Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza have erupted at universities across the United States. We’ll discuss what the sweeping protests and other high-profile political battles at colleges could mean for the economics of higher education. And, what the Federal Reserve might look like under a second Donald Trump presidency. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full / Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Protests Threaten College Graduations, Denying Seniors Second Chance at Normalcy” from The New York Times

• • “What students say about the protests rocking their campuses” from The Washington Post

• • “Americans are falling out of love with the idea of college” from Noahpinion

• • “Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds” from The Wall Street Journal

• • “Trump Allies Draw Up Plans to Blunt Fed’s Independence” from The Wall Street Journal

• • “Job trend ‘resenteeism’ has employees coasting through workdays and hanging on, rather than quitting” from Fox Business

• • “How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace

• • “Celebs head to DC for correspondents’ dinner: Here’s who’s coming” from The Hill

• • “California lawmakers are tired of Clear’s airport line-cutters — but airlines are not” from Fast Company

• • “Christopher Bess, 5-year-old basketball coach, goes viral” from Marketplace

Want more Make Me Smart in your life? Sign up for our newsletter at marketplace.org/smarter.

People with certain federal student loans have until Tuesday to consolidate them and qualify for debt cancellation. The Department of Education is reviewing over 40 million loan accounts and issuing credit for past payments that previously didn’t count toward forgiveness. Also in this episode: a look at the latest inflation reading, Americans’ savings habits and pop-up coworking spaces.

Stocks close higher; services prices drive 12-month increases; consumer spending up in March; consumer sentiment flat so far this year.

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge advanced 2.7% on an annual basis; Fed policymakers expected to leave interest rates unchanged next week; Global oil giants report lower profits; Capital One profits jump thanks to more interest income.

The Federal Communications Commission has repealed a Trump-era ruling that ended net neutrality — basically the idea that internet providers can’t favor some sites or apps over others. We dig into why it’s such a hot topic and how the new decision might affect your internet access. Plus, the inflation outlook with Chris Low from FHN Financial.

Consumer sentiment reports reflect a universal truth: Lower income households feel the punch of inflation worse than wealthy households. But affordable housing — and lack thereof — is one issue that brings Americans together, across the wealth divide. Plus, Christopher Bass tells us what it’s like to be a high school basketball coach with a massive social media following. At just 5 years old, he’s got big hoop dreams.

From the BBC World Service: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday — we’ll get into what they spoke about. Plus, Chinese tech company ByteDance says it has no intention of selling TikTok to comply with a new U.S. law. And back in January, Japan Airlines announced its first female president and chief executive. We’ll hear from a former flight attendant who says Japan has a ways to go when it comes to workplace gender equality.

The noncompete clause is dead! American tech workers are poised to benefit from the Federal Trade Commission’s new crackdown on the agreements, which prevent a company’s ex-employees from working for its rivals for a specified time. Also, Tesla’s profits crashed 55%. As electric vehicle sales sputter, we wonder why more players are still speeding into the space. But first, TikTok’s top executive was defiant after the passage of a massive foreign aid package that included a directive to the company: Sell to a U.S. buyer or get banned. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali is joined by Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, for his take on this week’s tech news.

Gross domestic product grew by 1.6% in the first quarter, slower than expected after the six-quarter steak of 2% growth or more. How will the Federal Reserve respond to this data when making its next interest rate decision? Also in this episode: The new deep-water channel helping cargo ships leave the Port of Baltimore, protecting trade secrets with noncompete agreements, and the struggling pneumatic tube business gets a boost from the cannabis industry.

• • “Boeing failures are a case study of America’s manufacturing “dark age” from Marketplace
  • “How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks and play a round of Half Full/Half Empty.

It was a big week for tech earnings calls. Guest host Nova Safo unpacks how they went down for Tesla and Meta, and why the stock market reacted so differently to what their CEOs had to say. Plus, what Boeing’s troubles say about the state of U.S. manufacturing. And, would you try an AI-generated gin cocktail?

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • Tesla, Inc. Q1 2024 Financial Results and Q&A Webcast

• • “Elon Musk Would Like to Talk About AI” from Heatmap News

• • Meta Q1’24 Earnings Presentation

• • “Boeing failures are a case study of America’s manufacturing “dark age” from Marketplace
  • “How science could disrupt the gin industry” from Marketplace

Join us tomorrow for Economics on Tap! The YouTube livestream starts at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, 6:30 p.m. Eastern. We’ll have news, drinks and play a round of Half Full/Half Empty.

Stocks fall; consumer spending slows from prior quarter; inflation nearly doubles fourth quarter pace; pending home sales rise.