Interest rates, inflation and the American consumer
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2024
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this week for the first time in four years. It would be a major milestone in the central bank’s long fight to get inflation under control. The Fed changes interest rates to keep inflation in check. But inflation is a complex phenomenon, and people have different ideas about what drives it. On the show today, Harvard economics professor Stefanie Stantcheva explains what Americans believe about the root causes of inflation and how the government should manage it, how views differ along party lines and the role media play.
Then, the narrative around retail theft is changing. And, comedian Rola Z who hosts the “Funny Arabs” show in Washington, D.C., answers the Make Me Smart question.
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “People’s Understanding of Inflation” from the Social Economics Lab at Harvard
- “The Fed And Public Opinion” from Forbes
- “What actually happens when the Fed cuts interest rates?” from Marketplace
- “No, Americans Are Not Completely Stupid About Inflation” from The New York Times
- “The Growing Use of Voting Before Election Day” from the Center for Election Innovation and Research
- “America’s stores are winning the war on shoplifting” from CNN Business
- “Federal Debt Is Soaring. Here’s Why Trump and Harris Aren’t Talking About It.” from The Wall Street Journal
- “How would Project 2025 impact troops and veterans?” from Military Times
We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi I'm Kai Rizdahl the host of How We Survive |
| 0:03.4 | It's a podcast from Marketplace. In 1986, before I was a journalist, |
| 0:08.3 | I was flying for the Navy. |
| 0:09.7 | Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. |
| 0:14.4 | It was the cold war, and my first deployments were intercepting Russian bombers. |
| 0:18.6 | Today, though, there's another threat out there, climate change. |
| 0:22.5 | This could be the warmest year on record. |
| 0:24.6 | Climate change is here. |
| 0:25.7 | Temperatures here are warming faster than anywhere on Earth. |
| 0:29.5 | And while the threat seems new, |
| 0:31.6 | the Pentagon's been funding studies on climate change since the 1950s. |
| 0:35.9 | I think we will put our troops and our forces at higher risk if we don't recognize the impact of climate change. |
| 0:44.7 | This season, we go to the front lines of the climate crisis |
| 0:47.5 | to see how the military is preparing for the threat. |
| 0:51.0 | Listen to how we survive, |
| 0:52.3 | wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:54.0 | Hi everyone. |
| 0:57.0 | Here at Marketplace, we know the value of understanding money, |
| 1:01.0 | but that knowledge is especially valuable when you're young and planning |
| 1:04.7 | for the future. |
| 1:06.2 | The new season of financially inclined, hosted by Yannelli Espinal, is here to help. |
| 1:11.5 | Teens and young adults will gain priceless financial knowledge on topics |
... |
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