… Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) reported its second quarter net income is down by 53 percent from $8.66 billion during the same period last to the current $4.06 billion. Its current cost of supplies (CSS) earnings decline by 25

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Jeff Horwich: Yesterday after markets closed we got results from Zynga, the maker of Facebook games like FarmVille. And things ain't looking so good down on the farm. Here's Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer. Nancy Marshall-Genzer: Zynga went public at the end of last year. But since then, the company has lost almost 70 percent of its value. What's going on? Michael Pachter is a research analyst at Wedbush Securities. He says Zynga has cannibalized established moneymakers like FarmVille with new games. Michael Pachter: They've probably drawn away some of the paying users from older games like FarmVille and CityVille and those people are probably spending less money on their newer games. Most of Zynga's games are free. The company makes money by selling virtual products -- like tractors on FarmVille. So, is it time to sell the farm? Scott Steinberg: I wouldn't say it's time to foreclose on FarmVille just yet. Scott Steinberg heads Tech Savvy Global. He says until recently, you could only play Zynga games on Facebook. Now, Zynga hopes to break away. It's also developing social gaming on mobile phones. Steinberg: There's a potentially huge play there and I think Zynga's going to be well poised to capitalize on that. Steinberg says Zynga's grim earnings are just a blip on the radar. In Washington, I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

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Jeff Horwich: The crisis in the eurozone is hitting profits everywhere; Anglo-Dutch oil giant "Shell" is the latest. Shell says this morning earnings fell 13 percent compared to the same quarter last year. This follows a string of U.S. companies blaming Europe. The BBC's Karen Hoggan reports. Karen Hoggan: Big business has become the latest casualty of the debt crisis which has engulfed the euro zone. Second quarter sales in Europe were down for American giants Apple and Ford Motor Company. Ford says its loss in Europe may hit a billion dollars by the end of 2012. The worsening global outlook has also forced oil prices lower over the past year -- one reason for the drop in Shell's profits. Chief executive Peter Voser says he's very worried about the long-term impact of the eurozone crisis. Peter Voser: I'm concerned about Europe and it's about the competitiveness of europe. So we need to get clear decisions and clear milestones which the European Union and the euro countries want to achieve in order to keep the European economy competitive for the longer term. European president Jose Manuel Barrosso is visiting Athens on Thursday to discuss the overall situation in Europe, and Greece in particular. Company bosses will be among those hoping they come up with something concrete to alleviate the region's problems. In London, I'm the BBC's Karen Hoggan for Marketplace.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, under pressure for not doing enough to stop fraudulent manipulation of a key benchmark interest rate, told lawmakers on Wednesday he alerted the appropriate authorities "early on."

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MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is not considering seeking immediate help from the European Union to ease its spiraling borrowing costs, two Spanish sources said on Thursday, although the euro zone is eyeing possible action for later this year.

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ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government has found 11.7 billion euros in savings for 2013 and 2014 demanded by foreign lenders and will present it later on Thursday to the leaders of its ruling coalition for final approval, a senior finance ministry official said.

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Stacey Vanek Smith: Shares of Zynga are expected to take a dive when the U.S. markets open this morning the social gaming company posted a $22 million loss in the second quarter. Zynga's best known as the marker of the Farmville on Facebook Farmville's a game where where users grow crops, raise animals and trade with other players. Zynga accounts for more than 10 percent of Facebook's revenue. So bad news for Zynga is being seen as bad news for Facebook, which posts its earnings later today. It's the social network's first earnings report as a publicly traded company. Facebook has had a rocky road since it started selling shares and there are still big questions about Facebook's future. For instance: how, exactly, it plans to make money. Marketplace's Queena Kim reports. Queena Kim: With about 900 million users, Facebook is a global communications phenomenon.  But all investors want to know is: what's next? Debra Aho Williamson is an analyst with emarketer. Debra Aho Williamson: Facebook needs to show that it has a path to successfully monetizing its users. Facebook's ad revenue is growing steadily, but not fast enough to justify its stock price. Williamson: Everybody is going to be looking for is some traction in mobile revenue. If Facebook's ad sales aren't gaining momentum, the social network could face another problem: share overhang -- meaning, jittery employees could dump shares and the stock plummets. Since the IPO, employees haven't been allowed to sell shares. But starting in August, they will be. Brian Wieser: If the revenue turns out to be way above expectations, it is possible to alleviate some of the share overhang. Brian Wieser is an analyst at Pivotal Research Group. But he says if earnings disappoint, employees could stage an ugly sell off. In San Francisco, I'm Queena Kim for Marketplace.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Lloyds Banking Group has received subpoenas from government agencies investigating a global interest rate rigging scandal that has rocked the banking industry and has not set any money aside to cover a potential fine, it said on Thursday.

