What The Actual Fed.
Optimist Economy
Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
4.9 • 829 Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Federal Reserve is in the news constantly these days. Beyond the regular will-they-or-won’t-they question on interest rates, there are multiple legal battles with implications for the central bank’s independence, President Trump’s nominee for chairman may (or may not) get a hearing in the Senate soon, and Jerome Powell's may (or may not) leave when his term as chair ends in May. So let’s try to demystify the Fed. How does it stop bank panics? How did it make the Great Depression worse? What is a Fed Note exactly? And is the discount window a metaphor? From Glass-Steagall to the dual mandate to quantitative easing, here’s a crash course.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We should include how long this took me to do, like how many takes this is. |
| 0:05.0 | For those of you listening, this is like take 10. |
| 0:07.3 | I feel so much better. |
| 0:15.0 | Hello, and welcome to Optimist Economy. |
| 0:16.8 | I'm Catherine Ann Edwards, Economist. |
| 0:18.7 | And I'm Robin Rousey, editor. |
| 0:20.4 | On this show, we believe the U.S. economy can be better, and we talk about how to get there, one problem and solution at a time. |
| 0:31.1 | Today on Optimist Economy, we're going to talk about the Fed. |
| 0:35.1 | So this came up because, of course, the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, his term ends in mid-May. The president has just nominated Kevin Warsh to replace him. But I've just realized that I don't, the more I read about the Fed, the less I understand it. And so we're going to try to figure some things out so that you understand the stakes and what's going on in the months ahead. I would argue that not a lot of people understand the Fed. |
| 0:56.2 | So, like, if you don't know what's going on with the Fed, you're an amazing company. |
| 1:00.0 | Good. |
| 1:00.9 | Because I have tried really hard in the last few days to figure it out. |
| 1:06.4 | And, like I said, the more I read, the less I know. |
| 1:08.6 | Yeah. |
| 1:09.1 | Well, we'll get there. |
| 1:13.1 | Together. |
| 1:15.0 | Or not. |
| 1:15.8 | And you can just stop listening to the podcast. |
| 1:17.3 | Like, there's lots of ways that could go. |
| 1:18.6 | There's lots of options. |
| 1:20.5 | This is what we did for trying to be, like, somewhat connected to the news. |
| 1:27.1 | All right. Well, do we have any announcements? |
... |
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