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Marketplace. What if I told you that interest rates and their effect on the economy is in some ways a science and in other ways a mystery?

From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In New York, I'm Kristen Schwab in for Kyrisdahl. It's Wednesday, July 17th.

Good to have you with us.

As we tip into the second half of 2024, the time left for the Fed to start cutting interest rates this year is shrinking.

Once upon a time, the Fed signaled the possibility of four rate cuts, whittled down to maybe two, and now possibly just one.

There are a total of ten Fed speeches on the calendar this week, and today two regional Fed

presidents said the bank is getting closer to cutting.

All that considered, it has been a slower than expected slog to get inflation down to the target

rate of 2%.

But hey, at least those high interest rates are doing their job. Or are they? Are they affecting the

economy the way we think they're supposed to? Roge Karma is a staff writer at the Atlantic.

He had a story the other day with the headline,

The Federal Reserve's Little Secret.

We got him on the line.

Thanks for joining us.

It's great to be here.

Thanks for having me. So I'm going to step on the

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