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Damascus and Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, came under shell fire from government forces battling a growing insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, opposition activists in the area said.

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Ever since Blizzard created the massive hit that is World of Warcraft, it has decided that requiring gamers to be constantly connected to the internet while playing is a good thing. Unfortunately, things have not gone as smoothly as it had hoped. If you are familiar with recent events surrounding the release of Blizzard's latest game Diablo 3, you may recall the Error 37 issue in which users who tried to connect to Blizzard's servers on launch day were unable to due to the lack of

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And this final note. So turns out Egypt's Olympic athletes have been wearing fake Nike outfits. They also fit badly. Now? It seems the team is going to get the real swoosh on their shorts. Hopefully they'll fit a little better too.

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President Obama wants a new cybersecurity bill to help prevent online attacks against companies and government bodies. The fear is that a large attack could knock out power, water, cause mayhem. The president may get his wish. A bill championed by Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut could come to a vote in the Senate soon. It offers incentives to companies for meeting security standards. Carrots instead of sticks. Says Lieberman: "In our original bill, we ultimately had those standards be mandatory. If the companies comply, somebody in the government can say you've got to. I thought that was the best approach. That's the sticks. Unfortunately, there are not 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster because the business community was arguing this was more regulation. So, we've kept the bill exactly as it is except taken out the sticks." But will companies comply if they don't really have to? James Lewis says the incentives aren't enough. Lewis is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He thinks earlier versions of the bill had more teeth. "There was a proposal to let the Secretary of Defense identify specific companies that were vital for national security. Electrical companies, water supply companies. and the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security could say these few places must meet the mandatory standards. For everyone else, it's business as usual. I think that was a good plan. It really limited the scope of the bill to what's crucial for the nation." Under the current bill, companies will get liability protection if they comply with security standards established by the government. That's big, says Lieberman. "It says to the CEO of every company that's operating critical cyberspace, whoa, if I don't voluntarily follow these standards and God forbid there's an attack, I'm going to be subject to enormous liability, frankly the kind of liability that might bankrupt my company, so I think it's one of those cases where if we build the standards, people will come and follow them." And Lieberman says he just may have the votes. "For the first time, leaders, Senators who support and oppose our bill came together in one room. We're sitting around the table. It's a real breakthrough." ** The AIDS Memorial Quilt is made up of panels remembering people who have died of the disease. The panels are made by friends, family, sometimes strangers. Each panel measures three feet by six, the dimensions of a grave. The project began in 1987 and the quilt was displayed on the National Mall in Washington. It's been growing ever since. Currently over 48,000 panels, weighs 54 tons. It was displayed in sections around Washington, D.C., this week but Microsoft has posted the entire quilt on the web. Zoom out to see the full magnitude of it. Zoom in to individual panels. See how they're decorated, read what they say. "We miss you Billy Hodges" "In loving memory of Edith Mae Hartnett" "Carlos Ramirez, Teacher of Love" "Lea 1989 - 1995 From Your Friends at School" It's beautiful and devastating and a remarkable use of technology.

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LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - When he took control of his country's biggest bank in 2009, Drasko Veselinovic expected a rough ride.

