The Breakdown: What Can The Federal Reserve Do for You?

The Breakdown: What Can The Federal Reserve Do for You?

The Breakdown: What Can The Federal Reserve Do for You?

Matthew Yglesias joins Chris Hayes to explain the vital role the Fed plays in managing the health of the economy.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Matthew Yglesias joins Chris Hayes to explain the vital role the Fed plays in managing the health of the economy.

The Federal Reserve has gotten a lot of flack recently. Ron Paul, who has been particularly vocal in his view that the Fed ought to be abolished altogether, even became Chair of the Monetary Policy Subcommittee this past December. And yet, relatively little has been said in the mainstream media to explain how the Fed actually works, and what institutional purpose it’s supposed to serve. On this week’s edition of The Breakdown, DC Editor Chris Hayes and blogger Matthew Yglesias discuss the role of the Fed in managing the health of the economy and lay out how a more robust system of accountability that ensures it fulfills that role is long overdue.

Further Reading:
Yglesias’s Democracy article on the Federal Open Market Committee.

Subscribe to The Breakdown on iTunes to listen to fresh takes on the confusing concepts that make politics, economics and government tick. A new episode every week!

Independent journalism relies on your support


With a hostile incoming administration, a massive infrastructure of courts and judges waiting to turn “freedom of speech” into a nostalgic memory, and legacy newsrooms rapidly abandoning their responsibility to produce accurate, fact-based reporting, independent media has its work cut out for itself.

At The Nation, we’re steeling ourselves for an uphill battle as we fight to uphold truth, transparency, and intellectual freedom—and we can’t do it alone. 

This month, every gift The Nation receives through December 31 will be doubled, up to $75,000. If we hit the full match, we start 2025 with $150,000 in the bank to fund political commentary and analysis, deep-diving reporting, incisive media criticism, and the team that makes it all possible. 

As other news organizations muffle their dissent or soften their approach, The Nation remains dedicated to speaking truth to power, engaging in patriotic dissent, and empowering our readers to fight for justice and equality. As an independent publication, we’re not beholden to stakeholders, corporate investors, or government influence. Our allegiance is to facts and transparency, to honoring our abolitionist roots, to the principles of justice and equality—and to you, our readers. 

In the weeks and months ahead, the work of free and independent journalists will matter more than ever before. People will need access to accurate reporting, critical analysis, and deepened understanding of the issues they care about, from climate change and immigration to reproductive justice and political authoritarianism. 

By standing with The Nation now, you’re investing not just in independent journalism grounded in truth, but also in the possibilities that truth will create.

The possibility of a galvanized public. Of a more just society. Of meaningful change, and a more radical, liberated tomorrow.

In solidarity and in action,

The Editors, The Nation

Ad Policy
x