Thanks for listening to the Frontline Audio Cast, the enhanced audio version of our documentaries.

We also produce a podcast, including the series called Unresolved,

about the U.S. government's investigation of racist killings from the Civil Rights era

that went unsolved or unpunished. Look for Unresolved wherever you get your podcasts.

But right now, here is Frontlines, The Power of the Fed, narrated by correspondent James Jacobi.

The Coronavirus pandemic has left millions of Americans out of work.

The people have gone now without four or five or six or seven paychecks and starting to catch up.

They need food, it's the most basic thing. Over the past year, we've seen how many

Americans are living on the edge. Have you got any income at the moment? No, no, and we have kids too, so...

So you're not making any money at the moment? No. But while businesses were shuttered,

and millions were left unemployed, one place has been thriving like never before.

Stocks surging even as America enters its darkest chapter yet of this pandemic.

On Wall Street, it was a banner year. The market has been open for 30 minutes and we've gone straight up.

The down rising nearly 18% is best performance as 1987.

After a major dive, markets reached record highs. The pandemic would turn out to be a blip in

the longest bull market ever. The price of stocks have skyrocketed and so has the wealth of those who own them.

A lot of musk has added over 10 billion to as well just this week.

Some see signs of mania. This game stop situation, we will never encounter a setup like this again.

As more Americans try to get in on the party. Right now we're in a raging mania.

Some worry a crash is to come. It's the burst of euphoria that typically brings these things to an end.

As the financial world has been diverging from the real world, I've been trying to understand the

many forces at play. And I found one institution has been at the center of it all.

...