Marketplace goes to a marketplace
09:40 Share

In a few minutes, Marketplace goes to a marketplace to start a series to try to reward you for getting through a fraught election season, whatever your politics. First, a Wall Street credit rating agency has a new calculation saying the U.S. government's finances could deteriorate if President-elect Donald Trump implements the fiscal policies on which he campaigned. Here's Marketplace's Novo Safo.

Moody's says Donald Trump's campaign promises, such as more tax cuts, are increasing the risks associated with U.S. sovereign debt because they could blow a hole in the federal budget. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found the tax cuts could add $7.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade. Moody's is the last of the three main credit rating agencies to maintain a top rating for U.S. government debt. Others downgraded after repeated debt ceiling fights.

But Moody's has been reviewing its rating, and a downgrade could make borrowing more expensive for the federal government. Doors take us to summers away or winter adventures and afternoon getaways. Your dedicated Fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential. Because doors were meant to be opened.

Visit fidelity.com slash wealth. Investment Minimum Supply. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE SIPC.

Money, money, money. Kids always have questions about it, and maybe you do too. That's why Million Bazillion, the Webby-winning podcast from Marketplace, is here to answer the awkward and sometimes surprising questions your kids have about money. We explain concepts like savings accounts, retirement, and the differences between brand names and non-brand names.

Million Bazillion is the place for you and your kids to learn about money together. We help dollars make more sense. Listen to Million Bazillion wherever you get your podcasts. We call ourselves Marketplace, so part of our job is exploring how marketplaces work in all their forms. Knowing a bruising election season would require a change of pace the week that followed here.

I set out to visit five markets, all in the near orbit of this program's world headquarters in Los Angeles. None are financial markets in a formal sense, but all markets are financial markets in a way, right? My goal was to learn the right and the wrong moves with an expert. Today, tricks of the trade in one of the great bazaars in America, the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California. All right, going through the entrance now.

into the great emporium. It's a perfect morning. There's no hint that in about an hour and a half it's going to be 117 degrees. The stadium for the big New Year's Day game has more than 89,000 seats. So imagine its massive parking lot filled with sellers of vintage everything. A beer tray from the 1984 L.A. Olympics. A century-old Russian dress. I have a good old-fashioned market cart.

It's like an appendage when you come to the market. Meet our guide, Annette Vartanian, who has 84,000 followers at Vintage Splendor on Instagram, showing off her flea market skills with some shopping on assignment from clients thrown in. She's got a white straw boater hat for the sun, that card, and actual cash. So let's say you negotiate something and it's $110, you only have $100.

You're giving them $100. The vendor's happy, you're happy. Or cash to leave a deposit and come back later.

She says another trick is come with a plan, but also be open to things that catch your eye. I always kind of just scan. I call it T-Rex eyes. You've got to look up, you've got to look down, and you just move to the target as fast as possible. Leafing through a stack of wall art, Annette looks for signed works that are ready to hang to save money on framing. She likes a nice portrait, including this boudoir-ish one, but she has limits.

We're talking a sea of clowns. There's like two things I will never buy vintage. One is anything with like a clown or like an antique doll motif. I mean, that's just like guaranteed to give you nightmares. A market like this is a place for buyers and sellers to set prices. So let's talk. Annette sees price tags as mere conversation starters. And one trick to negotiation is to mix it up.

I will ask, like, what's the best you could do on this? Or could you come down to 400 on this? But I'm also throwing in the delivery because I'm not carrying this out myself. Can you throw in, you know, a bundle deal if I buy multiple pieces from you? By 7 a.m., the temperature is in triple digits. Is that a mirage or is that lemonade for sale rolling through?

Extreme weather days are the best days to come to the flea market. And if it's pouring rain, they want to sell stuff. They don't want to take it back. And if it's a really hot day, they don't want to spend two hours packing things up to take them home. Seems to me this market is like four-dimensional chess. One level is super curated hand-picked sellers where you might pay extra. Is this a costume? It came from a famous dancer from Russia. And these pieces are from her youth collection.

And they're from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. And she was from St. Petersburg. Another dimension, digging through piles. Cellars like this one in a ballroom-sized tent.

hills of camouflage or soccer jerseys. We have dresses, sports sweatshirts, sweaters. We have everything here. Tony Torres founded Torgum Vintage, which beyond this flea market is an industrial-scale used clothing enterprise working out of massive warehouses in California and Texas. Tony buys wholesale by the truckload and the rail car. We have over 5 million pounds in here.

Five million pounds of clothing. Over five million pounds ready to share with all the customers. The other dimensions we're navigating here, generalized sellers featuring variety. A 1950s ashtray, a Bolex movie camera, and a Bob's Big Boy statue all in one spot versus vendors that do one specialized thing.

Like the phonograph company. Brothers Jeff and Steve Oliphant know their hand-cranked gramophones inside and out and offer a lifetime guarantee. Jeff cautions that you need expertise like his to spot slick fakes that he's seen. It's called a crapophone because they are pieces of, and they are guaranteed to fall apart within a short time after you buy them. You don't want to see them.

You don't see it with the Edisons. They're too complex. It's with the Victors. Victors have a metal tag. The fake ones have decals. As for Annette Vartanian, indefatigable on the blast furnace heat, she's got the T-Rex eyes scanning for rugs, for furniture, for Victorian underwear that works as a modern blouse. You just have to go for it because, I mean, you're not going to regret buying it. I mean, I worry about you a little bit, though. How do you, like, draw limits around...

this not getting out of control for you? It's kind of like the vintage circle of life. You know, I find something, I use it, and I, you know, maintain its quality. And then when I'm ready to part with it, it goes to the next person.

So flee today. Also this week here, markets of flowers, fish, of farmers and a market in finery. What's with the letter F? Search tricks of the trade at Marketplace Online for Annette's vintage splendor and a lot more throughout the week. I'm David Brancaccio. We're from APM American Public Media. Understanding personal finance can feel like an impossible task, but it doesn't have to be that way.

I'm Janelia Espinal, and on Financially Inclined, I'll guide you through simple money lessons that will change your financial future. Learn about credit scores, how to avoid scams, and why you need a savings account. Plus, we explore the brain science behind FOMO and what you can do to make smarter money decisions. Listen to Financially Inclined wherever you get your podcasts.