Student Debt Tell Us What the Resumption of Student Loan Payments Means For You By Monica Potts Jul. 21, 2023, at 8:00 AM Student loan payments are scheduled to begin again this October after a pause of more than three years. Because of a Supreme Court decision last month, these payments will resume without a forgiveness plan from the Biden administration that would have wiped out up to $20,000 from some borrowers’ balances.  We want to know more about how the end of the pause will affect individual borrowers. If you are among the borrowers expecting your student-loan payments to res ..read more

Economy Congress And Biden Are Playing With Fire In The Debt Ceiling Standoff A FiveThirtyEight Chat May 10, 2023, at 1:13 PM ABC News photo illustration Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, senior elections analyst): Could an economic cataclysm be just a few weeks away? Experts are warning that could indeed happen if the U.S. doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, the statutory limit on how much money the federal government can borrow in order to pay its financial obligations. (Raising the debt ceiling doesn’t auth ..read more

Economics Why An Aging Population Might Not Doom The American Economy By Santul Nerkar Apr. 13, 2023, at 6:00 AM Mario Tama / Getty Images The American economy is booming and robust. Just look at the chart below, which shows that the overall unemployment rate — the share of people within the labor force who are without work but are looking for it — is lower than it’s been in more than 50 years: But wait! Americans just don’t want to work like they used to. As you can see in the following chart, the labor force participation rate — the share of all Americans in the labor force — was 62 ..read more

Economy The Fed’s Fight Against Inflation Could Cost Black Workers The Most By Santul Nerkar Mar. 30, 2023, at 6:00 AM The gap between white and Black employment rates has virtually vanished, but it might not last for long. Ting Shen / Xinhua via Getty Images When the world grinded to a halt back in March 2020, one of the most tried and true rules of the U.S. economy once again reared its ugly head: When the economy goes into crisis, Black workers are disproportionately harmed — and are often the first to be affected. Unemployment spiked for everyone in April 2020, but to a considerably ..read more

Economics What Does the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Mean For The Economy? A FiveThirtyEight Chat Mar. 14, 2023, at 6:00 AM Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. amelia.td (Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, senior reporter): On Friday, financial regulators announced that they were taking control of Silicon Valley Bank, signaling the largest bank collapse since the global financial crisis of 2008. California regulators closed the bank and put the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in charge of its assets. SVB was the victim of a good old-fashio ..read more

Transcript Santul Nerkar: Inflation in America is high. You’ve probably noticed when you’ve gone to the grocery store or gas station. But ordinary Americans aren’t the only ones unhappy with our current 6 percent inflation rate. The Federal Reserve isn’t thrilled, either. The number that the Fed would like to see — its target inflation rate — is 2 percent. But why did we decide that 2 percent inflation is the way to go? Why not 3 percent? Or 12 percent? For that matter, why not 0 percent?? First thing’s first — the Fed thinks that 0 percent inflation is bad. At that rate, we risk the opposite ..read more

Economics The Fed’s Inflation Goal Is Completely Arbitrary By Santul Nerkar Mar. 9, 2023, at 6:00 AM PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY FIVETHIRTYEIGHT / GETTY IMAGES Over the past 18 months, inflation has dominated our understanding of the pandemic economy. Americans have endured the highest yearly price increases in four decades, from soup to nuts — literally. Even now, as experts and forecasters worry that the economy might dip into recession, observers also remain dismayed about the relative stickiness of inflation. Through it all, we’ve heard an almost mantra-like refrain from the Federal Reserv ..read more

Labor Force The Perks Workers Want Also Make Them More Productive Now if only corporations would listen … By Monica Potts Mar. 3, 2023, at 6:00 AM PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY SCHERER / GETTY IMAGES Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote and hybrid work are as popular as ever. Only 6 percent of employees able to do their jobs remotely want to return to the office full time, according to a Gallup survey published in August. The vast majority of “remote-capable” workers1 want to spend at least some of their workdays at home. When they’re forced to return to an office ..read more

Economy Are We Headed For A Recession Or Not? Why our usual economic indicators aren't pointing in a clear direction. By Santul Nerkar and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Santul Nerkar and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux Graphics by Paroma Soni Feb. 28, 2023, at 6:00 AM It’s hard to make sense of the often-conflicting economic data we’ve been seeing recently. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images Inflation isn’t under control, and we’re heading for a recession. Except, wait: The latest jobs report indicates that the labor market is healthier than it’s been in years. So maybe we’re heading for the fabled ..read more

Debt Ceiling Which Republicans Could Vote For A Debt Ceiling Increase? A look at the GOP Senate and House caucuses ahead of 2023’s key legislative fight. By Geoffrey Skelley Feb. 22, 2023, at 6:00 AM Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins — long-tenured moderates — are among the Senate Republicans most likely to support legislation that increases the debt ceiling. Nothing is certain in this life, but the United States will definitely need to raise its debt ceiling later this year to avoid a potentially calamitous debt default. On one side, President Biden and Democrats want a “clean” debt ..read more