Business

For a historic look at spending in America, see our post What America Buys. For more, see our Graphing America series.

How do Americans spend their money? And how do budgets change across the income spectrum?

"August 1st will be another day that will destroy investor confidence just like the May 6th [2010] flash crash."

That rather ominous sounding pronouncement comes from Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, N.J., in a Bloomberg News report about what happened early this morning on Wall Street.

There was a 163,000-gain in the number of jobs on private payrolls in July, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report.

That's down from an estimated 172,000 boost in June (a number revised slightly from ADP's previous report of a 176,000-increase for that month).

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a poker payout.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now let's talk about the business of car insurance. It's getting more competitive but that does not necessarily mean consumers end up saving.

NPR's Sonari Glinton reports.

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: In real estate the mantra is Location. Location. Location.

JOHN EGAN: That same mantra can be applied to car insurance because geography does play a role in how much you pay for car insurance even down to the zip code level.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

One of the brands that defined the '80s was Jordache jeans.

(SOUNDBITE OF JORDACHE JEANS AD)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) You've got the look I want to know better. You've got the look that's all together. Working. Playing...

MONTAGNE: Some among you will remember squeezing into a pair of those skintight jeans and then pulling on a purple velour top.

Reporter Matthew Boyle wondered whatever happened to this now faded brand, which led to his profile in of today's Jordache for Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine.

Chick-fil-A has been in the news lately, not because of its chicken sandwiches but thanks to comments by the fast food company's president opposing same-sex marriage.

Social media helped spread the story and some of the country's mayors urged Chick-fil-A not to come to their cities. This led conservatives, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, to call for the public to support the chain on Wednesday by eating at one of its restaurants.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If you're a musician, your brand is your name. And sometimes musicians feel the need to change their names, as when Prince became that symbol thing.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Now the rapper born Calvin Broadus, long known as Snoop Dogg, is Snoop Lion. He told reporters this week, he was rechristened Snoop Lion by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Later today, the Federal Reserve could announce new steps to boost the U.S. economy.

INSKEEP: Let's remember, the Fed has two mandates here: one is to keep inflation in check, the other is to promote a healthy level of employment. Now, the unemployment rate has been stuck above eight percent.

A federal regulator is blocking the government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reducing the principal that homeowners owe on their mortgages in order to avoid foreclosures.

Tuesday's decision came from Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Microsoft announced that Hotmail — the email service with 324 million users — will transition into a web and more social version of Microsoft's Outlook.

Reuters reports that Microsoft made the announcement, as they showed off their free web version of the email program it is renowned for.

Reuters adds:

Pokerstars, an online gambling site, says that it has reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice in which it has agreed pay the government $547 million over three years, part of which will be used to reimburse customers of the site Full Tilt Poker.

Update at 1:45 p.m. ET. Adams Has Been Reinstated On Twitter:

Guy Adams just tweeted that "Oh. My Twitter account appears to have been un-suspended. Did I miss much while I was away?"

That doesn't change the thrust of our post. And we haven't heard back from Twitter about his questions regarding the suspension.

Update at 4:23 p.m. ET. Twitter's Response:

Guy Adams, a reporter at the British daily The Independent, says his Twitter account was shut down after he urged followers to contact an NBC executive with their gripes about the delayed broadcast. He included the name of the network's Olympics president and his e-mail address. NBC filed a complaint with Twitter, arguing the tweet violated the service's privacy rules because it included personal information.

Renee Montagne talks with Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa about what can be done to regulate for-profit colleges' alleged abusive recruitment policies and high dropout rates. Harkin heads the committee that conducted a two-year investigation into the colleges — and issued a scathing report Monday.