The U.S. is spending trillions to save the economy. Where does all that money come from?

Sidebar

The Washington Post

News, True Crime, Politics

4.1 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trillions of dollars have been injected into the U.S. economy since March. Late last month, Congress passed a $2 trillion relief bill, the Cares Act, designed to help the country cope with the economic devastation it has faced since the novel coronavirus outbreak began.

But those trillions weren’t enough.

New legislation expected to pass in Congress on Thursday adds $484 billion to that total. These funds are allocated for small-business recovery, hospitals and coronavirus testing.

As our country faces incredibly trying circumstances, emergency money from the federal government is intended to help us recover, to help businesses weather the storm and to keep our economy stable. So, is it working?

As the federal government injects more and more money, where does it all come from? What are the short-term and long-term consequences of these economic decisions? And as we head toward the election in November, how does this all effect President Trump’s economic message — once a key pillar of his reelection efforts?

On this episode of the“Can He Do That?” podcast, Washington Post congressional reporter Erica Werner and economics editor Damian Paletta explain the economic levers that Congress and the Federal Reserve can control, and what it all means for pumping money into the economy, accruing national debt, and the potential for rising inflation.

Additional coronavirus resources:

washingtonpost.com/virusnewsletter

washingtonpost.com/coronavirus

washingtonpost.com/podcasts

Related episodes

States are competing for life-saving medical equipment. Who decides where it goes?

The U.S. stumbled at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Can we make up for lost time?

Does the president have much power to control a viral outbreak?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Trillions of dollars have been injected into the US economy since March.
0:09.4	Late last month, Congress passed the CARES Act.
0:12.4	That's a $2 trillion relief bill designed to help the country cope with the economic
0:16.6	devastation it's faced since the novel coronavirus outbreak began.
0:21.6	But those trillions weren't enough.
0:24.4	New legislation expected to pass Congress this week adds $484 billion to that total, funds
0:31.3	that are allocated for small business recovery, hospitals and coronavirus testing.
0:37.2	As our country faces incredibly trying circumstances, emergency money from the federal government
0:42.6	is intended to help us recover.
0:45.2	It's intended for businesses to weather the storm and it's intended to keep our economy
0:49.2	stable.
0:50.2	So, is it working?
0:52.7	Is the federal government injects more and more money?
0:55.7	Where does it all come from really?
0:58.2	What are the short-term and long-term consequences of these economic decisions?
1:01.9	And as we head toward the election in November, how does all of this affect President Trump's
1:05.9	economic message?
1:07.4	Once a key pillar of his reelection efforts.
1:14.1	This is Kenney Do That, a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency.
1:19.6	I'm Allison Michaels.
1:22.7	In this episode, we'll explain the economic levers that Congress and the Federal Reserve
1:31.3	can control and what it all means for pumping money into the economy, accruing national debt,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.