Business

County and city officials in San Bernardino, Calif., are considering a controversial plan: using the power of eminent domain to take over "underwater" mortgages, where the value of the home is worth less than the original loan. Taking on those properties, officials say, would allow the homeowners to refinance those troubled loans.

Europe is struggling, thanks to a relentless debt crisis. Compounding its problems: It is not one country, but 17.

Many observers agree that to solve their problems, those countries have to start looking a lot more like one country. And there is a force in Europe trying to make that happen: the European Central Bank. The weapon it has that everyone else lacks? Money.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Global stock markets are anxiously awaiting new figures from China. Analysts are expecting the numbers to show the world's second largest economy suffering its biggest slowdown since the global financial crisis.

NPR's Louisa Lim is in Beijing.

This summer is shaping up to be a record season for lobster landings in Maine. That sounds like good news for a state where lobstering makes up a large part of the economy.

It may be welcome news for consumers and food retailers, but for the state's 5,000 lobstermen, it's a different story.

Hard To Make A Living

On Portland's waterfront, about five lobster boats are tied up at one of the piers. Half a dozen lobstermen stand around discussing the current problem of oversupply.

Ever since the peak of the financial crisis, we've been treated to the occasional spectacle that leaves the market and its hangers-on in a tizzy: unveiling the terms of new bailout programs, revealing bank stress-test results, and, not long ago, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive

Jonathan Gruber is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a technical consultant to the Obama administration during the development of the Affordable Care Act.

Forget death panels. Lately critics of the Affordable Care Act have been promoting a different claim — that "Obamacare" is a job-killer. Specifically, they say, it will stifle the economy with regulations and taxes. But the economic literature doesn't support this claim. If anything, it suggests the opposite: The Affordable Care Act will boost the economy.

In Tuesday's show, economist Luigi Zingales warned that massive, overly complicated laws and regulations go a long way toward undermining public trust in the government. They leave only lobbyists and lawyers reading the rules, in the pursuit of loopholes.

By coincidence, on Tuesday a key federal financial regulator said it had approved a collection of definitions and conditions for regulating a big chunk of the derivatives market.

Mobile apps are aggressively placing unwanted ads on phones. Lookout, a mobile security firm in San Francisco, tested mobile apps and found some disturbing practices. Those include transmitting consumer phone numbers and email addresses and transmitting to third parties and placing ads on the mobile phone's desktop.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Almost 20 million subscribers of the country's largest satellite TV provider are now unable to access dozens of channels.

NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports that DirecTV ordered the blackout after its distribution agreement with Viacom ended.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: If you believe this Viacom video, the sky is about to fall because DirecTV viewers can no longer tune into the antics of "SpongeBob SquarePants," Jon Stewart, or Snooki.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE AD)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Sometimes friends become more than friends and Facebook just won't do. And if the friend in question are dogs, they may want to hear today's last word in business.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PUPPY LOVE")

PAUL ANKA: (Singing) And they called it puppy love, oh I...

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Brazil's dog population is second only to the U.S. Two entrepreneurs - a brother and sister team - are hoping to capitalize on that by building an eight-story hotel for pets. With one floor apparently is dedicated to mating.

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a giant deal for Boeing.

It's a big deal that would be worth billions of dollars for Boeing. United Airlines is set to buy about 100 of its planes - the single-aisle 737s. Boeing would still be behind Europe's Airbus when it comes to new orders for the next generation of narrow body jets.

Today's announcement on United's Boeing purchase has long been rumored. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.