The housing market has slowed, and that’s caused some mortgage lenders to go out of business. Kai and Amy Scott explain why we’re not in 2008 territory and what to actually take away from this news. Then, in today’s Half Full/Half Empty, we discuss muscle cars, creative inflation compensation, store brands and automatic college admissions! Here’s everything we talked about today: “US Mortgage Lenders Are Starting to Go Broke” from Bloomberg “Survivor of White House Lightning Strike Embraces Third Chance at Life” from The New York Times “A Famous Walrus Is Killed, and Norwegians Are Divided” from The New York Times “Dodge will retire Charger and Challenger, its muscle car mainstays” from The Washington Post “Employers get creative with inflation compensation” from Marketplace “How store brands went from shamed to chic” from Marketplace “Automatic college admissions can be a boon to students and schools alike” from Marketplace We want to hear from you. If you’ve got a question, comment or suggestion, send us a voice memo at [email protected] or leave a voice message at 508-U-B-SMART.

General Motors announced that it will spend $5 billion repurchasing its shares, which companies sometimes do to boost stock prices when they have extra cash. Buybacks have a bad reputation; we’ll discuss the pros and cons on today’s show. Plus, we’ll look at the streaming industry’s growing pains and ponder peak inflation with our panel of experts.

Data this week seem to indicate that the white-hot housing market is finally cooling down. We dive into what could be causing the chilling effect, including rising interest rates and still-sky-high prices for homes. And, we speak to FHN Financial chief economist Christopher Low about the latest buzz with the Federal Reserve and meme stocks.

It’s been a hot summer in much of the country so far, and the number of extremely hot days is expected to rise because of climate change. We look into how heat affects worker productivity, especially for people who work outside. The Big Ten collegiate sports conference closed in on what’s being reported as the most lucrative sports media contract in college sports yesterday. We cover the details. And, hear from two enterprising youngsters in Wisconsin who got a chicken coop and started their own business selling eggs.

From the BBC World Service: After two years of regulatory crackdown, why has there been such a stark and sudden change in tone toward the Chinese tech sector? Plus, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has rebuffed an aid plan from South Korea calling it “the height of absurdity.” And, how extra summer sun is great for Sweden’s light-time economy.