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Jeff Horwich: For the roots of today's Republican economic message, look to a small dinner in 1974. It included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and an economist named Arthur Laffer. As the story goes, Laffer sketched a curve showing how lower tax rates might actually increase government revenue. And the rest is history. The taste for so-called "supply-side economics" has waxed and waned, but it is now very much back in vogue. Arthur Laffer was one of Ronald Reagan's top economic advisors, did a stint in academia, and now runs a research firm he founded. This morning, he's on Marketplace. Good to talk with you. Arthur Laffer: It's good to talk with you, Jeff. Horwich: I think it's fair to say -- correct me if I'm wrong -- that the one main thing you would like to see above all else is lower taxes, that that is a solution for a great deal of what ails us. Laffer: Well what I'd love to see is lower tax rates and a broader tax base. It doesn't have to be a revenue-enhancer or revenue-loser, but you know, any major improvement would help the country enormously. We've got to get the job machine running again and get things really going. Horwich: What's so wrong about raising taxes on this small segment of wealthy Americans, and lowering them or keeping them the same for other folks? Laffer: The problem with raising taxes on rich people -- what they call rich people -- is rich people have many options open to them that other people don't have, and you won't get the money. You know, if you could get the money from them without costs, I'd love it. But you can't. Horwich: Many economists will say the data is extremely inconclusive in practice as to how marginal tax changes actually affect personal and business activity. What makes you so sure? Laffer: Because basically, these economists you talk about never worked in the real world. They're just looking at the econometrics and the data there. If you ever go and look at what's being recommended from the CPA firms, from financial planners. If you actually look at how they go through, do their tax returns -- believe me, they are more focused on their taxes than you and I are on their taxes. Horwich: But am I right that I just heard you criticize economists for actually looking at the data and making their decisions based on that? Laffer: No, no, not looking at the data. I think it's wonderful to look at the data. But I think it's really silly to look at this accurate data and not make any judgments beyond those aggregate data. Horwich: But you're also arguing for a bit of common sense? Laffer: Yeah, a lot of common sense. Even if you did get more money from the top 1 percent, it would be more than offset by the losses other people would not pay in taxes because these people aren't employing as many people, aren't investing as much, aren't buying as much. I mean, it's much more than just one little group. Horwich: Many other economists left, right and center will point to various kinds of data that show income and wealth inequality in the U.S. are increasing, maybe the worst in many, many years. And yet, your center just put out a report claiming to debunk this narrative on income inequality. Are you saying that's not true? Laffer: You know, this is a debate that's going to go on for years and years and years. I don't mind inequality if people are rising in incomes in all groups. I do mind equality when everyone's brought down to the lowest common denominator. You don't want to make the rich poor; you want to make the poor richer. These inequality specialists all around the place aren't proposing that. In all the quest to achieve less inequality, they are creating equality by lowering everyone. And that's silly. Horwich: Economist Arthur Laffer, father of supply-side economics, with Laffer Associates, Laffer Investments and the Laffer Center. Good to talk with you, thanks. Laffer: Very nice talking with you, Jeff.

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Stacey Vanek Smith: Thousands of farmers from across the country will find their way to Milan, Tenn., today to learn about farming without a plow. It's No-Till Field Day. WPLN's Blake Farmer reports. Blake Farmer: It's an event billed as the largest gathering devoted to "no-till" farming in the country. And organizer Blake Brown says it began 30 years ago not in response to drought, like the one going on now. At the time, West Tennessee had one of the worst erosion problems in the country. Topsoil was washing away by the truckload. Blake Brown: Back at that time we were losing 30 to 40 tons per acre per year just from soil erosion. Brown says researchers began looking for a better way to farm. This is the old way. An antique tiller rips through the dirt, turning under last year's crop to make way for the next. Ag experts discovered if you could find a way around plowing, it did wonders for making the soil stay put. It's also been found to help crops weather dry spells. Planting crops amidst the previous year's foliage may not be pretty -- it's been called "farming ugly." But early adopter Dickie Brewer says in a video for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture that no-till works in hot and dry years like this one. Dickie Brewer: If you keep that cover on it, it traps and holds the soil and also holds the moisture where it can soak in the ground and actually keep the soil cooler in the summer time. There is a drawback, I'm told. No-till ends up requiringmore weed-killing chemicals, which has become a problem with the rise of Roundup resistant weeds. But many farmers now swear by the method, especially in Tennessee. A record 74 percent of the acreage growing major crops this year is no-till. University of Tennessee extension agent Justin Rhinehart says it's become the industry standard. Justin Rhinehart: It's really best management practices that we would consult with these guys to use anyway. But they become more important when production is limited by drought or any other severe weather. Nationwide, un-tilled acreage has grown to roughly 35 percent and inches up each year. The USDA is encouraging farmers to ditch the plow. Mother Nature may push more farmers to go ahead and pull the trigger. In Nashville, I'm Blake Farmer for Marketplace.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Lloyds Banking Group said some parts of its business had received subpoenas from governments under an investigation into a global interest rate rigging scandal that has rocked the banking industry.

