations - are meeting at Camp David this weekend, but they're also joined by the leaders of some emerging African countries who will discuss the issue of food security on the continent. We'll talk more about that in a few minutes.

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Politics
11:57 am
Fri May 18, 2012

Romney Says No To Super PAC Smear Campaign

Mitt Romney releases his first general election campaign ad. Plus wealthy GOP investors say their super PAC won't run a smear campaign connecting controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright with President Obama. Host Michel Martin discusses the latest political developments with Lenny McAllister of Politic365.com and author Michael Fauntroy.

World Cafe
10:53 am
Fri May 18, 2012

Rodrigo Y Gabriela On World Cafe

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Rodrigo y Gabriela plays everything from heavy metal to jazz to acoustic folk. The duo started out in a thrash-metal band in Mexico City, but moved to Dublin in 1999. From Ireland, its inventive instrumental music spread to the U.K., then to Europe and the U.S. before finally finding its way back to Mexico. Rodrigo y Gabriela's big break came in 2006, when the pair's self-titled debut topped the Irish charts.

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Business
10:50 am
Fri May 18, 2012

JPMorgan's Troubles And The Price Of Eggs

Credit Joern Pollex / Getty Images
Do complex Wall Street transactions ever do anything to help average people? To answer that question, we consider the case of an imaginary company, Chickens LLC, that's looking to grow.

Originally published on Fri May 18, 2012 4:20 pm

Journalists have spent many days and millions of words hashing over the news that banking giant JPMorgan Chase lost billions of dollars trading "synthetic" derivatives.

I am one of those journalists who, more or less, can understand what the bank says it was trying to do, i.e., hedge against loan losses. But here's what I have a hard time explaining:

What does this kind of complex trading have to do with the price of eggs?

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The Two-Way
10:35 am
Fri May 18, 2012

Is It Fair That A Quarterback Set The Record For Paper Airplane Tossing?

Credit ThePaperAirplaneGuy
Joe Ayoob (in red shirt) winding up for the record-breaking throw. Plane designer John Collins is behind him.

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