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What a second Trump term means for U.S. fiscal health

U.S. fiscal health is at higher risk after Trump won the election. Marketplace's David Brancaccio speaks with Harvard professor Jason Furman to learn more.
"President Trump was basically every week announcing a new area of income that would not be subject to tax," said professor Jason Furman. "You add all of that up, and it's more than $10 trillion worth of promises."
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Most people aren't rich enough to benefit from sunsetting estate tax provision

Nov 1, 2024
The upcoming election could impact whether a provision of Trump-era tax reform is extended beyond 2026.
Then-President Donald Trump speaks about the passage of tax reform legislation on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, Dec. 20, 2017.
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How Harris, Trump plans compare on the national debt, and why you should care

Oct 11, 2024
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says both candidates' tax and spending promises would widen deficits, Trump's by a lot more.
The Harris campaign promises funding support for elder care and first-time homebuyers, as well as hiking the corporate tax rate, and Trump's policy agenda includes expanded tax cuts and increased trade tariffs.
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This might be the economy that liberals wanted, but do most voters feel the same?

Feb 27, 2024
If people don’t feel the strength of the economy, Democrats may have a problem this election season, says Victoria Guida at Politico.
President Biden has low approval ratings despite vigorous economic growth, low unemployment and a strong stock market.
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Pandemic stimulus spending boosted the economy. What happens now that it's over?

Nov 13, 2023
The government's fiscal policy is fairly neutral now for a reason: More stimulus spending could hurt the Fed's fight against inflation.
You can think of the Federal Reserve's current fiscal policy as pretty neutral, says Michael Pugliese, senior economist with Wells Fargo.
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The Fed's Lael Brainard is leaving monetary policy for fiscal policy

Feb 14, 2023
It takes a versatile person to go from setting interest rates to setting an economic agenda, one expert says.
Economist Lael Brainard will be the next director of the National Economic Council, the White House announced Tuesday.
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For public good, not for profit.

The economic legacy of the Jan. 6 insurrection is "intertwined" with the pandemic

Jan 6, 2022
“So much is good about the recovery,” said Wendy Edelberg of the Brookings Institution. Yet “we’re still in the midst of chaos.”
Protesters loyal to Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The nation's political instability, said Wendy Edelberg of Brookings, "makes me nervous for the year ahead."
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For Black workers, unemployment is 4 percentage points higher than for whites. Can the Federal Reserve fix that?

Sep 9, 2021
Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project, says monetary policy has a roleay, but it's "not the whole show."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The central bank has been keeping interest rates low, but Wendy Edelberg says in the near future it should let the economy "grow on its own two feet."
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Dallas Fed president on the mood in the Fed’s Zoom room

Dec 18, 2020
“This downturn has not felt like a normal downturn for the whole economy because of fiscal relief,” says Robert Kaplan.
 Robert Kaplan, president and CEO of the Dallas Federal Reserve.
Courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas