Hi, Jim.

Hi, Catherine.

Have you heard about the cliff?

No.

Do you know that we're approaching it?

Like a point at which we could do nothing to stop climate change from devastating the human population and possibly leading to extinction.

Oh, I think we're past that cliff.

What I'm talking about is the cliff that's coming up at the end of July or potentially the end of this week depending on your circumstances

This is the week that the CARES Act expires, basically. The extra $600 that people were getting an unemployment insurance

ends and the federal eviction moratorium also ends.

Wait, why would it end now?

We just surpassed a thousand deaths yesterday, the worst in a...

We've had in a very long time.

We are regularly breaking records for the most cases that we've had in this country.

I mean, I think the plan when the Cares Act was passed was, oh, we're going to get this is the support that everyone needs so we can get the virus

under control. I think there was an assumption that by the end of the end of July, the virus would

be under control and the economy would be able to be more functional again and

But that is not the case. Yeah, maybe an assumption among people who didn't listen to this podcast.

So anyway, this is sort of a terrifying phrase, the cliff.

It's concerning, I know Congress is debating what to do,'s it's coming up really quick so let's bring on

Annie Lowry. She's a staff writer at the Atlantic and she covers economics and she's been writing a lot about economics

in the pandemic. She's also the author of the book Give People Money, which is

...