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Stacey Vanek Smith: Sanford Weill was once a big name on Wall Street -- and the king of making big banks bigger. Back in 1998, he combined Travelers, the insurance company, with Citibank to create Citigroup. But now Weill wants to break up big banks. Marketplace's Heidi Moore has that story. Heidi Moore: Sandy Weill was the man who had the vision for the modern megabank. He was like the Dr. Frankenstein of banking. "Frankenstein": It's alive, it's alive! Back then, the megabank looked like a great advancement. But as banks got bigger, and bigger, and then too big to fail, they helped cause the worldwide financial crisis. So, after 2008, the megabank monster was being chased by torch-wielding mobs. John Reed, who created Citigroup with Weill, expressed regret over the idea of megabanks on TV a few months ago. John Reed: It turns out to have been something that -- the word 'disaster' is maybe strong enough. That's a sentiment shared by another former big-bank CEO, the former chair of the FDIC, and the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve. Dennis Kelleher: His progeny -- I don't know what you want to call it -- his creation did not turn out the way that he had hoped. That's Dennis Kelleher, the CEO of advocacy group Better Markets. He hopes that Weill's change of heart influences other bankers. Kelleher: My first thought was: game changer. Instead of the arrogance and whining and entitlement these people have shown, they might want to start reflecting. When a village elder like Weill speaks, perhaps Wall Street will listen. In New York, I'm Heidi Moore for Marketplace.

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Stacey Vanek Smith: We think of cars as using a lot of oil. But what about tires? Turns out, one standard car tire contains roughly seven gallons of oil. Now Goodyear Tire & Rubber is working on an alternative: A tire made with soybean oil. Michael Kerns manages the global materials science group at Goodyear. He's helping to develop the soybean tire. Good morning Michael. Michael Kerns: Good morning. Vanek Smith: So why soybean oil? Kerns: We took a look at our possibilities, and Goodyear uses petroleum-based oils typically to aid in the processing of our rubber compounds, and we're always looking to give the company options as a means to free ourselves from dependence on any one raw material, especially petroleum. Soybean oil is actually readily available in the U.S. If you look at bio-based oils, it's one of the most abundant and cost-effective alternatives that we could find. Vanek Smith: From what I understand, this could actually reduce Goodyear's oil use by quite a bit. Kerns: Yeah. Right now we're looking at exactly how much that would be, and of course it depends on the market penetration, but estimates range to as high as over seven million gallons of oil annually. Vanek Smith: So what the consumer buying these tires? What differences will they see between buying and using a regular tire, and buying and using a soybean oil-based tire? Kerns: Well right now, we're looking at some of those factors. Currently we see this as being cost-neutral; that's one of the things that we find to be most attractive about soybean oil as an alternative, it seems to be fairly cost-effective. But from the consumer's perspective, the tire will look the same. Our initial indications are that they may actually experience an improvement in the tread life. We're currently looking at only treads, so the sidewall of the tire, the inner lining of the tire are not being considered right now. And really, how far this penetrates into our product line and into the actual construction of the tire really depends on how successful we are going forward, and how cost-effective this remains to be, versus petroleum. Vanek Smith: Michael Kerns is the manager of global materials science group at Goodyear. Michael, thank you. Kerns: Thank you very much.

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