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U.S. GDP grew 6.4% in first quarter

Apr 29, 2021
Economic growth in the current April-June period is expected to be faster still.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What does inflation look like?

Feb 23, 2021
Inflation’s been hard to find in this economy for years, but what if that changes?
At 2% inflation, the Federal Reserve's target rate, it takes about 35 years for prices to double.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Fed plans to keep interest rates near zero through 2023. What else can it do for the economy?

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said another relief package from Congress will likely be needed.
The Fed can't make grants. That's Congress' job. "These are lending powers, not spending powers," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. debt is hitting historic heights. How much of a problem is that?

The last time the deficit was this high, as a percentage of the total economy, was 1946.
A national debt counter from mid-June. The U.S. is approaching a position it has not seen since World War II, as the amount of government debt is on pace to exceed the size of the nation's economy.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. economy shrank at record-breaking 33% rate last quarter

Jul 30, 2020
It's by far the worst quarterly plunge ever.
The Commerce Department’s estimate of the second-quarter decline in GDP marked the sharpest such drop on records dating to 1947.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Fed Gov. Lael Brainard on the longest shutdown in history

Jan 18, 2019
The economy has been "pretty healthy," she says, but the shutdown is one of the downside risks the Fed is watching.
"Every time that the economy gets to a shutdown or a debt limit, you really do sense that desire from Americans across the country for the government to function well, and to be predictable, and I think that's what we're seeing today. People want to go back to work. They want to get their paychecks. This is affecting communities all over the country," said member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Lael Brainard.
 
Stuart Isett/Fortune

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Outgoing AEI president wants a healthy "competition of ideas"

Aug 30, 2018
Arthur Brooks explains why ideas are the engine of the economy.
American Enterprise Institute president Arthur C. Brooks
Allison Shelley/Getty Images

With tax out of the way, trade will be on Trump’s January agenda

Jan 4, 2018
With a sweeping tax overhaul out of the way, trade could be the next big item on President Donald Trump’s agenda. In the next few weeks, he’ll be making decisions about protecting U.S. industries from global competition. But he’s facing pressure from those who say tariffs will only hurt the U.S. economy.  Click the audio […]