<description>Federal Reserve is meeting to make its interest rate decision after the government shutdown delayed key economic data. Today on the show, we talk to the former Vice Chair of the Fed, Lael Brainard, about what she would do with interest rates in this critical yet foggy economic moment.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related episodes: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5630924/a-little-doomsday-feeling-is-weighing-on-the-economy"target="_blank" &gt;A little doomsday feeling is weighing on the economy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/07/1236538089/doge-gdp-bls-department-of-labor-jobs-report"target="_blank" &gt;Can ... we still trust the monthly jobs report?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;plus.npr.org&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Fact-checking by &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Sierra Juarez&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. Music by &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://dropelectric.bandcamp.com/"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Drop Electric&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. Find us: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@planetmoney"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;TikTok&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/planetmoney/"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Instagram&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/planetmoney"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Facebook&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/money"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Newsletter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

How a former Fed vice chair would approach rate cuts

DEC 9, 20259 MIN
The Indicator from Planet Money

How a former Fed vice chair would approach rate cuts

DEC 9, 20259 MIN

Description

Federal Reserve is meeting to make its interest rate decision after the government shutdown delayed key economic data. Today on the show, we talk to the former Vice Chair of the Fed, Lael Brainard, about what she would do with interest rates in this critical yet foggy economic moment.

Related episodes: 
A little doomsday feeling is weighing on the economy
Can ... we still trust the monthly jobs report?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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